scholarly journals A Review on the Fate of Legacy and Alternative Antimicrobials and Their Metabolites during Wastewater and Sludge Treatment

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (23) ◽  
pp. 9241
Author(s):  
Timothy Abbott ◽  
Gokce Kor-Bicakci ◽  
Mohammad S. Islam ◽  
Cigdem Eskicioglu

Antimicrobial compounds are used in a broad range of personal care, consumer and healthcare products and are frequently encountered in modern life. The use of these compounds is being reexamined as their safety, effectiveness and necessity are increasingly being questioned by regulators and consumers alike. Wastewater often contains significant amounts of these chemicals, much of which ends up being released into the environment as existing wastewater and sludge treatment processes are simply not designed to treat many of these contaminants. Furthermore, many biotic and abiotic processes during wastewater treatment can generate significant quantities of potentially toxic and persistent antimicrobial metabolites and byproducts, many of which may be even more concerning than their parent antimicrobials. This review article explores the occurrence and fate of two of the most common legacy antimicrobials, triclosan and triclocarban, their metabolites/byproducts during wastewater and sludge treatment and their potential impacts on the environment. This article also explores the fate and transformation of emerging alternative antimicrobials and addresses some of the growing concerns regarding these compounds. This is becoming increasingly important as consumers and regulators alike shift away from legacy antimicrobials to alternative chemicals which may have similar environmental and human health concerns.

2001 ◽  
Vol 44 (10) ◽  
pp. 121-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.A. Müller

Pre-treatment processes have been developed in order to improve subsequent sludge treatment and disposal. Disintegration of sludge solids in the aqueous phase changes the sludge structure and solubilizes organic matter. This paper provides an overview of the applications of wet disintegration in wastewater and sludge treatment. Applied disintegration techniques such as mechanical, thermal, chemical and biological methods are briefly described. The methods are compared regarding energy consumption, operational reliability and stage of development for application on wastewater treatment plants. Mechanical and thermal methods appear to be most suitable at this stage. The effects of pre-treatment on subsequent sludge treatment processes and the wastewater treatment are described. The performance of various methods is assessed. For the improvement of stabilization, mechanical and ozone treatment as well as thermal treatment perform best. Dewatering can be enhanced by thermal and freeze/thaw treatment. All methods show positive effects in the reduction of the number of pathogens. Pre-treatment leads to secondary effects like the generation of recalcitrant compounds and odor, which is mainly a problem of thermal and ozone treatment. The evaluation of capital and operational costs is difficult, because of the lack of full-scale experience. Especially thermal, freeze/thaw and biological treatments can be realized at low costs if the conditions are appropriate. Nevertheless, the economic efficiency has to be investigated critically for each individual application.


1995 ◽  
Vol 31 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 97-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. L. Stadterman ◽  
A. M. Sninsky ◽  
J. L. Sykora ◽  
W. Jakubowskii

To determine the fate of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts during wastewater treatment, a model of an activated sludge treatment plant was designed with a flow of 17 ml/min and a detention time of 6 hours. Samples of raw sewage were seeded with oocysts and primary and secondary effluents were analyzed for C. parvum using an immunofluorescent technique. To compare removal efficiencies of oocysts by various wastewater treatment processes, raw sewage, activated sludge, trickling filter and biodisc effluents were seeded with oocysts and settled for 2 hr and for the respective detention times. Sludge produced by a wastewater treatment plant and anaerobically digested at 37° C in a laboratory digester was also seeded with C. parvum oocysts. Oocyst inactivation was measured by excystation and direct counts. Removal of oocysts in primary and secondary sedimentation averaged 83.4% and 90.7% respectively. The total oocyst removal in sewage treatment averaged 98.6%. In comparison with other treatment processes, activated sludge had the maximum oocyst removal efficiency at 92%. The anaerobic digestion process inactivated 90% of the oocysts within four hours of exposure. 99.9% of the oocysts were eliminated by anaerobic digestion after 24 hours. This demonstrates that the activated sludge process and anaerobic digestion can be effective for the removal and inactivation of C. parvum oocysts.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Mazurkiewicz Jakub ◽  
Damian Janczak ◽  
Dawid Wojcieszak ◽  
Sebastian Kujawiak ◽  
Przemysław Zakrzewski

Especially in non-urbanized areas there is a need to use various waste products, e.g. from agriculture, households, etc. New products that are created in a simple way should be able to be used many times without the use of complicated and expensive technology. This article presents the potential of biochar used in wastewater treatment processes and sludge management in small installations - for the maximum maintained number of users equal to 50. The possibilities of two substances used in sewage management processes, such as char and biochar will be presented. These substances, produced from pyrolysis, are stable carbon-rich compounds which have various beneficial applications like soil conditioning, remediation and wastewater treatment. In particular, biochar originating from wastewater sludge pyrolysis, possible to be generated at the place of formation, was taken into account. In addition, ways to increase the reliability of the treatment plant with biochar based filters are described.


