Suchergebnisse

A huge variety of organic microcontaminants are presently detected in freshwater ecosystems, but there is still a lack of knowledge about their interactions, either with living organisms or with other contaminants. Actually, carbon nanomaterials like fullerenes (C 60 ) can act as carriers of organic microcontaminants, but their relevance in processes like bioaccumulation and biotransformation of organic microcontaminants by organisms is unknown. In this study, mesocosm experiments were used to assess the bioaccumulation and biotransformation of three organic microcontaminants (venlafaxine, diuron and triclosan) in river biofilms, and to understand how much the concomitant presence of C 60 at environmental relevant concentrations could impact these processes. Results indicated that venlafaxine exhibited the highest bioaccumulation (13% of the initial concentration of venlafaxine in water), while biotransformation was more evident for triclosan (5% of the initial concentration of triclosan in water). Furthermore, biotransformation products such as methyl-triclosan were also present in the biofilm, with levels up to 42% of the concentration of accumulated triclosan. The presence of C 60 did not involve relevant changes in the bioaccumulation and biotransformation of microcontaminants in biofilms, which showed similar patterns. Nevertheless, the study shows that a detailed evaluation of the partition of the organic microcontaminants and their transformation products in freshwater systems are important to better understand the impact of the co-existence of others microcontaminants, like carbon nanomaterials, in their possible routes of bioaccumulation and biotransformation ; This work has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (project NANOTRANSFER; ERA SIINN PCIN-2015-182-C02-02 and project PLAS-MED; CTM2017-89701-C3-2-R). Authors also acknowledge the support from the Economy and Knowledge Department of the Catalan Government through Consolidated Research Group(ICRA ENV2017 SGR1124 & ...

Antidepressant drugs such as Venlafaxine (VFX) and O-desmethylvenlafaxine (ODMVFX) are emerging contaminants that are commonly detected in aquatic environments, since conventional wastewater treatment plants are unable to completely remove them. They can be precursors of hazardous by-products, such as the carcinogenic N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), generated upon water chlorination, as they contain the dimethylamino moiety, necessary for the formation of NDMA. In this study, the capability of three white rot fungi (Trametes versicolor, Ganoderma lucidum and Pleurotus ostreatus) to remove both antidepressants from water and to decrease NDMA formation potential was investigated. Furthermore, transformation by-products (TPs) generated along the treatment process were elucidated and also correlated with their NDMA formation potential. Very promising results were obtained for T. versicolor and G. lucidum, both being able to remove up to 100% of ODMVFX. In the case of VFX, which is very recalcitrant to conventional wastewater treatment, a 70% of removal was achieved by T. versicolor, along with a reduction in NDMA formation potential, thus decreasing the associated problems for human health and the environment. However, the NDMA formation potential remained practically constant during treatment with G. lucidum despite of the equally high VFX removal (70%). This difference was attributed to the generation of different TPs during both fungal treatments. For example, G. lucidum generated more ODMVFX, which actually has a higher NDMA formation potential than the parent compound itself ; This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy,Industry and Competitiveness (project CTQ2010-21776-C02 andCTM2013-48545-C2), cofinanced by the European Union throughthe European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and supportedby the Generalitat de Catalunya (Consolidated Research Groups:Catalan Institute for water Research 2014 SGR 291 and 2014 SGR476). The Department of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering of the ...

This study presents the development and validation of a comprehensive quantitative target methodology for the analysis of 2316 emerging pollutants in water based on Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography Quadrupole-Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-Q-ToF-HRMS/MS). Target compounds include pesticides, pharmaceuticals, drugs of abuse, industrial chemicals, doping compounds, surfactants and transformation products, among others. The method was validated for 195 analytes, chosen to be representative of the chemical space of the target list, enabling the assessment of the performance of the method. The method involves a generic sample preparation based on mixed mode solid phase extraction, a UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS screening method using Data Independent Acquisition (DIA) mode, which provides MS and MS/MS spectra simultaneously and an elaborate strong post-acquisition evaluation of the data. The processing method was optimized to provide a successful identification rate >95 % and to minimize the number of false positive results (< 5 %). Decision limit (CCα) and detection capability (CCβ) were also introduced in the validation scheme to provide more realistic metrics on the performance of a HRMS-based wide-scope screening method. A new system of identification points (IPs) based on the one described in the Commission Decision 2002/657/EC was applied to communicate the confidence level in the identification of the analytes. This system considers retention time, mass accuracy, isotopic fit and fragmentation; taking full advantage of the capacities of the HRMS instruments. Finally, 398 contaminants were detected and quantified in real wastewater ; This project was implemented under the Operational Program "Education and Lifelong Learning" and funded by the European Union (European Social Fund) and Greek National Resources – ARISTEIA 624 (TREMEPOL project). Pablo Gago-Ferrero acknowledges the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement Smart-Workflow ...

