water

Editorial
Advanced Oxidation Processes for Water and
Wastewater Treatment
Marco S. Lucas 1, * , José A. Peres 1 and Gianluca Li Puma 2

1 Centro de Química de Vila Real, Departamento de Química, UTAD–Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e

Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal; jperes@utad.pt
2 Environmental Nanocatalysis and Photoreaction Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering,
Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK; g.lipuma@lboro.ac.uk
* Correspondence: mlucas@utad.pt

Technical and scientific developments have facilitated an increase in human life

expectancy and quality, which is reflected in a large growth of global population. This
process has been accompanied by economic development and an immense urbanisation
level. This growth has been followed by over-exploitation of water resources and an
increase in environmental pollution. Therefore, the rising demand for clean and safe
water is a major challenge. Water scarcity, elimination of emerging contaminants and
escalating need for water reuse allied to limited treatment capacity of conventional water
and wastewater plants are major barriers that need to be appropriately addressed.
Water and wastewater treatment with Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have
received a great deal of attention in recent years, since these processes are known for their
capacity to mineralize a wide range of pollutants into CO2 , H2 O and mineral acids.
In this Special Issue, the application of AOPs as an effective solution for the treatment
of drinking water and urban/industrial wastewater was addressed. The removal of phar-
maceuticals and organic pollutants through electrochemical oxidation processes ([1–5]),





 combined coagulation and UV/O3 ([6]), UV/H2 O2 system ([7]) and heterogeneous catal-
ysis ([8,9]) are the main topics covered in this issue. In addition, the degradation of an
Citation: Lucas, M.S.; Peres, J.A.; Li
Puma, G. Advanced Oxidation
agro-industrial wastewater through heterogeneous photocatalysis using Zr on clay-based
Processes for Water and Wastewater
materials ([10]) is also part of this special issue.
Treatment. Water 2021, 13, 1309. Since the call for papers was announced in March 2020 and after a rigorous peer-
https://doi.org/10.3390/w13091309 review process, ten articles were accepted for publication (52% of total submitted papers).
This Special Issue of Water comprises contributions from over fifty authors and from five
Received: 26 April 2021 countries (China, Germany, India, Portugal and Spain). To gain a better insight into the
Accepted: 5 May 2021 essence of the Special Issue, we offer brief highlights of the published papers below.
Published: 7 May 2021
1. Recent Trends in Removal Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products by
Electrochemical Oxidation and Combined Systems
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral
with regard to jurisdictional claims in This review paper [1] focuses on the removal efficiency of pharmaceuticals and per-
published maps and institutional affil- sonal care products through electrochemical oxidation, alone or in combination with other
iations. treatment processes, in the last 10 years. The influence of reactor designs and configura-
tions as well as electrode materials and operational conditions (e.g., initial concentration,
electrolytes, current density, temperature, pH, stirring rate, electrode spacing, and fluid
velocity) are also explored.
Copyright: © 2021 by the authors.
2. A Comparison of the Mechanism of TOC and COD Degradation in Rhodamine B
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Wastewater by a Recycling-Flow Two- and Three-dimensional Electro-Reactor System
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and This research article [3] designs a recycling-flow 3D electro-reactor system for the
conditions of the Creative Commons degradation of a dye wastewater. The mechanism of TOC and COD degradation of
Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// Rhodamine B wastewater was analysed in terms of mass transfer, electrochemically active
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ surface area of electrodes, instant concentration of hydroxyl radicals, current efficiency and
4.0/). energy consumption in comparison to the recycling-flow 2D electro-reactor system.

Water 2021, 13, 1309. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13091309 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/water

Water 2021, 13, 1309 2 of 3

3. Comparing the Effects of Types of Electrode on the Removal of Multiple

Pharmaceuticals from Water by Electrochemical Methods
This work [2] investigates the effect of laboratory-scale electrochemical treatments
on removing multiple pharmaceuticals (diclofenac, sulfamethoxazole and atenolol) from
synthetic water and spiked wastewater by electro-coagulation and electro-oxidation using
aluminium and graphite electrodes. The pharmaceutical removal with electro-oxidation
was higher than those with the electro-coagulation process, which was obtained from a
five-cell graphite electrode system, while the removal of pharmaceuticals with aluminium
electrodes was about 20% (20 µM).

4. Removal Characteristics of Effluent Organic Matter (EfOM) in Pharmaceutical

Tailwater by a Combined Coagulation and UV/O3 Process
Coagulation and UV/O3 processes are combined to remove the effluent organic mat-
ter from a biotreated pharmaceutical wastewater [6]. The removal behaviour of effluent
organic matter by UV/O3 process was characterized by synchronous fluorescence spec-
troscopy (SFS) integrating two-dimensional correlation (2D-COS) and principal component
analysis technology. Five main components of pharmaceutical tail wastewater were identi-
fied by SFS. Spectral analysis revealed that UV/O3 was selective for the removal of different
fluorescent components, especially fulvic acid-like fluorescent (FLF) and humus-like fluo-
rescent (HLF) components. The coagulation-UV/O3 processes proven to be an attractive
way to reduce the environmental risks of pharmaceutical tail wastewater.

5. Heterogeneous Fenton-Like Catalytic Degradation of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic

Acid by Nanoscale Zero-Valent Iron Assembled on Magnetite Nanoparticles
Fe0 @Fe3 O4 nanoparticles were synthesized in this study [9] and combined with hy-
drogen peroxide to obtain a heterogeneous Fenton-like system, which was further applied
into the degradation of the 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid. The effect of different experi-
mental conditions was assessed on the removal of 2,4-D, such as pH, hydrogen peroxide
concentration, temperature and catalyst dosage. In addition, the possible mechanism of
the Fe0 @Fe3 O4 activated Fenton-like system was proposed.

