Institute of Environmental Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Mies-van-der-Rohe-Straße 1, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
Institute of Environmental Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Mies-van-der-Rohe-Straße 1, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Jan 10;751:141310. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141310. Epub 2020 Aug 3.
Health care facilities can represent point sources for pharmaceutical residues in public sewer systems. Compared to general hospitals, more specialized health care facilities might also have a different pattern of medication. Therefore, the on-site treatment of wastewater from such facilities could be an effective strategy to reduce emissions into water bodies and was the aim of this study. Wastewater from three health care facilities (nursing home, clinic with orthopaedic focus, and psychiatric clinic) was treated in lab-scale and semi-industrial trials. Biological treatment was performed via an ultrafiltration membrane bioreactor (UF-MBR), after which adsorption onto granular activated carbon (using rapid-small-scale column tests GAC-RSSCT), ozonation and a UV/HO advanced oxidation process (AOP) were tested and compared. The removal of 17 pharmaceutical compounds and drug metabolites from 9 drug classes (e.g. analgesics, antibiotics, anticonvulsants) was evaluated. Most of the measured OMP were detected with concentrations between 1,000 and 30,000 ng L in the influent of the MBR. The UF-MBR provided an effective mechanical-biological cleaning of the wastewater, with micropollutant removal efficiencies between 0 and > 95%, making further treatment necessary to remove the micropollutants. Each combination of the UF-MBR with one of the three further treatments achieved removal efficiencies above 80% for most of the investigated substances, reducing many to below the quantification limit of 10 ng L. The results show the general suitability of combining the UF-MBR with either GAC-adsorption, ozonation or AOP for eliminating pharmaceutical residues. However, the AOP process has a significantly higher energy demand than the other two processes. Moreover, specific settings and dosages depend on the respective wastewater matrix.
医疗机构可能是公共污水系统中药物残留的点源。与综合医院相比，更专业的医疗机构的用药模式可能也不同。因此，现场处理这些设施的废水可能是减少向水体排放的有效策略，也是本研究的目的。来自三家医疗机构（疗养院、骨科诊所和精神病诊所）的废水在实验室规模和半工业规模的试验中进行了处理。生物处理通过超滤膜生物反应器（UF-MBR）进行，然后通过快速小尺度柱试验（GAC-RSSCT）进行颗粒活性炭吸附、臭氧氧化和紫外线/双氧水高级氧化处理（AOP）进行测试和比较。评估了来自 9 个药物类别的 17 种药物化合物和药物代谢物的去除情况（例如，镇痛药、抗生素、抗惊厥药）。在 MBR 的进水口，大多数测量的 OMP 被检测到浓度在 1000 到 30000ng/L 之间。UF-MBR 对废水进行了有效的机械生物清洁，微污染物去除效率在 0 到>95%之间，因此需要进一步处理以去除微污染物。UF-MBR 与三种进一步处理方法中的任何一种组合，都能使大多数被调查物质的去除效率达到 80%以上，将许多物质的浓度降低到 10ng/L 以下的定量限以下。结果表明，UF-MBR 与 GAC 吸附、臭氧氧化或 AOP 结合使用，对于消除药物残留是普遍适用的。然而，AOP 工艺的能源需求明显高于其他两种工艺。此外，具体的设置和剂量取决于各自的废水基质。
