Fate of Emerging Contaminants in Biomass Concentrating Reactors (BCR) under Conventional Aerobic and Aerobic/Anoxic Treatment
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University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK
2014
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ucin14068814762021-08-03T06:26:42Z Fate of Emerging Contaminants in Biomass Concentrating Reactors (BCR) under Conventional Aerobic and Aerobic/Anoxic Treatment Platten, William E., III Environmental Engineering Membrane Bioreactor Micropollutants Chemicals of Concern Nitrification Denitrification Wastewater The Biomass Concentrator Reactor (BCR), an innovative membrane bioreactor (MBR), was investigated for treating municipal wastewater containing a suite of emerging contaminants, also known as Chemicals of Concern (COC). Traditional treatment, known as the conventional activated sludge process, has been shown to be ineffective for treating micropollutants in municipal wastewater. MBRs have shown promise in attenuating these chemicals, but are much more expensive to build and operate. The BCR is an MBR design that attempts to mitigate the more costly aspects of a membrane system. The BCR utilizes gravity and a pressure head of only 2.5 cm to separate the biomass from the treated effluent using a thick membrane with large, tortuous path pores. Three systems were tested in this research. Two systems treated a synthetic wastewater as well as the COCs under aerobic and hybrid aerobic/anoxic conditions. The third system was operated under aerobic/anoxic conditions for treating a real wastewater stream. All three systems were monitored for traditional municipal wastewater constituents, i.e., chemical oxygen demand, nitrogen, suspended solids, while the two synthetic wastewater reactors were also monitored for removal of the COCs. The chemicals examined were caffeine, carbamazepine (CMP), testosterone, progesterone, ethinylestradiol (EE2), triclosan, and nonylphenol. The aerobic and hybrid synthetic systems were able to reduce the COD levels by 93% and 98%, respectively, while ammonia nitrogen was reduced below 0.3 mg/L in both systems and total nitrogen was reduced by 24% and 90%, respectively. The real wastewater system achieved 93% COD reduction, ammonia nitrogen removal below 0.1 mg/L, and total nitrogen removal of 46%. The real wastewater system was unable to match the hybrid synthetic system for nitrogen removal because the wastewater contained limited amounts of COD needed for denitrification. For the duration of all the experiments, the effluent suspended solids were below 1 mg/L, indicating complete retention of the biomass by the membrane. The COCs were removed by over 90% in the synthetic systems, except for CMP and EE2. CMP was initially removed by 50%, but the removal was determined to be due to adsorption to the membrane and subsequently reduced to zero after the membrane became saturated. Removal of EE2 was over 90% in the aerobic reactor, but variable in the hybrid. Further investigation confirmed a relationship between oxygen levels and an abiotic transformation, likely oxidative coupling, previously reported in the literature. The recycling between the aerobic and anoxic sections of the hybrid reactor produced variable oxygen conditions and resulted in varying rates of transformation, which explains the inconsistent results in that reactor. Overall, the BCR produced results greater than the conventional activated sludge process and comparable to other MBR systems. 2014-10-10 English text University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1406881476 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1406881476 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: some rights reserved. It is licensed for use under a Creative Commons license. Specific terms and permissions are available from this document's record in the OhioLINK ETD Center. |
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NDLTD |
| language |
English |
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NDLTD |
| topic |
Environmental Engineering Membrane Bioreactor Micropollutants Chemicals of Concern Nitrification Denitrification Wastewater |
| spellingShingle |
Environmental Engineering Membrane Bioreactor Micropollutants Chemicals of Concern Nitrification Denitrification Wastewater Platten, William E., III Fate of Emerging Contaminants in Biomass Concentrating Reactors (BCR) under Conventional Aerobic and Aerobic/Anoxic Treatment |
| author |
Platten, William E., III |
| author_facet |
Platten, William E., III |
| author_sort |
Platten, William E., III |
| title |
Fate of Emerging Contaminants in Biomass Concentrating Reactors (BCR) under Conventional Aerobic and Aerobic/Anoxic Treatment |
| title_short |
Fate of Emerging Contaminants in Biomass Concentrating Reactors (BCR) under Conventional Aerobic and Aerobic/Anoxic Treatment |
| title_full |
Fate of Emerging Contaminants in Biomass Concentrating Reactors (BCR) under Conventional Aerobic and Aerobic/Anoxic Treatment |
| title_fullStr |
Fate of Emerging Contaminants in Biomass Concentrating Reactors (BCR) under Conventional Aerobic and Aerobic/Anoxic Treatment |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Fate of Emerging Contaminants in Biomass Concentrating Reactors (BCR) under Conventional Aerobic and Aerobic/Anoxic Treatment |
| title_sort |
fate of emerging contaminants in biomass concentrating reactors (bcr) under conventional aerobic and aerobic/anoxic treatment |
| publisher |
University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2014 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1406881476 |
| work_keys_str_mv |
AT plattenwilliameiii fateofemergingcontaminantsinbiomassconcentratingreactorsbcrunderconventionalaerobicandaerobicanoxictreatment |
| _version_ |
1719437060029284352 |