Reducing sample size by clustering: A way to make risk assessment feasible for large groups of organic compounds?

This research addresses the presence of substances of very high concern (SVHCs) confronting the drinking water sector. Responding adequately to the potential hazards by SVHCs, knowledge of emission pathways, toxicity, presence in drinking water sources, and removability during water production is crucial. As this information cannot be received for each compound individually, we employed a detailed clustering approach based on chemical properties and structures of SVHCs from lists with over 1,000 compounds.

A novel approach to interpret quasi-collimated beam results to support design and scale-up of vacuum UV based AOPs.

UV-C at 254 nm and vacuum UV (VUV) at 185 nm are the two major emission lines of a low-pressure mercury lamp. Upon absorption of VUV photons, water molecules and selected inorganic anions generate hydroxyl (HO) and other redox radicals, both capable of degrading organic micropollutants (OMPs), thereby offering the opportunity to reduce HO and energy consumption in UV-based advanced oxidation process (AOP). To be successfully scaled-up, the dual-wavelength VUV+UV/HO AOP requires laboratory-scale experiments to establish design criteria.

Effects of the Water Matrix on the Degradation of Micropollutants by a Photocatalytic Ceramic Membrane.

The consumption of pharmaceuticals has increased the presence of micropollutants (MPs) in the environment. The removal and degradation of pharmaceutical mixtures in different water matrices are thus of significant importance. The photocatalytic degradation of four micropollutants-diclofenac (DCF), iopamidol (INN), methylene blue (MB), and metoprolol (MTP)-have been analyzed in this study by using a photocatalytic ceramic membrane.

Integration of target analyses, non-target screening and effect-based monitoring to assess OMP related water quality changes in drinking water treatment.

The ever-increasing production and use of chemicals lead to the occurrence of organic micro-pollutants (OMPs) in drinking water sources, and consequently the need for their removal during drinking water treatment. Due to the sheer number of OMPs, monitoring using targeted chemical analyses alone is not sufficient to assess drinking water quality as well as changes thereof during treatment. High-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) based non-target screening (NTS) as well as effect-based monitoring using bioassays are promising monitoring tools for a more complete assessment of water quality and treatment performance.

Degradation of pharmaceuticals in UV (LP)/H₂O₂ reactors simulated by means of kinetic modeling and computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

UV/H2O2 treatment is a well-established technique to degrade organic micropollutants. A CFD model in combination with an advanced kinetic model is presented to predict the degradation of organic micropollutants in UV (LP)/H2O2 reactors, accounting for the hydraulics, fluence rate, complex (photo)chemical reactions in the water matrix and the interactions between these processes. The model incorporates compound degradation by means of direct UV photolysis, OH radical and carbonate radical reactions.