New insights reveal how advanced oxidation can tackle emerging water pollutants
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Removal of new contaminants from wastewater through advanced oxidation processes - a perspective
view moreCredit: Maoxi Ran, Tingqi Gong & Zhenwu Tang
Scientists have taken a major step toward improving how wastewater treatment systems deal with emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, antibiotics, and endocrine disrupting chemicals. In a new perspective article published in New Contaminants, researchers present a comprehensive framework explaining how advanced oxidation processes, or AOPs, remove these hard to eliminate pollutants from water.
Emerging contaminants are often present at very low concentrations, but they can pose long term risks to ecosystems and human health. Many conventional treatment technologies struggle to remove them completely or efficiently. Advanced oxidation processes have attracted growing attention because they generate highly reactive chemical species that can break down even persistent organic compounds.
The new study reviews AOPs based on three powerful oxidants: persulfate, peracetic acid, and periodate. Among these, persulfate based systems receive special focus due to their stability, flexibility, and strong oxidation capability. The authors identify four major reaction pathways that govern how these systems work: radical oxidation, nonradical oxidation, electron transfer, and polymerization.
“Understanding which pathway dominates under specific conditions is essential for designing treatment systems that are both effective and practical,” said lead author Maoxi Ran of Southwest University. “Without this mechanistic clarity, it is difficult to optimize catalysts, control byproducts, or scale up these technologies for real wastewater.”
The paper highlights that traditional radical based oxidation, while powerful, can be easily disrupted by natural organic matter and common ions in water. In contrast, nonradical pathways such as singlet oxygen and high valent metal oxo species offer higher selectivity and stability, making them especially promising for complex water matrices.
Another emerging concept discussed in the article is polymerization driven removal, in which pollutants are transformed into larger, more stable compounds that can be captured on catalyst surfaces. This approach challenges the long held assumption that complete mineralization is always the ideal goal, and opens new possibilities for low energy and resource efficient water treatment.
“This perspective is not just about reviewing what has been done,” said corresponding author Zhenwu Tang. “We aim to guide future research toward smarter catalyst design, better control of reaction pathways, and real world applicability.”
Looking ahead, the authors emphasize the need for data driven catalyst design, studies involving multiple coexisting pollutants, and systematic evaluation of environmental impacts. Together, these advances could help move advanced oxidation processes from the laboratory to full scale wastewater treatment plants, supporting cleaner water and more sustainable environmental management.
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Journal reference: Ran M, Gong T, Tang ZW. 2025. Removal of new contaminants from wastewater through advanced oxidation processes - a perspective. New Contaminants 1: e020
https://www.maxapress.com/article/doi/10.48130/newcontam-0025-0020
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About the Journal:
New Contaminants (e-ISSN 3069-7603) is an open-access journal focusing on research related to emerging pollutants and their remediation.
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Article Title
Removal of new contaminants from wastewater through advanced oxidation processes - a perspective
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