The knowledge on the efficiency of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) from animal food production industry for the removal of both hormones and antibiotics of veterinary application is still very limited. These compounds have already been reported in different environmental compartments at levels that could have potential impacts on the ecosystems. This work aimed to evaluate the role of activated sludge in the removal of commonly used veterinary drugs, enrofloxacin (ENR), tetracycline (TET), and ceftiofur, from wastewater during a conventional treatment process. For that, a series of laboratory-controlled experiments using activated sludge were carried out in batch reactors. Sludge reactors with 100 μg/L initial drug charge presented removal rates of 68 % for ENR and 77 % for TET from the aqueous phase. Results indicated that sorption to sludge and to the wastewater organic matter was responsible for a significant percentage of drugs removal. Nevertheless, these removal rates still result in considerable concentrations in the aqueous phase that will pass through the WWTP to the receiving environment. Measuring only the dissolved fraction of pharmaceuticals in the WWTP effluents may underestimate the loading and risks to the aquatic environment.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-1867-7 | DOI Listing |
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int
January 2025
Department of Instrumentation and Control Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
Ciprofloxacin (CIP) is an extensively used broad-spectrum, fluoroquinolone antibiotic used for treating diverse bacterial infections. Effluent treatment plants (ETPs) worldwide lack technologies to detect or remediate antibiotics. CIP reaches the aquatic phase primarily due to inappropriate disposal practices, lack of point-of-use sensing, and preloaded activated charcoal filter at ETPs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Res
January 2025
College of Forestry & Landscape Architecture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China. Electronic address:
Promoting soil structure is considered an essential prerequisite for abandoned mine land restoration. Sewage sludge (SS) has the potential to improve soil structure. However, traditional SS application to improve soil structure requires a lot of SS, potentially exacerbating heavy metal (HM) contamination.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBioresour Technol
January 2025
School of Environmental Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, China; Zhengzhou Key Laboratory of Water Safety and Water Ecology Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, China; Henan International Joint Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Remediation and Grain Quality Security, Zhengzhou 450001, China.
This study integrates partial denitrification/Anammox (PD/A) with hydroxyapatite (HAP) crystallization in a single reactor, achieving simultaneous nitrogen and phosphorus removal along with phosphorus recovery. By adjusting pH, sludge concentration, low COD/TN ratio, and applying moderate dissolved oxygen stress, the system operated stably and promoted the synergistic growth of HAP and biomass. Results showed a nitrogen removal efficiency (NRE) of 94.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBioresour Technol
January 2025
Water Research Centre and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand. Electronic address:
Dynamic oxygen fluctuations in activated sludge were investigated to enhance valuable biochemical production during wastewater treatment. Batch experiments compared constant aeration with rapid cycling between oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor states. Fluctuating oxygen concentrations (0-2 mg/L) significantly increased production of valuable biochemicals compared to constant oxygen concentration (2 mg/L).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWater Res
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China. Electronic address:
Both mechanical models and machine learning-based models are widely utilized for real-time dynamic control; however, their implementation in the water sector often incurs significant data and computational costs. To address these challenges, this study introduces an innovative feature extraction method designed to enhance the cost-effectiveness of dynamic control in wastewater treatment plants. The proposed method extracts dynamic features from time-series data of key substrate variables to construct a data-driven model and develop real-time control strategies.
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