Urban Wastewater Treatment Plants Research Articles

Release of Microplastics from Urban Wastewater Treatment Plants to Aquatic Ecosystems in Acapulco, Mexico

Contamination of aquatic ecosystems by microplastics (MPs) is mainly due to the release of high levels of MP particles from treated effluents by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Due to the lack of policies and regulations establishing criteria for the control and elimination of MPs from WWTP effluents, this research evaluates the presence of 38 and 150 µm MPs in influents and effluents from three WWTPs in the port of Acapulco, Mexico. Optical microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed that the MPs were polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, and polyvinyl chloride. MP removal efficiencies of 82.5–98.7% (38 µm) and 86.8–97.5% (150 µm) were achieved. Moreover, the MP average daily emissions to the receiving bodies of the three WWTPs ranged from 9.5 × 106 to 4.70 × 108 particles, while the annual emissions ranged from 3.05 × 109 to 1.72 × 1011 particles. This work reveals the urgency of implementing regulatory policies to avoid the continuous emission of MPs into aquatic ecosystems from WWTPs in Acapulco, Mexico.

QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF WASTEWATER

Wastewater is the result of many human activities, and its volume is growing more and more every year. Usually the issue of wastewater treatment is solved in municipal wastewater treatment plants. These facilities have been operated in our country for many years, the degree of their consumption is very high, it is more than 60%, and this has a bad effect on the environment. Poor quality of wastewater treatment leads to problems such as degradation of aquatic ecosystems and various diseases that will be transmitted by water from contaminated sources, Wells, freshwater wells. The Problem is significant not only in our country, but all over the world. For example, according to a UN World Report, the amount of wastewater transported worldwide, with the exception of highly developed countries (to which Kazakhstan does not yet belong), their total pollution is growing at a steady pace. At the same time, as noted in the article, the amount of wastewater is discharged into the environment without proper treatment [1]. In our Republic of Kazakhstan, the first urban wastewater treatment plants appeared in the 1950s.In the 20th century, at a time when mechanical sewage treatment plants (MOS) were built and put into operation in large cities. Urban wastewater was discharged into filtration fields or water tanks without adequate treatment. Currently, there are many used sewers. Consumption was over 90%. In our city of Taraz, there is absolutely no scythe, urban outflows through temporary wells are immediately discharged to filter fields, this was in 2010. During this time, the picture has not changed. Urban sewerage is associated not only with residential buildings, but also with industrial plants. This causes an excessive hydraulic load on filtration zones that pollute groundwater. City leaders promised to solve this problem 10 years ago, but the problem still exists and is current.

The resistome and microbiome of wastewater treatment plant workers – The AWARE study

Urban wastewater treatment plants harbor a large collection of antibiotic resistant enteric bacteria. It is therefore reasonable to hypothesize that workers at such plants would possess a more diverse set of resistant enteric bacteria, compared to the general population. To address this hypothesis, we have compared the fecal microbiome and resistome of 87 workers at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) from Romania and the Netherlands to those of 87 control individuals, using shotgun metagenomics. Controlling for potential confounders, neither the total antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) abundance, nor the overall bacterial composition were significantly different between the two groups. If anything, the ARG richness was slightly lower in WWTP workers, and in a stratified analysis the total ARG abundance was significantly lower in Dutch workers compared to Dutch control participants. We identified country of residence, together with recent antibiotic intake in the Dutch population, as the largest contributing factors to the total abundance of ARGs. A striking side-finding was that sex was associated with carriage of disinfectant resistance genes, with women in both Romania and the Netherlands having significantly higher abundance compared to men. A follow up investigation including an additional 313 publicly available samples from healthy individuals from three additional countries showed that the difference was significant for three genes conferring resistance to chemicals commonly used in cosmetics and cleaning products. We therefore hypothesize that the use of cosmetics and, possibly, cleaning products leads to higher abundance of disinfectant resistance genes in the microbiome of the users. Altogether, this study shows that working at a WWTP does not lead to a higher abundance or diversity of ARGs and no large shifts in the overall gut microbial composition in comparison to participants not working at a WWTP. Instead, other factors such as country of residence, recent antibiotic intake and sex seem to play a larger role.

