Removal of sulfadiazine from simulated industrial wastewater by a membrane bioreactor and ozonation

Arlen Mabel Lastre-Acosta; Priscila Hasse Palharim; Izabela Major Barbosa; José Carlos Mierzwa; Antonio Carlos Silva Costa Teixeira

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111040

Removal of sulfadiazine from simulated industrial wastewater by a membrane bioreactor and ozonation

J Environ Manage. 2020 Oct 1:271:111040. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111040. Epub 2020 Jul 7.

Authors

Arlen Mabel Lastre-Acosta¹, Priscila Hasse Palharim², Izabela Major Barbosa³, José Carlos Mierzwa³, Antonio Carlos Silva Costa Teixeira²

Affiliations

¹ Research Group in Advanced Oxidation Processes (AdOx), Chemical Systems Engineering Center, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Luciano Gualberto, tr. 3, 380, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Electronic address: arlenlastre@gmail.com.
² Research Group in Advanced Oxidation Processes (AdOx), Chemical Systems Engineering Center, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Luciano Gualberto, tr. 3, 380, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
³ International Reference Center on Water Reuse (IRCWR), University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Lúcio Martins Rodrigues, 120, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.

PMID: 32778319
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111040

Abstract

Ozonation can be used as a polishing treatment for degrading low-concentration pharmaceutical compounds recalcitrant to biological treatment, when large amounts of biodegradable organics have been previously removed by biological processes. Nevertheless, a systematic investigation has not yet been carried out for the coupled MBR + O₃ process through an experimental design approach. Thereby, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of different processes (membrane bioreactor-MBR, ozonation; and integrated MBR + O₃) for removing the antibiotic sulfadiazine (SDZ) from a synthetic wastewater matrix of industrial interest. The MBR behavior was monitored over seven months for different parameters (pH, temperature, permeate flow, transmembrane pressure, biological oxygen demand-BOD₅, chemical oxygen demand-COD, total organic carbon-TOC, solids, and SDZ concentration). Additionally, the amount of SDZ sorbed onto the sludge was characterized, an issue which is scarcely addressed in most research works. Ozonation experiments were conducted in batch mode in a 2-L glass reactor provided with openings for gas flow. For the MBR + O₃ process, the effects of gas flow rate (0.1-1.5 L min^-1) and inlet ozone concentration (4-12 mg L^-1) on SDZ removal from the MBR permeate were systematically assessed using a Doehlert experimental design and response surface methodology. The results indicated that the MBR system showed good performance regarding organic matter removal efficiency, evaluated in terms of BOD₅ (91.5%), COD (93.1%) and TOC (96.3%). In contrast, SDZ was partially removed (33%) by the MBR; in that case, the results indicated that the antibiotic was moderately removed with the sludge and partially biodegraded. In turn, the MBR + O₃ system showed excellent performance for removing SDZ (100%), TOC (97%), BOD₅ (94%) and COD (97%). The statistical analysis confirmed that the influence of ozone gas flow rate upon the SDZ removal rate was more important than that exhibited by inlet ozone concentration. Therefore, coupling MBR and ozone can be considered a promising alternative for point source treatment of antibiotic production wastewater.

Keywords: Doehlert uniform array; integrated process; membrane bioreactor (MBR); modified polymeric membranes; ozonation (O(3)); sulfadiazine.

MeSH terms

Bioreactors
Ozone*
Sewage
Sulfadiazine
Waste Disposal, Fluid
Wastewater
Water Pollutants, Chemical*

Substances

Sewage
Waste Water
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Sulfadiazine
Ozone