Low-cost by-products from agricultural, household and industrial sectors have been recognized as a sustainable solution for wastewater treatment. They allow achieving the removal of pollutants from wastewater and at same time to contribute to the waste minimization, recovery and reuse. Despite numerous reviews have been published in the last few years, a direct comparison of data obtained using different sorbents is difficult nowadays because of inconsistencies in the data presentation. In this context, the aim of the study was to revise the current literature concerning the application of low-cost adsorbents for wastewater treatment highlighting, systematically, both adsorbents characteristics and adsorption capacities. For this scope, low-cost sorbents have been divided into the following five groups: (i) Agricultural and household wastes, (ii) industrial by-products, (iii) sludge, (iv) sea materials, (v) soil and ore materials and (vi) novel low-cost adsorbents. The affinity of sorbents in removing various pollutants, their applications on real wastewater, costs and considerations on their reuse after adsorption processes, has been discussed. Finally, in order to better highlights the affinity of sorbents for more pollutants (dyes, heavy metals, biorecalcitrant compounds, nitrogen and phosphate compounds), simple methodological tools such as "adsorbentspollutants" matrices have been proposed and applied. In this manner, the adsorbent candidates for
In a 3-year joint research project, approved in 1995 by the European Commission, methods for advanced treatment and disinfection of municipal wastewater to permit reuse in agriculture were investigated. Pathogen inactivation, disinfection by-products (DBP) formation and the cost effectiveness of disinfection methods involving UV rays, ozone (O3) and peracetic acid (PAA) were evaluated. The investigation was carried out on municipal effluents which had received different degrees of treatment (secondary, clarified, clarified-filtered) in a 100 m3/h pilot plant that was designed, built and operated at West Bari (S. Italy) municipal wastewater treatment plant. Under the experimental conditions investigated, the WHO microbial guideline for unrestricted reuse of wastewater in agriculture (1,000 CFU/100ml for Faecal Coliforms) was easily achieved with all three disinfectants, while the corresponding Italian standard (2 CFU/100ml) was effectively met only with UV at an O&M cost in the range 17.5-35 EURO/1000m3. Log-inactivation values ≥ 5 for both UV and PAA and ≥ 3 for O3 were obtained; selected pathogens were affected by UV and, in part, by O3. No DBPs were detected with UV and PAA, while limited formation of aldehydes was found with O3.
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