The next challenge of wastewater treatment is to reliably remove micropollutants at the microgram per litre range in order to reduce the discharge for priority substances and to meet the environmental quality standards set by the European Water Framework Directive. The present work assessed the occurrence of 60 organic substances (priority substances and other relevant pollutants) in municipal wastewater and sludge. Their fate in the treatment processes and their removal efficiencies were quantified. Thorough on-site mass balances were carried out at 8 municipal wastewater treatment plants chosen among conventional and advanced secondary processes. It was found that 70% of the substances were quantified in raw wastewater and 50% in effluent, with a transfer without a limited degradation for most of them. Low loaded activated sludge (AS) process reduced the emission of more than half of micropollutants. At low sludge retention time (AS under high load), lower removal efficiencies were measured compared to low loaded AS. No influence of temperature of the biological reactor was shown. The membrane bioreactor process increased the removal efficiencies for one third of the substances that were partially removed with AS. Still, five substances were measured at concentrations exceeding the environmental quality standards at the outlet of the studied plants. In addition to efforts for source-reduction, complementary treatments need to be set-up.
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Research Article|
December 01 2010
On-site evaluation of the efficiency of conventional and advanced secondary processes for the removal of 60 organic micropollutants
S. Martin Ruel;
S. Martin Ruel
1CIRSEE, Suez Environnement, 38 rue du Président Wilson, 78230 le Pecq, France
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M. Esperanza;
M. Esperanza
1CIRSEE, Suez Environnement, 38 rue du Président Wilson, 78230 le Pecq, France
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J.-M. Choubert;
2Cemagref, UR MALY, 3 bis quai Chauveau—CP 220, F-69336 Lyon, France
E-mail: jean-marc.choubert@cemagref.fr
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I. Valor;
I. Valor
3Labaqua, C/del dracma, Parcelas 16-17-18, Pol. Ind. Las Atalayas, 03114 Alicante, Spain
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H. Budzinski;
H. Budzinski
4ISM-LPTC, Université Bordeaux 1, 351 Cours de la libération, 33405 Talence cedex, France
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M. Coquery
M. Coquery
2Cemagref, UR MALY, 3 bis quai Chauveau—CP 220, F-69336 Lyon, France
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Water Sci Technol (2010) 62 (12): 2970–2978.
Citation
S. Martin Ruel, M. Esperanza, J.-M. Choubert, I. Valor, H. Budzinski, M. Coquery; On-site evaluation of the efficiency of conventional and advanced secondary processes for the removal of 60 organic micropollutants. Water Sci Technol 1 December 2010; 62 (12): 2970–2978. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2010.989
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