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The European Parliament adopted a legislative resolution of 10 April 2024 on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning urban wastewater treatment. The reduction in pollution in discharged treated wastewater in the parameters of BOD5, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus was emphasized. Based on these results, it stated that the impacts on the quality of lakes, rivers, and seas in the EU are visible and tangible. At the same time, it was emphasized that the sector of urban wastewater removal and treatment is responsible for 0.8% of total electricity consumption and about 0.86% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the entire EU. Almost a third of these emissions could be prevented by improving the treatment process, better use of sewage sludge, and increasing energy efficiency, as well as a higher rate of use of renewable resource technologies. It is also necessary to integrate treatment processes into the circular economy. Sludge management and water reuse are suboptimal as too many valuable resources are still being wasted. This article focuses on sustainable municipal wastewater treatment, innovative and new wastewater treatment processes and technologies (combined and hybrid processes, ANAMMOX, etc.) and their use in practice with the aim of increasing environmental and energy efficiency and reducing the carbon footprint. The research is focused on the possibilities of increasing the efficiency of energy processing of sludge, reuse of nitrogen and phosphorus, sludge, and reuse of treated wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiovascular drugs have been a burning topic in the field of environmental analytical chemistry in the last few decades. Growing modern healthcare has led to the widespread use of pharmaceuticals. Among these, antihypertensives (sartans, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors) and lipid-regulating drugs (fibrates and statins) are the most frequently consumed and, thus, excreted into wastewater. Their chemical fate during conventional and advanced wastewater treatment, such as ozonation, remains unclear. Analytical chemistry, providing sample pretreatment followed by instrumental analysis, has a tremendous role in water treatment evaluation, mostly from the perspective of parent contaminants' removals and also assessment of transformation pathways. Ultrasensitive liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS) systems provide many opportunities. By carefully using planned workflows for chromatographic and mass-spectrometric data processing, i.e., suspect and non-target screening approaches, LC-MS allows for the identification and structural elucidation of unknown, predicted, suspected or selected transformation products. Accordingly, some examples and case studies on selected cardiovascular drugs in this review are presented to show the applicability of the used analytical approaches and workflows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the ongoing amendment of the EU legislation on the treatment of urban wastewater, stricter requirements for the removal of pollutants are expected, which calls for the need for innovative wastewater treatment technologies. Biological systems are still the first choice. A survey of typical bioreactors applied in wastewater treatment is presented. The wastewater treatment objective, biochemical environment, and microbial growth are selected as the main criteria for the classification of these bioreactors. Hydraulic and kinetic aspects are considered, along with the advantages and drawbacks of these bioreactors regarding the selection of the appropriate type of reactor; as well, details regarding the operation of reactors are mentioned. The aim of this paper is to provide operators and designers with a brief overview of the selected traditional and advanced processes, reactors, and technologies for nutrient removal from municipal wastewater. The possibilities and limitations in complying with more strict effluent standards are also discussed. Methods of nutrient recovery are added value. From the evaluation of the published papers, we determine that the currently applied traditional methods for nutrient removal have the potential to also convey the expected stricter limits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micropollutants belong to various groups of chemicals. One of the most diverse and large group of them are pharmaceuticals. The presence of pharmaceutical residues in wastewater poses a significant challenge to water quality and environmental health. This paper provides an overview of recent advancements in the removal of pharmaceuticals from water, focusing on various treatment processes and their effectiveness in eliminating micropollutants. Through a review of the literature, including studies on ozonation, UV irradiation, sulfate radical-based technologies, and photocatalytic processes, insights into degradation mechanisms and optimal conditions for their removal are synthesized. Additionally, with new legislation mandating the monitoring of selected micropollutants and the implementation of quaternary treatment in wastewater treatment plants, the paper discusses prospects for future research and recommendations for effective pharmaceutical removal. Key actions include conducting comprehensive laboratory and pilot trials, implementing quaternary treatment of wastewater, continuously monitoring water quality, investing in research and development, and promoting collaboration and knowledge sharing among stakeholders. By embracing these strategies, we can work towards safeguarding water resources and protecting public health from the adverse effects of pharmaceutical contamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the work was to assess the efficiency of ozonation and ozonation in combination with H2O2 in jet loop reactor to increase biotreatability of persistent veterinary antibiotic Tiamulin. The efficiency of oxidative processes was monitored by combined approach based on determination of efficiency of wastewater treatment and impact to waste sludge stabilization. Degradation of Tiamulin in model wastewater (100 mg L−1) during oxidation was followed by COD and DOC measurements while changes in biodegradability were determined by respirometric measurements. Biogas production potential was also determined to identify problems related to anaerobic digestion of waste sludge resulted in treatment of Tiamulin-contaminated wastewater. At ozone dose of 69 gozone gCOD−1 and 220 gozone gDOC−1removal for COD and DOC was 26% and 17%, respectively. Better biotreatability was confirmed by respirometric testing. H2O2 addition did not improve removal efficiency (11–13%). The second stage of nitrification was suppressed by the addition of Tiamulin and ozonation again recovered N - NO 3 − formation. O3/H2O2 treated sample reduced the nitrification, especially formation of N - NO 2 − in the first phase of the process. Simultaneously, quadratic model was developed to describe the relationship between oxygen uptake rate and changes in ammonium nitrogen concentration due to the oxidative treatment. The positive impact of ozone was also confirmed by ozonation of Tiamulin-contaminated (400 mg L−1) waste sludge where biogas production potential was increased for 6-times. Combination of approaches confirmed, that O3 effectively increase the treatability of Tiamulin in wastewater and sludge while addition of the hydrogen peroxide generally did not improve the performance of the processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The capability of ozone to reduce the hazardous impact of environmentally persistent antibiotic tiamulin in term of toxicity reduction and enhancement of biodegradability was investigated. Different ozone doses were applied but ozonation was not effective enough to increase the biodegradability of tiamulin in the aqueous phase. The opposite effect was observed in anaerobic digestion experiments, where ozonation as a pretreatment step of antibiotic-contaminated sludge detoxify tiamulin and improves biogas production for 75%. As confirmed by 1H NMR and HPLC-HRMS analyses, the tiamulin molecule completely reacts with ozone at low ozone/COD molar ratio of 0.03, primarily attacking the vinyl double bond with further oxidation of sulfur and nitrogen atom, and gradual decomposition of tiamulin skeleton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]