Assessment of a wide array of organic micropollutants of emerging concern in wastewater treatment plants in Greece: Occurrence, removals, mass loading and potential risks

Fats and oils are the most common pollutants in wastewater, and are usually eliminated through physical processes in wastewater treatment plants, generating large amounts of fats and residual oils that are difficult to dispose of and handle. The degradation of fatty wastewater was studied in a real wastewater treatment plant and a laboratory scale treatment unit. The wastewater treatment plant, located in Chile, was designed for a population of 200,000 inhabitants. It includes an aerobic digester that receives fat and oils retained in a degreaser and treats the fats and oils together with biomass. The biodegradation of fats and oils was analyzed in both wastewater treatment systems. Key parameters were monitored such as the concentration of fats and oils in the influents and effluents, mass loading, and the efficiency of biodegradation. The mass loading range was similar in both wastewater treatment systems. In the experimental activated sludge plant, the biodegradation of fats and oils reached levels in the range of 64% to 75%. For the wastewater treatment plant with an aerobic digester, the levels of biodegradation of fats and oils ranged from 69% to 92%. Therefore, considering the efficiency of the elimination of fats and oils, the results indicated that physical treatment should be replaced with biological treatment so that the CO2 generated by the biodegradation will be incorporated into the carbon cycle and the mass of fats and oils in landfills will be reduced.

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Advanced Wastewater Treatment to Eliminate Organic Micropollutants in Wastewater Treatment Plants in Combination with Energy-Efficient Electrolysis at WWTP Mainz

Energies ◽

10.3390/en13143599 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (14) ◽

pp. 3599 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Oliver Gretzschel ◽

Michael Schäfer ◽

Heidrun Steinmetz ◽

Erich Pick ◽

Kim Kanitz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Municipal Wastewater ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽

Biogas Production ◽

Automatic Frequency ◽

Municipal Wastewater Treatment ◽

Organic Micropollutants ◽

Micropollutant Removal

To achieve the Paris climate protection goals there is an urgent need for action in the energy sector. Innovative concepts in the fields of short-term flexibility, long-term energy storage and energy conversion are required to defossilize all sectors by 2040. Water management is already involved in this field with biogas production and power generation and partly with using flexibility options. However, further steps are possible. Additionally, from a water management perspective, the elimination of organic micropollutants (OMP) is increasingly important. In this feasibility study a concept is presented, reacting to energy surplus and deficits from the energy grid and thus providing the needed long-term storage in combination with the elimination of OMP in municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The concept is based on the operation of an electrolyzer, driven by local power production on the plant (photovoltaic (PV), combined heat and power plant (CHP)-units) as well as renewable energy from the grid (to offer system service: automatic frequency restoration reserve (aFRR)), to produce hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen is fed into the local gas grid and oxygen used for micropollutant removal via upgrading it to ozone. The feasibility of such a concept was examined for the WWTP in Mainz (Germany). It has been shown that despite partially unfavorable boundary conditions concerning renewable surplus energy in the grid, implementing electrolysis operated with regenerative energy in combination with micropollutant removal using ozonation and activated carbon filter is a reasonable and sustainable option for both, the climate and water protection.

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Mass Loading and Fate of Perfluoroalkyl Surfactants in Wastewater Treatment Plants

Environmental Science & Technology ◽

10.1021/es051798v ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 40 (5) ◽

pp. 1408-1414 ◽

Cited By ~ 331

Author(s):

Ewan Sinclair ◽

Kurunthachalam Kannan

Keyword(s):

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽

Mass Loading ◽

Perfluoroalkyl Surfactants

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Occurrence, seasonal variations and removal of Organic Micropollutants in 76 Wastewater Treatment Plants

Process Safety and Environmental Protection ◽

10.1016/j.psep.2020.05.032 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 141 ◽

pp. 61-72 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Camilla Di Marcantonio ◽

Agostina Chiavola ◽

Simona Dossi ◽

Giancarlo Cecchini ◽

Simone Leoni ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Seasonal Variations ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽

Organic Micropollutants

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Wastewater treatment – adsorption of organic micropollutants on activated HTC-carbon derived from sewage sludge

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2015.511 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 73 (3) ◽

pp. 607-616 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Frank Kirschhöfer ◽

Olga Sahin ◽

Gero C. Becker ◽

Florian Meffert ◽

Michael Nusser ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Sewage Sludge ◽

Low Income ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽

Transformation Products ◽

Hydrothermal Carbonization ◽

Organic Content ◽

Low Income Countries ◽

Organic Micropollutants ◽

Wastewater Samples

Organic micropollutants (MPs), in particular xenobiotics and their transformation products, have been detected in the aquatic environment and the main sources of these MPs are wastewater treatment plants. Therefore, an additional cleaning step is necessary. The use of activated carbon (AC) is one approach to providing this additional cleaning. Industrial AC derived from different carbonaceous materials is predominantly produced in low-income countries by polluting processes. In contrast, AC derived from sewage sludge by hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is a regional and sustainable alternative, based on waste material. Our experiments demonstrate that the HTC-AC from sewage sludge was able to remove most of the applied MPs. In fact more than 50% of sulfamethoxazole, diclofenac and bezafibrate were removed from artificial water samples. With the same approach carbamazepine was eliminated to nearly 70% and atrazine more than 80%. In addition a pre-treated (phosphorus-reduced) HTC-AC was able to eliminate 80% of carbamazepine and diclofenac. Atrazine, sulfamethoxazole and bezafibrate were removed to more than 90%. Experiments using real wastewater samples with high organic content (11.1 g m−3) succeeded in proving the adsorption capability of phosphorus-reduced HTC-AC.

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Occurrence of Phthalate Esters in Sewage Sludge from Wastewater Treatment Plants in Shanghai, China

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.864-867.926 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 864-867 ◽

pp. 926-929

Author(s):

Ying Wang ◽

Yue Li ◽

Zhi Hao Wen ◽

Li Zao Liu

Keyword(s):

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Sewage Sludge ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽

Phthalate Esters ◽

Average Concentration ◽

Mass Loading ◽

Commercial Products ◽

The World ◽

Sludge Application

The widely use of phthalate esters (PAEs) in both industry and commercial products leads to their ubiquitous existence in the environment. In this study, sewage samples were collected from Several wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Shanghai, China to investigate the levels and profiles of PAEs. Of the 16 PAEs, DMP, DEP, DnBP, DiBP, DCHP, DEHP, DnNP and DnOP were present in all sludge samples. DEHP and DnBP are found to be the dominant PAEs in sludge, and the average concentration of DEHP in this study is at a medium magnitude in the world. Following sludge application in farmland, the annual mass loading of PAEs is up to 32,000 kg. However, further studies are needed to explore the metabolites of PAEs in sludge since they are easily biodegraded in WWTP process.

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