Recent progress in mineralization of emerging contaminants by advanced oxidation process: A review.

Emerging contaminants are chemicals generated due to the usage of pesticide, endocrine disrupting compounds, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products and are liberated into the environment in trace quantities. The emerging contaminants eventually become a greater menace to living beings owing to their wide range and inhibitory action. To diminish these emerging contaminants from the environment, an Advanced Oxidation Process was considered as an efficient option. The Advanced Oxidation Process is an efficient method for mineralizing fractional or generous contaminants due to the generation of reactive species. The primary aim of this review paper is to provide a thorough knowledge on different Advanced Oxidation Process methods and to assess their mineralization efficacy of emerging contaminants. This study indicates the need for an integrated process for enhancing the treatment efficiency and overcoming the drawbacks of the individual Advanced Oxidation Process. Further, its application concerning technical and economic aspects is reviewed. Until now, most of the studies have been based on lab or pilot scale and do not represent the actual scenario of the emerging contaminant mineralization. Thus, the scaling up of the process was discussed, and the major challenges in large scale implementation were pointed out.

Synergistic effect of TiO2 nanostructured cathode in microbial fuel cell for bioelectricity enhancement.

Nano-bedecking of electrode with nanoparticles is an effective method to improve power generation of microbial fuel cells (MFCs). In this study, different concentrations (0.25 mg cm-2, 0.50 mg cm-2, 0.75 mg cm-2 and 1.0 mg cm-2) of TiO2 nanoparticles of size 10-25 nm were overlaid on the carbon cloth (CC) using spray pyrolysis technique and used as catalytic cathode in a dual-chambered microbial fuel cell treating distillery wastewater. Results evidenced that TiO2 nanoparticles modified cathode increased the power generation and recorded a highest power and current density of 162.5 ± 2 mW m-2 and 1.4 ± 0.005 A m-2, respectively. Carbon cloth coated with 0.50 mg cm-2 TiO2 nanoparticles showed 2.8 and 7.3 times higher current and power density as compared to uncoated cathode. MFC operated at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) and organic loading rate (OLR) of 72 h and 59.2 g COD L-1 d-1 showed a maximum chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal of 72.3% which was 15.3% higher than the control MFC. Likewise, the coulombic efficiency of control and modified MFC was 33% and 44%, respectively. The maximum NO3-- N, NO2-- N and NH4+- N removal efficiency of 77.3%, 49.9% and 59.4% were observed for TiO2 nanoparticles modified electrode which was 19.3%, 11.4% and 10.5% higher than control. TiO2 modified cathode was effective in enhancing the bioelectricity generation in MFCs.