Unlocking energy potential: Decarbonizing water reclamation plants with salinity gradient energy recovery

Climate change, together with the ecological droughts suffered by a large part of the European Union's territory, calls for joint environmental solutions. In this regard, water reclamation is a promising way to alleviate the pressure on existing water resources. However, reuse strategies are penalized by the extra energy consumed in urban wastewater treatment plants (UWWTPs), facilities mainly powered by fossil fuels. The opportunity to integrate renewable sources of energy into the energy-intensive UWWTPs holds great promise towards decarbonization of the sector. In this context, the energy harvested from a Salinity Gradient (SGE) has attracted great interest in the last decade. This work aims at the analysis of opportunity of implementing integrated processes for water reclamation and SGE recovery in the coastal EU UWWTPs. According to the selection criteria, a total of 281 potential sites located across eighteen coastal countries of the EU have been inventoried attending to the current state of the art. The water reclamation potential has been estimated at 3.7 million m3/day. As a consequence, the environmental burdens of the reclamation process could result in the reduction of 1.5·105 t CO2/year. The Mediterranean region, highly affected by hydrological drought, has proved to be a hot spot for water reclamation, with the highest number of plants inventoried in the study and a predicted potential for SGE harvesting of 60 Wh/m3 of reclaimed water. These results highlight a niche of opportunities to encourage water reclamation, avoid water bodies' degradability due to effluent discharge and the further decarbonization of reclamation processes.

Solar photocatalysis application in UWWTP outlets - simulations based on predictive models in flat-plate reactors and pollutant degradation studies with in silico toxicity assessment

The application of the solar photocatalysis for the degradation of residual pollutants found in surface water was demonstrated. Semi-pilot scale flat-plate cascade reactor (FPCR) was used to study the degradation of model organic pollutants: enrofloxacin (ENRO), 17β-estradiol (E2) and 1H-benzotriazole (1H-BT) over TiO2 thin-film supported on glass fibers. A modular panel with full-spectra solar lamps with appropriate UVB and UVA irradiation levels was used as a simulation of sunlight. Pollutant degradation in FPCR was estimated using predictive models; intrinsic reaction rate constants (ki) for ENRO, E2 and 1H-BT independent of the reactor size, flow rate and irradiation conditions were determined: 9.60, 3.35 and 0.37 109 s−1 W−0.5 m1.5, respectively. Main degradation products (DPs), formed upon hydroxylation, ring opening and oxidation, were identified using LC-QTOF-MS. The ecotoxicological impact was assessed via T.E.S.T. and ECOSAR open-source tools showing the formation of less harmful DPs after sufficient reaction time. Pollutant degradation was simulated at four locations of interest, i.e. exhausts from urban wastewater treatment plants (UWWTPs) in Zagreb, Croatia (45°N), Krakow, Poland (50°N), Sevilla, Spain (37°N) and Ioannina, Greece (39.6°N). Results have proved that a simple flat-plate system with supported photocatalysts can be easily scaled up and incorporated at the outlet of UWWTP for the reduction of pollutant load and related toxicity. The exhaust canal in Zagreb with the estimated length of a photocatalytic layer of 122 m for the > 90% degradation of all target pollutants was discussed as the best installation site among studied locations. Environmental ImplicationA multi-disciplinary approach to the tentative application of TiO2 solar photocatalysis outdoors to reduce pollutant loads and toxicity in surface waters was demonstrated. Possible application at four selected locations in Europe, as an additional step in water treatment after urban wastewater treatment plants (UWWTPs) was discussed. Target pollutants were studied under environmentally relevant conditions (sunlight levels, water matrix, simulation of process on a real scale at selected geographical location), at both higher and low concentrations.

