scholarly journals Wastewater recycling and the possibility of its technical use in practice

2021 ◽  
Vol 900 (1) ◽  
pp. 012030
Author(s):  
F Ondrasik ◽  
S Krocova

Abstract In real practice, almost half of the water, after its technical or technological use in various degrees of pollution, is drained by sewerage systems to wastewater treatment plants and subsequently discharged into the recipients of rivers and streams. The current and especially the future method of urban and industrial wastewater treatment is at such a high level that the treated water, before its discharge into the recipients, has a higher degree of quality than the flowing surface water in the watercourse. Under these ever-improving conditions and possibilities, it is appropriate to use well-treated wastewater not only for the needs of agriculture, but also as an alternative supply of fire water for fire purposes. The dislocation of wastewater treatment plants (hereinafter WWTP) in territorial cadastres with safe access to the opened level of treated water allows its relatively rapid pumping at any time, especially in conditions where there is no other suitable natural or multipurpose source of fire water. The following article suggests in a basic way how to use the given options without the risk that the treated wastewater will not endanger the health of fire brigades or will not have the negative impact on the environment of the extinguished building and its surroundings in which the fire is extinguished.

Membranes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 221
Author(s):  
Rafał Tytus Bray ◽  
Katarzyna Jankowska ◽  
Eliza Kulbat ◽  
Aneta Łuczkiewicz ◽  
Aleksandra Sokołowska

The paper presents the results of research on the use of ultrafiltration, using membranes of 200 and 400 kDa separation, for disinfection of municipal treated wastewater. The research was conducted on a fractional technical scale using real municipal treated wastewater from two large wastewater treatment plants treating most of the wastewater over the one-million polycentric Gdańsk agglomeration (1.2 million inhabitants). UF 200 kDa and UF 400 kDa processes enabled further improvement of the physical and chemical parameters of treated wastewater. Total phosphorus (to below 0.2 mg/L–UF 200 kDa, 0.13 mg/L–UF 400 kDa) and turbid substances (to below 0.2 mg/L, both membranes) were removed in the highest degree. COD was reduced efficiently (to below 25.6 mgO2/L–UF 200 kDa, 26.8 mgO2/L–UF 400 kDa), while total nitrogen was removed to a small extent (to 7.12 mg/L–UF 200 kDa and 5.7 mg/L–UF 400 kDa. Based on the reduction of indicator bacteria; fecal coliforms including E. coli (FC) and fecal enterococci (FE) it was found that the ultrafiltration is an effective method of disinfection. Not much indicator bacterial were observed in the permeate after processes (UF 200 kDa; FC—5 CFU/L; FE—1 CFU/L and UF 400 kDa; FC—70 CFU/L; FE—10 CFU/L. However, microscopic analysis of prokaryotic cells and virus particles showed their presence after the application of both membrane types; TCN 3.0 × 102 cells/mL–UF 200 kDa, 5.0 × 103 cells/mL–UF 400 kDa, VP 1.0 × 105/mL. The presence of potentially pathogenic, highly infectious virus particles means that ultrafiltration cannot be considered a sufficient disinfection method for treated wastewater diverted for reuse or discharged from high load wastewater treatment plants to recreational areas. For full microbiological safety it would be advisable to apply an additional disinfection method (e.g., ozonation).


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
T. S. C. Quintão ◽  
F. G. Silva ◽  
A. L. Pereira ◽  
W. N. Araújo ◽  
P. M. Oliveira ◽  
...  