6. Degradation of Ketamine and Methamphetamine by the UV/H2 O2 System: Kinetics,

Mechanisms and Comparison
The reaction kinetics and degradation mechanisms of ketamine (KET) and metham-
phetamine (METH) by UV/H2 O2 are studied in this paper [7]. The influence of various
operational parameters on KET and METH removal was evaluated: initial H2 O2 dosage,
pH and water background components. KET and METH degradation is inhibited by the
presence of some anions (HCO3 − , Cl− , NO3 − ) and humic acid. The degradation products
were analysed by UPLC-MS/MS, and potential transformation paths are proposed.

7. Oxidation of Selected Trace Organic Compounds through the Combination of

Inline Electro-Chlorination with UV Radiation (UV/ECl2 ) as Alternative AOP for
Decentralized Drinking Water Treatment
In this study [4], a UV/ECl2 system is tested in lab-scale conditions to assess chlorine
production and radical formation changing chloride concentrations, pH, cell currents
and UV energy input applied. Afterwards, a UV/ECl2 pilot setting was tested under
real conditions treating Elbe river water. The combination of ECl2 with UV can be a
feasible alternative to reduce Trace Organic Compounds without the need for any external
chemicals and electricity supply.

8. Effect of Zr Impregnation on Clay-Based Materials for H2 O2 -Assisted Photocatalytic

Wet Oxidation of Winery Wastewater
This work [10] successfully produced UV-activated Zr-doped composites through the
impregnation of Zr on the crystal lattice of different clay materials (Zr-MT, (Zr)Al-PILC and
(Zr)AlCu-PILC). The ((Zr)Al-Cu-PILC) photocatalyst was tested in the photodegradation of
Water 2021, 13, 1309 3 of 3

a real winery wastewater under UV-C irradiation, and the influence of Zr immobilization
on the properties and photoactivity of the heterogeneous catalysts was assessed.

9. Heterogeneous Catalytic Ozonation of Aniline-Contaminated Waters: A

Three-Phase Modelling Approach Using TiO2 /GAC
In this publication [8], the catalytic ozonation of aniline promoted by granular active
carbon doped with TiO2 is modelled. A three-phase modelling approach is proposed
including ozone mass transfer parameters and rate constants (pseudo-first order kinetics)
from both surface and liquid bulk reactions involving the adsorption process, oxidation in
the liquid and the solid catalyst.

10. Erythromycin Abatement from Water by Electro-Fenton and

Peroxyelectrocoagulation Treatments
In this final work [5], electro-Fenton and peroxyelectrocoagulation processes were
investigated to mineralize erythromycin from ultrapure water, assessing the influence of
some operational conditions, such as the anode material (BDD and Fe), current density (5
mA cm−2 and 10 mA cm−2 ), oxygen flowrate injected to the cathode (0.8 L min−1 O2 and
2.0 L min−1 O2 ), pH (2.8, 5.0 and 7.0) and electricity costs.

Author Contributions: The three authors made equal contributions to this editorial. All authors
have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research received no external funding.
Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement: No new data were created or analyzed in this study. Data sharing is
not applicable to this article.
Acknowledgments: The authors appreciate the efforts of the Water editors and publication team at
MDPI and the anonymous reviewers for their invaluable comments.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References
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Electrochemical Oxidation and Combined Systems. Water 2020, 12, 1043. [CrossRef]
2. Liu, Y.-J.; Huang, Y.-L.; Lo, S.-L.; Hu, C.-Y. Comparing the Effects of Types of Electrode on the Removal of Multiple Pharmaceuticals
from Water by Electrochemical Methods. Water 2020, 12, 2332. [CrossRef]
3. Ni, J.; Shi, H.; Xu, Y.; Wang, Q. A Comparison of the Mechanism of TOC and COD Degradation in Rhodamine B Wastewater by a
Recycling-Flow Two- and Three-dimensional Electro-Reactor System. Water 2020, 12, 1853. [CrossRef]
4. Otter, P.; Mette, K.; Wesch, R.; Gerhardt, T.; Krüger, F.-M.; Goldmaier, A.; Benz, F.; Malakar, P.; Grischek, T. Oxidation of Selected
Trace Organic Compounds through the Combination of Inline Electro-Chlorination with UV Radiation (UV/ECl2 ) as Alternative
AOP for Decentralized Drinking Water Treatment. Water 2020, 12, 3275. [CrossRef]
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Martínez-Lladó, X. Erythromycin Abatement from Water by Electro-Fenton and Peroxyelectrocoagulation Treatments. Water
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Tailwater by a Combined Coagulation and UV/O3 Process. Water 2020, 12, 2773. [CrossRef]
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Kinetics, Mechanisms and Comparison. Water 2020, 12, 2999. [CrossRef]
8. Ferreiro, C.; Villota, N.; Lombraña, J.I.; Rivero, M.J. Heterogeneous Catalytic Ozonation of Aniline-Contaminated Waters: A
Three-Phase Modelling Approach Using TiO2 /GAC. Water 2020, 12, 3448. [CrossRef]
9. Lv, X.; Ma, Y.; Li, Y.; Yang, Q. Heterogeneous Fenton-Like Catalytic Degradation of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid by Nano-Scale
Zero-Valent Iron Assembled on Magnetite Nanoparticles. Water 2020, 12, 2909. [CrossRef]
10. Guimarães, V.; Teixeira, A.R.; Lucas, M.S.; Peres, J.A. Effect of Zr Impregnation on Clay-Based Materials for H2 O2 -Assisted
Photocatalytic Wet Oxidation of Winery Wastewater. Water 2020, 12, 3387. [CrossRef]