Wastewater surveillance and an automated robot: effectively tracking SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the post-epidemic era.

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has exhibited great utility in the early and rapid identification of SARS-CoV-2. However, the efficacy of wastewater surveillance under China's previous strict epidemic prevention policy remains to be described. We collected the WBE data of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen and several communities to determine the significant effectiveness of routine wastewater surveillance in monitoring the local spread of SARS-CoV-2 under tight containment of the epidemic.

Removal of gaseous volatile organic compounds via vacuum ultraviolet photodegradation: Review and prospect.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have attracted much attention for decades as they are the precursors of photochemical smog and are harmful to the environment and human health. Vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photodegradation is a simple and effective method to decompose VOCs (ranging from tens to hundreds of ppmV) without additional oxidants or catalysts in the air at atmospheric pressure. In this paper, we review the research progress of VOCs removal via VUV photodegradation.

Effectiveness and degradation pathways of bisphenol A (BPA) initiated by hydroxyl radicals and sulfate radicals in water: Initial reaction sites based on DFT prediction.

Bisphenol A (BPA), one of the widely known endocrine-disrupting chemicals, can be effectively degraded by advanced oxidation processes in water because of the powerful reactive oxygen species. In this study, Fenton, UV/Fenton, and metal ion/peroxymonosulfate (PMS) processes were compared to investigate BPA degradation efficiency and pathways initiated by hydroxyl radicals and sulfate radicals. In contrast to the Fenton system, which only degraded 60% of BPA within 15 min, the UV/Fenton system could degrade greater than 80% of BPA, because more hydroxyl radicals (•OH) were generated under the reduction of Fe to Fe.