This review compiles recent advances and challenges in the photocatalytic treatment of natural water by analyzing the remediation of cyanotoxins. The review frames the treatment need based on the occurrence, geographical distribution, and legislation of cyanotoxins in drinking water while highlighting the underestimated global risk of cyanotoxins. Next, the fundamental principles of photocatalytic treatment for remediating cyanotoxins and the complex degradation pathway for the most widespread cyanotoxins are presented. The state-of-the-art and recent advances on photocatalytic treatment processes are critically discussed, especially the modification strategies involving TiO2 and the primary operational conditions that determine the scalability and integration of photocatalytic reactors. The relevance of light sources and light delivery strategies are shown, with emphasis on novel biomimicry materials design. Thereafter, the seldomly-addressed role of water-matrix components is thoroughly and critically explored by including natural organic matter and inorganic species to provide future directions in designing highly efficient strategies and scalable reactors.

This study investigates the effect of psychrophilic, mesophilic and thermophilic temperatures on the anaerobic treatment of slaughterhouse wastewater, in terms of biogas production, occurrence of 30 pharmaceutical compounds of veterinary use, 4 antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) which provide resistance to tetracyclines (tetW), fluoroquinolones (qnrS), macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin (ermB) and sulfonamides (sul1) antibiotics, as well as class I integron-integrase gene (intI1), related to horizontal gene transfer. The highest methane yield was obtained at a mesophilic temperature (35 °C) (323 mL CH4/g TCOD) followed by the yield obtained at thermophilic temperature (53 °C) (242 mL CH4/g TCOD). Regarding pharmaceuticals, chlortetracycline, oxytetracycline, tilmicosin, and lincomycin were the most abundant in the slaughterhouse wastewater, being detected predominantly in the solid phase (with median concentrations >200 μg/kg dry weight). On the other hand, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, norfloxacin, lincomycin and ibuprofen were the most predominant in the anaerobic digestate regardless of the treatment temperature. Psychrophilic temperatures (21 °C) exhibited moderate to low pharmaceuticals removal, while a large fraction of them were removed at a thermophilic temperature reaching 70–90% removals for tetracycline, macrolides and one sulfonamide (sulfapyridine) ; S. Zahedi acknowledges the funding received from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) (IJCI-2017-33248). This study was supported by the Spanish Government (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, project PID2019-110346RB-C22). The authors acknowledge the support from the Economy and Knowledge Department of the Catalan Government through a Consolidated Research Group (ICRA-TECH - 2017 SGR 1318) and (SGR ICRA-ENV 2017 1124).

A horizontal flow wetland (HF) was integrated, in a cascading vertical set-up (vertECO), in a Mediterranean tourist facility for decentralized treatment of real low load greywater streams. 15 different plant species were tested in LECA substrate at three different hydraulic retention times (HRTs: 1.9, 1.4 and 1.0 days) with additional aeration improving degradation processes. Beyond standard parameters, several organic micropollutants (14 pharmaceutical organic compounds and 12 endocrine disruptive compounds) were monitored over a 22 month period. The removal efficiency for standard parameters was very high, on average more than 90% for many parameters (COD, BOD5, TSS, VSS and turbidity) and more than 80% for TOC. BOD5 removal could be correlated with the temperature, while TN, TKN and NH4+-N showed the highest removal efficiency at the lowest HRT. The effluents consistently met the standards for various reuse applications, at all three HRTs, according to Spanish Legislation (RD, 1620/2007) and EU draft. In terms of organic micropollutants, influent greywater was characterized by high concentrations and variability (for example up to 256.1 ± 875.3 µg L−1 for acetaminophen, 88.7 ± 424.5 µg L−1 for ibuprofen). More than 95% of removal by vertECO was achieved for most of the compounds (acetaminophen, ibuprofen, salicylic acid, caffeine, estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, triclosan, methyl-, ethyl- and propylparaben) and more than 80% for diclofenac, atenolol and trimethoprim. On the other hand, hydrochlorothiazide, sulfamethoxazole and salbutamol could not be reduced by more than 30%. Statistically significant differences were found at different HRTs for acetaminophen, atenolol, ibuprofen, ethylparaben, TCPP and TBEP (p < 0.05). Conversely, most of the evaluated micropollutants were consistently removed without apparent influence from temperature ; Authors acknowledge the support from the Economy and Knowledge Department of the Catalan Government through a Consolidated Research Group (ICRA-TECH - 2017 SGR ...