2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 685-692
Author(s):  
Elisabeta Chirila ◽  
Ionela Carazeanu Popovici ◽  
Techin Ibadula ◽  
Alice Iordache

Author(s):  
N. Zaletova ◽  
S. Zaletov

Биологический метод очистки сточных вод представляет собой сложный многокомпонентный процесс, ключевой составляющей которого является работа ферментной системы. Известно, что одним из важнейших ферментов, обеспечивающих биологический процесс, являются дегидрогеназы. Полностью сложнейший механизм действия ферментов до конца пока не раскрыт, однако в практике контроля процессов биологической очистки используется показатель дегидрогеназной активности ила. Результаты исследований позволили дополнить имеющуюся информацию фактическими данными о взаимообусловленности уровня дегидрогеназной активности ила и показателей отдельных технологических параметров биологической очистки. Показано, что режим работы аэротенков (нагрузка на ил, доза активного ила и др.) и величина показателей исходной дегидрогеназной активности и дегидрогеназной активности этого же образца ила со слабо концентрированным раствором (ДАИН2О) связаны между собой и зависят от нагрузки на ил по органическим веществам. Полученные результаты исследования могут быть использованы для контроля биологического процесса очистки сточных вод.The biological method of wastewater treatment is a comprehensive multicomponent process the activities of the enzyme system being the key component of it. It is known that dehydrogenases have been one of the most important enzymes the ensure the biological process. The complicated mechanism of the action of enzymes has not been fully described so far however, in the practice of monitoring biological treatment processes, an indicator of the dehydrogenase activity of sludge is used. The research results provided for supplementing the available information with actual data on the interdependence of the level of dehydrogenase activity of sludge and indicators of individual process parameters of biological treatment. It was shown that the mode of operation of aeration tanks (organic matter load on sludge, dose of activated sludge, etc.) and the values of the initial dehydrogenase activity and dehydrogenase activity of the same sludge sample with weakly concentrated solution (DASН2О) are interconnected and depend on the organic load on sludge. The results of the study can be used to control the biological process of wastewater treatment.The biological method of wastewater treatment is a comprehensive multicomponent process the activities of the enzyme system being the key component of it. It is known that dehydrogenases have been one of the most important enzymes the ensure the biological process. The complicated mechanism of the action of enzymes has not been fully described so far however, in the practice of monitoring biological treatment processes, an indicator of the dehydrogenase activity of sludge is used. The research results provided for supplementing the available information with actual data on the interdependence of the level of dehydrogenase activity of sludge and indicators of individual process parameters of biological treatment. It was shown that the mode of operation of aeration tanks (organic matter load on sludge, dose of activated sludge, etc.) and the values of the initial dehydrogenase activity and dehydrogenase activity of the same sludge sample with weakly concentrated solution (DASН2О) are interconnected and depend on the organic load on sludge. The results of the study can be used to control the biological process of wastewater treatment.


1989 ◽  
Vol 21 (8-9) ◽  
pp. 805-814 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. R. Christensen ◽  
G. Holm Kristensen ◽  
J. la Cour Jansen

Experimental investigations on the kinetics of wastewater treatment processes in biofilms were performed in a laboratory reactor. Parallel with the kinetic experiments, the influence of the biofilm kinetics on the biofilm structure was studied at macroscopic and microscopic levels. The close interrelationship between biofilm kinetics and structural changes caused by the kinetics is illustrated by several examples. From the study, it is evident that the traditional modelling of wastewater treatment processes in biofilm reactors based on substrate removal kinetics alone will fail in many cases, due to the inevitable changes in the biofilm structure not taken into consideration. Therefore design rules for substrate removal in biofilms used for wastewater treatment must include correlations between the removal kinetics and the structure and development of the biological film.


1989 ◽  
Vol 21 (8-9) ◽  
pp. 909-916
Author(s):  
A. M. Spaull ◽  
D. M. McCormack ◽  
E. B. Pike

Samples of sewage sludges, taken over a 12-month period from 9 Scottish sewage works, contained on average 0.24 cysts of Globodera spp. (potato cyst-nematodes) of which 11% were viable. The incidence was not significantly related to season or to the presence of vegetable-processing effluent. Exposure of cysts in sludge to mesophilic anaerobic digestion (35 °C, 30 min) cold anaerobic digestion (9 weeks), pasteurisation (70 °C, 30 min) and aerobic thermophilic digestion (60 °C, ld) reduced viability of eggs within the cysts by almost 100%. Sludges so treated can therefore be considered to be free from infection risk to potato crops, although the non-infective cysts may still be recovered. Treatment with lime at pH 11.5 (20 °C, 24 h), by aerobic stabilisation in an oxidation ditch (7 weeks) and by activated-sludge treatment (5d) did not reduced viability acceptably. Accelerated cold digestion did not reduce viability sufficiently after the usual 15 weeks but rendered eggs completely non-viable after 21 weeks. The results show that even sludge treated to destroy viable cysts should not be applied to land used for growing seed potatoes and subject to testing for freedom from infestation. Treatment destroying viability should increase the acceptability of sludge for ware potato growers, although the numbers of cysts applied in untreated sludge would be unlikely to increase significantly levels of cysts in soils already infested.


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