Radiolysis performance of ibuprofen using ionizing processes: kinetics and energy consumption.

ABSTRACTIonizing technologies are used for disinfection and treatment of different industrial wastewaters. For this purpose, the radiolytic degradation of ibuprofen (IBP), selected within the main detected pharmaceuticals in different water locations with different concentrations, was investigated. Irradiation was performed with a gamma irradiator (60Co) and with electron beam accelerator. The degree of ibuprofen degradation was monitored following the evolution of its absorbance, the residual concentration by HPLC, carbon oxygen demand and total organic carbon. The degradation of IBP was higher than the removal of TOC or COD and reached 95% according to residual concentration. This pollutant (at 0.1 mM) was totally degraded when irradiated at 3 kGy and needed higher doses (7-10 kGy) for the highest concentrations (0.8-1 mM). The addition of 1 mM of persulfate ion remarkably enhanced IBP degradation by around 2 and 2.8 times for 5 and 10 kGy, respectively. Pseudo-first-order reaction kinetics could be used to depict the degradation process of IBP in all conditions. Electrical energy per order (EEO) was estimated under various conditions. The smallest EEO was obtained when gamma radiation and persulfate ion were combined. The possible degradation pathways of IBP were proposed. The results achieved in this study can be used to optimize large-scale application of nuclear techniques in water treatment in particular in treating pharmaceutical effluents.

Development of a rapid method to detect and to monitor bacteriophage amplification in contact with viable but non-culturable bacteria.

We propose in this study to develop a rapid, reliable, and non-culture method to detect and estimate bacteriophage (phage) titre as an alternative to the routine use of the double agar overlay assay (DLA). The present method is based on the analysis of nanoparticle (NPs) dispersion/aggregation dynamic in interaction with the phage. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2-NPs) were used as nanosensors to detect and monitor virions' titres in aqueous samples. Dispersion stability of TiO2-NPs in aqueous suspension was investigated using a UV-Visible spectrophotometer. The comparison of NP spectral profiles with and without phage elucidated the impact of phage's titre on NP dispersion/aggregation behaviour in an aqueous solution. Indeed, the increase of nanoparticle dispersion stability is correlated with the increase of phage titre. Thus, based on this result, the phage was considered as a bio-dispersant agent. The determination of area under spectral profiles limiting the UV region [200-400 nm] was allowed to quantify, and compare the NPs bio-dispersion rate, in relation with added phage at different titres. In this study, this method was applied to monitor the phage amplification cycle for the detection of bacteria in viable but non-culturable (VBNC) state after water treatment by photocatalysis. The analysis of NP bio-dispersion rate shows an increase of TiO2-NP dispersion stability correlated with an increase of free phage titration, mainly after the entry of target bacteria in VBNC state underestimated using a conventional method. Thus, this method could allow the establishment of new recommendations of wastewater treatment and assessment.

Use of bacteriophage to inactivate pathogenic bacteria from wastewater.

The aim of this study was to enhance the rhizobacterium potential in horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland (CW) system planted by Phragmites australis using specific and lytic phages. The bioinoculation of specific bacteriophage for target bacteria; Salmonella typhi, and the monitoring of bacterial inactivation under different conditions showed the effectiveness of this methodology to enhance bacteria reduction and consequentially ameliorate purification performance of this studied biological treatment system. The injection of the phage at a concentration equal to 103 UFP/mL within the rhizosphere of the inoculated filter (F) was allowed 1 U-Log10 of improvement of bacterial inactivation compared to the control filter (T) nearly 1 logarithmic unit thus, a 90% improvement of bacteria reduction. When we increased the phage titer (105 UFP/mL), the bacterial reduction equal to 2.75 U-Log10 (N/N0) was registered that corresponds to a decrease of nearly 99.9%. According to the first-order model, the inactivation coefficient is equal to 2.29 min-1 (0.88 min-1 for the first experiment) and the bacterial reduction rate is 5 times higher than that determined for the control filter. This results show the positive impact of the phage in the bacterial inactivation and the improvement of water treatment of the biofilter C.

Cerium and europium doped TiO2 thin films deposited by a sol-gel dip-coating process: characterization and photocatalytic activity toward dye degradation.

