In this study, a new, more effective and cost-effective treatment alternative is investigated for the removal of pharmaceuticals from wastewater treatment plant effluent (WWTP-eff). The potential of combining clay with biodegradable polymeric flocculants is further highlighted. Flocculation is viewed as the best method to get the optimum outcome from clay. In addition, flocculation with cationic starch increases the biodegradability and cost of the treatment. Clay is naturally abundantly available and relatively inexpensive compared to conventional adsorbents. Experimental studies were carried out with existing naturally occurring pharmaceutical concentrations found and measured in WWTP-eff with atrazine spiking for comparison between the demineralised water and WWTP-eff matrix. Around 70% of the total measured pharmaceutical compounds were removable by the clay-starch combination. The effect of clay with and without starch addition was also highlighted.
The aim of this study is to investigate the performance of combined solar photo-catalyst of titanium oxide/zinc oxide (TiO2/ZnO) with aeration processes to treat petroleum wastewater. Central composite design with response surface methodology was used to evaluate the relationships between operating variables for TiO2 dosage, ZnO dosage, air flow, pH, and reaction time to identify the optimum operating conditions. Quadratic models for chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total organic carbon (TOC) removals prove to be significant with low probabilities (<0.0001). The obtained optimum conditions included a reaction time of 170 min, TiO2 dosage (0.5 g/L), ZnO dosage (0.54 g/L), air flow (4.3 L/min), and pH 6.8 COD and TOC removal rates of 99% and 74%, respectively. The TOC and COD removal rates correspond well with the predicted models. The maximum removal rate for TOC and COD was 99.3% and 76%, respectively at optimum operational conditions of TiO2 dosage (0.5 g/L), ZnO dosage (0.54 g/L), air flow (4.3 L/min), reaction time (170 min) and pH (6.8). The new treatment process achieved higher degradation efficiencies for TOC and COD and reduced the treatment time comparing with other related processes.
Phytoremediation is an environmentally friendly and sustainable alternative for treatment of nitrogen-enriched wastewaters. In this study, Ta-khian (Hopea odorata) and Lagos mahogany (Khaya ivorensis), two tropical timber plants, were investigated for their performances in treatment of urea manufacturing factory effluent with high nitrogen (N) content. Plant seedlings received four concentrations of N (190, 240, 290 and 340 mg/L N) in laboratory-scale constructed wetlands every 4 days for a duration of 8 weeks. The solution volumes supplied to each container, amount of N recovered by plants and plant growth characteristics were measured throughout the experiment. Results showed that Ta-khian plants were highly effective at reducing N concentration and volume of water. A maximum of 63.05% N recovery was obtained by Ta-khian plants grown in 290 mg/L N, which was assimilated in the chlorophyll molecule structure and shoot biomass. Significant positive correlations have been shown between N recovery percentages and plant growth parameters. Ta-Khian plants can be applied as suitable phytoremediators for mitigating N pollution in water sources.
Chlorates are present in the brine stream purged from chlor-alkali plants. Tests were conducted using activated carbon from coconut shell, coal or palm kernel shell to adsorb chlorate. The results show varying levels of adsorption with reduction ranging between 1.3 g/L and 1.8 g/L. This was higher than the chlorate generation rate of that plant, recorded at 1.22 g/L, indicating that chlorate can be adequately removed by adsorption using activated carbon. Coconut based activated carbon exhibited the best adsorption of chlorate of the three types of activated carbon tested. Introducing an adsorption step prior to purging of the brine will be able to reduce chlorate content in the brine stream. The best location for introducing the adsorption step was identified to be after dechlorination of the brine and before resaturation. Introduction of such an adsorption step will enable complete recovery of the brine and prevent brine purging, which in turn will result in less release of chlorides and chlorates to the environment.
In this work, a regression model obtained from response surface methodology (RSM) was proposed for the electrocoagulation (EC) treatment of textile wastewater. The Reactive Black 5 dye (RB5) was used as a model dye to evaluate the performance of the model design. The effect of initial solution pH, applied current and treatment time on RB5 removal was investigated. The total number of experiments designed by RSM amounted to 27 runs, including three repeated experimental runs at the central point. The accuracy of the model was evaluated by the F-test, coefficient of determination (R(2)), adjusted R(2) and standard deviation. The optimum conditions for RB5 removal were as follows: initial pH of 6.63, current of 0.075 A, electrolyte dose of 0.11 g/L and EC time of 50.3 min. The predicted RB5 removal was 83.3% and the percentage error between experimental and predicted results was only 3-5%. The obtained data confirm that the proposed model can be used for accurate prediction of RB5 removal. The value of the zeta potential increased with treatment time, and the X-ray diffraction pattern shows that iron complexes were found in the sludge.
