Sources and Removal of Organic Pollutants in Wastewater

A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Toxicity Reduction and Environmental Remediation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2023) | Viewed by 8914

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Faculty of Sciences and Technologies, University of Lille, Lille, France
Interests: organic micropollutants; environmental endocrine disruptor; analytical de-velopment; water treatment; advanced catalytic oxidation; adsorption; bio-technology; water reuse
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Guest Editor
Faculty of Sciences and Technologies, University of Lille, Lille, France
Interests: environmental chemistry; environmental impact assessment; exposure assessment; water chemistry; metal speciation; emerging contaminants; water treatment; bio-technology; adsorption; physico-chemical treatment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor Assistant
French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Arras, France
Interests: soil science; organic pollutants; environmental science; liquid chromatography; method development; MS/MS; sampling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The preservation of water resources and the aquatic environment is a key issue for humanity. During the last several decades, many researchers have focused on the characterization of organic pollutants in wastewater and their removal to seek better management and effective protection of the aquatic environment. However, the objective of better management and protection of these resources is not met because of the difficulties related to the large variety of compounds and their continuous emission. The main sources of pollution for the aquatic environment are discharges from wastewater treatment plants, rainwater leaching and agricultural runoff. These sources contain a large variety of pollutants, and among them, organic micropollutants are the most emblematic. However, the majority of countries do not account for the elimination of organic micropollutants among their waste water treatment objectives. This seems to be linked to the difficulties of performing and/or the price of process. Now, it is necessary to find technologies with good efficiency, easy implementation and low cost to remove organic pollutants from wastewater. This Special Issue focuses on the characterization of organic pollutant emission sources, and on the innovative technical solutions to reduce or remove organic pollutants from wastewater.

A large variety of organic micropollutants are widely used in the composition of industrial products (detergents, solvents, plasticizers, formulation products, building materials), household products (toys, cleaning products, household appliances), personal care (cosmetics and pharmaceutical products) and in agricultural activities (herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, fertilizers). Because of their large and widespread application, organic micropollutants are continuously dispersed in all compartments of the environment and aquatic environment, which act as final receptors. Consequently, organic micropollutants originating from human activities can impact aquatic biodiversity and contaminate water resources. The current wastewater treatment plants are one of the principal pollutant emission sources. One of the major concerns in wastewater treatment is organic micropollutants because of their persistence in conventional treatment processes. Due to anthropogenic pressure and climate change, the chemical and ecotoxicological state of the natural aquatic environment have been strongly impacted during these last several decades.

The preservation of water in the natural environment is a key issue to meet the needs of current and future generations. However, if the need to protect water resources and ecosystems is quantitatively and qualitatively established, the tools to provide a holistic diagnosis of the current state of the pollution sources and the appropriate preservation techniques remain to be defined. Indeed, to determine appropriate removal techniques, a complete characterization of the pollution is essential. To date, numerous techniques have been reported to efficiently remove organic micropollutants. However, some use expensive reagents and others can generate toxic by-products in sewage sludge and in treated water. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop new alternative technologies to treat these toxic organic compounds safely and efficiently with an acceptable price in a way that is easily applicable to real wastewater treatment plants.

This Special Issue of Toxics will focus on (i) the recent advances in analytical methods developed for the identification and quantification of organic micropollutants in wastewater, including target, semi-target, and non-target screening techniques; as well as (ii) innovative treatment techniques to reduce or remove organic micropollutants from wastewater. These innovative techniques  may be biological treatments, catalyzed (photo)oxidation, adsorption or other techniques appropriate for wastewater treatment. Original research articles, reviews, and short communications are welcome.

Dr. Sopheak Net
Prof. Dr. Baghdad Ouddane
Guest Editors

Giovanni Caria
Guest Editor Assistant

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Keywords

  • pollution emision sources
  • removal of organic pollutants
  • innovative treatment technique
  • wastewater treatment
  • biological treatment
  • tertiary treatment
  • catalyzed (photo) oxydation
  • organic pollutants in wastewater
  • adsorption
  • ozonation

