Continued development of a mass balance model of chemical fate in a sewage treatment plant (original) (raw)
Related papers
Chemosphere, 2007
The aim of this study was to develop a fugacity-based analysis of the fate of selected industrial compounds (alkylphenols and phthalates) with endocrine disrupting properties in a conventional activated sludge wastewater treatment plant (WWTP A) in South East Queensland, Australia. Using mass balance principles, a fugacity model was developed for correlating and predicting the steadystate-phase concentrations, the process stream fluxes, and the fate of four phthalates and four alkylphenols in WWTP A. Input data are the compound's physicochemical properties, measured concentrations and the plant's operating design and parameters. The relative amounts of chemicals that are likely to be volatilized, sorbed to sludge, biotransformed, and discharge in the effluent water was determined. Since it was difficult to predict biotransformation, measured concentrations were used to calibrate the model in terms of biotransformation rate constant. Results obtained by applying the model for the eight compounds showed <40% differences between most of the estimated and measured data from WWTP A. All eight compounds that were modelled in this study had high removal efficacy from WWTP A. Apart from benzyl butyl phthalate and bisphenol A, the majority is removed via biotransformation followed by a lesser proportion removed with the primary sludge. Fugacity analysis provides useful insight into compound fate in a WWTP and with further calibration and validation the model should be useful for correlative and predictive purposes.
Inflow and outflow loads of 484 daily-use chemicals in wastewater treatment plants across Japan
Environmental Monitoring and Contaminants Research, 2021
With the increasing number and volume of chemicals used in modern life, their adverse effects on human health and aquatic organisms have increased concerns as well. To formulate appropriate management plans, the amounts/ volumes used and emitted of these chemicals must be regulated. However, no data are available on the use of most chemicals, particularly daily-use chemicals such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). Herein, we tested eight activated sludge wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) across Japan, each servicing populations of over 200,000, to investigate the emissions of 484 chemicals including 162 PPCPs. Twenty-four-hour composite samples were collected before and after the activated sludge component of treatment in each season of 2017. Targeted substances were solid-phase extracted and subsequently measured by LC-QTOF-MS-Sequential Window Acquisition of All Theoretical Fragment-Ion Spectra Acquisition. The mean number of the detected substances and their mean total concentrations in inflows (n = 32) and outflows (n = 32) were 87 and 92 and 108,517 and 31,537 ng L − 1 , respectively. Pharmaceuticals comprised 50% of the screened chemicals in the inflow. The median removal efficiency was 31.3%: 29.2% for pharmaceuticals and 20.2% for pesticides, which were similar to those in the literature. Cluster analysis showed that spatial differences among the WWTPs are larger than seasonal differences in the same WWTP. Regardless, we detected seasonal differences in the amounts of substances in the inflows: the amounts of sucralose, UV-filters, and insecticides were larger in summer than in winter, whereas those of ibuprofen and chlorpheniramine were larger in winter than in summer. The total inflow and outflow population equivalent loads estimated using wastewater volume, detected concentrations, and populations were 44.7 and 13.0 g 1,000 capita − 1 d − 1 , respectively. The extrapolated total annual Japan-wide inflow and outflow loads were 2,079 and 671 tons y − 1 , respectively. Using the data obtained in this study, we identified 13 candidates of marker substances for estimating real-time population in a sewage treatment area and 22 candidates of marker substances for sewage contamination.
Environmental Footprint of Wastewater Treatment: A Step Forward in the Use of Toxicological Tools
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
The assessment of the actual impact of discharged wastewater on the whole ecosystem and, in turn, on human health requires the execution of bioassays. In effect, based on the chemical characterization alone, the synergistic/antagonistic effect of mixtures of pollutants is hardly estimable. The aim of this work was to evaluate the applicability of a battery of bioassays and to suggest a smart procedure for results representation. Two real wastewater treatment plants were submitted to analytical campaigns. Several baseline toxicity assays were conducted, together with tests for the determination of endocrine activity, genetic toxicity and carcinogenicity of wastewater. A “traffic light” model was adopted for an easy-to-understand visualization of the results. Although the legal prescriptions of chemical parameters are fully complied with, bioassays show that a certain biological activity still residues in the treated effluents. Moreover, influent and effluent responses are not always ...