Cerium (Ce) and europium (Eu)-doped TiO2 thin films were obtained by sol-gel dip-coating technique. SEM micrographs showed that the surfaces are covered by agglomerated particles due to the repeating coating process. XRD patterns showed the presence of TiO2 anatase phase. Raman spectra revealed that the peaks recorded at 146 cm-1(Eg) and 397 cm-1(B1g) were related to the anatase phase. EIS measurements proved that Ce-TiO2 (1wt%) and Eu-TiO2 (0.1wt%) photocatalysts possessed a lower electron transfer resistance than pure TiO2, which can lead to effective separation of electron/ hole pairs during the photoreactions. The photoactivity of Ce and Eu-doped TiO2 was investigated by the degradation of amido black10B dye (AB) under UV excitation and varying the initial pH and concentrations. It was found that Eu-TiO2 (0.1wt%) exhibited higher photocatalytic activity, reaching a first-order reaction rate of kapp (0.036min-1), t1/2 was around 12 min and AB removal was 98.94%, under optimal pH of 3.5 and AB concentration of 10ppm compared to (t1/2= 45 min, t1/2=30 min), (kapp= 0.022 min-1, kapp=0.026min-1) and AB removal (94.78%, 96.44%), respectively for pure TiO2 and Ce-TiO2 (1wt%). Further increase in Eu/Ce amount up to optimal concentration (1wt% Ce and 0.1wt% Eu) led to a decrease in the AB removal. The mineralization of AB using Eu-TiO2 photocatalyst was confirmed by HPLC analysis.

Use of the catalytic complex TiO2/red cabbage anthocyanins to reduce the biofilm formation by planktonic bacteria.

The bacterial cells dwelling within the biofilm usually develop resistance against common disinfectants. In this current study, to improve the effectiveness of photocatalytic treatment, a natural sensitizer in combination with unsupported titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2-NPs) was used to optimize the absorbance of NPs in the visible region and, to enhance the catalytic activity of the semiconductor. Different kinetic parameters were determined according to the first-order and the biphasic models to evaluate the ability of tested bacteria to form biofilm under different photocatalytic treatment conditions. As a result, the addition of red cabbage anthocyanins (RCA) as photosensitizer allows the enhancement of biocide activity of TiO2-NPs and the reduction of biofilm formation by tested bacteria.

The application of phage reactivation capacity to sens bacterial viability and activity after photocatalytic treatment.

We purpose in this study to develop a reliable and low-cost method for the detection of Viable but nonculturable (VBNC) bacteria. Indeed, after water disinfection, injured-VBNC bacteria can be underestimated using conventional assessment methods, causing false-negative results and, posing a significant and potential health risk. The VBNC bacterial survival strategy can hide the real microbial quality of treated water. To overcome this bacterial assessment limitation, we were used a specific and lytic phage to monitor the presence of active bacteria; Pseudomonas aeruginosa after photocatalytic treatment. Within 2 h of phage-target bacteria contact, the reduction of phage amplification rate (At) can reveal the ability of specific-lytic phage to recognize and to attach to their host cells with a probability of new infectious phages release despite their lose of cultivability in the usual media. The determination of phage reactivation coefficient (Rt) after 2 and 8 h of phage-target cell contact time reveals the ability of phages to reactive their infectivity and their amplification in positive correlation with their host cells viability and activity. The increase in phage reactivation coefficient (Rt) after an extension of the latent period was directly related to the positive interaction between infectious phages and potential active bacteria. The use of this method can improve the water disinfection process and avoid public health-hazardous especially related to the resuscitation of active-nonculturable bacteria mainly for pathogenic bacteria.

Effect of photocatalysis (TiO2/UVA) on the inactivation and inhibition of Pseudomonas aeruginosa virulence factors expression.

Water disinfection using visible light-active photocatalyst has recently attracted more attention due to its potential to inactivate microbes. In this study, we have investigated the efficiency of photocatalysis (TiO2/UVA) on the inactivation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the attenuation of its virulence factors. For this aim, the photocatalytic effects of TiO2/UVA on the cultivability and viability of P. aeruginosa were investigated. Furthermore, during the photocatalysis, the morphology of the bacterial cells was examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM) while the virulence factors were assessed by protease and lipase activities in addition to the mobility and communication of cells. The results revealed that during the photocatalysis the bacterial cells lost their cultivability and viability on agar under the action of the reactive oxygen species generated by the photocatalytic reaction. In addition, AFM observations have shown a damage of the bacterial membrane and a total disruption of the bacterial cells. Moreover, the major virulence factors such as biofilm, lipase and protease expression have been markedly inhibited by TiO2/UVA treatment. In addition, the bacteria lost their ability of communication 'quorum sensing' and mobility with twitching and swarming types after 60 min of photocatalytic treatment. Accordingly, TiO2/UVA is an effective method to reduce P. aeruginosa virulence and to prevent biofilm formation.

