Résumé
Performic acid (PFA) is an emerging disinfection oxidant increasingly used in wastewater treatment. This study investigated the effectiveness of PFA activated by UV-C photolysis for the removal of 6 pharmaceutical compounds. Compared to PFA alone, PFA/UV was found to be more efficient, with pseudo-first-order rate constants of the pharmaceutical compounds varying between 4.76 ± 0.32 x10－3 and 1.14 ± 0.46 min－1, with CBZ being the least reactive and DCF the most reactive compound. Comparison between PFA/UV and H2O2/UV processes revealed that the PFA/UV process was more efficient in removing pharmaceutical compounds due to the production of specific reactive radicals during the process and not only OH° radicals. In addition, the reactivity of furosemide was found to be highly influenced by these specific radicals, rather than OH° radicals, as demonstrated by its rate constant being 15 times higher in the PFA/UV process compared to H2O2/UV. The removal of pharmaceuticals in treated wastewater effluent resulted in a removal rate ranging from 30% to 60%, with DCF being the most effectively removed compound, as expected due to its high pseudo-first-order rate constant in phosphate buffer solution.