Reclaimed water irrigation can satisfy increasing water demand, but it may also introduce pharmaceutical contaminants into the soil and groundwater environment. In this work, a range of laboratory experiments were conducted to test whether biochar can be amended in soils to enhance removal of sulfamethoxazole (SMX) from reclaimed water. Eight types of biochar were tested in laboratory sorption experiments yielding solid-water distribution coefficients (K(d)) of 2-104 L/kg. Two types of biochar with relatively high K(d) were used in column leaching experiments to assess their effect on reclaimed water SMX transport through soils. Only about 2-14% of the SMX was transported through biochar-amended soils, while 60% was found in the leachate of the unamended soils. Toxicity characteristic leaching experiments confirmed that the mobility and bioavailability of SMX in biochar-amended soils were lower than that of unamended soils. However, biochar with high accumulations of SMX was still found to inhibit the growth of the bacteria compared to biochar with less SMX which showed no effects. Thus, biochar with very high pharmaceutical sorption abilities may find use as a low-cost alternative sorbent for treating wastewater plant effluent, but should be used with caution as an amendment to soils irrigated with reclaimed water or waste water.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2012.01.046 | DOI Listing |
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int
January 2025
Centre for Environmental Studies, Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University, Chennai, 600 025, India.
Landfill biomining is indeed a promising eco-friendly approach to sustainably manage and reclaim old dumpsites. Soil like fractions of < 8-10 mm size, also known as bioearth or good earth constitute a substantial part of the legacy waste. Detailed characterization is necessary to meet regulatory standards for the safe use of bioearth and minimize its environmental and human health impacts upon reuse.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChemosphere
December 2024
Department of Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei City 243303, Taiwan, ROC; Center for Sustainability and Energy Technologies, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 33323, Taiwan, ROC; Biochemical Technology R&D Center, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei City, 24301, Taiwan, ROC; Chronic Diseases and Health Promotion Research Center, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Chiayi 61363, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address:
Large amounts of wastewater are produced from semiconductor manufacturing, and the production energy consumption has skyrocketed with its global demand in recent years. Forward osmosis (FO) provides unique merits in reclaiming the wastewater if suitable draw solutes with high water flux, low leakage, and limited energy requirement in regeneration are available. Two lower critical solution temperature-ionic liquids (LCST-ILs), tetrabutylphosphonium trimethylbenzensulfonate ([P][TMBS]) and tetrabutylphosphonium maleate ([P][Mal]) were synthesized and systematically assessed as recycled draw solutes in FO for the water reclamation from the wastewater of Si-ingot sawing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Environ Manage
December 2024
Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Civil, Building and Environmental Engineering, Rome, Italy.
Reuse of reclaimed wastewater (RWW) in agriculture represents one of the key strategies to promote for reducing the pressures on water sources, as also fostered by the EU governance. Indeed, the European Regulation 741/2020 on water reuse, entered into force in 2023, was issued with the aim to extend the reuse of treated water in agriculture under safe conditions. It establishes the minimum quality requirements; it also foresees the possibility to add additional requirements, especially for contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), based on "scientific evidence" and the risk assessment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Environ Manage
December 2024
College of Business and Economics, Australia National University, Canberra, Australia. Electronic address:
Improving water reuse efficiency from a recycling perspective is claimed to be a better way to alleviate global water scarcity and water pollution. This study opens the internal "black box" of China's water reuse system driven and decomposes water reuse system into water use, wastewater treatment and reclaimed water reuse stages, and selects input-output indicators based on SDG6. Then, it proposes a dynamic three-stage DEA model to assess the water reuse efficiency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Environ Manage
December 2024
Tshwane University of Technology, Department of Chemistry, Private Bag X680, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa.
Landfilling is common in developing countries since it is the easiest and cheapest way of waste disposal, however, it leads to serious environmental problems such as soil, water, and air pollution. A landfill has a life span of fifteen years after which it is closed leaving the site unusable, as a result, effective methods are needed for restoring and reclaiming the closed landfill site for future use. Phytoremediation has emerged as a viable and environmentally friendly method, which uses green plants to remove pollutants from soil, air, and water.
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