Application of bioassay panel for assessing the impact of advanced oxidation processes on the treatment of reverse osmosis brine

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The persistence of microcontaminants through conventional wastewater treatments is a matter of concern and it suggests the implementation of advanced treatment steps. Although there is evidence that reverse osmosis (RO) is the most efficient treatment for the the removal of these compounds, it has the drawback of producing significant amounts of highly polluted brine. In this work, chemical analyses and toxicity bioassays were combined to evaluate the removal of different pharmaceuticals and of dioxin-like compounds from RO brine through oxidative processes such as ozone, UV and UV/H 2 O 2 . RESULTS: The removal of the selected pharmaceuticals required a relatively high oxidative capacity, either by ozonation or by the combination of UV radiation and H 2 O 2 . Bioassays showed a significant dioxin-like activity in brine samples, whereas antibacterial or estrogenic activities were negligible. UV by itself was the least efficient in removing this dioxin-like activity.Ozonation appeared as the most competent treatment. CONCLUSIONS:The results of this work indicate the usefulness of advanced oxidation methods, especially ozonation, to remove biologically active micropollutants from brine samples. They also show that only the combination of chemical analyses and bioassays allows complete characterization of the efficiency of advanced water treatment processes to remove recalcitrant pollutants.

Towards high throughput plasma based water purifiers: design considerations and the pathway towards practical application

“…In general, incomplete oxidation can generate species that can be more toxic than parent molecule. In order to assess treated water, chemical analysis and bioassays are suggested [72][73][74]. If the raw feed water is too heavily laden with natural organic matter, then pretreatment such as microfiltration may also be necessary.…”

Biological Effects of Hydrocarbon Degradation Intermediates: Is the Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon Analytical Method Adequate for Risk Assessment?

“…Our results can be compared with comparable assays that used βNF as the positive control to estimate BEQs. Yeast cells transfected with human AhR and its dimerization partner, the human aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator (ARNT), have found BEQ values for river water ranging from ∼10 to 950 ng/L BEQ, , 390 to 740 ng/L in wastewater treatment plant effluent, and 2 000 ng/L to 1 500 μg/L in untreated wastewater. − In one of the studies measuring BEQ of river water, the sites with the highest BEQ values (200–950 ng/L) were located within an industrial textile region of Japan, an area known for containing AhR agonists due to contributions from dye industry effluents . The second study examining BEQ values in river water similarly found the highest BEQ values (approximately 50–130 ng/L) to be located within an industrialized region .…”

“…Activation of AhR-mediated pathways does not always lead to adverse health outcomes. However, it has been demonstrated that activation of these pathways over a period of time and over a threshold amount leads to adverse health outcomes in vertebrates . Risk is proportional to activation of the AhR pathways, when that activation occurs over a threshold.…”

Bioremediation of Waters Polluted by Endocrine Disruptors by Means of the Process of Thermodialysis

“…Physico-chemical methods include photodegradation [9], oxidation [10,11], absorption on active carbon [12,13] and classical membrane processes such as ultrafiltration and nanofiltration [14,15].…”