Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820, USA; Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
J Hazard Mater. 2024 Dec 5;480:135882. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.135882. Epub 2024 Sep 17.
The co-occurrence of nutrients and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in sewage effluent can degrade water quality of the receiving watersheds. This study investigated the simultaneous removal of excess nutrients and PPCP contaminants by developing a novel woodchip bioreactor and biochar (B) treatment system. The result revealed that woodchip bioreactors could effectively remove nitrate via a denitrification process and adsorb some PPCPs. Biochar as a secondary treatment system significantly reduced the concentrations of PPCPs and dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) (p < 0.05), compared to the woodchip bioreactor. The removal efficiencies of all targeted contaminants by the B system were evaluated using various hydraulic retention times (HRTs) and biochar types (pelletized versus granular biochar). Longer HRTs and smaller biochar particles (granular biochar) could enhance the removal efficiencies of targeted contaminants. Average contaminant removals were 77.25 % for nitrate-N, 99.03 % for DRP, 69.51 % for ibuprofen, 73.65 % for naproxen, 91.09 % for sitagliptin, and 96.96 % for estrone, with woodchip bioreactor HRTs of 12 ± 1.4 h and granular biochar HRTs of 2.1 ± 0.1 h. Notably, the second-stage biochar systems effectively mitigated by-products leaching from woodchip bioreactors. The presence of PPCPs in the woodchip bioreactors enriched certain species, such as Methylophilus (69.6 %), while inhibiting other microorganisms and reducing microbial community diversity. Furthermore, a scaled-up B system was analyzed and assessed, indicating that the proposed engineering treatment system could provide decades of service in real-world applications. Overall, this study suggests that the B system has promising applications for addressing emerging and conventional contaminants.
污水中营养素和药品及个人护理产品（PPCPs）的共存会降低受纳流域的水质。本研究通过开发新型木屑生物反应器和生物炭（B）处理系统，研究了同时去除过量营养素和 PPCP 污染物的方法。结果表明，木屑生物反应器可以通过反硝化过程有效去除硝酸盐，并吸附一些 PPCP。与木屑生物反应器相比，生物炭作为二级处理系统可显著降低 PPCP 和溶解性反应性磷（DRP）的浓度（p<0.05）。通过各种水力停留时间（HRT）和生物炭类型（颗粒状与粒状生物炭）评估了 B 系统对所有目标污染物的去除效率。较长的 HRT 和较小的生物炭颗粒（粒状生物炭）可以提高目标污染物的去除效率。硝酸盐-N 的平均去除率为 77.25%，DRP 为 99.03%，布洛芬为 69.51%，萘普生为 73.65%，西他列汀为 91.09%，雌酮为 96.96%，木屑生物反应器的 HRT 为 12±1.4 h，粒状生物炭的 HRT 为 2.1±0.1 h。值得注意的是，第二级生物炭系统有效缓解了木屑生物反应器中副产物的浸出。PPCPs 在木屑生物反应器中的存在富集了某些物种，如甲基单胞菌（69.6%），同时抑制了其他微生物并降低了微生物群落的多样性。此外，还对放大的 B 系统进行了分析和评估，表明所提出的工程处理系统在实际应用中可提供数十年的服务。总的来说，本研究表明 B 系统在处理新兴和传统污染物方面具有广阔的应用前景。
