CONTINUOUS-FLOW PHOTOCATALYTIC TREATMENT OF PHARMACEUTICAL MICROPOLLUTANTS: ACTIVITY, INHIBITION, AND DEACTIVATION OF TiO2 PHOTOCATALYSTS IN NATURAL WATER MATRICES BY

ii Titanium dioxide (TiO2) photocatalysts have been shown to be effective at degrading a wide range of organic micropollutants under ideal laboratory solution conditions (e.g., deionized water). However, little research has been performed regarding photocatalyst performance in more complex matrices representative of contaminated water sources (e.g., wastewater effluent, groundwater). Here, a benchtop continuous-flow reactor was developed for the purpose of studying the activity, inhibition, and deactivation of immobilized TiO2 photocatalysts during water treatment applications. As a demonstration, degradation of four model pharmaceutical micropollutants (iopromide, acetaminophen, sulfamethoxazole, and carbamazepine) was monitored in both deionized water (DI), biologically treated wastewater effluent (WWE), and groundwater (GW) to study the effects of non-target constituents present in the latter matrix. Reactor performance was shown to be sufficiently stable over 7 days when treating micropollutants in DI. When reactor influent was switched WWE, photocatalytic degradation of individual micropollutants was inhibited to varying degrees, ranging from 42 to 86%. However