Tracking pollutants in a municipal sewage network impairing the operation of a wastewater treatment plant.

This work provides a screening of organic contaminants and characterization of the dissolved organic matter in the sewer network until the municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), identifying the network areas with a higher degree of contamination and their impact on the WWTP performance, particularly in the activated sludge reactor. Three monitoring campaigns were carried out at six selected locations of the sewage system (PVZ-1, PVZ-2, PS-F, PS-VC, CP-VC, and PS-T), influent (WWTP) and effluent (WWTP) of the WWTP. Advanced analytical techniques were employed, namely excitation/emission matrix fluorescence-parallel factor analysis (EEM-PARAFAC), size exclusion chromatography with organic carbon detector (SEC-OCD), and liquid chromatography with high-resolution-mass spectrometric detection (LC-HRMS).

Bromate removal from water intended for human consumption by heterogeneous photocatalysis: Effect of major dissolved water constituents.

This study focuses on the influence of major dissolved constituents naturally found in waters intended for human consumption on bromate (BrO) reduction by heterogeneous photocatalysis. The individual and combined effect of chloride (Cl), bicarbonate/carbonic acid (HCO/HCO), nitrate (NO), sulphate (SO) and humic acids (HAs) on BrO reduction was evaluated in synthetic waters (SWs). Additionally, freshwaters (FWs) from a drinking water treatment plant (DWTP) were tested and directly compared to SWs.