Alternative new technologies are urgently needed to overcome the rapidly increasing global water scarcity. Atmospheric dew water is a potential source of potable water, as the earth’s atmosphere contains billions of tons of fresh water (98% in a vapor state). The atmospheric water generator (AWG) converts water vapor into liquid water and is a promising solution for water scarcity. We provide the first comprehensive analysis of the chemical profiles of water produced for several months by an AWG in the city of Tel Aviv, Israel. Metals, inorganic ions, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and semi-VOCs were analyzed in the dew water. The main elements found were ammonium, calcium, sulfate, and nitrate. Location of the sampling site in an urban residential area, between major traffic routes, likely affected the chemical composition of the produced dew water. Nevertheless, the produced water nearly always (day and night in different seasons) met the WHO and Israeli drinking water standards. Thus, even in a highly developed urban environment, the AWG offers an excellent alternative source of safe drinking water throughout the year.

The efficiency of an advanced oxidation process (AOP) using direct and indirect ozonation for the removal of pharmaceutical residues from deliberately spiked deionized water was examined. Both direct and indirect ozonation demonstrated 34% to 100% removal of the parent compounds. However, based on the products’ chemical structure and toxicity, we suggest that despite using accepted and affordable ozone and radical concentrations, the six parent compounds were not fully degraded, but merely transformed into 25 new intermediate products. The transformation products (TPs) differed slightly in structure but were mostly similar to their parent compounds in their persistence, stability and toxicity; a few of the TPs were found to be even more toxic than their parent compounds. Therefore, an additional treatment is required to improve and upgrade the traditional AOP toward degradation and removal of both parent compounds and their TPs for safer release into the environment.

Plastic products in municipal solid waste result in the extraction of phthalates in leachate that also contains large amounts of organic matter, such as humic substances, ammonia, metals, chlorinated organics, phenolic compounds, and pesticide residues. Phthalate esters are endocrine disruptors, categorized as a priority pollutant by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). Biological processes are inefficient at degrading phthalates due to their stability and toxic characteristics. In this study, the peroxone (ozone/hydrogen peroxide) process (O₃/H₂O₂), an O₃-based advanced oxidation process (AOP), was demonstrated for the removal of diethyl phthalate (DEP) in synthetic leachate simulating solid-waste leachate from an open dump. The impact of the O₃ dose during DEP degradation; the formation of ozonation intermediate by-products; and the effects of H₂O₂ dose, pH, and ultraviolet absorbance at 254 nm (UVC) were determined during ozonation. Removal of 99.9% of an initial 20 mg/L DEP was obtained via 120 min of ozonation (transferred O₃ dose = 4971 mg/L) with 40 mg/L H₂O₂ in a semi-batch O₃ system. Degradation mechanisms of DEP along with its intermediate products were also determined for the AOP treatment. Indirect OH radical exposure was determined by using a radical probe compound (pCBA) in the O₃ treatment.