Comparison of carbamazepine degradation by UV-activated percarbonate and peracetic acid processes: Performance, coexisting matrices, and transformation pathway

The emergence of novel wastewater treatment technologies has intensified the need to systematically compare and evaluate their performance. Based on an environmentally relevant experimental design, this study represents the systematic comparison of two advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), sodium percarbonate (SPC)-based and peracetic acid (PAA)-based AOPs, for the degradation of organic pollutants in wastewater, as they have been proposed as potential alternatives to H2O2-based AOPs. The efficacy of UV-activated SPC (UV/SPC) and PAA (UV/PAA) processes was tested in ultrapure water and three actual water samples, using carbamazepine (CBZ) as a representative organic pollutant. In ultrapure water, the degradation rate of CBZ in the UV/SPC process is 1.4 times higher than in the UV/PAA process. UV/SPC is more effective in the presence of Cl− (5–25 mM) and fulvic acid (2–10 mg/L) than UV/PAA, while UV/PAA exhibits more excellent resistance to HCO3− (5–25 mM). In actual water samples, the CBZ degradation rates are close in these two processes, with UV/PAA slightly faster. Product analyses show similar transformation pathways for CBZ in two processes, probably because they both feature HO• as the dominant active species (contributing > 98 %). This study provides fundamental data for a comprehensive understanding of these two AOPs, which will be beneficial in guiding their further development. [Display omitted] •Comparison of UV/percarbonate and UV/peracetic acid for carbamazepine degradation.•UV/percarbonate degrades carbamazepine at faster rate than UV/peracetic acid.•Coexisting matrix inhibit the degradation of carbamazepine in both processes.•Carbamazepine has similar transformation pathways in these two processes.•UV/percarbonate abates carbamazepine faster than UV/peracetic acid in actual water.