Influence of water depth and season on the photodegradation of micropollutants in a free-water surface constructed wetland receiving treated wastewater.

Micropollutants such as pharmaceutical products and pesticides are still present in treated wastewater. Several of these compounds are photoactive, either by direct or indirect photodegradation. An innovative on-site experimental protocol was designed to investigate the contribution of photodegradation processes to eliminate micropolluants in constructed wetland (CW). The solar photodegradation of 23 organic micropollutants was studied using in situ photoreactors at different depths. A CW-photodegradation model was designed and calibrated to further scrutinize the contribution of direct and indirect photodegradation processes in the elimination of micropollutants. The results show that photodegradation is most effective in the first 10 cm of the water column. A classification of micropollutants in 3 groups was developed to characterize their photodegradation. A significant increase of the half-life by direct photodegradation was observed in winter compared to summer due to a lower light intensity in winter. On the opposite, for direct + indirect photodegradation, no significant difference was observed between seasons. The decrease in light intensity in winter was compensated by higher nitrates concentration which promoted the formation of hydroxyl radicals and increased indirect photodegradation. The CW-photodegradation model successfully simulated the measured concentrations for direct and indirect photodegradation for 23 micropolluants. Nonetheless, it overestimated the indirect photodegradation with hydroxyl radicals when using default parameter values derived for surface waters. Hence, the consumption of hydroxyl radicals was increased by a factor of 20 for treated water. This model highlighted the predominance of direct photodegradation in the elimination of all micropollutants, except sotalol for the winter campaign.

Cultivo de mudas de eucalipto irrigadas com esgoto doméstico tratado / Cultivation of eucalyptus seedlings irrigated with treated domestic sewage

Avaliou-se o cultivo de mudas de eucalipto da espécie urograndisirrigadas com esgoto doméstico tratado em estação com reator anaeróbio e lagoa de polimento. A irrigação das mudas, em vaso e com base na capacidade de pote (CP) para o solo, foi efetuada em experimento com seis tratamentos (T), com quatro repetições cada. Em T1, T2, T3 e T4, a irrigação com esgoto foi com lâmina a 100, 80, 60 e 40% do índice CP, respectivamente; em T5 e T6, a irrigação foi com água a 80% de CP. Apenas T5 teve adição de fertilizantes (NPK). Uma boa eficiência da estação de tratamento foi obtida durante os 3 meses de experimento, com remoção de demanda bioquímica de oxigênio, demanda química de oxigênio e helmintos de 90, 87 e 100%, respectivamente; portanto, com qualidade de efluente adequada para irrigação de arbóreas. Os desempenhos de T2 e T3 foram os melhores em termos de parâmetros de crescimento da planta (altura, diâmetro do caule, diâmetro da copa, número de folhas e matéria seca); comparativamente, em T2, acumulou-se mais nitrogênio nas folhas e caules. Os resultados obtidos mostram que o cultivo de mudas de eucalipto irrigadas com esgoto tratado, aproveitando os nutrientes e com lâminas adequadas (entre 80 e 60% do índice CP), é viável agronomicamente.

The cultivation of Eucalyptus urograndis seedlings irrigated with domestic sewage effluent of a treatment plant with anaerobic reactor and polishing pond was evaluated. Seedling pots were irrigated based on the soil pot capacity (PC) in six treatments (T) with four repetitions each. The pots in T1, T2, T3 and T4 were irrigated with slide heights at 100, 80, 60 and 40% of the PC index, respectively; in T5 and T6, irrigation was only with water and slide heights at 80% of PC. Only T5 received additional nutrients (NPK). Along the experiment (3 months), the treatment plant showed good removal efficiencies of biochemical oxygen demand (90%), chemical oxygen demand (87%) and helminth eggs (100%); therefore, with adequate effluent quality for tree irrigation. T2 and T3 showed the best results in terms of plant development parameters, like height, stalk diameter, cup diameter, number of leaves and dry matter; comparatively, T2 showed the highest nitrogen accumulation in the leaves and stalks. The results show that cultivation of eucalyptus seedlings irrigated with treated sewage, taking advantage of the nutrients and with adequate slide heights (between 80 and 60% of PC index), is agronomically viable.

Behaviour of pharmaceuticals and endocrine disrupting chemicals in simplified sewage treatment systems.

This work assessed the behaviour of nine pharmaceuticals and/or endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in demo-scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors (UASB reactors) coupled to distinct simplified post-treatment units (submerged bed, polishing ponds, and trickling filters) fed on raw sewage taken from a municipality in Brazil. The dissolved concentration of the studied micropollutants in the raw and treated sewage was obtained using solid phase extraction (SPE) followed by analysis in a liquid chromatography system coupled to a hybrid high resolution mass spectrometer consisting of an ion-trap and time of flight (LC-MS-IT-TOF). The UASB reactors demonstrated that they were not appropriate for efficiently removing the assessed compounds from the sewage. Furthermore, this study demonstrated that the hydraulic retention time (HRT) was an important parameter for the removal of the hydrophilic and less biodegradable compounds, such as trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole. The post-treatment units substantially increased the removal of most target micropollutants present in the anaerobic effluents, with a greater removal of micropollutants in simplified systems that require a large construction area, such as the submerged bed and polishing ponds, probably because of the higher HRT employed. Alternatively, compact post-treatment systems, such as trickling filters, tended to be less effective at removing most of the micropollutants studied, and the type of packing proved to be crucial for determining the fate of such compounds using trickling filters.

Avaliação de desempenho de lagoa de polimento para pós-tratamento de reator anaeróbio de manta de lodo (UASB) no tratamento de águas residuárias de suinocultura / Evaluation of the performance of a polishing pond for the post-treatment of the effluent from an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor treating swine wastewater

Avaliou-se o desempenho de uma lagoa de polimento, no tratamento de efluentes de águas residuárias de suinocultura de um reator anaeróbio de manta de lodo (UASB). O sistema foi composto de decantador, reator UASB, em escala real, e lagoa de polimento em escala experimental. As análises físico-químicas realizadas foram: temperatura, pH, demanda bioquímica de oxigênio (DBO), demanda química de oxigênio (DQO), sólidos suspensos totais (SST) e sólidos suspensos voláteis (SSV), nitrogênio total kjedhal (NTK), nitrogênio amoniacal (N-am.) e orgânico (N-org.), fósforo total (Pt), coliformes totais e termotolerantes. A lagoa de polimento apresentou alto desempenho, com remoção média de 58,9 por cento de DBO, 60,1 por cento de NTK, 57 por cento de N-am. e 95,34 por cento de coliformes termotolerantes.

The performance of a polishing pond for treating swine wastewater from an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor was evaluated. The system was assembled with a slat settler, followed by an UASB reactor, on a real scale, and a post-treatment pond, on a demonstration scale. The following parameters were analyzed: temperature, pH, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS), volatile suspended solids (VSS), total Kjedahl nitrogen (NTK), ammonia nitrogen (N-am.), organic nitrogen, total phosphorus, and total and thermotolerant coliforms. The polishing pond was highly efficient, removing an average of 58.9 percent of BOD, 60.1 percent of NTK, 57 percent of N-am., and 95.34 percent of thermotolerant coliforms.