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are one of the main sources of pharmaceuticals and endocrine disrupting compounds in freshwater ecosystems, and several studies have reported bioaccumulation of these compounds in different organisms in those ecosystems. River biofilms are exceptional indicators of pollution, but very few studies have focused on the accumulation of these emerging contaminants. The objectives of this study were first to develop an efficient analytical methodology for the simultaneous analysis of 44 pharmaceuticals and 13 endocrine disrupting compounds in biofilm, and second, to assess persistence, distribution, and bioaccumulation of these contaminants in natural biofilms inhabiting a WWTP-impacted river. The method is based on pressurized liquid extraction, purification by solid-phase extraction, and analysis by ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled to a mass spectrometer (UPLC-MS/MS) in tandem. Recoveries for pharmaceuticals were 31-137%, and for endocrine disruptors 32-93%. Method detection limits for endocrine disruptors were in the range of 0.2-2.4ng g-1, and for pharmaceuticals, 0.07-6.7ng g-1. A total of five endocrine disruptors and seven pharmaceuticals were detected in field samples at concentrations up to 100ng g-1 ; This study has been co-financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the project WATER-Fate (CTM2012-38314-C0201), by the EU through the FP7 project GLOBAQUA (Grant agreement No. 603629) and by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This work was partly supported by the Economy and Knowledge Department of the Catalan Government (Consolidated Research Group 2014 SGR 291 - ICRA)

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are one of the main sources of pharmaceuticals and endocrine disrupting compounds in freshwater ecosystems, and several studies have reported bioaccumulation of these compounds in different organisms in those ecosystems. River biofilms are exceptional indicators of pollution, but very few studies have focused on the accumulation of these emerging contaminants. The objectives of this study were first to develop an efficient analytical methodology for the simultaneous analysis of 44 pharmaceuticals and 13 endocrine disrupting compounds in biofilm, and second, to assess persistence, distribution, and bioaccumulation of these contaminants in natural biofilms inhabiting a WWTP-impacted river. The method is based on pressurized liquid extraction, purification by solid-phase extraction, and analysis by ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled to a mass spectrometer (UPLC-MS/MS) in tandem. Recoveries for pharmaceuticals were 31-137%, and for endocrine disruptors 32-93%. Method detection limits for endocrine disruptors were in the range of 0.2-2.4ng g-1, and for pharmaceuticals, 0.07-6.7ng g-1. A total of five endocrine disruptors and seven pharmaceuticals were detected in field samples at concentrations up to 100ng g-1 ; This study has been co-financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the project WATER-Fate (CTM2012-38314-C0201), by the EU through the FP7 project GLOBAQUA (Grant agreement No. 603629) and by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This work was partly supported by the Economy and Knowledge Department of the Catalan Government (Consolidated Research Group 2014 SGR 291 - ICRA)