AbstractHuman enteric viruses, such as enteric adenoviruses (HAdV), are known to be involved with gastrointestinal disorders, especially acute gastroenteritis. Several studies have used HAdV as an indicator of water quality, since they are considered highly stable and widely distributed viruses in water matrices. The aim of this study was to detect and genotype HAdVs in water matrices impacted by discharges of treated effluents from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Wastewater treatment plants from the sanitary system of the Brazilian Federal District were assessed in 2018 and 2019. Samples were collected upstream and downstream from discharge points for each WWTP. Viral concentration based on adsorption-elution and conventional PCR was used for molecular detection, and positive samples were sequenced for phylogenetic analysis. Pluviosity data for the period in which the samples were collected were obtained. Our results demonstrated the presence of HAdVs in 27.2% (61/224) of the samples. The positivity was significantly higher in downstream samples compared to upstream. Moreover, the HAdV positivity was higher in downstream samples collected from receiving water bodies impacted by secondary-level WWTPs in comparison with those impacted by tertiary-level WWTPs. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated the presence of genotypes 40 and 41, with prevalence of HAdV genotype 41. Despite the predominance of HAdV-41, an increasing frequency of the HAdV-40 was associated with higher pluviosity. In conclusion, this study is the first documentation in the Brazilian Federal District dealing with the prevalence and diversity of HAdVs in several WWTP, along with their correlation with rainfall index.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adamo R. Petosa ◽  
Monica Nowierski ◽  
Viviane Yargeau

Abstract Bioanalytical tools, namely in vitro bioassays, can be employed in tandem with chemical analyses to assess the efficacy of wastewater treatment and the potential for adverse effects from the discharges of wastewater into receiving waters. In the present study, samples of untreated wastewater (i.e. influent) and treated wastewater (i.e. effluent) were collected from two wastewater treatment plants and a wastewater treatment lagoon serving municipalities in southern Ontario, Canada. In addition, grab samples of surface water were collected downstream of the lagoon discharge. After solid phase extraction (SPE) using ion-exchange columns for basic/neutral and acidic compounds, respectively, the extracts were analyzed for a suite of 16 indicator compounds. The two SPE extracts were combined for analysis of biological responses in four in vitro cell-based bioassays. The concentrations of several indicator compounds, including the estrogens, 17β-estradiol and 17α-ethinylestradiol, were below the limits of detection. However, androstenedione and estrone were detected in several influent samples. The concentrations of these steroid hormones and some of the other indicator compounds declined during treatment but acesulfame K, carbamazepine, trimethoprim and DEET persisted in the effluent. The MTS- CellTiter 96® AQueous One Solution Cell Proliferation Assay (MTS) indicated that cell viability was not affected by exposure to the extracts. The Qiagen Nuclear Receptors 10-Pathway Reporter Array indicated that several cellular pathways were upregulated, with the greatest upregulation observed with the estrogen receptor (i.e. induction ratios 12 to 47) and the liver X receptor (i.e. induction ratios 10 to 45). The ERα CALUX assay indicated that estrogenic activity was lower in effluents compared to influents, with the greatest estrogenic activity observed for grab samples of influent from the lagoon (i.e. 56-215 ng L-1 17β-estradiol equivalents). Finally, the results of the Nrf2 Luciferase Luminescence Assay indicated a lower oxidative stress in the effluent samples. Overall, the present study demonstrates that chemical analyses are limited in their ability to predict or explain reductions in the toxicity of treated wastewater. There are thus advantages to using a combination of chemical analyses and in vitro bioassays to monitor the treatment efficiency of wastewater treatment plants and to predict the potential impacts of wastewater discharges into receiving waters.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 2764
Author(s):  
Argyro Plevri ◽  
Klio Monokrousou ◽  
Christos Makropoulos ◽  
Christos Lioumis ◽  
Nikolaos Tazes ◽  
...  

Water reuse and recycling is gaining momentum as a way to improve the circularity of cities, while recognizing the central role of water within a circular economy (CE) context. However, such interventions often depend on the location of wastewater treatment plants and the treatment technologies installed in their premises, while relying on an expensive piped network to ensure that treated wastewater gets transported from the treatment plant to the point of demand. Thus, the penetration level of treated wastewater as a source of non-potable supply in dense urban environments is limited. This paper focuses on the demonstration of a sewer mining (SM) unit as a source of treated wastewater, as part of a larger and more holistic configuration that examines all three ‘streams’ associated with water in CE: water, energy and materials. The application area is the Athens Plant Nursery, in the (water stressed) city of Athens, Greece. SM technology is in fact a mobile wastewater treatment unit in containers able to extract wastewater from local sewers, treat it directly and reuse at the point of demand even in urban environments with limited space. The unit consists of a membrane bioreactor unit (MBR) and a UV disinfection unit and produces high quality reclaimed water for irrigation and also for aquifer recharge during the winter. Furthermore, a short overview of the integrated nutrient and energy recovery subsystem is presented in order to conceptualise the holistic approach and circularity of the whole configuration. The SM technology demonstrates flexibility, scalability and replicability, which are important characteristics for innovation uptake within the emerging CE context and market.


Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1414 ◽  
Author(s):  
I-Tae Kim ◽  
Young-Seok Yoo ◽  
Young-Han Yoon ◽  
Ye-Eun Lee ◽  
Jun-Ho Jo ◽  
...  

The development of cost-effective methods, which generate minimal chemical wastewater, for methanol production is an important research goal. In this study, treated wastewater (TWW) was utilized as a culture solution for methanol production by mixed methanotroph species as an alternative to media prepared from commercial or chemical agents, e.g., nitrate mineral salts medium. Furthermore, a realistic alternative for producing methanol in wastewater treatment plants using biogas from anaerobic digestion was proposed. By culturing mixed methanotroph species with nitrate and phosphate-supplemented TWW in municipal wastewater treatment plants, this study demonstrates, for the first time, the application of biogas generated from the sludge digester of municipal wastewater treatment plants. NaCl alone inhibited methanol dehydrogenase and the addition of 40 mM formate as an electron donor increased methanol production to 6.35 mM. These results confirmed that this practical energy production method could enable cost-effective methanol production. As such, methanol produced in wastewater treatment plants can be used as an eco-friendly energy and carbon source for biological denitrification, which can be an alternative to reducing the expenses required for the waste water treatment process.


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1650 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Czerwionka ◽  
Anna Wilinska ◽  
Agnieszka Tuszynska

Measurements for determining the effect of chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) on the efficiency of pollutant removal from wastewater were carried out using conventional inorganic coagulants PIX113 with polymer A110 (Kemipol, Police, Poland) and unconventional cationic organic coagulants Cofloc (Attana, Coalville, UK) C29510 (Kemipol, Police, Poland) and Sedifloc 575 (3F Chimica, Sandrigo, Italy). The average removal efficiency in the 2-h sedimentation process was 46%, 34%, 8%, 12% for the total suspended solids, organic matter (COD), total nitrogen, and total phosphorus, respectively. The use of organic coagulants contributed to 14–81% increase of pollutant removal efficiency. Substantial discrepancies in biological nutrient removal processes were not discovered in two-phase (anaerobic-anoxic) experiments without and with the addition of the organic coagulants. The increase in organic matter removal efficiency as a result of the CEPT process may contribute to a 65–80% increase in biogas production. The conducted research confirms the possibility of using organic coagulants in the primary precipitation process in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in accordance with the principles of maximum energy recovery, thereby promoting renewable energy sources. Additionally, organic coagulants, as opposed to inorganic ones, do not cause a significant increase of chloride and sulfate ion concentrations, which facilitates the use of treated wastewater in the water reuse systems, such as irrigation of agricultural crops.


2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (7) ◽  
pp. 1179-1189 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Martin Ruel ◽  
J.-M. Choubert ◽  
H. Budzinski ◽  
C. Miège ◽  
M. Esperanza ◽  
...  

The next challenge of wastewater treatment is to reliably remove micropollutants at the microgram per litre range. During the present work more than 100 substances were analysed through on-site mass balances over 19 municipal wastewater treatment lines. The most relevant substances according to their occurrence in raw wastewater, in treated wastewater and in sludge were identified, and their fate in wastewater treatment processes was assessed. About half of priority substances of WFD were found at concentrations higher than 0.1 μg/L in wastewater. For 26 substances, potential non-compliance with Environmental Quality Standard of Water Framework Directive has been identified in treated wastewater, depending on river flow. Main concerns are for Cd, DEHP, diuron, alkylphenols, and chloroform. Emerging substances of particular concern are by-products, organic chemicals (e.g. triclosan, benzothiazole) and pharmaceuticals (e.g. ketoprofen, diclofenac, sulfamethoxazole, carbamazepine). About 80% of the load of micropollutants was removed by conventional activated sludge plants, but about two-thirds of removed substances were mainly transferred to sludge.


