The aquatic environment becomes increasingly contaminated by anthropogenic pollutants such as pharmaceutical residues. Due to poor biodegradation and continuous discharge of persistent compounds in sewage water samples, pharmaceutical residues might end up in surface waters when not removed. To minimize this pollution, onsite wastewater treatment techniques might complement conventional waste water treatment plants (WWTPs). Advanced oxidation processes are useful techniques, since reactive oxygen species (ROS) are used for the degradation of unwanted medicine residues. In this paper we have studied the advanced oxidation in a controlled laboratory setting using thermal plasma and UV/H₂O₂ treatment. Five different matrices, Milli-Q water, tap water, synthetic urine, diluted urine and synthetic sewage water were spiked with 14 pharmaceuticals with a concentration of 5μg/L. All compounds were reduced or completely decomposed by both 150 W thermal plasma and UV/H₂O₂ treatment. Additionally, also hospital sewage water was tested. First the concentrations of 10 pharmaceutical residues were determined by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The pharmaceutical concentration ranged from 0.08 up to 2400 μg/L. With the application of 150 W thermal plasma or UV/H₂O₂, it was found that overall pharmaceutical degradation in hospital sewage water were nearly equivalent to the results obtained in the synthetic sewage water. However, based on the chemical abatement kinetics it was demonstrated that the degree of degradation decreases with increasing matrix complexity. Since reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) are continuously produced, thermal plasma treatment has the advantage over UV/H₂O₂ treatment.

水生环境越来越受到人为污染物（例如药物残留）的污染。由于不良的生物降解作用和污水样品中持久性化合物的连续排放，如果不清除残留的药物，可能会残留在地表水中。为了最大程度地减少这种污染，现场废水处理技术可能会补充常规废水处理厂（WWTP）。先进的氧化工艺是有用的技术，因为活性氧（ROS）用于降解不需要的药物残留。在本文中，我们研究了在受控实验室环境中使用热等离子体和UV / H ₂ O ₂进行的高级氧化治疗。在5种不同的基质（Milli-Q水，自来水，合成尿，稀释尿和合成污水）中加入了14种浓度为5μg/ L的药物。通过150 W热等离子体和UV / H ₂ O ₂处理，所有化合物均被还原或完全分解。此外，还对医院污水进行了测试。首先，通过液相色谱质谱法（LC-MS / MS）确定10种药物残留的浓度。药物浓度范围为0.08至2400μg/ L。使用150 W热等离子体或UV / H ₂ O ₂，发现医院污水中的总药物降解几乎与合成污水中的结果相当。然而，基于化学消除动力学，证明降解程度随着基质复杂度的增加而降低。由于连续产生活性氧和氮物质（RONS），因此热等离子体处理相对于UV / H ₂ O ₂处理具有优势。