Assessing the chronic toxicity of spreading organic amendments on agricultural soil: Tests on earthworms and plants

Recycling organic wastes on agricultural soils improves the soil quality, but the environmental and health impact of these organic amendments closely depends on their origins, their bio-physicochemical characteristics and the considered organisms potentially affected. The aim of this study was to assess the potential chronic ecotoxicity of spreading organic amendments on agricultural soils. To do this, we characterized three different organic amendments: sewage sludge from an urban wastewater treatment plant, cow manure and liquid dairy manure. Their chronic ecotoxicity was studied through assays exposing earthworms of the species Eisenia fetida and two plants: Medicago sativa and Sinapis alba. Of the three amendments, the sewage sludge presented the highest concentrations of micropollutants and a considerable fraction of available and biodegradable organic matter. The cow manure and liquid dairy manure had lower chemical contamination and similar characteristics with lower biodegradable fractions of their organic matter. No chronic phytotoxicity was evidenced: on the contrary, particularly with sewage sludge, the germination rate and aerial and root biomass of the two plants increased. Considering earthworms, their biomass increased considerably during the reproduction assays in soil amended with sewage sludge, which contained the more bioavailable organic matter. Nonetheless, the earthworms presented an inhibition close to 78% of the production of juveniles when exposed to sewage sludge exceeding 20 g.kg-1 DW (that means 2 times the agronomic dose). This reprotoxic effect was also observed in the presence of liquid dairy manure, but not with cow manure. At the end of the assays, the glycogen and protein reserves in earthworms exposed to sewage sludge were inferior to that of control earthworms, respectively around 50% and 30%. For the earthworms exposed to liquid dairy manure, protein and lipid reserves increased. In the case of liquid dairy manure, this reprotoxic effect did not appear to be linked to the presence of micropollutants. In conclusion, our results confirm the need to use several ecotoxicity assays at different biological levels and with different biological models to assess the ecotoxic impacts of soil amendments. Indeed, although certain organic wastes present a strong nutritional potential for both plants and earthworms, a not inconsiderable risk was apparent for the reproduction of the latter. An integrated ecotoxicity criterion that takes into account a weighted sum of the different results would guide the utilization of organic amendments while ensuring the good health of agricultural ecosystems.

A Comparative Analysis of Rural Domestic Wastewater Discharge Standards in the Yangtze River Delta Region, China

With the deepening of comprehensive improvement of rural living environments in China, various regions have issued rural domestic wastewater discharge standards based on their economic foundations, management levels, and characteristics of rural wastewater discharge. The Yangtze River Delta region, in particular, has been at the forefront of exploring these standards nationwide. By analyzing the local standards for rural domestic wastewater discharge in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui provinces within the Yangtze River Delta region, along with the "Discharge standard of pollutants for municipal wastewater treatment plant" and the "Standard for irrigation water quality", it was found that the standards in each region primarily consider the classification based on the water environmental grade of the receiving water body. The pollutant concentration control requirements are generally consistent with the pollutant concentration limits for urban wastewater treatment plant discharge, but the total nitrogen and total phosphorus limits are more lenient than those for urban wastewater treatment plants. This paper can guide the transformation of rural domestic wastewater discharge from high standards to resource utilization, and provide references for the selection of wastewater treatment technologies, models, and governance strategies in the Yangtze River Delta region.

Prediction of influent wastewater quality based on wavelet transform and residual LSTM

Accurate prediction on influent wastewater quality is of great importance to energy saving and chemical dosage reduction of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). However, the existing methods ignore the data noise caused by water sensors working in harsh conditions and the intrinsic variable dynamics inherent in the time series of wastewater quality. To tackle this problem, we propose a novel approach called wt-ResLSTM (wavelet transform and Residual Long Short-Term Memory) to predict the influent wastewater quality. Specifically, we adopt wavelet transform and semi-soft thresholding to remove the noise from influent wastewater quality data adaptively. Then, we use autoencoder to learn the latent representation of the recent fluctuation of wastewater quality to capture its transient uncertainty. Further, the residual LSTM is adopted to learn both the long-term and short-term sequential dependencies of influent wastewater quality from the historical wastewater quality and the latent representation of its recent fluctuation. Experiments on the dataset from a large-scale urban WWTP in Beijing demonstrate that the proposed wt-ResLSTM approach outperforms state-of-the-art techniques in predicting influent wastewater quality in terms of level accuracy and directional accuracy.

