Removal Efficiency Of Treatment Plant Research Articles

Factors affecting the performance of a pharmaceutical wastewater treatment plant: Characterization of effluent and environmental risk

Pharmaceutical industries produce a huge volume of emerging pollutants (EPs) that pose a threat to the aqueous environment. Biological processes have shown their inefficacy in treating many pharmaceutical products. The study assessed physicochemical parameters, EPs, heavy metals in pharmaceutical industrial wastewater, and the removal efficiency (RE) of an aerobic biological treatment plant. The study also assessed the contamination levels and risk using several indices, such as the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index (CCME-WQI), heavy metal pollution index (HPI), heavy metal evaluation index (HEI), and risk quotients index (RQs). The study found that the treated water quality was poor, having antibiotics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and others, along with several transformation products (TPs) and heavy metals, which were unsafe for consumption with high environmental risk. The analysis results showed that the RE for TSS, BOD5, COD, TDS, and EC were found to be 91.80%, 86.81%, 72.29%, 72.20%, and 65.60%, respectively, where the values of BOD5, COD, NO3−, and PO43− in the effluent were still higher than the permissible limits of the ECR (2023). However, the RE for heavy metals was in the order of Cu (84.62%) > Fe (65.04%) > Mn (63.3%) > Zn (60.58%) > Cd (53.85%) > Ni (54.12%) > Pb (42.42%) > Cr (38%), where Cr and Cd concentrations were still higher than the permissible limit of DoE (2019). The Pearson correlation and PCA suggested that EC, TDS, TSS, DO, BOD5, and COD were the most correlating and contributing variables. This study argued that metal-ligand behaviors mainly affect the removal efficiency of the treatment plant by lowering the removal rate of heavy metals and pharmaceutical products.

Performance Evaluation of Wastewater Treatment plant, Vidyaranyapuram, Mysuru

Background: The primary goal of sewage water treatment is to eliminate or bring down the number of pollutants in the sewage water. This study was needed to assess the efficacy of a sewage treatment plant in reducing contaminants levels to comply with government environmental standards. The wastewater re-use for irrigation approaches must be in compliance with the guidelines and indicators must be tracked and impended consistently, it is therefore essential to give top priority to requirements at the stage of evaluating and development to protect land and water supplies as well as public health. Methods: Chemical and biological approaches were used to regulate the removal efficiency of treatment plants. The performance and effectualness of the Vidyaranyapuram sewage treatment plant (STP) in Mysore are evaluated and analyzed in this report. Novelty: Water quality needs to be regularly checked in wastewater treatment facilities. The current study will aid the treatment facility in its efforts to enhance the process of treatment. One would be able to update the effluent efficiency levels depending on the seasonal variations in wastewater treatment as the assessment explains the number of water quality metrics in waste water plants. The obtained analysis results are very helpful in locating, fixing, and maintaining plant operating and maintenance issues, which may be helpful for next plant expansion to be carried out to get good results. Result: The STP's treatment efficiencies were discovered to have a good treatment level in BOD (96%) and a moderate treatment quality in COD (79%) and TSS (75%) removal efficiency during the year 2018. Conclusion: To ensure correct operation and maintenance, trained and experienced workers must analyze treatment performance at predetermined time intervals. The result explains the quality of effluent water and performance of treatment plant. STPs should be used to their full potential to manage the quality of final effluent, and raw sewage sources should be identified.

