COD reduction of waste water streams of active pharmaceutical ingredient – Atenolol manufacturing unit by advanced oxidation-Fenton process

Active pharmaceutical intermediates (API) in waste waters have adverse effects on aquatic life and environment. The API have high COD value and low BOD3 and hence difficult to treat biologically. In this study, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) utilizing the H2O2/Fe^+2, Fenton reactions were investigated in lab-scale experiments for the degradation of Atenolol containing waste water streams. The experimental results showed that the Fenton process using H2O2/Fe^+2 was the most effective treatment process. With Fenton processes, COD reduction of wastewater can be achieved successfully. It is suggested that Fenton processes are viable techniques for the degradation of Atenolol from the waste water stream with relatively low toxic by-products in the effluent which can be easily biodegraded in the activated sludge process. Hence, the Fenton process with H2O2/Fe^+2 is considered a suitable pretreatment method to degrade the active pharmaceutical molecules and to improve the biodegradability of waste water.