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Revision of the Most Harmful Organic Compounds Present in Sewage and Sludge

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Emerging Pollutants in Sewage Sludge and Soils

Part of the book series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry ((HEC,volume 114))

Abstract

Water treatment is a vital process to ensure the development and sustainability of today’s society, both from an environmental and public health point of view. Wastewater treatment has a huge variety of studies and operations. In these processes, which are usually carried out in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), large quantities of toxic and highly heterogeneous sludge are generated, the proper management of which is a major challenge.

The overexploitation of limited natural resources and the enormous consumption of energy by modern society mean that substantial changes are needed in water and sludge treatment and purification systems. In this sense, it has been estimated that in Europe the generation of sludge in WWTPs will exceed 13 million tons/year in 2021. The detection of new contaminants in sewage sludge, as well as the significant increase in its production and its limited usefulness in agricultural applications, makes it necessary to invest in research and development of technological solutions that respond to the demanding restrictions established by the European legislation.

To aid in the knowledge on the presence and concentration of organic chemicals in sewage sludge, peer-reviewed literature and official government reports have been examined in this chapter.

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Abbreviations

EPA:

United States Environmental Protection Agency

ISS:

Industrial sewage sludge

OPs:

Organophosphate pesticides

PAH:

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

PBB:

Polybrominated biphenyls

PBDE:

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers

PCB:

Polychlorinated biphenyls

PCDDs:

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins

PCDFs:

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-furans

PFC:

Perfluorinated aliphatic compounds

SS:

Sewage sludge

TCDD:

Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin

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Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by the Comunidad de Madrid (Spain) through the Industrial PhD projects (IND2017/AMB-7720 and IND2019/AMB-17114), REMTAVARES Network (S2018/EMT-4341) and the European Social Fund. In addition, the authors thank the financial support from the Spanish MICINN through the project CATAD3.0 PID2020-116478RB-I00.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Catalysis and Separation Processes Group (CyPS), Chemical Engineering and Materials Department, Chemistry Sciences Faculty, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain

    Javier Canas Jiménez, Juan García Rodríguez, V. Ismael Águeda Maté & Silvia Álvarez-Torrellas

  2. ECOLOTUM, Energía Recuperable, S.L., Madrid, Spain

    Javier Canas Jiménez & Blanca Hermana Mendioroz

Authors
  1. Javier Canas Jiménez
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  2. Juan García Rodríguez
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  3. Blanca Hermana Mendioroz
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  4. V. Ismael Águeda Maté
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  5. Silvia Álvarez-Torrellas
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Silvia Álvarez-Torrellas .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, University of Santiago de Compostela, Lugo, Spain

    Avelino Núñez-Delgado

  2. Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, University of Vigo, Ourense, Spain

    Manuel Arias-Estévez

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Jiménez, J.C., Rodríguez, J.G., Mendioroz, B.H., Ismael Águeda Maté, V., Álvarez-Torrellas, S. (2022). Revision of the Most Harmful Organic Compounds Present in Sewage and Sludge. In: Núñez-Delgado, A., Arias-Estévez, M. (eds) Emerging Pollutants in Sewage Sludge and Soils. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol 114. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2022_855

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