Comparison of sulfonated and other micropollutants removal in membrane bioreactor and conventional wastewater treatment.

Membrane bioreactors (MBRs) were compared with conventional activated sludge systems (CAS) for micropollutant degradation, in laboratory-scale spiking experiments with synthetic and real domestic wastewater. The target micropollutants were polar in nature and represented a broad range in biodegradability. The experimental data indicated that MBR treatment could significantly enhance removal of the micropollutants 1,6- and 2,7-naphthalene disulfonate (NDSA) and benzothiazole-2-sulfonate. 1,5-NDSA, EDTA and diclofenac were not removed in either the MBR or the CAS. The other compounds were equally well degraded in both systems. For 1,3-naphthalene disulfonate, the existence of a minimum threshold level for degradation could be demonstrated. Although MBRs could not always make a difference in the overall removal efficiencies achieved, they showed reduced lag phases for degradation and a stronger memory effect, which implies that they may respond quicker to variable influent concentrations. Finally, micropollutant removal also turned out to be less sensitive to system operational variables.

[1]  Chettiyappan Visvanathan,et al.  Membrane Separation Bioreactors for Wastewater Treatment , 2000 .

[2]  K. Kimura,et al.  Removal of pharmaceutical compounds by submerged membrane bioreactors (MBRs) , 2005 .

[3]  A. E. Greenberg,et al.  Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater : supplement to the sixteenth edition , 1988 .

[4]  T. Knepper,et al.  Determination of synthetic chelating agents in surface and waste water by ion chromatography-mass spectrometry. , 2005, Journal of chromatography. A.

[5]  H Kroiss,et al.  Removal of selected pharmaceuticals, fragrances and endocrine disrupting compounds in a membrane bioreactor and conventional wastewater treatment plants. , 2005, Water research.

[6]  H. De Wever,et al.  Comparison of linear alkylbenzene sulfonates removal in conventional activated sludge systems and membrane bioreactors. , 2004, Water science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research.

[7]  Thorsten Reemtsma,et al.  Pathways and metabolites of microbial degradation of selected acidic pharmaceutical and their occurrence in municipal wastewater treated by a membrane bioreactor. , 2005, Water research.

[8]  Damià Barceló,et al.  Organic compounds in paper-mill process waters and effluents , 2003 .

[9]  M. Jekel,et al.  Removal of sulfur-organic polar micropollutants in a membrane bioreactor treating industrial wastewater. , 2002, Environmental science & technology.

[10]  M. Petrovíc.  Analysis and removal of emerging contaminants in wastewater and drinking water , 2003 .

[11]  Mira Petrovic,et al.  Polar pollutants entry into the water cycle by municipal wastewater: a European perspective. , 2006, Environmental science & technology.

[12]  M. Jekel,et al.  Occurrence, sources, and fate of benzothiazoles in municipal wastewater treatment plants. , 2005, Environmental science & technology.

[13]  Thorsten Reemtsma,et al.  Evaluation of three calibration methods to compensate matrix effects in environmental analysis with LC-ESI-MS , 2004, Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry.

[14]  M. Jekel,et al.  Occurrence of benzothiazoles in municipal wastewater and their fate in biological treatment. , 2004, Water science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research.

[15]  Adriano Joss,et al.  Removal of pharmaceuticals and fragrances in biological wastewater treatment. , 2005, Water research.

[16]  R Gnirss,et al.  Outcomes of a 2-year investigation on enhanced biological nutrients removal and trace organics elimination in membrane bioreactor (MBR). , 2005, Water science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research.

[17]  H. Kroiss,et al.  The solids retention time-a suitable design parameter to evaluate the capacity of wastewater treatment plants to remove micropollutants. , 2005, Water research.

[18]  U. Kaluza,et al.  Microbial degradation of EDTA in an industrial wastewater treatment plant , 1998 .

[19]  D Barceló,et al.  Trace-level determination of pharmaceutical residues by LC-MS/MS in natural and treated waters. A pilot-survey study , 2006, Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry.

[20]  R. Krull,et al.  Biodegradation of naphthalenesulphonic acid-containing sewages in a two-stage treatment plant , 1994 .

[21]  Environmental fate and microbial degradation of aminopolycarboxylic acids. , 2001, FEMS microbiology reviews.

[22]  Mira Petrovic,et al.  Removal of a broad range of surfactants from municipal wastewater--comparison between membrane bioreactor and conventional activated sludge treatment. , 2007, Chemosphere.

[23]  D. Barceló,et al.  Monitoring and toxicity of sulfonated derivatives of benzene and naphthalene in municipal sewage treatment plants. , 2005, Environmental pollution.

[24]  J. Müller,et al.  Biodegradation of persistent polar pollutants in wastewater: comparison of an optimised lab-scale membrane bioreactor and activated sludge treatment. , 2006, Water research.

[25]  Thomas P. Knepper,et al.  Synthetic chelating agents and compounds exhibiting complexing properties in the aquatic environment , 2003 .