Microplastics in wastewater treatment plants and their contributions to surface water and farmland pollution in China

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are usually considered gateways for microplastics (MPs) to enter the environment because large amounts of sewage are produced and MPs are incompletely removed during treatment processes. However, the contribution of effluent MPs to aquatic environmental pollution and that of sludge application to MPs in agricultural soil are still unknown. This study examines the presence of MPs in sewage and sludge in Shenzhen WWTPs and estimates the annual mass loading of MPs from WWTPs to surface water and farmland soil in China. According to our results, for Shenzhen, the annual contribution of MPs from WWTPs (which was obtained by multiplying the annual treated sewage volume by the estimated MP density in the treated sewage) to surface water could be 70.6−302 tons. With a normalized extrapolation model of population density, the contribution of national urban WWTPs to MPs in surface water was estimated to be 734 −3.10 × 103 tons/year, of which 220−950 tons/year entered the marine environment. Furthermore, the riverine flux of MPs from WWTPs to the ocean amounts to at least 7.0%–30% based on the maximum value of WWTP contribution to MPs in surface water. For sludge, the potential contribution of MPs to agricultural soil from Shenzhen WWTPs is (1.00−2.80) × 103 tons/year. With the above calculation procedure, it was estimated that the contribution of MPs to farmland from sludge application in China is (1.30−3.90) × 104 tons/year. The source appointment results for MPs in China's agricultural soil suggested that the contributions of the main four sources, namely, atmospheric deposition, agricultural mulch film, sludge application, and organic fertilizers, are 52%, 30%, 11%, and 7.0%, respectively.

Adsorption of phosphate in water by defective UiO-66/Ce2(CO3)3 composite: Adsorption characteristics and mechanisms

In this study, the defect-rich UiO-66 is first synthesized by a two-step strategy, and then a new T-UiO-66/Ce2(CO3)3 (TUC) adsorbent has been successfully synthesized for phosphate removal from water using a simple co-precipitation method. The pseudo-secondary kinetic model and the Langmuir model, respectively, fit the adsorption kinetics and isotherms. The combined thermodynamic analysis shows the spontaneous and heat-absorbing nature of the adsorption process. TUC has a maximum adsorption capacity of 138.9 mg/g at 298 K, and its adsorption capacity is stable throughout a large pH range (4–9). Electrostatic attraction, defect-induced ligand compensation groups and CO32-active groups with phosphate in ligand exchange make up the majority of the adsorption mechanism. Meanwhile, TUC shows excellent adsorption performance for low concentration phosphorus-containing solution. By applying adsorption for 120 min while treating actual water samples, the phosphate concentration can be reduced from 1.68 mg/L to 0.2 mg/L, which is much less than the primary A phosphorus discharge standard of urban wastewater treatment plants. Moreover, the adsorbent shows good stability after five cycles, and the phosphate may still be adsorbed with an efficiency of up to 81% and desorbed with an efficiency of over 85%.

A Mini-Review of Antibiotic Resistance Drivers in Urban Wastewater Treatment Plants: Environmental Concentrations, Mechanism and Perspectives

Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest challenges to public health and ecological safety in the 21st century. Urban wastewater treatment plants (UWTPs), as reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB), simultaneously contain a wide variety of chemical pollutants. The review introduces the actual concentration levels and the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance drivers (ARDs) in UWTPs, including antibiotics, heavy metals, disinfectants, cosmetics and personal care products, non-antibiotic drugs, and microplastics. Moreover, this review emphasizes the importance of approaching the actual activated sludge environment in future research and proposes future directions.

Characterization of beta-lactamase producing Enterobacterales isolated from an urban community wastewater treatment plant in Iran.

