Led a team of four in the recently concluded Northeast section of the Ohio Water Environment Association. In the slides, It describes the alternatives and recommended solution to treat wastewater that has pharmaceuticals contaminants in it. My team cane second place in a total of seven teams
6. Regulations on
Pharmaceutical
Contaminants in
water resource
recovery
2008
In 2008, The E.P.A proposed to add
pharmaceutical to the types of
hazardous wastes that could have
been managed as universal wastes
2015
In 2015, the E.P.A Administrator
signed the proposed management
standard for hazardous waste
pharmaceutical rule on August 31st
2015 and it was published in the
Federal Register (FR) on September
25, 2015
Currently
There is no E.P.A standards for
pharmaceutical waste contaminants
in water resource recovery
7. How is the Challenge seen when
compared to WWTP that are close
to us ?
• We visited two waste water treatment plants but
there was no regulation by E.P.A so pharmaceutical
contaminants in wastewater were not being tested
for
• After doing a lot of research, It is detected that
there are plenty pharmaceuticals contaminants in
the effluent ofwastewater treatment plants.
9. Introduction to CBZ
(Carbamazepine)
• Trade name : Tegretol
• Tegretol (carbamazepine) is an anticonvulsant.
It works by decreasing nerve impulses that cause
seizures and pain. Tegretol is used to treat certain
types of seizures (partial, tonic-clonic,
mixed). Tegretol is also used to treat nerve pain such
as trigeminal neuralgia and glossopharyngeal
neuralgia.
• Chemical formula : C15H12N2O
• Biological half-life : 36 hours (single dose), 16-24
hours (repeated dosing)
10. Effects of pharmaceutical contaminants(carbamazepine)
in wastewater recovery
It has been associated in the
disturbances of vital
biological functions of
aquatic organisms
Some of the pharmaceutical
contaminants has led to
decreased fecundity, brain
and lungs as well as
feminization of aquatic
organisms
These contaminants have
also led to the resistance of
micro-organisms to some of
the micro-pollutants
12. Potential solutions
used to treat
pharmaceutical
contaminants in
wastewater especially
carbamazepine
• Removal of Carbamazepine
from Water by a Novel TiO2–
Coconut Shell Powder/UV
Process
• The use of hybrid bioreactor
(HBR) of hollow fiber microfilter
membrane
• The use of multiple processes
Membrane bioreactor (MBR)-
Ozonation-Adsorption
13. REMOVAL OF
CARBAMAZEPINE FROM
WATER BY A NOVEL TIO2–
COCONUT SHELL
POWDER/UV
PROCESS:PHOTOCATALYTIC
ACTIVITY
Composite, sol-gel method with a subsequent heat
treatment.
Photocatalytic absorbent for the removal of
carbamazepine (CBZ).
Physical properties of composite - crystallinity,
morphology, crush strength, and the Brunauer-
Emmett-Teller (BET)
Calcination at 700°C produced anatase phase TiO2
in the TCNSP composites with a BET high surface
area of 454 m2/g.
Anatase crystallite size of composite increased
from 2.37 to 15.11 nm with calcination
temperature from 500°C to 800°C.
14. INFERENCE ON
USING
NANOMATERIALS TO
TREAT
CARBAMAZEPINE
Calcinated TCNSP composites had higher removal
efficiency (98%) than pure TiO2 (23%) and CNSP
(34%) within a 40-min reaction time.
The optimum values for the preparation of TCNSP
composites, obtained by the RSM and CCD model,
-726°C calcination temperature
- 94.8 g CNSP loading amount for a of 1.79 mg/L
of remaining concentration
-30-min reaction time.
RSM based on CCD could be effectively adopted
to optimize the preparation of TCNSP composites.
It is not cost effective yet.
15. ADVANTAGES - DISADVANTAGES
Advantages
Non-toxic, insoluble in water and
resistant to most chemicals, such as
acids, bases or solvents
The particles are so small, the
surface area to volume ratio is large
so more adsorption.
Reaction time is less.
New approach.
Disadvantages
Membranes require maintenance and
need to be replaced after its maximum
ability has been reached.
Tio2 has wide band gap, results in
about 5% spectral overlap amid its
absorbance and sunlight emission (λ <
~390 nm).
It exerts low acute toxicity to aquatic
organisms, upon enduring exposure it
induces a range of sub-lethal effects.
It is not cost-effective yet.
16. HYBRID BIOREACTOR
Cross-linked enzymes aggregates of laccase (CLEA-Lac).
Polysulfone hollow fiber MF membrane.
laccases catalyze the substrates by requiring readily available oxygen to
produce water as a by-product and active radicals of the substrates.