Monitoring of methylene blue monomers and dimers to control the bacterialogical water quality including application to photocatalysis.

In this study, we propose the development of a rapid and reliable method to control and to monitor microbial water quality. The methylene blue (MB) decolorization assay was based on the analysis of spectral profiles of dye in interaction with a different bacterial concentration. The determination of dye decolorization rate (DDR) shows a correlation between the MB reduction rate and the bacterial density. Moreover, the kinetic of the monomer and dimer equilibrium of MB in water mainly, the monitoring of bounded MB species in relationship with a knowed concentration of target bacteria, was allowed to establish a relationship between MB decolorization rate and bacterial density. Furthermore, this method was applied to evaluate the water quality after photocatalysis. Based on this method, the photocatalytic effects on bacterial density was highlighted by the decrease in DDR after photocatalytic treatment with fractioned times (0 to 5 h); this increase was followed by a decrease of bounded MB species and, an increase in free MB forms miming the reduction of bacterial density due to the biocide effects of photocatalysis process. However, the analysis of spectra profiles shows a weak but a continuous decrease in bounded MB dimer and monomer forms in the treated water samples exempt of culturable bacteria. Moreover, the MB spectra profiles were tended toward a negative control spectrum without superposition. Thus, the possibility of the presence of viable but non-culturable bacteria was expected; therefore, to optimize this tertiary water treatment process, an extending on proceeding time was recommended to avoid the bacterial resuscitation after photocatalysis.

Modelling, Analysis, and Optimization of the Effects of Pulsed Electrophoretic Deposition Parameters on TiO2 Films Properties Using Desirability Optimization Methodology.

Titanium dioxide thin films immobilized over treated stainless steel were prepared using the pulsed electrophoretic deposition technique. The effects of process parameters (deposition time, applied voltage, initial concentration, and duty cycle) on photocatalytic efficiency and adhesion properties were investigated. To optimize the multiple properties of the thin film, a response surface methodology was combined with a desirability optimization methodology. Additionally, a quadratic model was established based on response surface analysis. The precision of the models was defined based on the analysis of variance (ANOVA), R2, and the normal plot of residuals. Then, a desirability function was used to optimize the multiple responses of the TiO2 thin film. The optimum values of applied voltage, catalyst concentration, duty cycle, and deposition time were 4 V, 16.34 g/L, 90% DC, and 150 s, respectively. Under these conditions, the decolorization efficiency of tested dye solution reached 82.75%. The values of critical charges LC1, LC2, and LC3 were 5.9 N, 12.5 N, and 16.7 N, respectively.

Characterization of the biofilm grown on 304L stainless steel in urban wastewaters: extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and bacterial consortia.

Characterization of the biofilm growing on stainless steel (SS) in untreated (UTUWW) and treated (TUWW) urban wastewaters was performed. In both media, the first phase of biofilm growth was aerobic, when the genera Caldimonas, Caulobacter, Terriglobus and Edaphobacter (iron oxidizing bacteria [IOB]) and the genera Bacillus, Sulfurimonas, Syntrophobacter and Desulfobacter (sulfur oxidizing bacteria [SOB]) were identified. In the second phase, established after immersion for 7 days, the high amount of EPS inhibited the access of oxygen and promoted the growth of anaerobic bacteria, which were the genus Shewanella (iron-reducing bacterium [IRB]) and the genera Desulfovirga, Desulfovibrio, Desulfuromusa, Desulfococcus, and Desulfosarcina (sulfate-reducing bacteria [SRB]). Electrochemical measurements showed that in the first stage, the aerobic bacteria and the high amount of EPS delayed the cathodic reduction of oxygen. However, in the second stage, EPS and the anaerobic bacteria promoted anodic dissolution.

Detection of active pathogenic bacteria under stress conditions using lytic and specific phage.

