Fate of trace organic contaminants in oxic-settling-anoxic (OSA) process applied for biosolids reduction during wastewater treatment

Galilee U Semblante; Faisal I Hai; James McDonald; Stuart J Khan; Mark Nelson; Duu-Jong Lee; William E Price; Long D Nghiem

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2017.02.053

Fate of trace organic contaminants in oxic-settling-anoxic (OSA) process applied for biosolids reduction during wastewater treatment

Bioresour Technol. 2017 Sep:240:181-191. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.02.053. Epub 2017 Feb 16.

Authors

Galilee U Semblante¹, Faisal I Hai², James McDonald³, Stuart J Khan³, Mark Nelson⁴, Duu-Jong Lee⁵, William E Price⁶, Long D Nghiem¹

Affiliations

¹ Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
² Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia. Electronic address: faisal@uow.edu.au.
³ Water Research Centre, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
⁴ School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
⁵ Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁶ Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Chemistry, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.

PMID: 28286011
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.02.053

Abstract

This study investigated the fate of trace organic contaminants (TrOCs) in an oxic-settling-anoxic (OSA) process consisting of a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) with external aerobic/anoxic and anoxic reactors. OSA did not negatively affect TrOC removal of the SBR. Generally, low TrOC removal was observed under anoxic and low substrate conditions, implicating the role of co-metabolism in TrOC biodegradation. Several TrOCs that were recalcitrant in the SBR (e.g., benzotriazole) were biodegraded in the external aerobic/anoxic reactor. Some hydrophobic TrOCs (e.g., triclosan) were desorbed in the anoxic reactor possibly due to loss of sorption sites through volatile solids destruction. In OSA, the sludge was discharged from the aerobic/anoxic reactor which contained lower concentration of TrOCs (e.g., triclosan and triclocarban) than that of the control aerobic digester, suggesting that OSA can also help to reduce TrOC concentration in residual biosolids.

Keywords: Biodegradation; Biosolids yield reduction; Municipal wastewater; Oxic-settling-anoxic process; Sorption; Trace organic contaminants.

MeSH terms

Biodegradation, Environmental
Bioreactors*
Sewage
Waste Disposal, Fluid*
Wastewater

Substances

Sewage
Waste Water