@phdthesis{10902/13101,
year = {2017},
month = {12},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10902/13101},
abstract = {ABSTRACT: The sustainable management of the available water resources represents one of the most important issues that the scientific community has to face. One promising solution is the treatment and reuse of wastewater. Thus, the development of environmental friendly technologies that allow to treat wastewater with low-cost and high efficiency results vital.
Emerging contaminants, which are not completely removed by conventional wastewater treatments, have become a social concern due to their presence in aquatic environments and their negative impact on ecological or human health.  
Advanced oxidation processes seem to be an appropriate group of technologies for wastewater treatment that have shown high effectiveness in the removal of several emerging contaminants. Among them, photocatalysis arises as a sustainable alternative for the removal of these contaminants. However, although its technical viability has been assessed, some challenges still need to be overcome to develop an efficient and sustainable photocatalytic process implemented at industrial scale. 
This thesis aims at the development of the photocatalysis technology through the identification and approach of solutions of its mains challenges for the degradation of emerging contaminants.},
abstract = {RESUMEN: La gestión sostenible de los recursos hídricos disponibles representa uno de los problemas más importantes que la comunidad científica tiene que afrontar. Una solución prometedora es el tratamiento y la reutilización de aguas residuales. Por lo tanto, el desarrollo de tecnologías amigables con el medio ambiente que permitan tratar las aguas residuales con bajo costo y alta eficiencia resulta vital.
Los contaminantes emergentes, que no se eliminan por completo con los tratamientos de aguas residuales convencionales, se han convertido en una preocupación social debido a su presencia en entornos acuáticos y su impacto negativo en la salud ecológica o humana.
Los procesos de oxidación avanzada parecen ser un grupo apropiado de tecnologías para el tratamiento de aguas residuales que han demostrado una gran efectividad en la eliminación de varios contaminantes emergentes. Entre ellos, la fotocatálisis surge como una alternativa sostenible para la eliminación de estos contaminantes. Sin embargo, aunque se ha evaluado su viabilidad técnica, aún quedan algunos desafíos por superar para desarrollar un proceso fotocatalítico eficiente y sostenible implementado a escala industrial.
Esta tesis tiene como objetivo el desarrollo de la tecnología de fotocatálisis a través de la identificación y el enfoque de soluciones de sus principales desafíos para la degradación de contaminantes emergentes.},
organization = {This research was financially supported by the Spanish Ministry of
Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development
Fund through the projects: CTM2012-33917 (MINECO/FEDER, UE),
“Advanced oxidation technologies for the improvement of landfill leachate
treatment”; CTQ2012-31639 (MINECO/FEDER, UE), “New separation
processes with kinetic control based on the use of functionalized
materials”; CTM2015-69845-R (MINECO/FEDER, UE), “New
developments in photocatalysis for environmental applications”;
CTQ2015-66078-R (MINECO/FEDER, UE), “Advanced separation
applications. Modeling and experimental validation”.
Sara Domínguez also would like to express her gratitude to the Spanish
Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for the FPI postgraduate
research grant (BES-2013-064055) and the two predoctoral mobility grants
for conducting short stays in R&D Centers (EEBB-I-15-09465; EEBB-I17-12013).
The first research stay, which lasted four months, was in the
Department of Biomedical, Chemical and Environmental Engineering at
the University of Cincinnati (United States of America) under the
supervision of the professor Dr. Dionysios D. Dionysiou. The second one
lasted two months and a half and was conducted under the supervision of
the professor Dr. Gianluca Li Puma in the Department of Chemical
Engineering at the Loughborough University (United Kingdom).},
title = {Progress and challenges in the photocatalytic removal of emerging contaminants},
author = {Domínguez Suárez, Sara},
}