The present work was aimed at evaluating the multi-metals column adsorption of lead(II), cadmium(II) and manganese(II) ions onto natural bentonite. The bentonite clay adsorbent was characterized for physical and chemical properties using X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area and cation exchange capacity. The column performance was evaluated using adsorbent bed height of 5.0 cm, with varying influent concentrations (10 mg/L and 50 mg/L) and flow rates (1.4 mL/min and 2.4 mL/min). The result shows that the breakthrough time for all metal ions ranged from 50 to 480 minutes. The maximum adsorption capacity was obtained at initial concentration of 10 mg/L and flow rate of 1.4 mL/min, with 2.22 mg/g of lead(II), 1.71 mg/g of cadmium(II) and 0.37 mg/g of manganese(II). The order of metal ions removal by natural bentonite is lead(II) > cadmium(II) > manganese(II). The sorption performance and the dynamic behaviour of the column were predicted using Adams-Bohart, Thomas, and Yoon-Nelson models. The linear regression analysis demonstrated that the Thomas and Yoon-Nelson models fitted well with the column adsorption data for all metal ions. The natural bentonite was effective for the treatment of wastewater laden with multi-metals, and the process parameters obtained from this work can be used at the industrial scale.
Removal of low-concentration ammonia (1-10 ppm) from aquaculture wastewater was investigated via polysulfone (PSf)/zeolite mixed matrix membrane. PSf/zeolite mixed matrix membranes with different weight ratios (90/10, 80/20, 70/30 and 60/40 wt.%) were prepared and characterized. Results indicate that PSf/zeolite (80/20) was the most efficient membrane for removal of low-concentration ammonia. The ammonia elimination by PSf/zeolite (80/20) from aqueous solution for 10, 7, 5, 3 and 1 ppm of ammonia was 100%, 99%, 98.8%, 96% and 95% respectively. The recorded results revealed that pure water flux declined in higher loading of zeolite in the membrane matrix due to surface pore blockage caused by zeolite particles. On the other hand, ammonia elimination from water was decreased in higher contents of zeolite because of formation of cavities and macrovoids in the membrane substructure.
Dairy cattle treated wastewaters are potential resources for production of microalgae biofuels. A study was conducted to evaluate the capability of Arthrospira platensis cultivated in dairy farm wastewater for biodiesel production. The biomass of Arthrospira platensis was found to be 4.98 g L-1 and produced 30.23 wt% lipids to dry biomass cultivated in wastewater which was found nitrogen stressed in photo bioreactor. The extracted lipid displayed a suitable fatty acid profile for biodiesel, although the content of linolenic acid was found a little higher than the standard EN14214. It was found that nitrogen stressed medium increase the total lipid content but temperature and intensities of light were the most important factors to control the quantity of linolenic acid and hence the quality of biodiesel, while the optimum CO2 helped to achieve maximum biomass and triacylglycerols. The Arthrospira platensis offer a good option for the treatment of wastewater before final discharge.
Simulation of fluidized bed reactor (FBR) was accomplished for treating wastewater using Fenton reaction, which is an advanced oxidation process (AOP). The simulation was performed to determine characteristics of FBR performance, concentration profile of the contaminants, and various prominent hydrodynamic properties (e.g., Reynolds number, velocity, and pressure) in the reactor. Simulation was implemented for 2.8 L working volume using hydrodynamic correlations, continuous equation, and simplified kinetic information for phenols degradation as a model. The simulation shows that, by using Fe(3+) and Fe(2+) mixtures as catalyst, TOC degradation up to 45% was achieved for contaminant range of 40-90 mg/L within 60 min. The concentration profiles and hydrodynamic characteristics were also generated. A subsequent scale-up study was also conducted using similitude method. The analysis shows that up to 10 L working volume, the models developed are applicable. The study proves that, using appropriate modeling and simulation, data can be predicted for designing and operating FBR for wastewater treatment.
