Performance of UK wastewater treatment works with respect to trace contaminants

Gardner, Michael; Jones, Vera; Comber, Sean; Scrimshaw, Mark D.; Garcia, T.; Cartmell, Elise; Lester, J.N.; Ellor, Brian

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.03.088

Cited by 111 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 33 publications

(49 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Electrochemical treatment (EC) (7), alters the surface charge on contaminant particles held in the water causing them to separate and accumulate in an easily removable mass. A comprehensive study of the performance of UK wastewater treatment plants 42 highlighted a wide variation in removal rates of between 25-79% for heavy metals. This variation was attributed to variations in composition of wastewater being treated and the operation parameters at individual treatment works.…”

Section: Treatment Of Heavy Metalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This variation was attributed to variations in composition of wastewater being treated and the operation parameters at individual treatment works. 42 Removal of trace metals dissolved in solution currently pose the most significant challenge to the industry in comparison to other trace contaminants, so it will be pertinent to consider the contribution shale gas operations may make to the waste load requiring treatment in future work. However, in this work, due the limited dataset available from UK operations at present, we focus on assessing options for treatment of the two major problem contaminants in UK FP waters; salinity and NORM.…”

Section: Treatment Of Heavy Metalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Wastewater from hydraulic fracturing in the UK: assessing the viability and cost of management

O'Donnell

Gilfillan

Edlmann

et al. 2018

Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The safe and effective management of wastewaters from unconventional hydrocarbon production using the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) process poses a major challenge. Exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbons, such as shale gas, remains controversial in the UK primarily due to concerns surrounding the hydraulic fracturing process required to extract the resource. The key issue of how waste fluids produced by hydraulic fracturing in the UK will be safely managed has yet to be adequately addressed, and the capacity for the specialist treatment required is currently uncertain. To address this critical knowledge gap we review, for the first time, the available management options for these waste fluids in the UK. We find that these are limited in comparison to the options available in the U.S., due to uncertainty surrounding whether wastewater injection wells will be permitted in the UK. Consequently, it is highly probable that these fluids will need to be treated and safely disposed of at the surface. In order to constrain the composition of wastewater which will require treatment in the UK, we analyse the only existing data set of returned waters from hydraulic fracturing (n = 31). We supplement this with measurements of wastewater from UK conventional onshore hydrocarbon (n = 3), and offshore hydrocarbon (n = 14), operations which produce water from similar formations as those currently targeted for shale gas exploration. Comparison of this limited UK data to the more extensive unconventional production dataset from the United States (n = 3092) provides confidence in our projected UK wastewater compositions. We find that the high level of salinity and concentration of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) in UK wastewaters will be problematic to treat for disposal into a freshwater environment. We use our data compilation to estimate costs of treating such wastewaters in a number of relevant scenarios. We find that the projected salinity in FP waters from UK hydraulic fracturing operations can be treated at a cost of between $2701 (∼£2000) and $1 376 093 (∼£1 047 000) per well, requiring between 2 and 26% of expected revenue. Additional costs, specific to the UK of up to £163 450 per well, will be incurred due to the legislative requirement for disposal of NORM concentrated sludge in permitted landfill sites. We find that existing capacity to receive NORM waste at currently permitted UK treatment facilities is limited, and that this will pose management problems if wastewaters are generated from multiple unconventional wells simultaneously.

show abstract

Section: Treatment Of Heavy Metalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Treatment Of Heavy Metalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wastewater from hydraulic fracturing in the UK: assessing the viability and cost of management

O'Donnell

Gilfillan

Edlmann

et al. 2018

Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A total of 70 determinants were targeted, 64 of which were trace contaminants situation. Results obtained have contributed with useful findings and provided a deeper insight of the current status of the sector [2][3][4]. The substantive and diverse data this study has generated has been used for guiding rational decision making within the water industry [78].…”

Section: Cip As An Example Of Decision Challengementioning

confidence: 76%

Leveraging Big Data Tools and Technologies: Addressing the Challenges of the Water Quality Sector

