Photocatalytic ozonation of urban wastewater and surface water using immobilized TiO2 with LEDs: Micropollutants, antibiotic resistance genes and estrogenic activity

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2016

Authors

Nuno F. F. Moreira (Author) FEUP; José M. Sousa (Author) FEUP; Gonçalo Macedo (Author) Other; Ana Rita Ribeiro (Author) FEUP; Luisa Barreiros (Author) Other; Marta Pedrosa (Author) FEUP; Joaquim L. Faria (Author) FEUP; Manuel Fernando R. Pereira (Author) FEUP; Sérgio Castro Silva (Author) Other; Marcela A. Segundo (Author) FFUP; Célia M. Manaia (Author) Other; Olga C. Nunes (Author) FEUP; Adrián M. T. Silva (Author) FEUP

Journal

Title: Water Research

Vol. 94

Pages: 10-22

ISSN: 0043-1354

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 66 Citations

Scopus - 1 Citation

Associated Projects

NEPCAT - Novo equipamento envolvendo processos catalíticos integrados para tratamento de poluentes orgânicos e desinfeção de águas

NEREUS - New and emerging chalienges and opportunities in wastewater reuse

LEPAE/CEFT - RL2 - (Bio) Chemical Engineering: Multi-Scale Approaches for Sustainable Environment and Health

LEPABE - Laboratório de Engenharia de Processos, Ambiente, Biotecnologia e Energia

LSRE-LCM - Laboratório de Processos de Separação e Reação - Laboratório de Catálise e Materiais

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00K-796

DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2016.02.003

Abstract (EN): Photocatalytic ozonation was employed for the first time in continuous mode with TiO2-coated glass Raschig rings and light emitting diodes (LEDs) to treat urban wastewater as well as surface water collected from the supply area of a drinking water treatment plant (DWTP). Different levels of contamination and types of contaminants were considered in this work, including chemical priority substances (PSs) and contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), as well as potential human opportunistic antibiotic resistant bacteria and their genes (ARB&ARG). Photocatalytic ozonation was more effective than single ozonation (or even than TiO2 catalytic ozonation) in the degradation of typical reaction by-products (such as oxalic acid), and more effective than photocatalysis to remove the parent micro pollutants determined in urban wastewater. In fact, only fluoxetine, clarithromycin, erythromycin and 17-alpha-ethinylestradiol (EE2) were detected after photocatalytic ozonation, by using solid-phase extraction (SPE) pre-concentration and LC-MS/MS analysis. In surface water, this treatment allowed the removal of all determined micropollutants to levels below the limit of detection (0.01-0.20 ng L-1). The efficiency of this process was then assessed based on the capacity to remove different groups of cultivable microorganisms and housekeeping (16S rRNA) and antibiotic resistance or related genes (intl1, blaTEM, qnrS, sul1). Photocatalytic ozonation was observed to efficiently remove microorganisms and ARGs. Although after storage total heterotrophic and ARB (to ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, meropenem), fungi, and the genes 16S rRNA and intl1, increased to values close to the pre-treatment levels, the ARGs (blaTEM, qnrS and sul1) were reduced to levels below/close to the quantification limit even after 3-days storage of treated surface water or wastewater. Yeast estrogen screen (YES), thiazolyl blue tetrazolium reduction (MTT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assays were also performed before and after photo catalytic ozonation to evaluate the potential estrogenic activity, the cellular metabolic activity and the cell viability. Compounds with estrogenic effects and significant differences concerning cell viability were not observed in any case. A slight cytotoxicity was only detected for Caco-2 and hCMEC/D3 cell lines after treatment of the urban wastewater, but not for L929 fibroblasts.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 13