Progress and challenges in the photocatalytic removal of emerging contaminants

Abstract

The sustainable management of the available water resources represents one of the most important issues that the scientific community has to face. One promising solution is the treatment and reuse of wastewater. Thus, the development of environmental friendly technologies that allow to treat wastewater with low-cost and high efficiency results vital. Emerging contaminants, which are not completely removed by conventional wastewater treatments, have become a social concern due to their presence in aquatic environments and their negative impact on ecological or human health. Advanced oxidation processes seem to be an appropriate group of technologies for wastewater treatment that have shown high effectiveness in the removal of several emerging contaminants. Among them, photocatalysis arises as a sustainable alternative for the removal of these contaminants. However, although its technical viability has been assessed, some challenges still need to be overcome to develop an efficient and sustainable photocatalytic process implemented at industrial scale. This thesis aims at the development of the photocatalysis technology through the identification and approach of solutions of its mains challenges for the degradation of emerging contaminants.