Biodegradability, environmental risk assessment and ecological footprint in wastewater technologies for
Carolina Rodrigues Dos Santos1, Yuri Abner Rocha Lebron1, Victor Rezende Moreira1
1Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, 30270-901 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
Abstract:
Several studies have investigated the removal of pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) by wastewater treatment technologies due to the risk that these compounds pose to the environment. In this sense, advanced biological processes have been developed for micropollutants removal, such as membrane bioreactors and moving bed biofilm reactors. Thus, this review holistically evaluated the biodegradation of 18 environmentally hazardous PhACs. Biological processes were assessed including removal efficiencies, environmental risk, and ecological footprint (consumption of resources and energy, atmospheric emissions, and waste generation). The maximum concentration of PhACs for a low or negligible risk scenario in treated wastewater and the potential of biological processes to meet this goal were assessed. Among the evaluated PhACs, the most biodegradable was paracetamol, while the most recalcitrant was diclofenac. Combination of conventional processes and advanced biological processes proved to be the most efficient way to remove several PhACs, mainly the osmotic membrane bioreactor.
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