Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and pharmaceuticals are recent contaminants of concern for the water industry. These chemicals have been detected at trace concentrations in natural waters globally. EDCs and pharmaceuticals represent a great diversity of structural and chemical properties, which can be challenging to remove during water treatment. This study was conducted to determine the removal of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and pharmaceuticals during conventional and advanced water treatment. Experiments were conducted by spiking a suite of target analytes into natural and synthetic waters followed by bench- and pilot-scale treatment processes. Additionally, full-scale water treatment plants were sampled before and after each unit process to determine if observations from bench- and pilot-scale experiments accurately predicted full-scale removal. Treatment processes evaluated include physical (e.g., activated carbon, membrane filtration, softening, ion-exchange), oxidative (e.g. ozonation, chlorination, ultraviolet irradiation, chloramination), advanced oxidation (UV/peroxide, ozone/peroxide), and biological (e.g. bio-acclimated filtration, soil aquifer treatment, membrane bioreactors, river bank filtration). Bench-scale evaluations were performed as static experiments in discrete conditions, generally as “jar-tests”. Pilot-scale testing was conducted as dynamic, flow-through, experiments by either spiking a head tank or by feeding the spiking solution in-line. Full-scale testing was accomplished without spiking, hence limiting evaluations to compounds present in raw water. Summarily, the results show that ozone, chlorine, certain membranes, and powdered activated carbon are effective for removal of many EDCs and PPCPs. However, removal efficiency is compound specific and depends on operational parameters, such as oxidant dosage and contact time. For instance, UV irradiation was ineffective for removing target compounds at a typical disinfectant dose of 40 mJ/cm2 while doses of 1,000 mJ/cm2 and peroxide addition were effective for many compounds. UV experiments also were well predicted by UV absorbance data for each target compound. Molecular structure (e.g., pKa, Kow, molecular weight) generally dictated whether a treatment process would or would not efficiently remove the compound. In general, ozone was more effective for removing target compounds than was chlorine, UV, and chloramine. Removal by membranes was highly selective based on the membrane pore size, surface characteristics, and degree of fouling. Biological processes were effective for some compounds, and nearly ineffective for others. At full-scale, granular activated carbon and reverse osmosis were found to be the most effective treatment processes for removing a wide-variety of target compounds. Based on data obtained from this study, removal predictions are possible for new contaminants based on physico-chemical properties of the contaminant.
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