Retrospective analysis of the global antibiotic residues that exceed the predicted no effect concentration for antimicrobial resistance in various environmental matrices

BackgroundAntimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing public health concern. Recent research has suggested that interactions between pathogens and antibiotic residues in various environmental matrices promote the development and spread of AMR in the environment. The levels of antibiotic residues in the aquatic environment have been analysed globally. Recently, Predicted No Effect Environmental Concentration (PNEC) values for many antibiotics have been suggested, based on their estimated minimal selective concentrations for selected bacterial species. The PNEC values can serve as a guide on the maximum levels of antibiotic residues in an environmental matrix, below which resistance is unlikely to develop. AimWe aimed to determine which of the antibiotics, considered as “priority antibiotics” by the World Health Organisation (WHO), most frequently exceeded their PNEC values in the global aquatic environment. MethodsWe obtained data from the German Environment Agency pharmaceutical database on means, medians or single values of 12 antibiotic types in five different environmental matrices [municipal wastewater treatment plant effluent, industrial wastewater effluent, hospital wastewater effluent, surface water, and drinking water] across 47 countries. We compared the mean levels of the 12 antibiotics in each environmental matrix to their suggested PNEC values to determine which antibiotic types exceeded PNEC and were most likely to select for resistance. We also determined which environmental matrices and countries had the highest burden of antibiotic residues. ResultsOur study revealed that 7.9% of all analyses of antibiotic residues performed in the environmental matrices globally exceeded PNEC. Ciprofloxacin and clarithromycin had the greatest proportion (>30%) of residues exceeding PNEC. Hospital wastewater and industrial wastewater had the highest burden of antibiotic residues exceeding PNEC. No antibiotics exceeded PNEC in drinking water. ConclusionWhile most environmental monitoring studies have focused on municipal wastewater treatment plants, the limited number of studies on hospital wastewater and industrial wastewater revealed that a large number of antibiotic residues coming from these sources exceeded their PNEC values. Our study highlights the importance of implementing on-site treatment systems that aim to destroy antibiotics prior to discharging wastewater to surface waters. Attention needs to be focused on the role that environmental matrices, particularly our wastewater sites, play in promoting antibiotic resistance. Novel treatment technologies need to be developed and implemented to increase the removal efficiencies of treatment plants and from antibiotic manufacturing, and decrease the discharge of antibiotic residues into aquatic environments.

Current status of arsenic contamination in drinking water and treatment practice in some rural areas of West Bengal, India

The aim of the present investigation was to draw the current scenario of arsenic (As) contamination in drinking water of community tube well and drinking water treated by tube wells installed with different adsorbent media-based treatment plants in districts Nadia, Hooghly and North 24-Parganas districts, West Bengal, India. As removal efficiencies of different treatment plants varied from 23 to 71%, which is largely governed by adsorption capacity of adsorbent and influencing environmental factors. Though investigated treatment plants removed substantial amount of As from tube well water, high As concentration in treated drinking water was retained after passing through the treatment plants. This high level of As concentration in tube well water and retention of high As concentration in treated drinking water were severe for the consumers which therefore, indicating the improvement of removal efficiency of treatment plant by meticulously considering favorable influencing factors or/and application of other high capacity treatment alternatives to adsorb the excess As retained in drinking water and regular monitoring of As concentration in the treated drinking water are indispensable.

Detection of parasitic particles in domestic and urban wastewaters and assessment of removal efficiency of treatment plants in Tehran, Iran.

BackgroundIn recent years, decreasing annual rainfalls in some countries and population growth have led to a shortage of freshwater resources. Thus, recycled wastewaters has been suggested for agricultural activities. Contamination of wastewaters with pathogens is a major concern for the use of these waters. This study aimed to (i) investigate the occurrence of helminth eggs and protozoan (oo)cysts in human and livestock wastewaters, and (ii) evaluate the parasite removal efficiencies of urban and slaughterhouse treatment plants in Tehran province, Iran. One hundred and eight samples were collected from five urban and domestic wastewater treatment plants in Iran. Wastewater samples were concentrated by centrifugal-concentration and filtration methods.ResultsThe quantity of helminths egg and protozoa (oo)cyst per liter of urban raw wastewater ranged from 1.2 × 101 to 2.9 × 101 and from 9.6 × 102 to 1.9 × 103, respectively. The number of eggs and (oo)cysts per liter of animal raw wastewater ranged from 1.6 × 103 to 4.9 × 103 and 3.1 × 104 to 6.0 × 104, respectively. The helminths and protozoa identified in urban treatment plants included hookworms, Hymenolepis and Rhabditis (or probably Strongyloides), Entamoeba, Isospora, Giardia, Chilomastix and Cryptosporidium, while in slaughterhouses Trichuris, Trichostrongylus, Moniezia, Dicrocoelium, Fasciola, Entamoeba, Cryptosporidium, Eimeria and Giardia were isolated. The overall removal efficiency of eggs and (oo)cysts in the treatment plants ranged from 94.8 to 95.7% and from 79.3 to 85.8%, respectively.ConclusionThe study results revealed that the efficacy of removal of nematode eggs, and not protozoan (oo)cysts, in urban wastewater treatment plants, is in compliance with the WHO parasitological guideline (<1 nematode per liter) required for unrestricted irrigation.