Scientific Reports
Waste water treatment facilities are a major sources of organic micropollutants (MPs) in surface water. In this study, surface water samples were collected from seven sites along a river system in Uppsala, Sweden, during four seasons and evaluated based on the occurrence of MPs in the samples and bioactivity using in vitro bioassays. The sampling sites were differentially impacted by on-site sewage treatment facilities (OSSFs), small scale, and large scale waste water treatment plants (WWTPs). The bioassays used included activation of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), estrogen receptor (ER), nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NFkB), nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), and androgen receptor (AR). Occurrence of 80 MPs, were analyzed using liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. Most water samples induced AhR activity, and all sampling sites showed a similar profile regarding this activity. With the exception of one water sample, we did not detect any NFkB, Nrf2 or AR activity of the water samples. The exception was a sample impacted by OSSFs, which showed an activity in multiple bioassays, but the activity could not be explained by the occurrence of target MPs. The occurrence of MPs showed a spatial trend, with the highest number and amount of MPs detected in the samples collected downstream of the WWTPs, where up to 47 MPs were detected in one single sample. A seasonal variation was observed with highest levels of MPs and highest AhR activities in samples collected in June and September 2015. However, neither the seasonal activity nor the on-site activity could be explained by the measured MPs, suggesting unknown contributory agents in the water. Surface water can be contaminated with organic micropollutants (MPs), which is an environmental problem of great concern, both for human health and the ecosystem. One major contributor to MP contamination of surface water is waste water treatment facilities 1. Besides conventional waste water treatment plants (WWTPs), on-site sewage treatment facilities (OSSFs) can have an impact on the aquatic environment since they are usually not designed to remove MPs from wastewater 2-4. Data on removal efficiencies of MPs in OSSFs is limited and the
Journal of Environmental Management, 2013
This work assessed the behaviour of nine pharmaceuticals and/or endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in demo-scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors (UASB reactors) coupled to distinct simplified post-treatment units (submerged bed, polishing ponds, and trickling filters) fed on raw sewage taken from a municipality in Brazil. The dissolved concentration of the studied micropollutants in the raw and treated sewage was obtained using solid phase extraction (SPE) followed by analysis in a liquid chromatography system coupled to a hybrid high resolution mass spectrometer consisting of an ion-trap and time of flight (LC-MS-IT-TOF). The UASB reactors demonstrated that they were not appropriate for efficiently removing the assessed compounds from the sewage. Furthermore, this study demonstrated that the hydraulic retention time (HRT) was an important parameter for the removal of the hydrophilic and less biodegradable compounds, such as trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole. The post-treatment units substantially increased the removal of most target micropollutants present in the anaerobic effluents, with a greater removal of micropollutants in simplified systems that require a large construction area, such as the submerged bed and polishing ponds, probably because of the higher HRT employed. Alternatively, compact post-treatment systems, such as trickling filters, tended to be less effective at removing most of the micropollutants studied, and the type of packing proved to be crucial for determining the fate of such compounds using trickling filters.
OCCURRENCE AND FATE OF EMERGING CONTAMINANTS IN SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT OF ATHENS
Several synthetic organic compounds that have been classified as emerging contaminants are commonly detected in municipal wastewater and they are of significant research and practical interest, due to their chemical and toxicological properties that affect safe disposal and reuse of treated wastewater. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence and fate of selected emerging contaminants in sewage treatment plant (STP) of Athens (Greece) during two seasonal sampling campaigns. For this purpose, wastewater (influents and secondary effluents) and sludge samples were collected in seven consecutive days in each sampling campaign (December 2010 and April 2011). Samples were analyzed for the determination of four different classes of emerging contaminants, namely phenolic endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), pharmaceuticals (NSAIDs), perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), benzothiazoles (BThs) and benzotriazoles (BTzs). On the total, 37 different compounds were detected (5 EDCs, 4 NSAIDs, 18 PFCs, 4 BThs and 4 BTzs) in 28 wastewater and 14 sewage sludge samples. For the qualitative and quantitative analyses, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used for EDCs and NSAIDs, while liquid chromatography -tandem mass spectrometry was used for the rest of the compounds. The seasonal and daily variations of target compounds' concentrations were investigated and the results were compared to those reported in the literature for other STPs worldwide. Daily mass flows normalized to inhabitants were calculated and distribution of target compounds between dissolved and particulate phase was determined for wastewater samples. A mass balance was also performed to investigate the fate of EDCs during wastewater treatment and to estimate the role of degradation and sorption on their removal. To investigate possible effects due to the reuse of treated wastewater for agricultural purposes and disposal of treated wastewater to the aquatic environment, toxicity experiments were performed using seed germination, root elongation techniques and Vibrio fischeri bioassay. Finally, the role of advanced treatment processes on the removal of target compounds from biologically treated wastewater was studied in lab-scale experiments. For this reason, experiments were performed using coagulation-flocculation, filtration using membranes and chlorination under different experimental conditions.