The mineralisation kinetics of petroleum refinery effluent (PRE) by Fenton oxidation were evaluated. Within the ambit of the experimental data generated, first-order kinetic model (FKM), generalised lumped kinetic model (GLKM), and generalized kinetic model (GKM) were tested. The obtained apparent kinetic rate constants for the initial oxidation step (k'2), their final oxidation step (k'1), and the direct conversion to endproducts step (k3') were 10.12, 3.78, and 0.24 min(-1) for GKM; 0.98, 0.98, and nil min(-1) for GLKM; and nil, nil, and >0.005 min(-1) for FKM. The findings showed that GKM is superior in estimating the mineralization kinetics.
Many wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) operating in biological nitrogen removal activated sludge process in the tropics are facing the pressure of increasingly stringent effluent standards while seeking solutions to reduce the plants' energy consumption and operating cost. This study investigated the feasibility of applying low-dissolved oxygen (low-DO) nitrification and utilizing slowly-biodegradable chemical oxygen demand (sbCOD) for denitrification, which helps to reduce energy usage and operating cost in treating low soluble COD-to-nitrogen tropical wastewater. The tropical wastewater was first characterized using wastewater fractionation and respirometry batch tests. Then, a lab-scale sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was operated to evaluate the long-term stability of low-DO nitrification and utilizing sbCOD for denitrification in an anoxic-oxic (AO) process treating tropical wastewater. The wastewater fractionation experiment revealed that particulate settleable solids (PSS) in the wastewater provided slowly-biodegradable COD (sbCOD), which made up the major part (51 ± 10%) of the total COD. The PSS hydrolysis rate constant at tropical temperature (30 °C) was 2.5 times higher than that at 20 °C, suggesting that sbCOD may be utilized for denitrification. During the SBR operation, high nitrification efficiency (93 ± 6%) was attained at low-DO condition (0.9 ± 0.1 mg O2/L). Utilizing sbCOD for post-anoxic denitrification in the SBR reduced the effluent nitrate concentration. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction, 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and fluorescence in-situ hybridization revealed that the genus Nitrospira was a dominant nitrifier. 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing result suggested that 50% of the Nitrospira-related operational taxonomic units were affiliated with comammox, which may imply that the low-DO condition and the warm wastewater promoted their growth. The nitrogen removal in a tropical AO process was enhanced by incorporating low-DO nitrification and utilizing sbCOD for post-anoxic denitrification, which contributes to an improved energy sustainability of WWTPs.
Demand for online and real-time measurements techniques to meet environmental regulation and treatment compliance are increasing. However the conventional techniques, which involve scheduled sampling and chemical analysis can be expensive and time consuming. Therefore cheaper and faster alternatives to monitor wastewater characteristics are required as alternatives to conventional methods. This paper reviews existing conventional techniques and optical and fibre optic sensors to determine selected wastewater characteristics which are colour, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD). The review confirms that with appropriate configuration, calibration and fibre features the parameters can be determined with accuracy comparable to conventional method. With more research in this area, the potential for using FOS for online and real-time measurement of more wastewater parameters for various types of industrial effluent are promising.
Many industries discharge untreated wastewater into the environment. Heavy metals from many industrial processes end up as hazardous pollutants of wastewaters.Heavy metal pollution has increased in recent decades and there is a growing concern for the public health risk they may pose. To remove heavy metal ions from polluted waste streams, adsorption processes are among the most common and effective treatment methods. The adsorbents that are used to remove heavy metal ions from aqueous media have both advantages and disadvantages. Cost and effectiveness are two of the most prominent criteria for choosing adsorbents. Because cost is so important, great effort has been extended to study and find effective lower cost adsorbents.One class of adsorbents that is gaining considerable attention is agricultural wastes. Among many alternatives, palm oil biomasses have shown promise as effective adsorbents for removing heavy metals from wastewater. The palm oil industry has rapidly expanded in recent years, and a large amount of palm oil biomass is available. This biomass is a low-cost agricultural waste that exhibits, either in its raw form or after being processed, the potential for eliminating heavy metal ions from wastewater. In this article, we provide background information on oil palm biomass and describe studies that indicate its potential as an alternative adsorbent for removing heavy metal ions from wastewater. From having reviewed the cogent literature on this topic we are encouraged that low-cost oil-palm-related adsorbents have already demonstrated outstanding removal capabilities for various pollutants.Because cost is so important to those who choose to clean waste streams by using adsorbents, the use of cheap sources of unconventional adsorbents is increasingly being investigated. An adsorbent is considered to be inexpensive when it is readily available, is environmentally friendly, is cost-effective and be effectively used in economical processes. The advantages that oil palm biomass has includes the following:available and exists in abundance, appears to be effective technically, and can be integrated into existing processes. Despite these advantages, oil palm biomasses have disadvantages such as low adsorption capacity, increased COD, BOD and TOC. These disadvantages can be overcome by modifying the biomass either chemically or thermally. Such modification creates a charged surface and increases the heavy metal ion binding capacity of the adsorbent.
