Fate and removal of emerging contaminants in anaerobic fluidized membrane bioreactor filled with thermoplastic gel as biofilm support

The Anaerobic Fluidized Membrane Bioreactor (AnFMBR) is a membrane–based hybrid technology that can overcome the limitations of conventional anaerobic sewage treatment. Although previous studies have demonstrated excellent performance in the removal of conventional organic pollutants, further resear...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Chyoshi, Bruna, Gomes Coelho, Lucia Helena, García Serrano, Joan|||0000-0003-1258-8174, Subtil, Eduardo Lucas
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/368306
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/368306
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134557
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Bioreactors
17a-ethinylestradiol
17ß-estradiol
Amoxicillin
Diclofenac
Anaerobic membrane bioreactor
AnFMBR
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria civil::Enginyeria hidràulica, marítima i sanitària::Enginyeria sanitària
Descripción
Sumario:The Anaerobic Fluidized Membrane Bioreactor (AnFMBR) is a membrane–based hybrid technology that can overcome the limitations of conventional anaerobic sewage treatment. Although previous studies have demonstrated excellent performance in the removal of conventional organic pollutants, further research into the removal paths of emerging contaminants (ECs) under various operating conditions is required for proper design and development of the AnFMBR technology. Regarding this, the fate of four ECs in a lab-scale AnFMBR filled with thermoplastic gel for biofilm growth was investigated under various Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT) conditions. When the HRT was 13 h, diclofenac and 17ß-estradiol were efficiently removed at 93% and 72% respectively. Even after an HRT reduction to 6.5 h, the system was still able to maintain high ECs removals (74% for diclofenac and 69% for 17ß-estradiol). However, irrespective of HRT operational condition, smaller removals of 17a-ethinylestradiol (37–52%) were observed, while only marginal removals of amoxicillin were achieved (5–29%). Biotransformation was attributed as the main route for ECs removal. The results obtained in this study indicate that the membrane-based hybrid AnFMBR can be used to treat the target ECs without influence on anaerobic process. The technology had better removal efficiency for diclofenac and 17ß-estradiol. However, the AnFMBR system exhibits high variability in EC removal and low capacity for amoxicillin removal, implying that a combination of other processes is still required to properly avoid the release of these contaminants into the environment.