In this study, we have monitored the potential activity of a foodborne and waterborne pathogenic bacterium, Salmonella typhi, under starvation conditions. The interaction between lytic phage and starved-VBNC pathogenic bacteria was studied to establish reliable methods for the detection of active cells before resuscitation. The analysis of phage kinetic parameters has demonstrated the flexibility of lytic with the quantity and mainly the quality of host cells. After 2 h of phage-starved-VBNC bacteria interaction, the reduction of phage amplification rate can reveal the ability of specific-lytic phage to recognize and to attach to their host cells with a probability of burst and release of infectious phages by active bacteria. After an extension of the latent period, the boost of the phage amplification rate was directly related to the positive interaction between potential intracellular 'engaged' phages and potential active bacteria. Furthermore, the modeling of the Salmonella-specific phage growth cycle in relationship with starved host cells can highlight the impact of the viability and the activity state of the host cells on the phage's growth cycle.

Enhancement of rhizocompetence in pathogenic bacteria removal of a constructed wetland system.

The main goal of the present study was to enhance the rhizobacterium potential in a horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland system planted with Phragmites australis, through environmentally friendly biological approaches. The bioinoculation of antagonist bacteria has been used to promote higher rhizosphere competence and improve pathogenic bacteria removal from wastewater. The experiment was performed both with single and sequential bioinoculation. The results showed that strain PFH1 played an active role in pathogenic bacteria removal, remarkably improving inactivation kinetics of the pathogenic tested bacterium Salmonella typhi in the plant rhizosphere. The single bioinoculation of selected bacteria into the rhizosphere of P. australis improved the kinetics of S. typhi inactivation by approximately 1 U-Log10 (N/N0) (N is the number of viable cultured bacteria at time t, N0 is the number of viable and cultivable bacteria at time t0) compared to the control. By a series of multi-bioinoculations, the enhancement of pathogenic bacteria reduction compared to the inhibition rate in the pilot-scale control was of 2 U-Log10(N/N0). These findings suggested that this strain represents a promising candidate to enhance water purification in constructed wetlands.

A re-circulating horizontal flow constructed wetland for the treatment of synthetic azo dye at high concentrations.

A re-circulating horizontal flow constructed wetland (RHFCW) system was developed in a greenhouse. This system was operated with Typha domingensis to study the phytoremediation capacity of this macrophyte species in different developing stages for synthetic textile wastewater with the pollutant type, the amaranth (AM) azo dye. Experiments were applied with a fixed flow rate Q = 10 L/h corresponding to a theoretical residence time of 3 h. The synthetic feeding to the RHFCW container was re-circulated back until the required water quality was achieved. The performance of this pilot-scale system was compared to an unplanted RHFCW. The effect of the initial dye concentration was studied using four dye concentrations (10, 15, 20, and 25 mg/L). The following parameters pH, color, COD, BOD5, NO3-, NO2-, and NH4+ were monitored during treatment. The maximum efficiencies obtained for discoloration, COD, NO3-, and NH4+ were 92 ± 0.14%, 56 ± 1.12%, 92 ± 0.34%, and 97 ± 0.17% respectively. Experiences demonstrate a decrease of removal efficiencies of studied parameters with the increase of dye concentrations, leading to an increase of the duration of treatment. Changes in activities of antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase (SOD), guaiacol peroxidase (GPX), catalase (CAT), ascorbic peroxidase (APX), and glutathione reductase (GR)) and their relation to plant defense system against stress were studied. Enzymes were evaluated in leaves of T. domingensis during the remediation of the azo dye (amaranth). During treatment, an increase of enzymes activities was observed in accordance with the high removal efficiency.

Steady-state modeling of the biodegradation performance of a multistage moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) used for on-site greywater treatment.

In this study, the Activated Sludge Model No. 3 (ASM3) was applied for the simulation of the removal of organics and nitrogen in a multistage moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) used for biological greywater treatment. The data related to the characterization of the greywater were collected over a period of 5 months to be investigated in the model. The reactor showed a high performance for the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), biological oxygen demand (BOD5), ammonia (NH4-N), and total nitrogen (TN) with a removal efficiency of 93%, 80.7%, 99%, 89%, and 77%, respectively. The results of modeling showed a good correlation between simulated and experimental concentrations of COD issued from different reactors of the MBBR system. The adaptability of the ASM3 model to fit other parameters such as TN, NH4-N, total suspended solids (TSS), and the dissolved oxygen (DO) was also investigated for two selected reactors: reactor (R1) and the reactor (R5). The simulation results showed an acceptable correlation regarding the evolution of the investigated parameters in R1 and R5 and in the effluent except for total nitrogen TN. The adjustment of the stoichiometric parameters led to a satisfactory simulation of TN concentrations.

