Secondary hospital wastewater detoxification and disinfection by advanced oxidation processes.

Secondary hospital wastewater treatment was investigated as an alternative to detoxification and disinfection after anaerobic digestion in a hospital located in southern Brazil. Tertiary and secondary effluents were assessed by general parameters. The use of advanced oxidation processes (UV/O3 and UV/TiO2/O3) showed potential capacity for disinfection and detoxification of wastewater effluents. The UV/TiO2/O3 method yielded the best results, decreasing toxicity of EC50 = 65 to nontoxic levels, also reducing MPN/100ml of 1.1 x 10(6) to values less than 2 and increasing wastewater biodegradability. The low energetic consumption of the proposed UV/TiO2/O3 method can be considered operationally advantageous.