Are pharmaceuticals removal and membrane fouling in electromembrane bioreactor affected by current density?

Laura Borea; Benny Marie B Ensano; Shadi Wajih Hasan; Malini Balakrishnan; Vincenzo Belgiorno; Mark Daniel G de Luna; Florencio C Ballesteros Jr; Vincenzo Naddeo

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.07.149

Are pharmaceuticals removal and membrane fouling in electromembrane bioreactor affected by current density?

Sci Total Environ. 2019 Nov 20:692:732-740. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.07.149. Epub 2019 Jul 11.

Authors

Laura Borea¹, Benny Marie B Ensano², Shadi Wajih Hasan³, Malini Balakrishnan⁴, Vincenzo Belgiorno¹, Mark Daniel G de Luna⁵, Florencio C Ballesteros Jr⁵, Vincenzo Naddeo⁶

Affiliations

¹ Sanitary and Environmental Engineering Division (SEED), Department of Civil Engineering, University of Salerno, Fisciano 84084, SA, Italy.
² Environmental Engineering Program, National Graduate School of Engineering, University of the Philippines, 1101 Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines.
³ Center for Membrane and Advanced Water Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Masdar City Campus, P.O. Box 127788, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
⁴ The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Darbari Seth Block, India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road, New Delhi 110003, India.
⁵ Environmental Engineering Program, National Graduate School of Engineering, University of the Philippines, 1101 Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines; Department of Chemical Engineering, University of the Philippines, 1101 Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines.
⁶ Sanitary and Environmental Engineering Division (SEED), Department of Civil Engineering, University of Salerno, Fisciano 84084, SA, Italy. Electronic address: vnaddeo@unisa.it.

PMID: 31539981
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.07.149

Abstract

Pharmaceutical active compounds (PhACs) have been detected at significant concentrations in various natural and artificial aquatic environments. In this study, electro membrane bioreactor (eMBR) technology was used to treat simulated municipal wastewater containing widely-used pharmaceuticals namely amoxicillin (AMX), diclofenac (DCF) and carbamazepine (CBZ). The effects of varying current density on the removal of PhACs (AMX, DCF and CBZ) and conventional pollutants (chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), humic substances, ammonia nitrogen (NH₄-N), nitrate nitrogen (NO₃-N) and orthophosphate (PO₄-P) species) were examined. High COD and DOC removal efficiencies (~100%) were obtained in all the experimental runs regardless of applied current density. In contrast, enhanced removal efficiencies for AMX, DCF and CBZ were achieved at high current densities. Membrane fouling rate in eMBR with respect to conventional MBR was reduced by 24, 44 and 45% at current densities of 0.3, 0.5 and 1.15 mA/cm², respectively. The mechanism for pharmaceutical removal in this study proceeded by: (1) charge neutralization between negatively-charged pharmaceutical compounds and positive electro-generated aluminium coagulants to form larger particles and (2) size exclusion by membrane filtration.

Keywords: Electro MBR; Emerging contaminants; Fouling control; Pharmaceutical active compounds; Wastewater treatment.

MeSH terms

Amoxicillin / analysis
Biofouling*
Bioreactors*
Carbamazepine / analysis
Diclofenac / analysis
Electrochemical Techniques
Membranes, Artificial
Waste Disposal, Fluid / instrumentation
Waste Disposal, Fluid / methods*
Wastewater / chemistry*
Water Pollutants, Chemical / analysis*

Substances

Membranes, Artificial
Waste Water
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Diclofenac
Carbamazepine
Amoxicillin