Highly efficient modified lead oxide electrode using a spin coating/electrodeposition mode on titanium for electrochemical treatment of pharmaceutical pollutant.

In this study, Ti/TiO2/PbO2 anodes consisting of a PbO2 coating growth on the TiO2 interlayer deposited on titanium substrates were prepared combining different deposition technics: electrochemical method using anodization (Anod), electrodeposition (EL), and sol gel spin coating (SG). Different kinds of anodes have been tested for the removal of ampicillin, a pharmaceutical pollutant, from water. The structure and the surface morphology of the prepared multiple coatings were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Energy-Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy respectively. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was also investigated in order to study the electrocatalytic activity of the anodes. The performance of the electrodes was evaluated through high performance liquid chromatography and chemical oxygen demand (COD) measurements. It was noticed that ampicillin could be mineralized by anodic oxidation process using Ti/TiO2/PbO2 anodes. The best results were obtained for Ti/TiO2SG/PbO2EL as anode with a 64% of COD removal after 300 min of treatment and a fast decrease in the amount of ampicillin was reached after almost one hour. Experimental results demonstrate that Ti/TiO2SG/PbO2EL anode presents the best ability for the degradation of ampicillin through anodic oxidation compared to the Ti/TiO2SG/PbO2SG and Ti/TiO2Anod/PbO2EL electrodes.

Comparative study of Gram-negative bacteria response to solar photocatalytic inactivation.

Solar photocatalytic inactivation of Gram-negative bacteria with immobilized TiO2-P25 in a fixed-bed reactor was modeled with simplified kinetic equations. The kinetic parameters are the following: the photocatalytic inactivation coefficient (kd,QUV), the initial bacterial reduction rate (A) in the contact with the disinfecting agent, and the threshold level of damage (n) were determined to report the effect of QUV/TiO2-P25 on bacterial cultivability and viability and to compare the response of bacterial strains to photocatalytic treatment. In addition, the integration of the reactivation coefficient (Cr) in the photocatalytic inactivation equation allowed evaluating the ability of bacterial reactivation after photocatalytic stress. Results showed different responses of the bacteria strains to photocatalytic stress and the ability of certain bacterial strains such as Escherichia coli ATCC25922 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC4114 to resuscitate after photocatalytic treatment.

Comparative study of electrochemical hybrid systems for the treatment of real wastewaters from agri-food activities.

Agri-food wastewaters are characterized by high contents of hardly biodegradable organics and large amounts of inorganics especially nitrogen and phosphorus. The present work investigates the efficiency of two electrochemical treatment processes, namely electrochemical oxidation/reduction (EOR), electrocoagulation (EC) and their combination for the treatment of two types of effluents collected from poultry slaughterhouse (SHWW) and dairy (DWW) industries. The optimization of these treatment systems in terms of pollutant performance removal and energy cost were carried out. The EOR treatment was assessed on a bipolar cell with Boron-Doped Diamond (BDD) supported on silicon electrodes. While, the EC treatment was performed on a reactor containing mild steel electrodes with parallel configuration. The simultaneous removal efficiencies of the organic matter in term of the chemical oxygen demand (COD), nitrates, ammonium/ammonia and phosphates, as well as the electric energy consumption (EEC), were evaluated for the different electrochemical scenarios. Results indicated that the EOR treatment shows the highest removal efficiencies of COD, nitrates and ammonia from the two studied wastewaters. While, the phosphates were removed only by the EC process. On the other hand, the EC process shows a relatively low cost in term of EEC (0.01 kWh/g COD-1), which is about 13 times lower than the one consumed during the EOR process. The combination of the two processes leads to the improvement of the removal rate of all coexistent pollutants when the EC technology was used as a pre-treatment step. While, this coupling mode has the highest EEC. However, when the EOR process was used before the EC one, the removal rates of COD and nitrates were globally similar to the EOR process alone with a relatively low EEC.

