Uddin, Mohsin
Mohsin
Uddin
Presentation: 2026 ND EPSCoR Annual conference
October 20, 2026, Minot, North Dakota
Removal of Organic Micropollutants by Far-UVC (222 nm)/Ozone Advanced Oxidation
Mohsin
Uddin
Doctoral Student
North Dakota State University
Jiale Xu, Assistant Professor, NDSU
Session
Concurrent Presentation Session A, Rhodes Room
Far-UVC (222 nm)-based advanced oxidation process (AOP) is one of the promising solutions for the removal of organic micropollutants (OMPs) from water. This study evaluated the performance of a UV222/ozone treatment for the degradation of atrazine (ATR), bisphenol A (BPA), and 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). For all three compounds, UV222/ozone showed substantially enhanced degradation compared with ozone and UV222 alone, demonstrating the synergistic effect of simultaneous UV222 irradiation and ozonation. Among the OMPs, ATR showed the highest decay rate (1.14 × 10-2 cm2/mJ), followed by BPA (6.29 × 10-3 cm2/mJ) and 4-NP (1.66 × 10-3 cm2/mJ). UV222/ozone exhibited removal efficiencies comparable to UV222/H2O2. The influence of background water chemistry was also investigated using nitrate-containing water, varying pH conditions (pH 5, 7, and 9), and real surface water. Nitrate enhanced OMP degradation, with the highest decay rates observed at 5 mg-N/L nitrate, where fluence-rate-normalized decay constants reached 2.37 × 10-2 cm2/mJ for ATR, 1.49 × 10-2 cm2/mJ BPA, and 2.55 × 10-3 cm2/mJ 4-NP. These results suggest additional reactive species generation and indirect photolysis in UV/nitrate system. Increasing pH improved degradation rates for the OMPs, likely due to accelerated ozone decomposition and .OH generation. At pH 9, decay rates reached 1.54 × 10-2 cm2/mJ, 8.46 × 10-3 cm2/mJ, and 1.81 × 10-3 cm2/mJ for ATR, BPA, and 4-NP, respectively. UV222/ozone treatment also achieved measurable degradation in real surface water samples, although lower than those observed in DI water. These findings demonstrate that UV222/ozone is a promising treatment strategy for OMP removal.
