🌍💼Is the Alga treatment system an appropriate method for breaking down micropollutants, especially pharmaceuticals in wastewater? 💊🔬...
Published on by Hossein Ataei Far, Deputy Manager of the Research, Technology Development, and Industry Relations Center at NWWEC
🔬 Microorganisms, such as fungi, algae, and bacteria, can degrade or transform pharmaceuticals through biodegradation or co-metabolic processes [1].
🚽 Source-separated collection of toilet wastewater makes recovery of organic matter and nutrients economically feasible because of their high concentration in a relatively small volume. Toilet wastewater, comprising urine, faeces, toilet paper, and flush water, can be collected either as a single stream, called black water or as two separate streams, urine (yellow water) and faeces (brown water). Most of the organic matter comes from faeces, while nutrients are mainly present in urine.
🔎 Lienert et al. (2007) investigated the excretory routes of 212 pharmaceuticals and showed that nearly two-thirds of them are excreted with urine, while the rest are excreted with faeces.
🔎 The study by de Wilt et al. (2015) aimed to assess micropollutant removal and sorption to biomass in an algal treatment system with anaerobically treated black water (AnBW) and urine used as growth media. Six pharmaceuticals (ibuprofen, diclofenac, paracetamol, trimethoprim, metoprolol, and carbamazepine) and three estrogens (estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), and ethinylestradiol (EE2)) were studied, with the estrogens determined in algal biomass only.
🌿 Treatment of black water in an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactor allows for the conversion of organic matter into biogas.
💡 Research shows that a significant portion of nitrogen and phosphorus can be recovered from urine and anaerobically treated black water through incorporation into algal biomass, which can then be used as fertilizer (Figure 1).
🌊 Algal treatment systems can remove micropollutants. In an algal treatment system, diclofenac, ibuprofen, paracetamol, and metoprolol can be removed by biodegradation and photolysis, while carbamazepine and trimethoprim show incomplete removal.
💡Highlights of this research:
▶️Removal of phosphorus and nitrogen was close to 100% by the end of the experiment.
▶️60-100% removal of diclofenac, ibuprofen, paracetamol, and metoprolol was achieved.
▶️Removal of carbamazepine and trimethoprim was incomplete and did not exceed 30% and 60%, respectively.
▶️Biodegradation and photolysis are the most important micropollutant removal mechanisms, and sorption to solids accounted for