Abstract
This paper shows the influence of certain biological sludge disintegration processes over the concentrations of emerging pollutants, including classes of structurally different compounds such as pharmaceuticals, hormones and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from anaerobic stabilized sludge. Three processes for sludge disintegration were tested: ultrasonic, ultrasonic + electrokinetic and ultrasonic + electrokinetic + microbubble generation. Activated sludge from an urban wastewater treatment plant was used in the experiments. Both pharmaceuticals from the analgesic and antipyretic classes, as well as the identified hormones (estrone) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), were sensitive to the disintegration processes applied, the experimental results showing the decrease of their concentration correlated with the increase of the disintegration energy.
Highlights
Emerging pollutants, such as pharmaceutical compounds, hormones and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can be found in wastewater and in activated sludge
Most of the studies have shown that ultrasonic disintegration, electrokinetic disintegration and a combination of ultrasonic + electrokinetic + microbubble generation disintegration processes can be efficient in hormones [7-9] and pharmaceutical compounds [10-12] and even in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons removal
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of some degradation technologies for pharmaceutical compounds, estrogenic hormones and the PAHs (naphthalene, anthracene, phenanthrene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benz(a)anthracene, chrysene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, benzo(a)pyrene, indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene, benzo(ghi)perylene) in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) sludge samples
Summary
Emerging pollutants, such as pharmaceutical compounds, hormones and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can be found in wastewater and in activated sludge. PAHs, organochlorine compounds and platinum elements are a type of pollutants that can be found everywhere, in water, wastewater, soil and activated sludge [4-6] The removal of this type of emerging pollutants from activated sludge in order to improve its characteristic represents a general focus. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of some degradation technologies for pharmaceutical (analgesic/anti-inflammatory, antipyretic) compounds (diclofenac, ibuprofen, ketoprofen, piroxicam), estrogenic hormones (estriol, equilline, estrone, 17 β estradiol, 17 α etinilestradiol, 17 α estradiol) and the PAHs (naphthalene, anthracene, phenanthrene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benz(a)anthracene, chrysene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, benzo(a)pyrene, indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene, benzo(ghi)perylene) in WWTP sludge samples
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