he occurrence and characteristics of Extended Spectrum- and AmpC-β-lactamase producing Enterobacterales (ESBL-PE and AmpC-PE) in an urban wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) were investigated. A total of 30 wastewater samples were collected from all sections of WWTP. Enterobacterales were isolated and identified using standard microbiological tests. The antibiotic resistance profile was determined by the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. Phenotypic screening for ESBL-PE and AmpC-PE isolates was performed by double-disk synergy and boronic acid disk potentiation tests, respectively. The isolates were examined for AmpC- and ESBL-encoding genes by PCR and sequencing methods. Among 146 Enterobacterales isolates, 8.9% (n=13) [ESBL-only; 5.48% (n=8) and ESBL + AmpC; 3.42% (n=5)] were ESBL-producers and 15.75% (n=23) [AmpC-only; 12.33% (n=18) and ESBL + AmpC; 3.42% (n=5)] AmpC-producers. Hafnia spp. with 33.33% (n=1/3) and E. coli with 20.58% (n=7/34) [ESBL-only; 17.64% (n=6/34) and ESBL + AmpC; 2.94% (n=1/34)] were the most common ESBL-producing bacteria. Enterobacter spp. with 37.50% (n=6/16) of isolates were the most common AmpC-producing organisms. ESBL- and/or AmpC-producing isolates were identified in all parts of the WWTP including 80% (n=8/10) of samples taken from effluent. Among ESBL-producing isolates, bla CTX-M , bla TEM, and bla SHV ESBL-encoding genes were found in 61.5% (n=8), 15.3% (n=2), and 7.7% (n=1) of isolates, respectively. All CTX-M-type enzymes belonged to the CTX-M-1 group and CTX-M-15 subgroup. bla TEM and bla SHV type genes belonged to bla TEM-20 and bla HSV-12 subtypes, respectively. bla DHA with 73.9% (n=17/23), and bla CIT and bla FOX with 30.4% (n=7/23) each, were the most common AmpC-encoding genes among AmpC-producing isolates. Overall, 75% of ESBL-producing and 55.5% of AmpC-producing isolates exhibited multi-drug resistance phenotypes. The organisms were most resistant against ampicillin (82.2%) nalidixic acid (43.8%) and cephalexin (41.1%). ESBL- and AmpC-producing Enterobacterales spp. with diverse genetic resistance backgrounds in WWTP effluent poses a significant risk to public health.

Dissemination of ESBL-producing E. coli ST131 through wastewater and environmental water in Switzerland

The E. coli lineage ST131 is a major cause of multidrug-resistant urinary tract and bloodstream infections worldwide. Recently emerged ST131 sublineages spread globally within few years, but their dissemination routes are incompletely understood. In this study, we investigate the potential role of wastewater and surface water in the spread of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing ST131. Streams, lakes, and two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the canton of Zug, Switzerland, were consecutively sampled over 1.5 years. ST131 was detected in 38% of the samples taken downstream (1–5 km) of WWTP discharge sites, but usually absent in water bodies distant from urban areas or WWTP discharge. Specific strains were repeatedly isolated (≤5 pairwise cgSNP distance) from wastewater or river sites downstream of effluent discharge, indicating their repeated entry or persistence in WWTPs in large concentrations. Genetic characterization of the ESBL-producing water isolates revealed a predominance of clades A and C1 and an emerging ciprofloxacin-resistant sublineage with mutations in quinolone resistance determining regions (QRDR) within clade A. Multiple isolates belonged to internationally circulating sublineages, including C1-M27 and papGII + sublineages with chromosomally encoded ESBLs. This study demonstrates that the clinically relevant E. coli lineage ST131 pollutes river ecosystems, representing a significant challenge to public health and to technologies to minimize their entry into the water environment.

Integrating Reliability and Energy Efficiency Assessments for Pinpointing Actionable Strategies for Enhanced Performance of Urban Wastewater Treatment Plants

By leveraging performance assessment systems (PASs) and incorporating targeted strategies, utilities can enhance the overall effectiveness, reliability, efficiency, and environmental performance of their wastewater treatment facilities. This work presents the results obtained from a comprehensive analysis of treatment reliability and energy performance of three wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The results allowed identifying, for each WWTP, improvement needs related to the aeration energy requirements, as well as to determine the effluent concentration targets required to achieve higher reliability levels while potentially reducing running costs. By analysing reliability combined with energy efficiency, this methodology allowed identifying the WWTPs’ performance-limiting stages or dysfunctions that affect both effectiveness and efficiency, to estimate the investment needs and prioritize the rehabilitation or even retrofitting of facilities’ assets.