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 4640 KiB  
Article
Assessment of the Presence of Transformation Products of Certain Pharmaceutical Products (Psychotropic Family) by Suspect and Non-Targeted HRMS Screening in Wastewater Treatment Plants
by Solenne Reverbel, Marie-Hélène Dévier, Valentin Dupraz, Emmanuel Geneste and Hélène Budzinski
Toxics 2023, 11(8), 713; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11080713 - 18 Aug 2023
Viewed by 1683
Abstract
Aquatic environments are the final receptors of human emissions and are therefore contaminated by molecules, such as pharmaceuticals. After use, these compounds and their metabolites are discharged to wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). During wastewater treatment, compounds may be eliminated or degraded into transformation [...] Read more.
Aquatic environments are the final receptors of human emissions and are therefore contaminated by molecules, such as pharmaceuticals. After use, these compounds and their metabolites are discharged to wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). During wastewater treatment, compounds may be eliminated or degraded into transformation products (TPs) or may be persistent. The aim of this study was to develop an analytical method based on high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) for the identification of six psychotropic drugs that are widely consumed in France and present in WWTPs, as well as their potential associated metabolites and TPs. Four out of six psychotropic drugs and between twenty-five and thirty-seven potential TPs were detected in wastewater, although this was based on full scan data. TPs not reported in the literature and specific to the study sites and therefore to the wastewater treatment processes were tentatively identified. For the selected drugs, most known and present TPs were identified, such as desmethylvenlafaxine or norcitalopram. Moreover, the short fragmentation study led rather to the identification of several TPs of carbamazepine as ubiquitous persistent TPs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sources and Removal of Organic Pollutants in Wastewater)
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14 pages, 4475 KiB  
Article
Sol-Gel Synthesis of New TiO2 Ball/Activated Carbon Photocatalyst and Its Application for Degradation of Three Hormones: 17α-EthinylEstradiol, Estrone, and β-Estradiol
by El Mountassir El Mouchtari, Lekbira El Mersly, Kaltoum Belkodia, Anne Piram, Stéphanie Lebarillier, Samir Briche, Salah Rafqah and Pascal Wong-Wah-Chung
Toxics 2023, 11(4), 299; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11040299 - 24 Mar 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1450
Abstract
Many approaches have been investigated to eliminate pharmaceuticals in wastewater treatment plants during the last decades. However, a lack of sustainable and efficient solutions exists for the removal of hormones by advanced oxidation processes. The aim of this study was to synthesize and [...] Read more.
Many approaches have been investigated to eliminate pharmaceuticals in wastewater treatment plants during the last decades. However, a lack of sustainable and efficient solutions exists for the removal of hormones by advanced oxidation processes. The aim of this study was to synthesize and test new photoactive bio composites for the elimination of these molecules in wastewater effluents. The new materials were obtained from the activated carbon (AC) of Arganian spinosa tree nutshells and titanium tetrachloride by the sol gel method. SEM analysis allowed one to confirm the formation of TiO2 particles homogeneously dispersed at the surface of AC with a controlled titanium dioxide mass ratio, a specific TiO2 anatase structure, and a highly specific surface area, evidenced by ATG, XRD, and BET analysis, respectively. The obtained composites were revealed to quantitatively absorb carbamazepine (CBZ), which is used as a referred pharmaceutical, and leading to its total elimination after 40 min under irradiation with the most effective material. TiO2 high content disfavors CBZ adsorption but improves its degradation. In the presence of the composite, three hormones (17α-ethinylestradiol, estrone, and β-estradiol) are partially adsorbed onto the composite and totally degraded after 60 min under UV light exposure. This study constitutes a promising solution for the efficient treatment of wastewater contaminated by hormones. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sources and Removal of Organic Pollutants in Wastewater)
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16 pages, 3429 KiB  
Article
Efficient Wastewater Treatment and Removal of Bisphenol A and Diclofenac in Mesocosm Flow Constructed Wetlands Using Granulated Cork as Emerged Substrate
by Salma Bessadok, Khadija Kraiem, Fatma Arous, Karim Suhail Al Souki, Dorra Tabassi, Safa El Toumi and Atef Jaouani
Toxics 2023, 11(1), 81; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11010081 - 15 Jan 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2299
Abstract
Constructed wetlands (CWs) are considered as low-cost and energy-efficient wastewater treatment systems. Media selection is one of the essential technical keys for their implementation. The purpose of this work was essentially to evaluate the removal efficiency of organic pollution and nitrogen from municipal [...] Read more.
Constructed wetlands (CWs) are considered as low-cost and energy-efficient wastewater treatment systems. Media selection is one of the essential technical keys for their implementation. The purpose of this work was essentially to evaluate the removal efficiency of organic pollution and nitrogen from municipal wastewater (MWW) using different selected media (gravel/gravel amended with granulated cork) in mesocosm horizontal flow constructed wetlands (HFCWs). The results showed that the highest chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonium nitrogen removal of 80.53% and 42%, respectively, were recorded in the units filled with gravel amended with cork. The influence of macrophytes (Phragmites australis and Typha angustifolia) was studied and both species showed steeper efficiencies. The system was operated under different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) i.e., 6 h, 24 h, 30 h, and 48 h. The obtained results revealed that the COD removal efficiency was significantly enhanced by up to 38% counter to the ammonium rates when HRT was increased from 6 h to 48 h. Moreover, the removal efficiency of two endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) namely, bisphenol A (BPA) and diclofenac (DCF) was investigated in two selected HFCWs, at 48 h HRT. The achieved results proved the high capacity of cork for BPA and DCF removal with the removal rates of 90.95% and 89.66%, respectively. The results confirmed the role of these engineered systems, especially for EDC removal, which should be further explored. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sources and Removal of Organic Pollutants in Wastewater)
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Review

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33 pages, 1347 KiB  
Review
Bio-Based Adsorption as Ecofriendly Method for Wastewater Decontamination: A Review
by Juliette Vievard, Abdellah Alem, Anne Pantet, Nasre-Dine Ahfir, Mónica Gisel Arellano-Sánchez, Christine Devouge-Boyer and Mélanie Mignot
Toxics 2023, 11(5), 404; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11050404 - 24 Apr 2023
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 2773
Abstract
Intense human activities have for years contributed to the pollution of the environment by many dangerous pollutants such as heavy metals, pesticides, or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. There are many conventional methods used to control pollution, with practical and/or financial drawbacks. Therefore, in recent [...] Read more.
Intense human activities have for years contributed to the pollution of the environment by many dangerous pollutants such as heavy metals, pesticides, or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. There are many conventional methods used to control pollution, with practical and/or financial drawbacks. Therefore, in recent years, an innovative, easy-to-implement and inexpensive adsorption method has been developed to recover waste and clean up water from micropollutants. Firstly, this article aims to summarize the issues related to water remediation and to understand the advantages and disadvantages of the methods classically used to purify water. In particular, this review aims to provide a recent update of the bio-based adsorbents and their use. Differently from the majority of the reviews related to wastewater treatment, in this article several classes of pollutants are considered. Then, a discussion about the adsorption process and interactions involved is provided. Finally, perspectives are suggested about the future work to be done in this field. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sources and Removal of Organic Pollutants in Wastewater)
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