2016 ◽  
Vol 74 (12) ◽  
pp. 2935-2945 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Silva ◽  
J. Saldanha Matos ◽  
M. J. Rosa

High quality services of wastewater treatment require a continuous assessment and improvement of the technical, environmental and economic performance. This paper demonstrates a comprehensive approach for benchmarking wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), using performance indicators (PIs) and indices (PXs), in a ‘plan-do-check-act’ cycle routine driven by objectives. The performance objectives herein illustrated were to diagnose the effectiveness and energy performance of an oxidation ditch WWTP. The PI and PX results demonstrated an effective and reliable oxidation ditch (good–excellent performance), and a non-reliable UV disinfection (unsatisfactory–excellent performance) related with influent transmittance and total suspended solids. The energy performance increased with the treated wastewater volume and was unsatisfactory below 50% of plant capacity utilization. The oxidation ditch aeration performed unsatisfactorily and represented 38% of the plant energy consumption. The results allowed diagnosing opportunities for improving the energy and economic performance considering the influent flows, temperature and concentrations, and for levering the WWTP performance to acceptable–good effectiveness, reliability and energy efficiency. Regarding the plant reliability for fecal coliforms, improvement of UV lamp maintenance and optimization of the UV dose applied and microscreen recommissioning were suggested.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 3069 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Park ◽  
Young-Soo Han ◽  
Sang-Woo Ji

Mineral processing requires large amounts of water, but, often in the remote locations of many mines, sufficient fresh water frequently cannot be supplied. Therefore, recycling of water is important in mineral processing and enhancing the efficiency of the liquid-solid separation and dewatering steps in mineral processing wastewater treatment is critical. The objectives of the study were to evaluate the effect of anionic flocculant dosage and sludge recycling (SR) on solid removal and sludge dewaterability. Different combinations of the flocculant dosage with and without SR were applied in a mineral-processing wastewater treatment pilot plant. Increasing the amount of flocculant dose of 1.1% v/v (flocculant solution to wastewater) did not significantly decrease the turbidity of the treated water, while the combination of a flocculant with SR increased the zeta potential. Increasing flocculant dose adversely affected dewaterability, although the dewaterability of the 0.6% v/v flocculant-treated sludge significantly increased after aging of the sludge. Sludge recycling was effective for increasing the dewaterability, and a flocculant dose of 1.1% v/v with SR led to formation of large flocs that were stable during aging and sonication.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 6133
Author(s):  
Charikleia Prochaska ◽  
Anastasios Zouboulis

Although Greece has accomplished wastewater infrastructure construction to a large extent, as 91% of the country’s population is already connected to urban wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), many problems still need to be faced. These include the limited reuse of treated wastewater and of the surplus sludge (biosolids) produced, the relative higher energy consumption in the existing rather aged WWTPs infrastructure, and the proper management of failing or inadequately designed septic tank/soil absorption systems, still in use in several (mostly rural) areas, lacking sewerage systems. Moreover, the wastewater treatment sector should be examined in the general framework of sustainable environmental development; therefore, Greece’s future challenges in this sector ought to be reconsidered. Thus, the review of Greece’s urban wastewater history, even from the ancient times, up to current developments and trends, will be shortly addressed. This study also notes that the remaining challenges should be analyzed in respect to the country’s specific needs (e.g., interaction with the extensive tourism sector), as well as to the European Union’s relevant framework policies and to the respective international technological trends, aiming to consider the WWTPs not only as sites for the treatment/removal of pollutants to prevent environmental pollution, but also as industrial places where energy is efficiently used (or even produced), resources’ content can be potentially recovered and reused (e.g., nutrients, treated water, biosolids), and environmental sustainability is being practiced overall.


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