Redox-O-Sorb
„Development and testing of an innovative, cost-effective system for the removal of pharmaceuticals from decentralized wastewater using redox active, manganese oxide containing sorbents"
Subproject at the Institute of Water Chemistry:
„Investigations of degradation and elimination processes of pharmaceuticals in decentralized wastewater treatment plants using granulated redox active sorbents derived from residues of drinking water treatment processes"
Project Leader: Prof. Dr. Stefan Stolte
Coworkers: Dr. Stephan Beil, Dr. Linda Schuster
Funding: AiF (ZIM)
Duration: 01/2022-10/2023
Cooperating partners: HeGo Biotec GmbH (https://hego-biotec.de)
The good ecological and chemical status of water bodies, as requested by the EU Water Framework Directive, is threatened in many areas by micropollutant input from (municipal) wastewater, which represents one of the major entry paths. The efficiency of conventional, mechanical-biological wastewater treatment is limited with respect to micropollutant removal. Therefore, new treatment options are urgently needed. Concerning municipal wastewater treatment plants, ozonation and activated carbon sorption facilities are increasingly implemented. However, these approaches are not appropriate for small-scale decentralized treatment plants. In this case special technical solutions are required that are simple, compact and need less maintenance.
The project aims to develop and implement an innovative type of fixed-bet reactor into small-scale treatment plants, that eliminates micropollutants by a combination of sorption an oxidation processes. Solid residues of drinking water treatment comprise inter alia manganese oxides that are well-suited for the oxidation of organic micropollutants. Hence, these residues might represent a valuable raw material for the generation of redox active sorbents. This would offer at the same time a sustainable alternative to mere disposal of these materials.
Within the subproject at the Institute of Water Chemistry the sorptive and oxidative properties of the generated redox active sorbents will be investigated with respect to the elimination of several micropollutants and mixtures thereof. In this context, it will be crucial to distinguish between various elimination pathways, namely sorption, biodegradation and abiotic degradation. Therefore, besides kinetic and equilibrium oriented sorption experiments, analysis of the formed transformation products using LC-MS/MS will play a key role in this project.
It is rather probable that some of the transformation products generated by oxidation might also be harmful to the aquatic environment. A downstream biofilter shall be implemented in order to counteract this effect. Subsequently, the final system will be tested in field studies.
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