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are one of the main sources of pharmaceuticals and endocrine disrupting compounds in freshwater ecosystems, and several studies have reported bioaccumulation of these compounds in different organisms in those ecosystems. River biofilms are exceptional indicators of pollution, but very few studies have focused on the accumulation of these emerging contaminants. The objectives of this study were first to develop an efficient analytical methodology for the simultaneous analysis of 44 pharmaceuticals and 13 endocrine disrupting compounds in biofilm, and second, to assess persistence, distribution, and bioaccumulation of these contaminants in natural biofilms inhabiting a WWTP-impacted river. The method is based on pressurized liquid extraction, purification by solid-phase extraction, and analysis by ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled to a mass spectrometer (UPLC-MS/MS) in tandem. Recoveries for pharmaceuticals were 31-137%, and for endocrine disruptors 32-93%. Method detection limits for endocrine disruptors were in the range of 0.2-2.4ng g-1, and for pharmaceuticals, 0.07-6.7ng g-1. A total of five endocrine disruptors and seven pharmaceuticals were detected in field samples at concentrations up to 100ng g-1 ; This study has been co-financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the project WATER-Fate (CTM2012-38314-C0201), by the EU through the FP7 project GLOBAQUA (Grant agreement No. 603629) and by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This work was partly supported by the Economy and Knowledge Department of the Catalan Government (Consolidated Research Group 2014 SGR 291 - ICRA)

Water bodies are being contaminated daily due to industrial, agricultural and domestic effluents. In the last decades, harmful organic micropollutants (OMPs) have been detected in surface and groundwater at low concentrations due to the discharge of untreated effluent in natural water bodies. As a consequence, aquatic life and public health are endangered. Unfortunately, traditional water treatment methods are ineffective in the degradation of most OMPs. In recent years, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) techniques have received extensive attention for the mineralization of OMPs in water in order to avoid serious environmental problems. Cold atmospheric plasma discharge-based AOPs have been proven a promising technology for the degradation of non-biodegradable organic substances like OMPs. This paper reviews a wide range of cold atmospheric plasma sources with their reactor configurations used for the degradation of OMPs (such as organic dyes, pharmaceuticals, and pesticides) in wastewater. The role of plasma and treatment parameters (e.g. input power, voltage, working gas, treatment time, OMPs concentrations, etc.) on the oxidation of various OMPs are discussed. Furthermore, the degradation kinetics, intermediates compounds formed by plasma, and the synergetic effect of plasma in combination with a catalyst are also reported in this review ; This work was carried out within project NOWELTIES. NOWELTIES received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 812880. N.S. and N.P. are funded by Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, grant number 451-03-68/2020-14/200024. This article is based upon work from COST Action PLAGRI - CA19110, supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology)

Comunicació de congrés presentada a: 16 th International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology, celebrat a l'Illa de Rodes (Grecia), del 4 a 7 de setembre de 2019 ; This work aims at integrating the last advances in high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) and statistical analysis of data to develop and optimize a smart methodology (workflow) for the assessment of the performance of innovative water treatments using different technological approaches based on advanced oxidation processes with UV-254nm: (i) UV/K2S2O8, where oxidation takes place mainly following the initial formation of sulfate radicals, (ii) UV/KHSO5, where oxidation begins with the formation of both sulfate and hydroxyl radicals and (iii) UV/H2O2, when only the formation of hydroxyl radicals takes place initially. Experiments were carried out using secondary effluent from a local wastewater treatment plant. The developed workflow allows the evaluation of the treatments in terms of overall oxidation through the careful study of Van Krevelen diagrams, where all the masses of the HRMS chromatograms are considered. The potential formation of transformation products with sulfur due to the sulfate radicals was also evaluated using statistical tools based on the isotopic pattern and accurate mass. Finally, the behavior of a large number of micropollutants with a wide range of physicochemical properties was studied using suspect screening strategies ; This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement SMARTWORKFLOW (747698), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant number CTQ2015-69832-C4), and the Economy and Knowledge Department of the Catalan Government (Consolidated Research Group program: ICRATECH - 2017 SGR 1318 and ICRA-ENV - 2017 SGR 01124)

Background Hospital wastewater is commonly polluted with high loads of pharmaceutically active compounds, which pass through wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and end up in water bodies, posing ecological and health risks. White-rot fungal treatments can cope with the elimination of a wide variety of micropollutants while remaining ecologically and economically attractive. Unfortunately, bacterial contamination has impeded so far a successful implementation of fungal treatment for real applications. Results This work embodied a 91-day long-term robust continuous fungal operation treating real non-sterile hospital wastewater in an air pulsed fluidized bed bioreactor retaining the biomass. The hydraulic retention time was 3 days and the ageing of the biomass was avoided through partial periodic biomass renovation resulting in a cellular retention time of 21 days. Evolution of microbial community and Trametes abundance were evaluated. Conclusions The operation was able to maintain an average pharmaceutical load removal of over 70% while keeping the white-rot fungus active and predominant through the operation ; This work has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (project CTM 2013–48545-C2) and partly supported by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Consolidated Research Groups 2017-SGR-14, 2017SGR-1404, 2017-SGR-1124 and 2017-SGR-1762) and the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)

