Key constructed wetland design features for maximized micropollutant removal from treated municipal wastewater: A literature study based on 16 indicator micropollutants.

The removal of micropollutants from wastewater by constructed wetlands (CWs) has been extensively studied and reviewed over the past years. However, most studies do not specifically focus on the removal of micropollutants from the effluent of conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) that still contains micropollutants, but on the removal of micropollutants from raw wastewater. Raw wastewater has a significantly different composition compared to WWTP effluent, which positively or negatively affects micropollutant removal mechanisms. To determine the optimal CW design for post-treatment of WWTP effluent to achieve additional micropollutant removal, this review analyzes the removal of 16 Dutch indicator micropollutants for post-treatment technology evaluation from WWTP effluent by different types of CWs. It was concluded that CW systems with organic enhanced adsorption substrates reach the highest micropollutant removal efficiency as a result of adsorption, but that the longevity of the enhanced adsorption effect is not known in the systems studied until now. Aerobic biodegradation and photodegradation are other relevant removal mechanisms for the studied micropollutants. However, a current knowledge gap is whether active aeration to stimulate the aerobic micropollutant biodegradation results in an increased micropollutant removal from WWTP effluent. Further knowledge gaps that impede the wider application of CW systems for micropollutant removal from WWTP effluent and allow a fair comparison with other post-treatment technologies for enhanced micropollutant removal, such as ozonation and activated carbon adsorption, relate to i) saturation of enhanced adsorption substrate; ii) the analysis of transformation products and biological effects; iii) insights in the relationship between microbial community composition and micropollutant biodegradation; iv) plant uptake and in-plant degradation of micropollutants; v) establishing design rules for appropriate hydraulic loading rates and/or hydraulic retention times for CWs dedicated to micropollutant removal from WWTP effluent; and vi) the energy- and carbon footprint of different CW systems. This review finishes with detailed suggestions for future research directions that provide answers to these knowledge gaps.

Enhanced pharmaceutical removal from water in a three step bio-ozone-bio process.

Individual treatment processes like biological treatment or ozonation have their limitations for the removal of pharmaceuticals from secondary clarified effluents with high organic matter concentrations (i.e. 17 mg TOC/L). These limitations can be overcome by combining these two processes for a cost-effective pharmaceutical removal. A three-step biological-ozone-biological (BO3B) treatment process was therefore designed for the enhanced pharmaceutical removal from wastewater effluent. The first biological step removed 38% of ozone scavenging TOC, thus proportionally reducing the absolute ozone input for the subsequent ozonation. Complementariness between biological and ozone treatment, i.e. targeting different pharmaceuticals, resulted in cost-effective pharmaceutical removal by the overall BO3B process. At a low ozone dose of 0.2 g O3/g TOC and an HRT of 1.46 h in the biological reactors, the removal of 8 out of 9 pharmaceuticals exceeded 85%, except for metoprolol (60%). Testing various ozone doses and HRTs revealed that pharmaceuticals were ineffectively removed at 0.1 g O3/g TOC and an HRT of 0.3 h. At HRTs of 0.47 and 1.46 h easily and moderately biodegradable pharmaceuticals such as caffeine, gemfibrozil, ibuprofen, naproxen and sulfamethoxazole were over 95% removed by biological treatment. The biorecalcitrant carbamazepine was completely ozonated at a dose of 0.4 g O3/g TOC. Ozonation products are likely biodegraded in the last biological reactor as a 17% TOC removal was found. No appreciable acute toxicity towards D. magna, P. subcapitata and V. fischeri was found after exposure to the influents and effluents of the individual BO3B reactors. The BO3B process is estimated to increase the yearly wastewater treatment tariff per population equivalent in the Netherlands by less than 10%. Overall, the BO3B process is a cost-effective treatment process for the removal of pharmaceuticals from secondary clarified effluents.