Study of the Potential of Water Treatment Sludges in the Removal of Emerging Pollutants.

Rita Dias,Isabel Fonseca,Sofia Silva,Rita Maurício,Vitor Vale Cardoso,Michiel A Daam,Rui Neves Carneiro,Maria Bernardo,Diogo Sousa,Inês Matos,Pedro Fontes

doi:10.3390/molecules26041010

Abstract

Presently, water quantity and quality problems persist both in developed and developing countries, and concerns have been raised about the presence of emerging pollutants (EPs) in water. The circular economy provides ways of achieving sustainable resource management that can be implemented in the water sector, such as the reuse of drinking water treatment sludges (WTSs). This study evaluated the potential of WTS containing a high concentration of activated carbon for the removal of two EPs: the steroid hormones 17β-estradiol (E2) and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2). To this end, WTSs from two Portuguese water treatment plants (WTPs) were characterised and tested for their hormone adsorbance potential. Both WTSs showed a promising adsorption potential for the two hormones studied due to their textural and chemical properties. For WTS1, the final concentration for both hormones was lower than the limit of quantification (LOQ). As for WTS2, the results for E2 removal were similar to WTS1, although for EE2, the removal efficiency was lower (around 50%). The overall results indicate that this method may lead to new ways of using this erstwhile residue as a possible adsorbent material for the removal of several EPs present in wastewaters or other matrixes, and as such contributing to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets.

Highlights

One of the most prominent problems affecting the world’s population is insufficient access to clean water and sanitation
According to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 “clean water and sanitation” of the Synthesis Report on Water and Sanitation [1], over two billion people are living in countries that are experiencing high water stress conditions
water treatment sludges (WTSs) samples presented high ash contents: 42.9% for WTS1 and 30.9% for WTS2, which was expected given their origin. These values are slightly lower than those observed by Lee et al [58], who reported an ash content of around 51.0% for sludge obtained in South Korea

Summary

Introduction

One of the most prominent problems affecting the world’s population is insufficient access to clean water and sanitation. According to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 “clean water and sanitation” of the Synthesis Report on Water and Sanitation [1], over two billion people are living in countries that are experiencing high water stress conditions. This situation is a result of an overuse of water resources with significant impacts on their sustainability. Water quality problems persist in water bodies of both developed and developing countries, such as the loss of the pristine quality conditions, changes in hydromorphological characteristics and an increase in concentrations of emerging pollutants (EPs) [1]. The circular economy concept provides ways of advancing towards sustainable water resource management that can be implemented in the water sector to achieve circularity between drinking water and wastewater resources [3]

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Conclusion