Transmission of clones of carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli between a hospital and an urban wastewater treatment plant

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) constitute an urgent threat to worldwide public health. The spread of CRE is facilitated by transmission via the environment. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are considered to be important sources of antibiotic resistance and hot spots of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) which can facilitate dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes. In this study, water samples were collected over one year from a WWTP in Jinan, Shandong province, China, from different functional sites in the wastewater treatment process. Carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli (CREC) were isolated by selective cultivation and whole-genome sequenced to investigate the occurrence and characteristics of CREC in the WWTP. A total of 77 CREC isolates were included in the study and the detection rate of CREC in the WWTP water inlet was found to be 85%. An additional 10 CREC were isolated from a nearby teaching hospital during the sampling period and included for comparison to the environmental isolates. Susceptibility testing showed that all CREC were multidrug-resistant. 6 different carbapenem resistance genes (CRGs) were detected, including blaNDM-5 (n = 75), blaNDM-1 (n = 6), blaNDM-4 (n = 3), blaNDM-6 (n = 1), blaNDM-9 (n = 1), and blaKPC-2 (n = 4). 42 CREC isolates were whole-genome sequenced with Illumina short-read sequencing. 11 of these were also sequenced with Nanopore long-read sequencing. Plasmids carrying CRGs were found to belong to IncX3 (n = 35), IncFII (n = 12), IncFIA (n = 5), IncFIB (n = 2), IncC (n = 1), and IncP6 (n = 1). Clonal dissemination of CREC belonging to ST167, ST448, and ST746 was observed between different parts of the WWTP. Furthermore, isolates from the WWTP, including an isolate belonging to the high-risk ST167 strain, were found to be clonally related to CREC isolated at the hospital. The spread of CRGs is of considerable concern and strategies to prevent environmental dissemination of this contaminant urgently needs to be implemented.

Evaluation of the adsorptive and catalytic properties of sludge-based carbon materials for the efficient removal of antibiotics listed in the European Decision 2020/1161/EU

In this work, sludge from an oily refinery and urban wastewater treatment plant have been used for the synthesis of activated carbons using ZnCl2 and KOH as activating agents. The materials were used as adsorbents and catalysts for the removal of three antibiotics, e.g., sulfamethoxazole (SMX), trimethoprim (TMP) and ciprofloxacin (CPX). The activated carbons have been fully characterized. Thus, the BET surface area of the materials ranged from 183 to 784 m2/g. Qe values of 127.3 mg/g for SMX onto U-ZnCl2; 168.5, and 179.6 mg/g for TMP and CPX, respectively, onto R-KOH were obtained. The best fitting of kinetic data was found by using pseudo-second order (PSO) model, while Freundlich and Liu models successfully fitted the equilibrium adsorption isotherms. SMX, TMP and CPX adsorption mechanisms were governed by pore filling, π-π interactions and H-bonds. R-KOH material was used for wastewater treatment, finding that the adsorption capacity decreased due to a competitive effect. Regarding the Fenton process, the U-ZnCl2 carbon achieved the total SMX degradation after 60 min. In contrast, TMP and CPX showed the highest depletion in only 20 min. The higher performances of the U-ZnCl2 material may be due to a higher C/O ratio and high N and Zn contents. In the experiments with a real aqueous matrix, similar conversions were achieved, although the kinetic constants resulted in slightly lower values. So, it could be stated that adsorption and Fenton oxidation performance were influenced by the different properties of the carbon materials.

Multi-dimension analysis of volatile sulfur compound emissions from an urban wastewater treatment plant

Long-term monitoring of volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) released at the water-air interface from different treatment units of an anaerobic/oxic (A/O) wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) was carried out to assess the temporal and spatial emission characteristics of VSCs, to explore relationships between wastewater quality and VSC release. The VSC from non-aerated and aerated units were collected using dynamic and static chambers, respectively, and determined using gas chromatography. The VSC emission fluxes diminished in the order of primary sedimentation tank (PST) > anaerobic areas (ANA) > oxic section 1 (OX1). VSCs were not detected in the oxic section 2 (OX2), the oxic areas section 3 (OX3), and the final setting basin (FSB). Release capacities of VSCs descended in the order of summer > fall > spring > winter, with July, August, and September being the months with the highest VSC release capacities. VSC emission fluxes correlated well with wastewater temperatures, sulfate concentrations, and COD. VSC emission flux empirical equations based on wastewater temperature, sulfate concentrations, and COD were established. Based on the established VSC emission empirical equation, a control strategy to reduce the operating costs of deodorization facilities was proposed. This strategy is economically efficient and reduces the consumption of electrical energy.

