scholarly journals Combined Process of Ozone Oxidation and Ultrafiltration as an Effective Treatment Technology for the Removal of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 1240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiurong Si ◽  
Zunfang Hu ◽  
Shiyuan Huang

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in the secondary effluent discharged from wastewater treatment plants are of great concern when water reuse is intended. The combined process of ozone (O3) and ultrafiltration (UF) is a promising EDC removal method. The removal efficiency of five EDCs using O3, UF and their combination were investigated and compared. The five EDCs were estrone, 17β-estradiol, estriol, 17α-ethynyl estradiol and bisphenol A, which are typically present in secondary effluent. Results showed that organic matters in secondary effluent became easier to be removed by the combined process, with ultraviolet absorbance reduction enhanced by 11%–18% or 24%–26% compared to the UF or O3 alone. The removal efficiency of EDC concentration, estrogenicity and acute ecotoxicity by the combined process was 17%–29% or 54%–92%, 19% or 73%, 40% or 60% greater, respectively, than that of the O3 or UF alone. Particularly, when EDCs were treated by the combination of O3 and UF, about 100% EDC removal efficiency was achieved. Overall, the combined application of O3 and UF offers an effective approach to control the concentration and toxicity of EDCs in secondary effluent.

2013 ◽  
Vol 67 (7) ◽  
pp. 1551-1556 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Noutsopoulos ◽  
D. Mamais ◽  
V. Samaras ◽  
T. Bouras ◽  
M. Marneri ◽  
...  

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are compounds of mainly anthropogenic origin that interfere with the endocrine system of animals and humans thus causing a series of disorders. Wastewater treatment plants are one of the major routes for transporting such chemicals to the water courses. In the context of this study, several chlorination batch tests were performed in order to assess the effectiveness of chlorination to remove bisphenol A (BPA), triclosan (TCS), nonylphenol (NP) and its ethoxylates (NP1EO and NP2EO) from secondary effluent. According to the results, an appreciable removal of NP, BPA and TCS to the order of 60–84% was observed as an effect of moderate chlorination doses. This was not the case for NP1EO and NP2EO as even at high chlorine doses, removal efficiencies were lower (37% for NP1EO and 52% for NP2EO). Removal efficiencies of NP, BPA and TCS are practically independent of contact time, although this was not the case for NP1EO and NP2EO. Based on toxicity experiments, it is anticipated that following chlorination of the target chemicals, production of more toxic metabolites is taking place. Therefore the effectiveness of chlorination to remove EDCs is questionable and more research is needed to guarantee safe wastewater reuse.


2008 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uri Zoller

The endocrinic/mutagenic potencies of the endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), alkylphyenol ethoxylates (APEOs) and their metabolites are well documented. Less so is the endocrinic ecotoxicological/health risk potential of these persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in river sediments. From ∼5 × 108 m3/y of sewage produced in Israel, ∼70% are reused, mainly in agriculture, following a conventional activated sludge treatment (AST). A major related question is: does this practice conform to sustainability? We have found the APEOs concentration profiles of Israel's rivers/streams, Mediterranean Sea coastal water and groundwater, to be 12.5–74.6, 4.5–25.0 and trace−20.2 μg/L, respectively. In two “representative” rivers, in the central coastal region of the country, the total concentrations of the PAHs and APEOs were found to be (in the upper layers of their sediments) 1.02–1.59, 1.78–2.30, 1.48–3.12 and 31.27–376.23, 2.40–91.70, 62.99–63.63 μg/g, respectively. The distribution of the PAHs in the co-presence of APEOs in rivers and their sediments, can be rationalized in terms of the hydrophobicity/nonbiodegradability of the former and the hydrophilicity-CMC/nonbiodegradability of the latter. Based on (a) the zebrafish egg production test (ZFEPT) – a long-term exposure of zebrafish to actually found environmental concentrations of EDCs; and (b) the low effectiveness of POPs removal in AST, our preliminary conclusions are that (1) there is a potential ecotoxicological/health risk problem; and (2) the practice of conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs)-treated water reuse is incompatible with sustainability.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhaoqian Jing ◽  
Shiwei Cao

To enhance the biodegradability of residual organic pollutants in secondary effluent of wastewater treatment plants, UV photolysis and ozonation were used in combination as pretreatment before a biological aerating filter (BAF). The results indicated that UV photolysis could not remove much COD (chemical oxygen demand), and the performance of ozonation was better than the former. With UV photolysis combined with ozonation (UV/O3), COD removal was much higher than the sum of that with UV photolysis and ozonation alone, which indicated that UV photolysis could efficiently promote COD removal during ozonation. This pretreatment also improved molecular weight distribution (MWD) and biodegradability greatly. Proportion of organic compounds with molecular weight (MW) <3 kDalton was increased from 51.9% to 85.9%. COD removal rates with BAF and O3/BAF were only about 25% and 38%, respectively. When UV/O3oxidation was combined with BAF, the average COD removal rate reached above 61%, which was about 2.5 times of that with BAF alone. With influent COD ranging from 65 to 84 mg/L, the effluent COD was stably in the scope of 23–31 mg/L. The combination of UV/O3oxidation with BAF was quite efficient in organic pollutants removal for tertiary wastewater treatment.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Trinh ◽  
B. van den Akker ◽  
H. M. Coleman ◽  
R. M. Stuetz ◽  
P. Le-Clech ◽  
...  

Submerged membrane bioreactors (MBRs) have attracted a significant amount of interest for decentralised treatment systems due to their small footprint and ability to produce high quality effluent, which is favourable for water reuse applications. This study provides a comprehensive overview of the capacity of a full-scale decentralised MBR to eliminate 17 endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and five indigenous microbial indicators. The results show that the MBR consistently achieved high removal of EDCs (&gt;86.5%). Only 2 of the 17 EDCs were detected in the MBR permeate, namely two-phenylphenol and 4-tert-octylphenol. Measured log10 reduction values of vegetative bacterial indicators were in the range of 5–5.3 log10 units, and for clostridia, they were marginally lower at 4.6 log10 units. Removal of bacteriophage was in excess of 4.9 log10 units. This research shows that MBRs are a promising technology for decentralised water reuse applications.


2013 ◽  
Vol 67 (8) ◽  
pp. 1657-1663 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Park ◽  
M.-H. Park

This study utilized spatial analysis to identify hotspots for endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), pharmaceuticals, and personal care products (PPCPs) using data from potential sources including wastewater treatment plants, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)-permitted pollution sources, septic systems, and agricultural and grazing areas. The study area is Lake Mead, to which the return of treated effluent is one of the largest water reuse practices in the USA. Based on Getis-Ord's Gi* statistic, clusters of pollution sources were identified based on the values of each feature and its neighboring features. Spatial analysis was applied to evaluate the impact from point and nonpoint source pollution. The results of spatial statistical analyses were used to evaluate the existing sampling locations in Las Vegas Wash. The results indicated that sampling locations with highest concentrations of EDCs/PPCPs were close to the outlets of subbasins with high susceptibility to EDCs/PPCPs, which confirms the suitability of sampling locations.


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