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Adsorption of pharmaceuticals from biologically treated municipal wastewater using paper mill sludge-based activated carbon

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Abstract

A waste-based alternative activated carbon (AAC) was produced from paper mill sludge under optimized conditions. Aiming its application in tertiary wastewater treatment, AAC was used for the removal of carbamazepine, sulfamethoxazole, and paroxetine from biologically treated municipal wastewater. Kinetic and equilibrium adsorption experiments were run under batch operation conditions. For comparison purposes, they were also performed in ultrapure water and using a high-performance commercial AC (CAC). Adsorption kinetics was fast for the three pharmaceuticals and similar onto AAC and CAC in either wastewater or ultrapure water. However, matrix effects were observed in the equilibrium results, being more remarkable for AAC. These effects were evidenced by Langmuir maximum adsorption capacities (qm, mg g−1): for AAC, the lowest and highest qm were 194 ± 10 (SMX) and 287 ± 9 (PAR), in ultrapure water, and 47 ± 1 (SMX) and 407 ± 14 (PAR), in wastewater, while for CAC, the lowest and highest qm were 118 ± 7 (SMX) and 190 ± 16 (PAR) in ultrapure water and 123 ± 5 (SMX) and 160 ± 7 (CBZ) in wastewater. It was found that the matrix pH played a key role in these differences by controlling the surface electrostatic interactions between pharmaceutical and AC. Overall, it was evidenced the need of adsorption results in real matrices and demonstrated that AAC is a promising option to be implemented in tertiary wastewater treatments for pharmaceuticals’ removal.

Production of an alternative activated carbon (AC) comparing favourably with a commercial AC in the removal of neutral and positive pharmaceuticals from wastewater

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Acknowledgments

M. Fontes and workers of Aveiro’s STP (Águas do Centro Litoral) are gratefully acknowledged for assistance on the effluent samplings.

Funding

This work is a contribution to the project RemPharm (PTDC/AAG-TEC/1762/2014) funded by FCT–Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., through national funds, and the co-funding by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020. The financial support was received from CESAM (UID/AMB/50017/2019), to FCT/MEC through national funds, and the co-funding by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020. Vânia Calisto is funded by national funds (OE), through FCT, I.P., in the scope of the framework contract foreseen in the numbers 4, 5 and 6 of the article 23, of the Decree-Law 57/2016, of August 29, changed by Law 57/2017, of July 19. Guilaine Jaria and Marta Otero received support from FCT for a PhD grant (SFRH/BD/138388/2018) and support by the FCT Investigator Program (IF/00314/2015), respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and CESAM (Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies), University of Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    Carla Patrícia Silva, Guilaine Jaria, Valdemar I. Esteves & Vânia Calisto

  2. Department of Environment and Planning and CESAM (Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies), University of Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    Marta Otero

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  1. Carla Patrícia Silva
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Correspondence to Carla Patrícia Silva.

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Silva, C.P., Jaria, G., Otero, M. et al. Adsorption of pharmaceuticals from biologically treated municipal wastewater using paper mill sludge-based activated carbon. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 13173–13184 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-04823-w

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