Use of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography for the broad screening of hazardous contaminants in urban wastewaters

2008 ◽  
Vol 57 (12) ◽  
pp. 1983-1989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaëlle Semard ◽  
Auguste Bruchet ◽  
Pascal Cardinaël ◽  
Jean-Philippe Bouillon

The list of priority chemicals included in various regulations such as the European Water Framework Directive, as well as the list of hazardous contaminants identified in the aquatic environment, are increasing at an accelerated pace. Therefore, there is a need for broad spectrum methods capable of simultaneously determining hundreds, if not thousands, of contaminants. For the analysis of non-polar or semi-polar contaminants, comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC × GC) is more powerful than conventional gas chromatography thanks to a separation on two different stationary phases. This paper reports the use of GC × GC for a broad screening of hazardous contaminants in an urban wastewater plant. Comparison between the raw and treated wastewater has been carried out using a semi-quantitative approach. A variety of drugs, personal care products, pesticides, carcinogens and compounds toxic for reproduction, were identified. Most of these compounds were removed or decreased by this wastewater treatment plant. Preliminary results from this single plant will need to be confirmed by a more extensive study before drawing conclusions on the removal efficiency of 2D-GC amenable compounds.

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 9-15
Author(s):  
Rafael Marín Galvín

Bio-solids are the final fate of pollution present in urban wastewater, reaching the production of these ones in Spanish WWTPs 701,751 T/year (dates of 2018). Considering that 85% of Spanish bio-solids are used in agronomy, it is important to know characteristics of biosolids there produced, and in this way, we have investigated bio-solids generated in La Golondrina´s WWTP (Córdoba, Spain) along 2000-2019. This WWTP is a conventional facility operated by activated sludges (26.55x106 m3/year treated) which has produced 1.43 kg of bio-solids per m3 of treated wastewater (38.000 T/year). Our results indicated that bio-solids had a dryness over initial mass of 22.3%, and 74.9% of organic matter over dried matter (o.d.m.). At the same time, major components detected in bio-solids were N, P and Ca which levels were 5.0%, 3.5% and 3.7%, respectively. On the other hand, concentration of total metals in bio-solids ranged 13,024 mg/kg o.d.m., being the main metal Fe (11.749 mg/kg o.d.m.) followed by Zn, Cu and Mn, with levels as mg/kg o.d.m. of 463.1, 392.8 and 265.7, respectively. Evolution per year of all the investigated parameters are shown in the paper. Taking into account the use of bio-solids in agronomy, we have evaluated levels of metals limited by the Spanish normative to this respect: thus, the seven metals restricted (Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, Hg and Cr) exhibited concentration in bio-solids very lower than parametric values established. Moreover, we have estimated the ratios of accumulation of organics and metals from wastewater to bio-solids: thus, organic matter, N and P, were accumulated in bio-solids respectively, 342, 356 and 643 times, and total metals, 2,632 times. Finally, levels of Escherichia coli slightly varied from wastewater to bio-solids: 1.5x108 colony-forming units/L in the first one, and 0.9x108/g (o.d.m.) in the second ones.


Intervirology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Ousmane Kebe ◽  
Maria-Dolores Fernandez-Garcia ◽  
Amary Fall ◽  
Hamet Dia ◽  
Maxime Bidalot ◽  
...  

<i>Aichi virus 1</i> (AiV-1) has been proposed as a causative agent of human gastroenteritis. In this study, raw, decanted, and treated wastewater samples from a wastewater treatment plant in an urban area of Dakar, Senegal, were collected. AiV-1 was detected in raw (70%, 14/20), decanted (68.4%, 13/19), and treated (59.3%, 16/27) samples, revealing a noticeable resistance of AiV-1 to chlorine-based treatment. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that all sequences clustered within genotype B. Our study presents the first report on the detection of AiV-1 in the environment of Dakar and constitutes indirect evidence of virus circulation in the population.


