Combining fungal bioremediation and ozonation for rinse wastewater treatment

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2024

Authors

Beltrán-Flores, E (Author) Other; Blánquez, P (Author) Other; Gorito, AM (Author) FEUP; Sarrà, M (Author) Other; Silva, Adrian (Author) FEUP

Journal

Title: Science of the Total Environment

Vol. 912 No. 168894

ISSN: 0048-9697

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 0 Citations

Scopus - 0 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00Z-RHG

DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169198

Abstract (EN): In this work, agricultural rinse wastewater, which is produced during the cleaning of agricultural equipment and constitutes a major source of pesticides, was treated by fungal bioremediation and ozonation, both individually and combined in a two-stage treatment train. Three major pesticides (thiacloprid, chlortoluron, and pyrimethanil) were detected in rinse wastewater, with a total concentration of 38.47 mg C L-1. Comparing both technologies, ozonation in a stirred reactor achieved complete removal of these pesticides (720 min) while proving to be a more effective approach for reducing colour, organic matter, and bacteria. However, this technique produced transformation products and increased toxicity. In contrast, fungal bioremediation in a rotating drum bioreactor attenuated toxicity levels and did not produce such metabolites, but only removed approximately 50 % of target pesticide -hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 5 days -and obtained worse results for most of the general quality parameters studied. This work also includes a preliminary economic assessment of both technologies, revealing that fungal bioremediation was 2 times more cost-effective than ozonation. The treatment train, consisting of a first stage of fungal bioremediation followed by ozonation, was found to be a promising approach as it synergistically combines the advantages of both treatments, achieving high removals of pesticides (up to 100 %) and transformation products, while reducing operating costs and producing a biodegradable effluent. This is the first time that fungal bioremediation and ozonation technologies have been compared and combined in a treatment train to deal with pesticides in agricultural rinse wastewater.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 12