Effective removal of pharmaceutical impurities and nutrients using biocatalyst from the municipal wastewater with moving bed packed reactor.

The presence of antibiotics in the wastewater is one of the important issues related to environmental management. In this study, antibiotics-degrading bacteria were screened from the enriched sewage sludge sample. Among the isolated bacterial strains, Bacillus subtilis AQ03 showed maximum antibiotic tolerance (>2000 ppm). The characterized strain B. subtilis AQ03 degraded sulfamethaoxazole and sulfamethoxine and the optimum nutrient and physical-factors were analyzed. B. subtilis AQ03 degraded 99.8 ± 1.3 % sulfamethaoxazole, and 93.3 ± 6.2 % sulfamethoxine. Sodium nitrate and ammonium chloride were improved antibiotics degradation (<90 %). The optimized conditions were maintained in a moving bed bioreactor for the removal of antibiotics and nutrients from the wastewater. The selected strain considerably produced proteases (109.4 U/mL), amylases (55.1 U/mL), cellulase (9.6 U/mL) and laccases (15.2). In moving bed reactor, sulfamethaoxazole degradation was maximum after 8 days (100 ± 1.5 %) and sulfamethoxazole (100 ± 0) was removed completely from wastewater after 10 days. In moving bed reactor, biological oxygen demand (92.1 ± 2.8 %), chemical oxygen demand (79.6 ± 1.2 %), nitrate (89.4 ± 3.9 %) and phosphate (91.8 ± 1.2) were removed from the wastewater along with antibiotics after 10 days of treatment. The findings indicate that the indigenous bacterial communities and the ability to survive in the presence of high antibiotic concentrations and xenobiotics. Moving bed bioreactor is useful for the removal of nutrients and antibiotics from wastewater.

Synthesis and characterization of magnetite carbon nanocomposite from agro waste as chromium adsorbent for effluent treatment.

The waste water released from industries which contain pollutants like heavy metals, dyes and other toxic chemicals brings numerous harms to the ecosystem and humans. Nowadays the nanocomposites based technologies are effectively used for environmental remediation. In the present study, hexavalent chromium was removed from the industrial effluent using magnetite carbon nanocomposite. The nanocomposite composed of highly porous carbon and iron oxide nanoparticles prepared by using agrowastes (sugarcane bagasse and orange peel extract). Iron oxide nanoparticles (FeONPs) formation was confirmed by UV-visible spectroscopy; incorporation of magnetite with highly porous carbon was established by Fourier Transforms Infrared Spectroscopy and X-ray Diffraction Spectroscopy. Morphological features of magnetite nanoparticles and highly porous carbon were analyzed using Scanning Electron Microscope and Transmission Electron Microscope. Magnetic properties analyzed by Vibrating Sample Magnetometer revealed magnetite carbon nanocomposite exhibited better Ms value than highly porous carbon. The concentration of Cr6+ in treated effluent was determined using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy. Pseudo-second order equation fitted with kinetics and the Langmuir monolayer favors for isotherm. This study reveals efficiency in Cr6+ removal from effluent using magnetite carbon nanocomposites which extends their application in waste water treatment.