A new analytical method for the determination of naproxen, ketoprofen, diclofenac, carbamazepine, and triclosan (TCS) in water samples by liquid chromatography is developed and validated. The method is based on the extraction of the analytes by a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) rod. The different parameters affecting extraction, such as the addition of salt, pH, initial volume, extraction and elution times and elution solvent, as well as the application of sonication, are studied. The results showed that the detection limits are all in the 0.1–0.3 µg L−1 range except for carbamazepine (6 µg L−1) with relative standard deviations in the range of 0.4%–9.7%. The method developed, which was validated by analysing spiked surface water samples at 10, 25 and 75 µg L−1 gave recoveries of between 84.8% and 111.2%. In the case of carbamazepine, a recovery of 99.1% was obtained at 75 µg L−1. The main advantage of the developed method is that allows high performance liquid chromatography–diode array detection, which is widely available in non-specialised laboratories, to be applied for pharmaceuticals and TCS determination in surface waters after performing a preconcentration/clean-up step with PDMS rods as it has been shown by analysing real water samples ; This study was funded by the by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 689817

This work aims at achieving a better understanding of the mechanisms and the operative conditions regulating the removal of a set of relevant micropollutants in conventional activated sludge (CAS) systems to maximize their removal and, if possible, biodegradation. Eight compounds from the EU Watch list (clothianidin, thiacloprid, methiocarb, E1, E2, EE2, diclofenac and erythromycin) were spiked at 2 μg/L in CAS systems and their behaviour was studied in 6-h batch tests. The role of sorption was also investigated. Information on the removal of the pesticides clothianidin, thiacloprid and methiocarb is here presented for the first time to the best of the authors' knowledge. With the aim of enhancing the removal of the selected compounds in wastewater treatment, four parameters were explored: biomass concentration, temperature, pH and redox conditions. For each parameter, a low and a high value were chosen, based on the ranges usually applied in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Results show that biomass concentration is the most relevant parameter among the ones investigated, followed by the redox conditions. The operational conditions that maximized removal rates were: 5 g/L of biomass, aerobic conditions, 25 °C and pH 7.5. High variability in removal rates was observed for compounds such as E1, erythromycin and methiocarb. The pesticides clothianidin and thiacloprid did not prove to be easily degradable. The highest removal rates were recorded for the hormones, particularly E2, with a transformation rate of at least 96% under all conditions. Sorption proved to be a relevant removal route for EE2, for which the highest sorption rates were recorded, and diclofenac, where the adsorption mechanisms was hypothesised for its prevalence at lower pH values ; This work was supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No 776643 through the HYDROUSA project. Gianluigi Buttiglieri acknowledges the Ramon y Cajal research fellowship RYC-2014-16754 and the CLEaN-TOUR ...

The removal efficiency of 6 micro-grain AC (μGAC) was examined for 23 selected pharmaceutical compounds, usually found at trace level in municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents. Two different sets of experiments were carried out using distilled water and a real WWTP secondary effluent in order to understand the adsorption mechanisms of pharmaceuticals, including the role of the presence of background organic matter. Physical and chemical properties of μGACs and target pollutants were checked for their potential to predict the pharmaceutical removal. Textural properties of μGACs, and especially the mesopore volume, seemed to play the most important role during the adsorption without background organic matter whereas the chemistry of the μGACs, such as the presence of surface oxygen groups and the point of zero charge, could have more influence in the experiments with WWTP effluent water. Positively charged molecules are better adsorbed due to the influence of the background organic matter and the presence of oxygenated groups in the surface of the μGACs. The UV254 removal correlated well with the pharmaceutical removal and it is confirmed as an indicator to control the performance of pharmaceuticals adsorption with μGACs in tertiary treatment ; This work has also received funding from the European Union'sHorizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the MarieSkłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 712949 (TECNIOspringPLUS) and from the Agency for Business Competitiveness of theGovernment of Catalonia. LEQUIA has been recognized as consoli-dated research group by the Catalan Government with code 2017-SGR-1552