Environmental exposure to active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) can have negative effects on the health of ecosystems and humans. While numerous studies have monitored APIs in rivers, these employ different analytical methods, measure different APIs, and have ignored many of the countries of the world. This makes it difficult to quantify the scale of the problem from a global perspective. Furthermore, comparison of the existing data, generated for different studies/regions/continents, is challenging due to the vast differences between the analytical methodologies employed. Here, we present a global-scale study of API pollution in 258 of the world's rivers, representing the environmental influence of 471.4 million people across 137 geographic regions. Samples were obtained from 1,052 locations in 104 countries (representing all continents and 36 countries not previously studied for API contamination) and analyzed for 61 APIs. Highest cumulative API concentrations were observed in sub-Saharan Africa, south Asia, and South America. The most contaminated sites were in low- to middle-income countries and were associated with areas with poor wastewater and waste management infrastructure and pharmaceutical manufacturing. The most frequently detected APIs were carbamazepine, metformin, and caffeine (a compound also arising from lifestyle use), which were detected at over half of the sites monitored. Concentrations of at least one API at 25.7% of the sampling sites were greater than concentrations considered safe for aquatic organisms, or which are of concern in terms of selection for antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, pharmaceutical pollution poses a global threat to environmental and human health, as well as to delivery of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Oily wastewater, especially water-oil emulsion has become serious environmental issue and received global attention. Chemical demulsifiers are widely used to treat oil-water emulsion, but the toxicity, non-recyclable and non-environmental friendly characteristic of chemical demulsifiers had limited their practical application in oil-water separation. Therefore, it is imperative to develop an efficient, simple, eco-friendly and recyclable demulsifiers for breaking up the emulsions from the oily wastewater. In this study, a magnetic demulsifier, magnetite-reduced graphene oxide (M-rGO) nanocomposites were proposed as a recyclable demulsifier to break up the surfactant stabilized crude oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion. M-rGO nanocomposites were prepared via in situ chemical synthesis by using only one type Fe salt and GO solid as precursor at room temperature. The prepared composites were fully characterized by various techniques. The effect of demulsifier dosage and pH of emulsion on demulsification efficiency (ED) has been studied in detailed. The demulsification mechanism was also proposed in this study. Results showed that M-rGO nanocomposites were able to demulsify crude O/W emulsion. The ED reaches 99.48% when 0.050 wt.% of M-rGO nanocomposites were added to crude O/W emulsion (pH = 4). Besides, M-rGO nanocomposites can be recycled up to 7 cycles without showing a significant change in terms of ED. Thus, M-rGO nanocomposite is a promising demulsifier for surfactant stabilized crude O/W emulsion.
The production, optimization, and characterization of the bioflocculant QZ-7 synthesized by a novel Bacillus salmalaya strain 139SI isolated from a private farm soil in Selangor, Malaysia, are reported. The flocculating activity of bioflocculant QZ-7 present in the selected strain was found to be 83.3%. The optimal culture for flocculant production was achieved after cultivation at 35.5 °C for 72 h at pH 7 ± 0.2, with an inoculum size of 5% (v/v) and sucrose and yeast extract as carbon and nitrogen sources. The maximum flocculating activity was found to be 92.6%. Chemical analysis revealed that the pure bioflocculant consisted of 79.08% carbohydrates and 15.4% proteins. The average molecular weight of the bioflocculant was calculated to be 5.13 × 10⁵ Da. Infrared spectrometric analysis showed the presence of carboxyl (COO-), hydroxyl (-OH), and amino (-NH₂) groups, polysaccharides and proteins. The bioflocculant QZ-7 exhibited a wide pH stability range from 4 to 7, with a flocculation activity of 85% at pH 7 ± 0.2. In addition, QZ-7 was thermally stable and retained more than 80% of its flocculating activity after being heated at 80 °C for 30 min. SEM analysis revealed that QZ-7 exhibited a clear crystalline brick-shaped structure. After treating wastewater, the bioflocculant QZ-7 showed significant flocculation performance with a COD removal efficiency of 93%, whereas a BOD removal efficiency of 92.4% was observed in the B. salmalaya strain 139SI. These values indicate the promising applications of the bioflocculant QZ-7 in wastewater treatment.
