This paper presents the initial findings of an ongoing research study focusing on the
removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) and endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) through tertiary wastewater treatment at two Northern
California wastewater treatment facilities. The two wastewater treatment plants have
slightly different wastewater treatment approaches, as summarized below.
Treatment Plant A operates a wastewater treatment train including the following
processes: aerated grit removal, primary sedimentation, secondary treatment with
conventional activated sludge, secondary clarification, alum addition, and tertiary
treatment using anthracite filtration. Treatment Plant A typically processes 17 to 20 MGD.
Treatment Plant B operates a wastewater treatment train including: aerated grit removal,
primary clarification, secondary treatment using trickling filters/biofilters, secondary
clarification, alum addition and tertiary treatment using anthracite filtration. Treatment
Plant B typically processes approximately 2.3 MGD in summer and up to 5 MGD during
winter.
Using this overview comparison of the two wastewater treatment facilities, the primary
differences are of size and approach to secondary treatment. In terms of secondary
treatment, whereas Treatment Plant A employs an activated sludge process, Treatment
Plant B relies on a trickling filter with continuous flow of wastewater over the support
media. As discussed in this paper, the choice of these processes for removal of dissolved and
colloidal organic matter may affect the biodegradation and metabolism of selected organic
constituents examined in this research. Both treatment plants employ filtration as a form
of tertiary treatment downstream of the high-rate biological processes, the primary aim
being removal of suspended solids and microorganisms.
Downstream of tertiary treatment, pilot testing of AWT technologies allows comparison of
PPCP and EDC removal through microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ozonation.
Includes 6 references, tables, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 330 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 14 |
| Published : | 11/01/2002 |
