Comparative Assessment of the Environmental Sustainability of Existing and Emerging Perchlorate Treatment Technologies for Drinking Water

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (9) ◽  
pp. 4644-4652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jong Kwon Choe ◽  
Michelle H. Mehnert ◽  
Jeremy S. Guest ◽  
Timothy J. Strathmann ◽  
Charles J. Werth
Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1094
Author(s):  
Emily S. Bailey ◽  
Nikki Beetsch ◽  
Douglas A. Wait ◽  
Hemali H. Oza ◽  
Nirmala Ronnie ◽  
...  

It is estimated that 780 million people do not have access to improved drinking water sources and approximately 2 billion people use fecally contaminated drinking water. Effective point-of-use water treatment systems (POU) can provide water with sufficiently reduced concentrations of pathogenic enteric microorganisms to not pose significant health risks to consumers. Household water treatment (HWT) systems utilize various technologies that physically remove and/or inactivate pathogens. A limited number of governmental and other institutional entities have developed testing protocols to evaluate the performance of POU water treatment systems. Such testing protocols are essential to documenting effective performance because inferior and ineffective POU treatment technologies are thought to be in widespread use. This critical review examines specific practices, procedures and specification of widely available POU system evaluation protocols. Testing protocols should provide standardized and detailed instructions yet be sufficiently flexible to deal with different treatment technologies, test microbe priorities and choices, testing facility capabilities and public health needs. Appropriate infectivity or culture assays should be used to quantify test enteric bacteria, viruses and protozoan parasites, or other appropriate surrogates or substitutes for them, although processes based on physical removal can be tested by methods that detect microbes as particles. Recommendations include further research of stock microbe production and handling methods to consistently yield test microbes in a realistic state of aggregation and, in the case of bacteria, appropriately physiologically stressed. Bacterial quantification methods should address the phenomenon of bacterial injury and repair in order to maximally recover those that are culturable and potentially infectious. It is only with harmonized national and international testing protocols and performance targets that independent and unbiased testing can be done to assure consumers that POU treatment technologies are able to produce water of high microbial quality and low health risk.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 883
Author(s):  
Changjuan Dong ◽  
Xiaomei Wu ◽  
Zhanyi Gao ◽  
Peiling Yang ◽  
Mohd Yawar Ali Khan

Inefficient and non-environmentally friendly absorbent production can lead to much resource waste and go against low carbon and sustainable development. A novel and efficient Mg-Fe-Ce (MFC) complex metal oxide absorbent of fluoride ion (F−) removal was proposed for safe, environmentally friendly, and sustainable drinking water management. A series of optimization and preparation processes for the adsorbent and batch experiments (e.g., effects of solution pH, adsorption kinetics, adsorption isotherms, effects of coexisting anions, as well as surface properties tests) were carried out to analyze the characteristics of the adsorbent. The results indicated that optimum removal of F− occurred in a pH range of 4–5.5, and higher adsorption performances also happened under neutral pH conditions. The kinetic data under 10 and 50 mg·g−1 were found to be suitable for the pseudo-second-order adsorption rate model, and the two-site Langmuir model was ideal for adsorption isotherm data as compared to the one-site Langmuir model. According to the two-site Langmuir model, the maximum adsorption capacity calculated at pH 7.0 ± 0.2 was 204 mg·g−1. The adsorption of F− was not affected by the presence of sulfate (SO42−), nitrate (NO3−), and chloride (Cl−), which was suitable for practical applications in drinking water with high F− concentration. The MFC adsorbent has an amorphous structure, and there was an exchange reaction between OH− and F−. The novel MFC adsorbent was proven to have higher efficiency, better economy, and environmental sustainability, and be more environmentally friendly.


Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasios Zouboulis ◽  
Ioannis Katsoyiannis

The present Special Issue brought together recent research findings from renowned scientists in this field and assembled contributions on advanced technologies that have been applied to the treatment of wastewater and drinking water, with an emphasis on novel membrane treatment technologies. The 12 research contributions highlight various processes and technologies that can achieve the effective treatment and purification of wastewater and drinking water, aiming (occasionally) for water reuse. The published papers can be classified into three major categories. (a) First, there are those that investigate the application of membrane treatment processes, either directly or in hybrid processes. The role of organic matter presence and fouling control is the main aim of the research in some of these studies. (b) Second, there are studies that investigate the application of adsorptive processes for the removal of contaminants from waters, such as arsenic, antimony, or chromate, with the aim of the efficient removal of the toxic contaminants from water or wastewater. (c) Lastly, there are studies that include novel aspects of oxidative treatment such as bubbleless ozonation.


Catalysts ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 771
Author(s):  
Mattia Costamagna ◽  
Nuno P. F. Gonçalves ◽  
Alessandra Bianco Prevot

Persistent organic pollutants have been increasingly detected in natural waters, and this represents a real challenge to the quality of this resource. To remove these species, advanced treatment technologies are required. Among these technologies, Fenton-like and photo-Fenton-like processes have been investigated for the removal of pollutants from water. Delicate aspects of photo-Fenton processes are that light-driven processes are energy intensive and require a fair amount of chemical inputs, which strongly affects their overall environmental burdens. At present, aside from determining the efficiency of the processes to remove pollutants of a particular technology, it becomes fundamental to assess also the environmental sustainability of the overall process. In this work, the methodology of the life cycle assessment (LCA) was applied to identify the hotspots of using magnetite particles covered with humic acid (Fe3O4/HA) as a heterogeneous photo-Fenton catalyst for water remediation. The sustainability of the overall process was considered, and a comparative LCA study was performed between H2O2 and persulfate activation at different pH. The addition of humic substances to the particles allows the effectiveness of the catalyst to improve without increasing the environmental impacts; these processes are strongly correlated with energy consumption and therefore with the efficiency of the process. For this reason, working at acidic pH allows us to contain the impacts.


2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Morgan ◽  
Nathalie B. Simon

Abstract:This paper compares EPA’s ex ante cost analysis of the 2001 maximum contaminant limit (MCL) for Arsenic in Drinking Water to an ex post assessment of the costs. Because comprehensive cost information for installed treatment technologies or other mitigation strategies pursued by water systems to meet the new standard is not available, this case study relies upon ex post cost data from EPA Demonstration Projects, capturing a total of 50 systems across the US. Information shared by several states and independent associations on the types (but not costs) of treatment technologies used by systems is also summarized. Comparisons of predicted costs to realized costs using our limited data yield mixed results. Plotting the capital cost data from the Demonstration Projects against the cost curves for the compliance technologies recommended for smaller systems, we find that the EPA methodology overestimated capital costs in most cases, especially as the size of the system increases (as measured by the design flow rate).


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