Abstract
Sulfidogenic co-treatment of real acid mine and hospital wastewater was explored in mesophilic operated fluidized-bed-reactor. The hospital wastewater that is enriched with organic matter was used as the primary source of carbon for sulfate reduction bacteria. The biotreatment was tested for its robustness since it used samples from real wastewater streams which were collected at different times, which shocked the systems. Efficiency in sulfate and chemical oxygen demand removal was more than 95% and 96%, respectively. Organic oxidation has been found to be the controlling factor in the sulfidogenic treatment of SO42− and metal-containing wastewater. The metal concentration removal was more than 99% in effluent for iron and zinc and precipitated predominantly as FeS, FeS2 and ZnS. The alkalinity generated by COD oxidation improved the pH of the wastewater considerably when the concentration of feed sulfate was less than 3500 mg/l. At an HRT 8 h, COD oxidation in the reactor precipitated 1345 mg Fe/l/day, 543 mg Al/l/day and 130–170 mg Zn/l/day from acidic wastewater and increased the pH from 2.2 to 6.8, due to formation of metal sulfide precipitate. The ANN model was successfully developed, and the predicted and actual measured concentrations of the outputs found an R value of 0.97.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agunbiade FO, Moodley B (2016) Occurrence and distribution pattern of acidic pharmaceuticals in surface water, wastewater, and sediment of the Msunduzi River, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. Environ Toxicol Chem 35:36–46. https://doi.org/10.1002/etc.3144
APHA (2012) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. American Public Health Association Washington, DC
Carballa M, Omil F, Lema JM (2008) Comparison of predicted and measured concentrations of selected pharmaceuticals, fragrances and hormones in Spanish sewage. Chemosphere 72:1118–1123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2008.04.034
Carmona E, Andreu V, Picó Y (2014) Occurrence of acidic pharmaceuticals and personal care products in Turia River Basin: from waste to drinking water. Sci Total Environ 484:53–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.02.085
Chelliapan S, Sallis PJ (2013) Anaerobic biotechnology for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment. Res J Pharm Biol Chem Sci 4:1255–1261
Chen Z, Wang H, Chen Z, Ren N, Wang A, Shi Y, Li X (2011) Performance and model of a full-scale up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) to treat the pharmaceutical wastewater containing 6-APA and amoxicillin. J Hazard Mater 185:905–913. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2010.09.106
Huang T, Fang C, Qian Y, Gu H, Chen J (2017) Insight into Mn (II)-mediated transformation of β-lactam antibiotics: The overlooked hydrolysis. Chem Eng J 321:662–668. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2017.04.011
Huang B, Wang H-C, Cui D, Zhang B, Chen Z-B, Wang A-J (2018) Treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater containing β-lactams antibiotics by a pilot-scale anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR). Chem Eng J 341:238–247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2018.01.149
Kaksonen AH, Franzmann PD, Puhakka JA (2004) Effects of hydraulic retention time and sulfide toxicity on ethanol and acetate oxidation in sulfate-reducing metal-precipitating fluidized-bed reactor. Biotechnol Bioeng 86:332–343. https://doi.org/10.1002/bit.20061
Kaksonen AH, Plumb JJ, Robertson WJ, Riekkola-Vanhanen M, Franzmann PD, Puhakka JA (2006) The performance, kinetics and microbiology of sulfidogenic fluidized-bed treatment of acidic metal-and sulfate-containing wastewater. Hydrometallurgy 83:204–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hydromet.2006.03.025
Kimura K, Hara H, Watanabe Y (2007) Elimination of selected acidic pharmaceuticals from municipal wastewater by an activated sludge system and membrane bioreactors. Environ Sci Technol 41:3708–3714
Madikizela LM, Chimuka L (2017) Simultaneous determination of naproxen, ibuprofen and diclofenac in wastewater using solid-phase extraction with high performance liquid chromatography. Water SA 43:264–274. https://doi.org/10.4314/wsa.v43i2.10
Makhathini TP, Mulopo J, Bakare BF (2020) Effective biotreatment of acidic mine water and hospital wastewater using fluidized-bed reactors. J Water Process Eng 37:101505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2020.101505
Martin-Laurent F, Topp E, Billet L, Batisson I, Malandain C, Besse-Hoggan P, Morin S, Artigas J, Bonnineau C, Kergoat L, Devers-Lamrani M (2019) Environmental risk assessment of antibiotics in agroecosystems: ecotoxicological effects on aquatic microbial communities and dissemination of antimicrobial resistances and antibiotic biodegradation potential along the soil-water continuum. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26:18930–18937. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-05122-0