1995 ◽  
Vol 31 (7) ◽  
pp. 201-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Løkkegaard Bjerre ◽  
T. Hvitved-Jacobsen ◽  
B. Teichgräber ◽  
D. te Heesen

The Emscher river in the Ruhr district, Germany, is at present acting as a large wastewater collector receiving untreated and mechanically treated wastewater. Before the Emscher flows into the river Rhine, treatment takes place in a biological wastewater treatment plant. The transformations of the organic matter in the Emscher affect the river catchment, the subsequent treatment and the river quality. This paper focuses on evaluation of methods for quantification of the microbial transformations of wastewater in the Emscher with emphasis on characterization of wastewater quality changes in terms of biodegradability of organic matter and viable biomass. The characterization is based on methods taken from the activated sludge process in wastewater treatment. Methods were evaluated on the basis of laboratory investigations of water samples from the Emscher. Incubation in batch reactors under aerobic, anoxic and anaerobic conditions were made and a case study was performed. The methods described will be used in an intensive study of wastewater transformations in the Emscher river. This study will be a basis for future investigations of wastewater quality changes in the Emscher.


2014 ◽  
Vol 535 ◽  
pp. 346-349
Author(s):  
Mei Wang ◽  
Ming Yang ◽  
Jun Liu ◽  
Jian Fen Li

Effect and benefits of a product or service could be analyzed and evaluated by life cycle assessment during the whole life cycle. Urban sewage treatment plants could improve and control urban water pollution escalating, but it also had certain harm to environment. Effect and benefits of urban wastewater treatment plant A and B were analyzed and evaluated, 13 factors were selected, and comprehensive benefits were researched quantificationally using the method of analytic hierarchy process. It found that urban wastewater treatment plant A who applied A/O process had better benefits than urban wastewater treatment plant B who applied BIOLAK process.


2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Iwane ◽  
T. Urase ◽  
K. Yamamoto

Escherichia coli and coliform group bacteria resistant to seven antibiotics were investigated in the Tama River, a typical urbanized river in Tokyo, Japan, and at a wastewater treatment plant located on the river. The percentages of antibiotic resistance in the wastewater effluent were, in most cases, higher than the percentages in the river water, which were observed increasing downstream. Since the possible increase in the percentages in the river was associated with treated wastewater discharges, it was concluded that the river, which is contaminated by treated wastewater with many kinds of pollutants, is also contaminated with antibiotic resistant coliform group bacteria and E.coli. The percentages of resistant bacteria in the wastewater treatment plant were mostly observed decreasing during the treatment process. It was also demonstrated that the percentages of resistance in raw sewage are significantly higher than those in the river water and that the wastewater treatment process investigated in this study works against most of resistant bacteria in sewage.


2017 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Brückner ◽  
K. Kirchner ◽  
Y. Müller ◽  
S. Schiwy ◽  
K. Klaer ◽  
...  

Abstract The project DemO3AC (demonstration of large-scale wastewater ozonation at the Aachen-Soers wastewater treatment plant, Germany) of the Eifel-Rur Waterboard contains the construction of a large-scale ozonation plant for advanced treatment of the entire 25 million m³/yr of wastewater passing through its largest wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). In dry periods, up to 70% of the receiving water consists of treated wastewater. Thus, it is expected that effects of ozonation on downstream water biocoenosis will become observable. Extensive monitoring of receiving water and the WWTP shows a severe pollution with micropollutants (already prior to WWTP inlet). (Eco-)Toxicological investigations showed increased toxicity at the inlet of the WWTP for all assays. However, endocrine-disrupting potential was also present at other sampling points at the WWTP and in the river and could not be eliminated sufficiently by the WWTP. Total cell counts at the WWTP are slightly below average. Investigations of antibiotic resistances show no increase after the WWTP outlet in the river. However, cells carrying antibiotic-resistant genes seem to be more stress resistant in general. Comparing investigations after implementation of ozonation should lead to an approximation of the correlation between micropollutants and water quality/biocoenosis and the effects that ozonation has on this matter.


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.


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