How can advanced oxidation processes help the industry develop a circular economy?

The cosmetics industry is constantly evolving, with many brands and companies working hard to offer innovative and effective products. However, like any manufacturing industry, it also generates effluents that need to be treated before being released into the environment.

The cosmetics industry is a water-intensive industry. The reuse of wastewater is therefore increasingly considered by these sectors wishing to develop a circular economy and participate in sustainable water management.

Cosmetic effluents are characterised by their high content of suspended solids (SS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), oils, fats, dyes and micropollutants that can be harmful to the environment if not properly treated. This diversity of pollutants in wastewater leads to the implementation of a combination of technologies for effective treatment.

This combination of technologies most commonly combines a pre-treatment stage to separate fats and oils with a coagulation flocculation stage to agglomerate suspended solids and filtration. A biological treatment is then applied to remove COD and nutrients. However, with the tightening of discharge limits and the increasing need for water reuse, intensive treatment processes can be used to meet the high quality requirements.

Treewater offers effluent treatment solutions based on advanced oxidation technologies combining UVC radiation and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). This technology forms highly oxidising species, hydroxyl radicals, which break down pollutants in the effluent into simpler products such as carbon dioxide and water. This method is very effective in treating cosmetic effluents, as it can remove a wide variety of pollutants, including organic compounds (COD, micropollutants, etc.), surfactants and dyes. This technology can be perfectly integrated upstream of a biological treatment in order to improve the biodegradability of the effluent or downstream in order to eliminate pollutants that are refractory to biological treatment and allow the wastewater to be reused with optimal quality.