Low removal of acidic and hydrophilic pharmaceutical products by various types of municipal wastewater treatment plants

Pharmaceutical substances represent a risk for aquatic environments and their potential impacts on the receiving environment are poorly understood. Municipal effluents are important sources of contaminants including common pharmaceuticals like anti-inflammatory and anti-convulsive substances. The removal of pharmaceuticals, particularly those highly soluble can represent a great challenge to conventional wastewater treatment processes. Hydrophilic drugs (&lt;em&gt;e.g.&lt;/em&gt; acidic drugs) have properties that can highly influence removal efficiencies of treatment plants. The performance of different wastewater treatment processes for the removal of specific pharmaceutical products that are expected to be poorly removed was investigated. The obtained results were compared to inherent properties of the studied substances. Clofibric acid, carbamazepine, diclofenac, ibuprofen and naproxen were largely found in physicochemical primary-treated effluents at concentrations ranging from 77 to 2384 ng/L. This treatment type showed removal yields lower than 30%. On the other hand, biological treatments with activated sludge under aerobic conditions resulted in much better removal rates (&amp;gt;50% for 5 of the 8 studied substances). Interestingly, this latter type of process showed evidence of selectivity with respect to the size (R2=0.7388), solubility (R2=0.6812), and partitioning (R2=0.9999) of the removed substances; the smallest and least sorbed substances seemed to be removed at better rates, while the persistent carbamazepine (392 ng/L) and diclofenac (66 ng/L) were poorly removed (&amp;lt;10%) after biological treatment. In the case of treatment by aerated lagoons, the most abundant substances were the highly soluble hydroxy-ibuprofen (350-3321 ng/L), followed by naproxen (42-413 n/L) and carbamazepine (254-386 ng/L). In order to assess the impacts of all these contaminants of various properties on the environment and human health, we need to better understand the chemical and physical transformations occurring at the treatment plant and in the receiving waters.

Modelling Concentrations of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in a Canadian Watershed

The concentrations of several pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) were simulated in the Grand River watershed using the PhATE (Pharmaceutical Assessment and Transport Evaluation) model. PPCPs that were previously measured in the Grand River watershed were selected as the target compounds for this study. The application of the PhATE model was adapted to account for Canadian climatic conditions and its seasonal variability. In this regard, seasonal hydrological parameters (i.e., stream flow and velocity) were estimated based on historical data. Chemical loss parameters, including in-stream decay, human loss, and removal efficiency of treatment plants, were initially extracted from the literature and then calibrated to the site data. In general, the adapted PhATE model reasonably simulated pharmaceuticals with continuous use by humans such as ibuprofen, naproxen, carbamazepine, and gemfibrozil. Validation, which was performed only for ibuprofen, naproxen, and carbamazepine suggests that the calibrated model is able to reliably simulate concentrations. The model is the most accurate in validation when simulating carbamazepine which is the most persistent substance tested in this study, and as such, variations in its concentration primarily follow variation in stream flow.