Carbamazepine removal from wastewater and the degradation mechanism in a submerged forward osmotic membrane bioreactor

Meichen Yao; Liang Duan; Jian Wei; Feng Qian; Slawomir W Hermanowicz

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123732

Carbamazepine removal from wastewater and the degradation mechanism in a submerged forward osmotic membrane bioreactor

Bioresour Technol. 2020 Oct:314:123732. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123732. Epub 2020 Jun 25.

Authors

Meichen Yao¹, Liang Duan², Jian Wei¹, Feng Qian¹, Slawomir W Hermanowicz³

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Environment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China; State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Environment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China. Electronic address: duanliang@craes.org.cn.
³ Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute, Shenzhen 518071, China; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.

PMID: 32629375
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123732

Abstract

A submerged forward osmotic membrane bioreactor (FOMBR) was used to reveal the removal and degradation mechanism of carbamazepine (CBZ) from wastewater. The results showed that the removal mechanism consisted of the rejection of the forward osmotic (FO) membrane and biodegradation of the activated sludge. The removal efficiencies of COD, NH₄⁺-N, and CBZ by the FOMBR were approximately 94.77%-97.45%, 93.56%-99.28%, and 88.20%-94.45%, respectively. Moreover, the COD and NH₄⁺-N removal efficiencies were positively correlated with the increased CBZ concentrations. The results of the soluble microbial products (SMP) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) tests illustrated that the membrane fouling potential of EPS may be higher than that of SMP. According to the identified 14 degradation products, oxidation, hydroxylation, and decarboxylation were defined as the primary CBZ degradation mechanism. In addition, the RNA results showed that Delftia could be the characteristic bacteria in the CBZ degradation process.

Keywords: Carbamazepine; Contaminant removal; Forward osmotic membrane bioreactor; Microbial community.

MeSH terms

Bioreactors
Carbamazepine
Membranes, Artificial*
Osmosis
Sewage
Wastewater*

Substances

Membranes, Artificial
Sewage
Waste Water
Carbamazepine