These radicals generally polymerize and precipitate to become easier to
separate from the reaction solution.
17. HYBRID
BIOREACTOR
(HBR)
1000 mL glass-beaker for
reaction solution.
peristaltic pump (P1), (P2)
Two manometers (M1 and M2)
Two needle valves (V1 and V2)
3500 mL of aqueous solution
as feed to reaction solution.
18. HBR
By means of P2, feed solution was
pumped continuously at 0.9 mL/min
to the reaction solution which
operated as a continuous stirred-tank
reactor (CSTR).
CSTR contained 550 mL including
CLEA-Lac at 50 U/L and operated for
0.95 h of hydraulic retention time
(HRT).
The HBR operated continuously over
120 h while the elimination of the
pharmaceuticals from the filtrate, the
filtrate outflow rate and the CLEA-Lac
activity in the CSTR were being
monitored.
19. ADVANTAGES - DISADVANTAGES
Advantages
Effective removal of CBZ (up to
90%).
No need of secondary clarifier
and aeration tank.
Disadvantages
The CLEA-Lac and the MF
membrane are not economical.
Fouling of the MF membrane.
Effluent water is not suitable for
drinking or watering plants.
Still a lab scale treatment.
20. Membrane bioreactor
• It is a process that combines a suspended growth process
with a membrane separation process system
• Membrane bioreactor has the capacity to produce a very
high MLSS concentration of about 8 to 12 kg/l as compared to
the CAS which is about 2kg/l
• It has a lower capital cost and a clarifier is not needed
• Footprint is up to 50% smaller than conventional activated
sludge
• In this stage, the initial total suspended solids (TSS) and
Biochemical Oxygen demand(BOD) is removed
21. Issues arising
from using
Membrane
bioreactor
• Initial construction cost tend to
be higher than the conventional
activated sludge
• Fouling is a problem
• The main energy demand is
during aeration
23. Modifications
to membrane
bioreactor
Biogas should be used to clean the membranes
and also be used for aeration in order to
reduce cost
Finer screens should be used and also the flux
should be regulated in order to reduce the
incidence of fouling
Chemical cleaning should be done as regularly
to reduce the incidence of fouling
The use of antifouling membrane
24. Ozonation
The process of ozonation involves using ozone to remove
organics(Carbamazepine), bacteria, fungi and viruses from water
Ozone can be generated from
Cold plasma discharge process
The ozone is formed by diatomic oxygen
Ultraviolent light
At this stage, 63% of the Carbamazepine is removed
25. Operating Cost of Ozonation
• It cost a range of $0.001-$0.002/cubic meter seems
to be typical of most plants in the United States
• Ozone production is energy intensive and requires
16kwh/kg and 24kwh/kg of ozone for oxygen and air-
fed systems respectively
• Total treatment cost of ozonation are in the range of
0.04/cubic meter to 0.06/cubic meter of water for
plants that process 10 million gallons /day and 100
million gal/day (0.44 cubic metre/s and 4.4cubic
metre/s) respectively assuming ozone dose of 1ppm
26. Adsorption
Adsorption is considered to be a mass
transfer operation as a constituent in
transferred from a liquid phase to a
solid phase at the interface
This process will help to remove the
poisonous by-products formed during
ozonation.
The most popular type of adsorbent is
activated carbon and it is very expensive
27. Modifications to Adsorption
There are cheaper cost of low-
cost adsorbent like agricultural
and industrial low-cost
adsorbent. The low-cost
adsorbent is also a way to
reduce waste and also treat
wastewater
The use of a combined
wastewater two-stage
treatment processes in which
low-cost adsorbent are used and
activated carbon is used as a
polishing step
28. Possible Ways to treat Contaminated carbamazepine
Use of
Nanomaterials
Use of MOA
process
Expensive
Cant implement
at large scale
Cost effective
over other
treatment
Tested at lab
scale not in real
world problems
Use of Hybrid
Reactor
Sludge generated
can be used as
energy
29. CAS(Conventional Activated sludge System)
Grit & solid
removal
Pre-
Treatment
Aeration
Zone
Settler Sand Filter Disinfection
Sludge
Air
30. Our Proposed Solution
Grit & solid
removal
Pre-
Treatment
Aeration
Zone
Membrane
bioreactor
Ozonation Adsorption
Sludge
Air
31. What happens to the sludge ?
It can be
incinerated to
produce energy.
It can be disposed
as a hazardous
waste into the
land fill
32. Conclusion
The other two alternatives are
excellent ways of treating
wastewater but are very costly
and not very applicable in large
scale
Our proposed solution helps
not only to remove
carbamazepine but also
improves the environment by
reducing the amount of waste
by the use of low-cost
adsorbent
