Dra. Laura Hinojosa Reyes   

Emerging contaminants (ECs) in water raise significant scientific concerns due to their unregulated status and potential adverse effects on the environment and human health. Their low concentrations (ng/L to a few µg/L), chemical properties, and persistence hinder their removal by conventional wastewater treatment methods, resulting in frequent detections in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents. The environmental impact of ECs is linked not merely to their concentrations but also their continuous discharge, persistence, and high biological activity. Heterogeneous photocatalysis (HP), an eco-friendly process, has been evaluated as an alternative for efficient EC, offering the possibility of eliminating hazardous chemicals and producing valuable water for various purposes. To ensure the safety of treated water released into the environment by HP, it’s essential to conduct both toxicity tests and chemical analyses, as the high removal of parent compounds does not guarantee a non-toxic effluent. The lecture will provide a detailed overview of comprehensive analytical tools and methodologies that facilitate precise correlation between the degradation efficiency of various ECs and their oxidation degradation mechanisms in ZnO, TiO2, and g-C3N4-based photocatalysts. The application of different analytical techniques for pollutant identification and detection, as well as the characterization of intermediates formed, and ecotoxicity monitoring studies, will be discussed.