Case study of treatment of waste water for 17α-ethinylestradiol and microorganisms with UV and photocatalysis in an on-going process of introducing AOP techniques in the Danish water sector

Failure to obtain a sufficient disinfection of waste water, initiated an investigation of the use of UV light and photocatalysis with TiO₂ for treating the waste water. Furthermore, the ability of such a system to degrade endocrine disrupting chemicals was investigated through experiments with the estrogen 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2). This study found LP UV lamps to be the optimal solution for disinfection, while photocatalysis with TiO₂ was found to be the best method for removal of EE2. The experiments were carried out in a mobile test unit with solution volumes of 30 L. By use of data from the real UV system, the effect found in the experiments were extrapolated and used to evaluate the efficiency of the current system.