Sustainable wastewater treatment is one of the biggest issues of the 21st century. Metals such as Zn2+ have been released into the environment due to rapid industrial development. In this study, dried watermelon rind (D-WMR) is used as a low-cost adsorption material to assess natural adsorbents' ability to remove Zn2+ from synthetic wastewater. D-WMR was characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF). According to the results of the analysis, the D-WMR has two colours, white and black, and a significant concentration of mesoporous silica (83.70%). Moreover, after three hours of contact time in a synthetic solution with 400 mg/L Zn2+ concentration at pH 8 and 30 to 40 °C, the highest adsorption capacity of Zn2+ onto 1.5 g D-WMR adsorbent dose with 150 μm particle size was 25 mg/g. The experimental equilibrium data of Zn2+ onto D-WMR was utilized to compare nonlinear and linear isotherm and kinetics models for parameter determination. The best models for fitting equilibrium data were nonlinear Langmuir and pseudo-second models with lower error functions. Consequently, the potential use of D-WMR as a natural adsorbent for Zn2+ removal was highlighted, and error analysis indicated that nonlinear models best explain the adsorption data.
As a remedy for environmental pollution, a versatile synthetic approach has been developed to prepare polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/nitrogen-doped carbon dots (CDs) composite film (PVA-CDs) for removal of toxic cadmium ions. The CDs were first synthesized using carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) of oil palms empty fruit bunch wastes with the addition of polyethyleneimine (PEI) and then the CDs were embedded with PVA. The PVA-CDs film possess synergistic functionalities through increasing the content of hydrogen bonds for chemisorption compared to the pure CDs. Optical analysis of PVA-CDs film was performed by ultraviolet-visible and fluorescence spectroscopy. Compared to the pure CDs, the solid-state PVA-CDs displayed a bright blue color with a quantum yield (QY) of 47%; they possess excitation-independent emission and a higher Cd2+ removal efficiency of 91.1%. The equilibrium state was achieved within 10 min. It was found that adsorption data fit well with the pseudo-second-order kinetic and Langmuir isotherm models. The maximum adsorption uptake was 113.6 mg g-1 at an optimal pH of 7. Desorption experiments showhe that adsorbent can be reused fruitfully for five adsorption-desorption cycles using 0.1 HCl elution. The film was successfully applied to real water samples with a removal efficiency of 95.34% and 90.9% for tap and drinking water, respectively. The fabricated membrane is biodegradable and its preparation follows an ecofriendly green route.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and linear alkylbenzenes (LABs) were used as anthropogenic markers of organic chemical pollution of sediments in the Selangor River, Peninsular Malaysia. This study was conducted on sediment samples from the beginning of the estuary to the upstream river during dry and rainy seasons. The concentrations of ƩPAHs and ƩLABs ranged from 203 to 964 and from 23 to 113 ng g(-1) dry weight (dw), respectively. In particular, the Selangor River was found to have higher sedimentary levels of PAHs and LABs during the wet season than in the dry season, which was primarily associated with the intensity of domestic wastewater discharge and high amounts of urban runoff washing the pollutants from the surrounding area. The concentrations of the toxic contaminants were determined according to the Sediment Quality Guidelines (SQGs). The PAH levels in the Selangor River did not exceed the SQGs, for example, the effects range low (ERL) value, indicating that they cannot exert adverse biological effects.
As Malaysia is one of the world's largest producer of palm oil, large amounts of palm oil mill effluent (POME) is generated. It was found that negatively charged components are accountable for POME color. An attempt was made to remove residual contaminants after conventional treatment using anion base resin. Adsorption experiments were carried out in fixed bed column. Various models such as the Thomas, the Yoon-Nelson, the Wolborska and BDST model were used to fit the experimental data. It was found that only the BDST model was fitted well at the initial breakthrough time. A wavelet neural network model (WNN) was developed to model the breakthrough curves in fixed bed column for multicomponent system. The results showed that the WNN model described breakthrough curves better than the commonly used models. The effects of pH, flow rate and bed depth on column performance were investigated. It was found that the highest uptake capacity was obtained at pH 3. The exhaustion time appeared to increase with increase in bed length and decrease in flow rate.