Occurrence and removal rate of typical pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in an urban wastewater treatment plant in Beijing, China

The occurrence and removal rate of 52 typical pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) were investigated in a wastewater treatment plant in Beijing, China. Thirty-three PPCPs were found in the influent, with caffeine (CF, 11387.0 ng L−1) being the most abundant, followed by N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET, 9568.4 ng L−1), metoprolol (MTP, 930.2 ng L−1), and diclofenac (DF, 710.3 ng L−1). After treatment processes, the cumulative concentration of PPCPs decreased from 2.54 × 104 ng L−1 to 1.44 × 103 ng L−1, with the overall removal efficiency (RE) of 94.3%. Different treatment processes showed varying contributions in removing PPCPs. PPCPs were efficiently removed in sedimentation, anoxic, and ultraviolet units. For individual compounds, a great variation in RE (52.1–100%) was observed. Twenty-two PPCPs were removed by more than 90%. The highly detected PPCPs in the influent were almost completely removed. Aerated grit chamber removed nearly 50% of fluoroquinolone (FQs) and more than 60% of sulfonamides. Most PPCPs showed low or negative removals during anaerobic treatment, except for CF which was eliminated by 64.9%. Anoxic treatment demonstrated positive removals for most PPCPs, with the exceptions of DF, MTP, bisoprolol, carbamazepine (CBZ), and sibutramine. DEET and bezafibrate were efficiently removed during the secondary sedimentation. Denitrification biological filter and membrane filtration also showed positive effect on most PPCPs removals. The remaining compounds were oxidized by 16–100% in ozonation. DF, sulpiride, ofloxacin (OFL), trimethoprim, and phenolphthalein were not amenable to ultraviolet. After the treatment, the residue OFL, CBZ, and CF in receiving water were identified to pose high risk to aquatic organisms. Considering the complex mixtures emitted into the environment, therapeutic groups psychotropics, stimulant, and FQs were classified as high risk. These findings provide valuable insights into adopting appropriate measures for more efficient PPCPs removals, and emphasize the importance of continued monitoring specific PPCPs and mixtures thereof to safeguard the ecosystem.

Exposure of juvenile Chinook salmon to effluent from a large urban wastewater treatment plant. Part 2. Metabolomic profiling

Targeted metabolomic analysis was conducted on juvenile Chinook salmon exposed for 10 days to wastewater effluent (WWE) from a large urban treatment plant. Exposures included five dilutions of WWE (20%, 5.3%, 1.4%, 0.4%, and 0.1%) and a control with 7 replicates per treatment. Liver was extracted from fish and analyzed via liquid chromatography – mass spectrometry (LC-MS) for 361 endogenous metabolites, of which 185 were detected. Control-versus-treatment comparisons identified several metabolites that were associated with altered biochemical pathways observed for all treatments, including several that are important for energy generation and utilization. These altered pathways are crucial for fish health and may be an early indicator of potential adverse effects on growth, reproduction, behavior, and immune function. Juvenile ocean-type Chinook salmon spend several days to weeks in the nearshore estuary where they may encounter high concentrations of WWE contaminants. They are exposed to a wide range of potent pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and industrial compounds from WWE that have the potential to affect physiological homeostasis and disrupt their normal life cycle.

Kentsel atıksuda ve atıksu arıtma tesisinde bazı analjezik ve anti-enflamatuar farmasötiklerinin varlığı, giderimleri ve çevresel risk değerlendirilmesi

Kentsel atıksuda ve atıksu arıtma tesisinde bazı analjezik ve anti-enflamatuar farmasötiklerinin varlığı, giderimleri ve çevresel risk değerlendirilmesi