Application of catalysts developed from compost derived from municipal solid waste in the removal of caffeine by wet peroxide oxidation
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abstract
Nowadays, waste management through mechanical biological treatment (MBT) consists
on the use of the separated organic fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW) to feed anaerobic
digestion processes, resulting therein a solid stream, further processed to compost, which can
be used as fertilizer. Currently, the production of compost from MBT is higher than the existing
demand, and the expected developments on up-coming directives ruling “End-of-waste” criteria
are leading to barriers on the use of waste-derived fertilizers (European Commision, 2013). In
this context, the current work proposes an alternative strategy to the valorisation of compost,
through the production of low-cost materials to be applied in the catalytic wet peroxide
oxidation (CWPO) of synthetic wastewater effluents contaminated with caffeine, used as a
model pollutant of emerging concern. Caffeine is the most consumed psychoactive drug
worldwide. It is one of the components of painkillers, medication against migraine, fatigue,
drowsiness and breathing problems. Its consumption is also associated with an overall lower
risk of malignant growth like hepatocellular, endometrial or colorectal cancer (Ganzenko et al.,
2015). However, the effect of caffeine and its environmental degradation products on aquatic
living species is not properly known. Caffeine, is a world wide consumed psychoactive drug,
in a way that becomes a persistent compound and cannot be efficiently removed by municipal
wastewater treatment facilities (Ganzenko et al., 2015). As a consequence, caffeine and its
metabolites are present in the effluents of wastewater treatment plants (Gracia-Lor et al., 2017).
This work was financially supported by project “VALORCOMP -
Valorización de compost y otros desechos procedentes de la fracción orgánica de los residuos
municipales”, 0119_VALORCOMP_2_P, and project “AIProcMat@N2020 - Advanced
Industrial Processes and Materials for a Sustainable Northern Region of Portugal 2020”,
reference NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000006, supported by NORTE 2020, under the Portugal
2020 Partnership Agreement, through FEDER, and Project Associate Laboratory LSRE-LCM
- UID/EQU/50020/2019 - funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC).
