Treatment Technologies for Wastewater Reuse: Fate of Contaminants of Emerging Concern

Abstract

The presence of thousands of microcontaminants in wastewaters and their potential risks has drawn a large attention of the scientific community during the last years. The presence of these contaminants is especially controversial when wastewater is considered for reuse because a large number of microcontaminants are frequently not totally removed by conventional wastewater treatment processes. As a contribution to the knowledge in this field, this chapter focuses on the application of four well-known and widely used technologies to the elimination of microcontaminants. Membranes, activated carbon, ozonation, and advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are deeply reviewed to assess their efficiency and safety in the elimination of these contaminants from wastewater effluents. A brief description of each technology is presented together with a review of their real application, mostly in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). A deep analysis of the found data allows to conclude that the four presented alternatives can be useful for microcontaminant mitigation although none of them seem to be a universal barrier for microcontaminants when used separately. In addition, each technology presents drawbacks which demand further research to be overcome. Depending on the final use of reclaimed water, the treatment may require the combination of several of the studied technologies although that results in an economic impact which cannot be neglected.

Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor Effluent Reuse: A Review of Microbial Safety Concerns

“…Although this is potentially a major advantage for wastewater treatment sustainability, introducing the idea of AnMBR effluent recycling also brings about additional concerns regarding the impacts of emerging contaminants (i.e., organic micropollutants, antibioticresistant pathogens, antibiotic resistance genes etc.) on the environments exposed to irrigation [6][7][8]. …”

“…However, the current state of conventional wastewater treatment does not sufficiently address the concerns arising from emerging contaminants in agricultural and municipal wastewaters to allow for direct reuse in most instances [7]. Furthermore, microbial safety is at the forefront of the emerging concerns associated with wastewater reuse and is directly linked to non-microbial issues such as antibiotic presence and formation of DBPs [138,139].…”

Micropollutants in wastewater irrigation systems: Impacts and perspectives

“…Regenerated wastewater usage in agriculture is a widespread practice in countries that face water scarcity, because it is a feasible solution to save and manage the available water resources [2]. However, the increasing presence of micropollutants in wastewater is a relevant impediment for this practice, as they accumulate on the plantations, on the soil, and they can even reach the groundwater by percolation.…”

Brine Recycling from Industrial Textile Wastewater Treated by Ozone. By-Products Accumulation. Part 1: Multi Recycling Loop

“…In contrast to membrane filtration, ozonation cannot remove LMWS but can serve as a technique for brine recovery from wastewater. Ozone oxidation can give good results when many poorly degradable contaminants, including textile dyes, are taken into consideration [9,10]. It can be concluded that the effectiveness of dye decomposition by ozone treatment has been proven in many papers, and the field seems to be well covered by the literature (Table 1).…”

“…Another problem is the huge volume of highly contaminated concentrate and backwashes. At present, the operating cost of membrane filtration is still high when industrial wastewater treatment is concerned [9].An application of ozone as a non-discharge treatment method can be an alternative for the purification of textile wastewater contaminated by LMWS. In contrast to membrane filtration, ozonation cannot remove LMWS but can serve as a technique for brine recovery from wastewater.…”