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:The water utility sector is subject to stringent legislation, seeking to address both the evolution of practices within the chemical/pharmaceutical industry, and the safeguarding of environmental protection, and which is informed by stakeholder views. Growing public environmental awareness is balanced by fair apportionment of liability within-sector. This highly complex and dynamic context poses challenges for water utilities seeking to manage the diverse chemicals arising from disparate sources reaching Wastewater Treatment Plants, including residential, commercial, and industrial points of origin, and diffuse sources including agricultural and hard surface water run-off. Effluents contain broad ranges of organic and inorganic compounds, herbicides, pesticides, phosphorus, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals of emerging concern. These potential pollutants can be in dissolved form, or arise in association with organic matter, the associated risks posing significant environmental challenges. This paper examines how the adoption of new Big Data tools and computational technologies can offer great advantage to the water utility sector in addressing this challenge. Big Data approaches facilitate improved understanding and insight of these challenges, by industry, regulator, and public alike. We discuss how Big Data approaches can be used to improve the outputs of tools currently in use by the water industry, such as SAGIS (Source Apportionment GIS system), helping to reveal new relationships between chemicals, the environment, and human health, and in turn provide better understanding of contaminants in wastewater (origin, pathways, and persistence). We highlight how the sector can draw upon Big Data tools to add value to legacy datasets, such as the Chemicals Investigation Programme in the UK, combined with contemporary data sources, extending the lifespan of data, focusing monitoring strategies, and helping users adapt and plan more efficiently. Despite the relative maturity of the Big Data technology and adoption in many wider sectors, uptake within the water utility sector remains limited to date. By contrast with the extensive range of applications of Big Data in in other sectors, highlight is drawn to how improvements are required to achieve the full potential of this technology in the water utility industry.

show abstract

“…BPA can also partially accumulate by passing through soil and river sediments. [15] 60-600 [43] 360-1620 [18] 378-890 [9] 416-2050 [23] 1800 [40] 2-44 [43] 30-1100 [15] 35-86 [23] 110-300 [18] 700 [40] 1.2-1900 [1] 2.1-87 [13] 2.2-4230 [21] 6-34 [23] 6-68 [11] 6-500 [26] 6-881 [22] 7.5-334 [12] 55-162 [27] 192-215 [15] 460-4800 [25] b.l.q.-494 [17] b.l.q.-7000 [19] b.l.q.-9300 [28] 1-1136 [20] 1-11 [4] 79-2550 [15] 600-11000 [14] 0.17-1.25 [2] 0.58-36700 [8] 1.1-43 [42] 4.3-130 [25] 10-530 [23] 53-196 [43] 0.32 [6] Fu and Kawamura [5] showed that bisphenol A is also present in air samples. In the agricultural areas of China, its concentration in the air does not exceed 240 pg/m3, but the air samples in urban areas are more contaminated (20-2.340 pg/m 3 ).…”

Section: Occurrence In the Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sources of endocrine-disrupting compounds and their migration to the environment

Kryłów

Rezka

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aim of this article is to present issues related to the presence and pathways of bisphenol A emission and its migration to wastewater and the environment. Bisphenol A (BPA) is an organic compound mainly used in the production of plastics. It is classified as an endocrine disrupting compound (EDC) and should therefore not be emitted to the environment. This paper presents basic information on bisphenol A, its applications and potential sources of emission to the environment. A wide review of literature confirming the occurrence of bisphenol A in sewage, sediments, natural waters, drinking water and the atmosphere is performed. Effective wastewater treatment and neutralisation of bisphenol A in sewage sludge could partially reduce the levels of BPA pollution in the aquatic environment.

show abstract

Performance of UK wastewater treatment works with respect to trace contaminants

Cited by 111 publications

References 33 publications

Wastewater from hydraulic fracturing in the UK: assessing the viability and cost of management

Wastewater from hydraulic fracturing in the UK: assessing the viability and cost of management

Leveraging Big Data Tools and Technologies: Addressing the Challenges of the Water Quality Sector

Sources of endocrine-disrupting compounds and their migration to the environment

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About