2016
The occurrence of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) in municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) is an emerging environmental issue. Among other concerns, aquatic invertebrates sampled from WWTP have measurable concentrations of PPCPs, which have been found to cause adverse effects in the growth and development of birds when consumed. The Livingstone Trail Environmental Control Facility (LTECF) is the municipal wastewater treatment facility for the City of Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada (lat. 60 o 43'N, long. 135 o 03'W). The LTECF is a constructed wetland that hosts a high diversity and abundance of waterfowl, which may be attracted to the facility due to the abundance of aquatic invertebrates. Risk of PPCP accumulation in waterfowl feeding at the LTECF is a concern because the facility may be acting as an ecological trap. This research was the first of its kind at the LTECF and represents a first step in understanding the potential risk to waterfowl feeding at the LTECF. The main objectives of the study were to 1) quantify the occurrence of PPCPs in water, sludge, aquatic invertebrates, and algae, and 2) quantify the removal efficiency, seasonal variation, and bioaccumulation of PPCPs at the LTECF. Water, sludge, aquatic invertebrates, and algae were sampled from the primary, secondary and tertiary stages of treatment in the spring, summer and fall in 2013 and 2014. The PPCPs with the highest concentrations in water were: acetaminophen (150 µg/L), caffeine (100 µg/L) and ibuprofen (10 µg/L), consistent with other studies of WWTP. The PPCPs with the highest concentrations in sludge, aquatic invertebrates and algae were two antimicrobials, triclosan (93,000 ng/g, 36 ng/g, and 210 ng/g, respectively) and triclocarban (31,000 ng/g; 29 µg/g; 47 ng/g, respectively), also consistent with other WWTP studies. Estrogens and synthetic musks A project such as this would not be possible without the generous help and support from many different people and organizations. First off, I'd like to thank my supervisory committee (i.e., cosupervisors Katie Aitken and Fiona Schmiegelow, and committee members Jim Hawkings and Cameron Eckert) for always being there when I needed them and providing guidance when I wasn't sure where things were going. Thanks in particular to Jim Hawkings and Cameron Eckert for providing their vast knowledge and expertise during the early stages of the research, and helping to define the research objectives. I would like to acknowledge all my financial supporters for their generous contributions and confidence in the project: City of Whitehorse, Northern Research Institute, Yukon College, Environment Yukon, Fish and Wildlife Enhancement Trust Fund, and Ecofor Consulting Ltd. Also, thanks to the Yukon Bird Club for being a continuous supporter and partner of research at the Whitehorse sewage lagoon. Thank you to Yukon College and Alexco Environmental Group for loaning me field equipment to collect my samples. I would also like to thank the City of Whitehorse, specifically Dave Albisser, for being so encouraging to see this research happen. I want to acknowledge Naomi Stock and the staff at the Water Quality Centre at Trent University for performing all the lab analyses, and providing me an affordable rate; this project would not have been possible if it wasn't for your lab. Thank you, Janelle Langlais, for volunteering your precious evenings and weekends to brave the aromas of the lagoon to help with data collection. Your patience over the last five years is greatly appreciated and did not go unnoticed. Finally, I'd like to acknowledge Helmut Grünberg as a great mentor and inspiration to keep pursuing research at the Whitehorse sewage lagoon. His hours of volunteer time and contribution of data has been a big part of the success of this project. I would like to dedicate this thesis to him as I know he would be proud of the work and would like to see this research continue.