Process optimization via response surface methodology in the physico-chemical treatment of vegetable oil refinery wastewater.

The present paper investigates the efficiency of coagulation/flocculation process using aluminum sulfate as coagulant and CHT industrial flocculent as coagulant aid/flocculent in the treatment of vegetable oil refinery wastewater (VORW). The process optimization was conducted in two steps, jar test experiments for preliminary evaluation to identify the most influencing factors and response surface methodology using Box-Behnken design to investigate the effects of three major factors and their interactions. The variables involved were the coagulant concentration (X1), flocculent dosage (X2), and initial pH (X3) of water samples, while the responses were COD removal (Y1) and residual turbidity (Y2). The optimal conditions obtained by solving the quadratic regression models, as well as by analyzing the response surface contour plots, were as follows: 2.4 g/L of coagulant (aluminum sulfate), 60.05 mg/L of flocculent, and about 9.23 as initial pH. Under these conditions, the coagulation/flocculation treatment was able to achieve 99% of COD removal with total turbidity elimination (100% removal). Analysis of variance showed high variance coefficient (R2) values of 0.929 and 0.836 for COD and turbidity removals, respectively, thus ensuring a satisfactory adjustment of the second-order regression model with the experimental data. This statistical design methodology was demonstrated as an efficient and feasible approach for the optimization of coagulation/flocculation treatment.

A comparative study on ozone, hydrogen peroxide and UV based advanced oxidation processes for efficient removal of diethyl phthalate in water.

Several Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) including O3/H2O2, O3/TiO2, O3/activated carbon (AC), O3/Al2O3, O3/Fe2+/H2O2 and UV/TiO2 have been investigated and compared for the removal of diethyl phthalate (DEP), an endocrine disrupting compound, in aqueous solutions. Hydroxyl radicals were the main species responsible for DEP degradation and this was supported by computational chemistry calculation, scavenger experiments, and LC/MS/MS analysis. The change of the abundance of reaction products over time was determined. Organic acids as well as anhydride and hydroxylated products were found to accumulate in solution even after long reaction time (2 h). Careful choice of the operating parameters (pH, ozone concentration and catalyst dosage) was crucial to achieve enhanced performance of the combined processes above what each oxidant and catalyst can achieve alone. O3/AC process was found to reduce the oxidation efficiency of O3 at high ozone concentrations. Heterogeneous catalytic ozonation with Al2O3 was the most effective process for DEP removal (∼100% removal in about 15 min) and based on pseudo-first-order kinetics at pH7, the studied oxidation processes followed the order: O3/Al2O3(0.093 min-1)>O3/H2O2/Fe2+(0.076 min-1)>O3/AC(0.069 min-1)>O3/H2O2(0.053 min-1)>O3/TiO2(0.050 min-1)> O3 alone (0.039 min-1)>UV/TiO2(0.009 min-1).

Effect of coating method on the structure and properties of a novel PbO2 anode for electrochemical oxidation of Amaranth dye.

This study deals with the electrochemical degradation of Amaranth in aqueous solution by means of stainless steel (SS) electrodes coated with a SiOx interlayer deposited by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition and a modified PbO2 top layer deposited by continuous galvanostatic electrodeposition. The morphological characterization of the PbO2 top-layer performed by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope put in evidence that the SiOx, interlayer allows obtaining a more integrated PbO2/SS electrode with a very homogeneous PbO2 film. The composition of the lead oxide layer was investigated by X-ray Diffractometry, showing that the ß-PbO2/α-PbO2 ratio in the top layer deposited on the SiOx film was four times higher respect to the one deposited directly on the stainless steel surface. In addition, the electrochemical behaviour of SS/SiOx/PbO2 interfaces was studied by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The EIS results showed that the presence of SiOx favors electron transfer within the oxide layer which improves electro-oxidation capability. Moreover, bulk electrolysis showed that over 100% colour removal and 84% COD removal, using SS/SiOx/PbO2 at acidic pH were reached after 300 min. High Performance Liquid Chromatography analysis was used for the quantitative determinations of initial Amaranth dye molecule removal and to evaluate its specific degradation rate. In order to evaluate the phototoxicity of treated solution with different by-products, different tests of germination were performed and proved that the electrochemical treatment with modified PbO2 could be as an efficient technology for reducing hazardous wastewater toxicity and able to produce water available for reuse.