Emerging pollutants removal in full-scale biological treatment plants: A case study

Kubra Ulucan-Altuntas; Neslihan Manav-Demir; Fatih Ilhan; Huseyin Baran Gelgor; Katherine Huddersman; Abhishek Tiwary; Eyup Debik

doi:10.1016/j.jwpe.2022.103336

Emerging pollutants removal in full-scale biological treatment plants: A case study

Kubra Ulucan-Altuntas^*, Neslihan Manav-Demir, Fatih Ilhan, Huseyin Baran Gelgor, Katherine Huddersman, Abhishek Tiwary, Eyup Debik^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Environmental Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are the main source of emerging pollutants encountered in surface water, albeit existing standards apply to a very limited number of emerging compounds. This paper presents a case study on non-target analysis, performed on influent and effluent samples from the WWTPs in Kocaeli, Türkiye. The samples were concentrated through solid-phase extraction, followed by LC-MS/MS analysis to identify emerging compounds, typically found in wastewater and treated wastewater. The data obtained was evaluated based on wastewater characteristics and the flow rate of the selected WWTPs. The removal of detected emerging compounds was calculated and classified as — “not removed”, and “partially removed”. Our analysis showed pharmaceutics as the most prevalent detected compounds, with the highest level of removal efficiency. The study demonstrated the necessity for redesigning conventional WWTPs to reduce the potential escape of emerging pollutants, with potential accumulation and transformation into harmful by-products in the environment.

Original language	English
Article number	103336
Journal	Journal of Water Process Engineering
Volume	51
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2022.103336
Publication status	Published - Feb 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution from Newton Fund via UK-Turkey British Council Research Environment Link Grant (ref. 630319963). The authors thank Kocaeli Water and Sewerage Administration (ISU), Türkiye, for supporting this project. We would like to thank Macrovector on Freepik for the image used in the graphical abstract with the following link: https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/surface-water-purification-isometriccomposition_6169413.htm The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution from Newton Fund via UK-Turkey British Council Research Environment Link Grant (ref. 630319963 ). The authors thank Kocaeli Water and Sewerage Administration (ISU), Türkiye, for supporting this project.

Funders	Funder number
Kocaeli Water and Sewerage Administration
Newton Fund	630319963
Illinois State University

Keywords

Biological wastewater treatment
Emerging compounds
Non-target analysis
Wastewater treatment plants

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.jwpe.2022.103336

Cite this

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title = "Emerging pollutants removal in full-scale biological treatment plants: A case study",

abstract = "Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are the main source of emerging pollutants encountered in surface water, albeit existing standards apply to a very limited number of emerging compounds. This paper presents a case study on non-target analysis, performed on influent and effluent samples from the WWTPs in Kocaeli, T{\"u}rkiye. The samples were concentrated through solid-phase extraction, followed by LC-MS/MS analysis to identify emerging compounds, typically found in wastewater and treated wastewater. The data obtained was evaluated based on wastewater characteristics and the flow rate of the selected WWTPs. The removal of detected emerging compounds was calculated and classified as — “not removed”, and “partially removed”. Our analysis showed pharmaceutics as the most prevalent detected compounds, with the highest level of removal efficiency. The study demonstrated the necessity for redesigning conventional WWTPs to reduce the potential escape of emerging pollutants, with potential accumulation and transformation into harmful by-products in the environment.",

keywords = "Biological wastewater treatment, Emerging compounds, Non-target analysis, Wastewater treatment plants",

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AU - Ulucan-Altuntas, Kubra

AU - Manav-Demir, Neslihan

AU - Ilhan, Fatih

AU - Gelgor, Huseyin Baran

AU - Huddersman, Katherine

AU - Tiwary, Abhishek

AU - Debik, Eyup

PY - 2023/2

Y1 - 2023/2

N2 - Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are the main source of emerging pollutants encountered in surface water, albeit existing standards apply to a very limited number of emerging compounds. This paper presents a case study on non-target analysis, performed on influent and effluent samples from the WWTPs in Kocaeli, Türkiye. The samples were concentrated through solid-phase extraction, followed by LC-MS/MS analysis to identify emerging compounds, typically found in wastewater and treated wastewater. The data obtained was evaluated based on wastewater characteristics and the flow rate of the selected WWTPs. The removal of detected emerging compounds was calculated and classified as — “not removed”, and “partially removed”. Our analysis showed pharmaceutics as the most prevalent detected compounds, with the highest level of removal efficiency. The study demonstrated the necessity for redesigning conventional WWTPs to reduce the potential escape of emerging pollutants, with potential accumulation and transformation into harmful by-products in the environment.

AB - Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are the main source of emerging pollutants encountered in surface water, albeit existing standards apply to a very limited number of emerging compounds. This paper presents a case study on non-target analysis, performed on influent and effluent samples from the WWTPs in Kocaeli, Türkiye. The samples were concentrated through solid-phase extraction, followed by LC-MS/MS analysis to identify emerging compounds, typically found in wastewater and treated wastewater. The data obtained was evaluated based on wastewater characteristics and the flow rate of the selected WWTPs. The removal of detected emerging compounds was calculated and classified as — “not removed”, and “partially removed”. Our analysis showed pharmaceutics as the most prevalent detected compounds, with the highest level of removal efficiency. The study demonstrated the necessity for redesigning conventional WWTPs to reduce the potential escape of emerging pollutants, with potential accumulation and transformation into harmful by-products in the environment.

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Emerging pollutants removal in full-scale biological treatment plants: A case study

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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