2017
The occurrence of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) in municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) is an emerging environmental issue. Among other concerns, aquatic invertebrates sampled from WWTP have measurable concentrations of PPCPs, which have been found to cause adverse effects in the growth and development of birds when consumed. The Livingstone Trail Environmental Control Facility (LTECF) is the municipal wastewater treatment facility for the City of Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada (lat. 60 o 43'N, long. 135 o 03'W). The LTECF is a constructed wetland that hosts a high diversity and abundance of waterfowl, which may be attracted to the facility due to the abundance of aquatic invertebrates. Risk of PPCP accumulation in waterfowl feeding at the LTECF is a concern because the facility may be acting as an ecological trap. This research was the first of its kind at the LTECF and represents a first step in understanding the potential risk to waterfowl feeding at the LTECF. The main objectives of the study were to 1) quantify the occurrence of PPCPs in water, sludge, aquatic invertebrates, and algae, and 2) quantify the removal efficiency, seasonal variation, and bioaccumulation of PPCPs at the LTECF. Water, sludge, aquatic invertebrates, and algae were sampled from the primary, secondary and tertiary stages of treatment in the spring, summer and fall in 2013 and 2014. The PPCPs with the highest concentrations in water were: acetaminophen (150 µg/L), caffeine (100 µg/L) and ibuprofen (10 µg/L), consistent with other studies of WWTP. The PPCPs with the highest concentrations in sludge, aquatic invertebrates and algae were two antimicrobials, triclosan (93,000 ng/g, 36 ng/g, and 210 ng/g, respectively) and triclocarban (31,000 ng/g; 29 µg/g; 47 ng/g, respectively), also consistent with other WWTP studies. Estrogens and synthetic musks A project such as this would not be possible without the generous help and support from many different people and organizations. First off, I'd like to thank my supervisory committee (i.e., cosupervisors Katie Aitken and Fiona Schmiegelow, and committee members Jim Hawkings and Cameron Eckert) for always being there when I needed them and providing guidance when I wasn't sure where things were going. Thanks in particular to Jim Hawkings and Cameron Eckert for providing their vast knowledge and expertise during the early stages of the research, and helping to define the research objectives. I would like to acknowledge all my financial supporters for their generous contributions and confidence in the project: City of Whitehorse, Northern Research Institute, Yukon College, Environment Yukon, Fish and Wildlife Enhancement Trust Fund, and Ecofor Consulting Ltd. Also, thanks to the Yukon Bird Club for being a continuous supporter and partner of research at the Whitehorse sewage lagoon. Thank you to Yukon College and Alexco Environmental Group for loaning me field equipment to collect my samples. I would also like to thank the City of Whitehorse, specifically Dave Albisser, for being so encouraging to see this research happen. I want to acknowledge Naomi Stock and the staff at the Water Quality Centre at Trent University for performing all the lab analyses, and providing me an affordable rate; this project would not have been possible if it wasn't for your lab. Thank you, Janelle Langlais, for volunteering your precious evenings and weekends to brave the aromas of the lagoon to help with data collection. Your patience over the last five years is greatly appreciated and did not go unnoticed. Finally, I'd like to acknowledge Helmut Grünberg as a great mentor and inspiration to keep pursuing research at the Whitehorse sewage lagoon. His hours of volunteer time and contribution of data has been a big part of the success of this project. I would like to dedicate this thesis to him as I know he would be proud of the work and would like to see this research continue.
Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2013
Water scarcity is one of the most important environmental and public health problems of our century. Treated wastewater reuse seems to be the most attractive option for the enhancement of water resources. However, the lack of uniform guidelines at European and/or Mediterranean level leaves room for application of varying guidelines and regulations, usually not based on risk assessment towards humans and the environment. The benefits of complementing the physicochemical evaluation of wastewater with a biological one are demonstrated in the present study using Cyprus, a country with extended water reuse applications, as an example. Four organisms from different trophic levels were used for the biological assessment of the wastewater, namely, Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata, Daphnia magna, Artemia salina and Vibrio fischeri. The physicochemical assessment of wastewater based on "traditional" chemical parameters indicated that the quality of the wastewater complies with the limits set by the relevant national guidelines for disposal. The ecotoxicological assessment, however, indicated the presence of toxicity throughout the sampling periods and most importantly an increase of the toxicity of the treated wastewater during summer compared to winter. The resulting poor correlation between the physicochemical and biological assessments demonstrates that the two assessments are necessary and should be performed in parallel in order to be able to obtain concrete results on the overall quality of the treated effluent. Moreover, a hazard classification scheme for wastewater is proposed, which can enable the comparison of the data sets of the various parameters deriving from the biological assessment in a comprehensive way.