Nouryon and Van Remmen combine technologies to remove medicine residues
Nouryon and Van Remmen UV Technology have partnered to address the growing problem of pharmaceutical micropollutants in waste water. Van Remmen’s Advanox™ and Nouryon’s MicrOx™ have been combined and are now being tested at the waste water treatment plant Växjö in Sweden. Pilot trails started last month.
Persistent molecules
Pharmaceuticals are designed not to be broken down by the human body, meaning that they end up in wastewater treatment plants, which often cannot remove the often complex and persistent molecules. The combination of the Advanox UV reactor, as developed by Van Remmen UV Technology, and the MicrOx hydrogen by Nouryon peroxide, is expected to remove more than 90 percent of pharmaceutical residues.
Growing use of pharmaceuticals
‘Growing global pharmaceutical use is creating a significant pollution problem for urban waste water treatment systems’, said Niek Stapel, managing director pulp and performance chemicals at Nouryon. Stapel: ‘With this advanced water treatment concept, customers in the water treatment market will have access to two proven technologies that together enable measurement, monitoring and means to control micro pollutants in waste water streams.’
Improved oxidation process
Ton van Remmen, CEO at Van Remmen UV Technology, added: ‘Each partner is an expert in a different aspect of water treatment – Van Remmen in UV disinfection and advanced oxidation and Nouryon in peroxide application. By combining our respective know-how, we can offer the improved oxidation solution the world needs to address this growing problem.”
The Advanox technique fill several important functions. In UV/HP the advanced oxidation itself breaks down pharmaceuticals to much simpler molecules which lowers the strain on the ecosystem. Additionally, the relatively high UV dose easily disinfects the water to very safe levels. Any rests of hydrogen peroxide are removed by passing the water through a catalytic filter bed. The hydrogen peroxide is then split up into water and oxygen leaving only clean water to enter the environment.
