Treatment of Hospital wastewater with submerged aerobic fixed film reactor coupled with tube-settler

Applications of submerged and staged membrane systems for pollutant removal from effluents and mechanism studies - a review

Membrane based filtration is one of the promising technologies for rehabilitation of wastewater streams for reuse and recycle. Many advancements have emerged with the use of novel materials and innovative integrated technologies. The present investigation focuses on the treatment methods based on submerged and stages systems of membranes for water purification. Ceramic, polymeric and mixed matrix type of membranes fabricated for specific type of effluents, their modification methods for accelerating the rejection efficiency, permeability, durability, stability and antifouling properties are detailed in this review. Graphene oxide is the most considered membrane material for adsorption purposes as it exhibits larger surface area, abundant functional groups contain oxygen and has good supply of ligands which is responsible in metal adsorption as it enhances electrostatic interaction by bonding metal ions with graphene oxide nanosheets. Energy derivation in terms of biogas production was also reported in some integrated methods. In many cases, embedded nanomaterial matrices yielded maximum efficiencies in both the submerged and staged operations. However, submerged type of membranes are reported more than the staged type due to simpler configuration with relatively lesser equipment, operational and maintenance issues. In treatment of a low strength wastewater, aluminum oxide based membrane in fluidized bed assembly was reported to yield promising results with reduced power requirement.

Efficient removal of ibuprofen and ofloxacin pharmaceuticals using biofilm reactors for hospital wastewater treatment

Hospital wastewater is harmful to the environment and human health due to its complex chemical composition and high potency towards becoming a source of disease outbreaks. Due to these complexities, its treatment is neither efficient nor cost-effective. It is a challenging issue that requires immediate attention. This effort focuses on the treatment of hospital wastewater (HWW) by removing two selected drugs, namely ibuprofen (IBU) and ofloxacin (OFX) using individual biological treatment methods, such as moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBR) and physicochemical treatment, such as ozonation and peroxane process. The both methods are compared to find the best method overall based on effectiveness and removal efficiency. The optimal removal for ozone dosing range was nitrate (9.00% and 62.00%), biological oxygen demand (BOD) (92.00% and 64.00%), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) (96.00% and 92.00%) that required at least 10 min to reach considerable degradation. The MBBR process assured a better performance for ibuprofen removal, overall. The IBU and OFX removal was found to be 14.32-96.00% at a higher COD value and 11.33-94.00% at a lower COD value due to its biodegradation. This work strives to pave the way forward to build an HWW treatment technology using integrated MBBR processes for better efficiency and cost-effectiveness.