Decomposition of diclofenac in sewage from municipal wastewater treatment plant using ionizing radiation

Abstract The decomposition of diclofenac (DCF) in sewage sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plant was investigated. It was found that adsorption of DCF on sludge is about 40%. Compared to previous studies, where the degradation yield in aqueous solution was 100%, in those experiments at the dose up to 5 kGy, only 50% of initial DCF concentration of 50 mg L−1 was decomposed in sediment and in solution over the sediment. The experiments were carried out using both gamma radiation and electron beam. It has been observed that DCF in the aqueous phase, above the sediment, was decomposed with the same efficiency using both gamma radiation and electron beam. Whereas for DCF in the sediment, a higher degradation efficiency was found when gamma radiation was applied. This is most likely due to the limited penetration depth of the electron beam into the sludge layer. It was shown that the applied peroxide addition (in a stoichiometric amount needed for complete mineralization of 50 mg L−1 DCF) did not cause increase in yield of DCF decomposition.