CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The widespread use of o-phthalaldehyde (OPA) as a high-level disinfectant in healthcare facilities, combined with the lack of efficient disposal practices for the resulting wastewater, has led to growing concerns due to its toxicity and the potential risk of spreading antimicrobial resistance. This study provides the first experimental evidence demonstrating that homogeneous Fenton oxidation, a well-known Advanced Oxidation Technology, can effectively degrade OPA in both commercial formulations and real disinfectant wastewater generated from medical device reprocessing procedures in healthcare settings. To enable a controlled and meaningful comparison between matrices with different complexity, samples were diluted to obtain comparable dissolved organic carbon concentrations. The influence of temperature and iron dose was investigated. Phthalic acid, formed as a by-product, may temporarily hinder the process by generating insoluble iron complexes. However, short-chain carboxylic acids, formed as intermediates, improved iron solubility and sustained catalytic activity. In this sense, the production of these acids was accelerated by the presence of easily oxidizable compounds in the wastewater matrix, contributing to an enhanced treatment. Under the best conditions studied, the treated dilute wastewater was free of residual OPA and hydrogen peroxide, showed no toxicity, did not promote antibiotic resistance in the activated sludge system, and met local discharge standards for chemical oxygen demand and total dissolved iron. This study highlights the need for sustainable strategies to mitigate the risks associated with OPA-containing wastewater, and that further work, likely involving combined approaches, is required to enable the scalable and effective application of Advanced Oxidation Technologies to undiluted wastewater.

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