Matongo S, Birungi G, Moodley B, Ndungu P (2015) Occurrence of selected pharmaceuticals in water and sediment of Umgeni River, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22:10298–10308. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4217-0
Nagpal S, Chuichulcherm S, Livingston A, Peeva L (2000) Ethanol utilization by sulfate-reducing bacteria: an experimental and modeling study. Biotechnol Bioeng 70:533–543
Neculita C-M, Zagury GJ, Bussière B (2007) Passive treatment of acid mine drainage in bioreactors using sulfate-reducing bacteria. J Environ Qual 36:1–16. https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq2006.0066
Papirio S, Villa-Gomez DK, Esposito G, Pirozzi F, Lens PN (2013) Acid mine drainage treatment in fluidized-bed bioreactors by sulfate-reducing bacteria: a critical review. Crit Rev Environ Sci Technol 43:2545–2580. https://doi.org/10.1080/10643389.2012.694328
Peer RAM, LaBar JA, Winfrey BK, Nairn RW, Llanos Lopez FS, Strosnider WHJ (2015) Removal of less commonly addressed metals via passive cotreatment. J Environ Qual 44:704–710. https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq2014.08.0338
Sahinkaya E, Özkaya B, Kaksonen AH, Puhakka JA (2007) Sulfidogenic fluidized-bed treatment of metal-containing wastewater at low and high temperatures. Biotechnol Bioeng 96:1064–1072. https://doi.org/10.1002/bit.21195
Sahinkaya E, Gunes FM, Ucar D, Kaksonen AH (2011) Sulfidogenic fluidized bed treatment of real acid mine drainage water. Bioresour Technol 102:683–689. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2010.08.042
Sahinkaya E, Dursun N, Ozkaya B, Kaksonen AH (2013) Use of landfill leachate as a carbon source in a sulfidogenic fluidized-bed reactor for the treatment of synthetic acid mine drainage. Miner Eng 48:56–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2012.10.019
Segura Y, Martínez F, Melero JA (2013) Effective pharmaceutical wastewater degradation by Fenton oxidation with zero-valent iron. Appl Catal B Environ 136:64–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2013.01.036
Strosnider WHJ, Nairn RW, Peer RAM, Winfrey BK (2013) Passive co-treatment of Zn-rich acid mine drainage and raw municipal wastewater. J Geochem Explor 125:110–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gexplo.2012.11.015
Ucar D, Bekmezci OK, Kaksonen AH, Sahinkaya E (2011) Sequential precipitation of Cu and Fe using a three-stage sulfidogenic fluidized-bed reactor system. Miner Eng 24:1100–1105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2011.02.005
United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) (2014) Method 15- Determination of Hydrogen Sulfide, Carbonyl Sulfide, and Carbon Disulfide emissions from stationary sources. Washington, DC
Vergeynst L, Haeck A, De Wispelaere P, Van Langenhove H, Demeestere K (2015) Multi-residue analysis of pharmaceuticals in wastewater by liquid chromatography–magnetic sector mass spectrometry: method quality assessment and application in a Belgian case study. Chemosphere 119:S2–S8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2014.03.069
Villa-Gomez DK, Pakshirajan K, Maestro R, Mushi S, Lens PNL (2015) Effect of process variables on the sulfate reduction process in bioreactors treating metal-containing wastewaters: factorial design and response surface analyses. Biodegradation 26:299–311. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-015-9735-4
Wang G, Wang D, Xu Y, Li Z, Huang L (2020) Study on optimization and performance of biological enhanced activated sludge process for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment. Sci Total Environ 739:140166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140166
Younger PL, Henderson R (2014) Synergistic wetland treatment of sewage and mine water: Pollutant removal performance of the first full-scale system. Water Res 55:74–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2014.02.024
Yun H, Liang B, Qiu J, Zhang L, Zhao Y, Jiang J, Wang A (2017) Functional characterization of a novel amidase involved in biotransformation of triclocarban and its dehalogenated congeners in Ochrobactrum sp. TCC-2. Environ Sci Technol 51:291–300
Zhou P, Su C, Li B, Qian Y (2006) Treatment of high-strength pharmaceutical wastewater and removal of antibiotics in anaerobic and aerobic biological treatment processes. J Environ Eng 132:129–136
Acknowledgments
The National Research Foundation of South Africa funds this work with (Ref. No. TTK180412319899).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Editorial responsibility: Samareh Mirkia.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Makhathini, T.P., Mulopo, J. & Bakare, B.F. Performance assessment of sulfidogenic fluidized-bed reactor for cotreating of acid mine and pharmaceutical-containing wastewater. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 19, 12131–12144 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-022-03931-4
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-022-03931-4