Skalska-Tuomi Kinga, Kaijanen Laura, Monteagudo José María, Mänttäri Mika
Department of Separation Science, School of Engineering Science, Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology (LUT), Sammonkatu 12, 50130, Mikkeli, Finland.
Department of Separation Science, School of Engineering Science, Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology (LUT), Yliopistonkatu 34, 53850, Lappeenranta, Finland.
J Environ Manage. 2025 Feb;375:124276. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.124276. Epub 2025 Jan 24.
As the global consumption of pharmaceuticals increases, so does their release into water bodies. The effects, although not fully understood, can be detrimental to aquatic ecosystems and human health. The new Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD) in European Union requires implementation of quaternary wastewater treatment processes to limit the loads of pharmaceuticals reaching water bodies. In this work, we investigated first the fate of pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) in a local wastewater treatment plant (100,000 PE) and their concentrations in effluents during three sampling campaigns. We further assessed removal of these pharmaceuticals by quaternary treatments as well as their energy efficiency. Total concentration of PhAC (27 detected compounds) in influent wastewater was around to 263 μg L, while after wastewater treatment it dropped to 14 μg L (26 detected compounds). The wastewater treatment plant was effective in removing paracetamol, ibuprofen, naproxen, quetiapine, and ketoconazole, with an efficiency higher than 90%. Nevertheless, post-treatment of its effluents with quaternary treatment technologies will be necessary according to UWWTD. Therefore, we investigated performance of three advanced oxidation processes, i.e. photocatalysis, ozonation and gas-phase pulsed corona discharge-based oxidation (PCD). All methods reached removal efficiency above 90 % for all detected PhACs. PCD process showed the best energy efficiency 0.28 kWh m, followed by ozonation with 0.55 kWh m, while photocatalysis cannot compete with 47 kWh m of energy required to obtain 90 % removal. PCD was tested for the removal of PhACs mentioned in the new UWWTD. 95 % removal was reached for six selected substances at the delivered energy dose 500 Wh m.
随着全球药品消费量的增加，药品向水体中的释放量也在增加。尽管其影响尚未完全明了，但可能对水生生态系统和人类健康有害。欧盟新的《城市污水处理指令》（UWWTD）要求实施四级污水处理工艺，以限制进入水体的药品负荷。在这项工作中，我们首先调查了当地一座污水处理厂（10万人口当量）中药物活性化合物（PhACs）的去向及其在三次采样活动期间的出水浓度。我们还评估了四级处理对这些药品的去除效果及其能源效率。进水污水中PhAC（检测到27种化合物）的总浓度约为263 μg/L，而经过污水处理后降至14 μg/L（检测到26种化合物）。该污水处理厂对扑热息痛、布洛芬、萘普生、喹硫平和酮康唑的去除效果良好，去除效率高于90%。然而，根据UWWTD，对其出水进行四级处理仍是必要的。因此，我们研究了三种高级氧化工艺的性能，即光催化、臭氧氧化和基于气相脉冲电晕放电的氧化（PCD）。所有方法对所有检测到的PhACs的去除效率均达到90%以上。PCD工艺的能源效率最佳，为0.28 kWh/m³，其次是臭氧氧化，为0.55 kWh/m³，而光催化在获得90%去除率所需的47 kWh/m³能源消耗方面无法与之相比。对PCD进行了去除新UWWTD中提及的PhACs的测试。在500 Wh/m³的输送能量剂量下，六种选定物质的去除率达到了95%。
