ArticleWater research X2023
High content of low molecular weight organics does not always affect pharmaceutical adsorption on activated carbon: The case of acetate, propionate and ethanol in source-separated urine.
Article in Water research X, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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3 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Removal of organic micropollutants in granular activated carbon filters - review of long-term and full-scale experiences from municipal wastewater treatment.Water science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research · 2026Review
- How aromatic dissolved organic matter differs in competitiveness against organic micropollutant adsorption.Environmental science and ecotechnology · 2024Article
- Research stories along the urban water cycle.Water research X · 2024Article
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4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
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Abstract
Adsorption on activated carbon is a common process to remove pharmaceuticals in wastewater treatment. Activated carbon adsorption is usually applied to wastewater with a low content of biological degradable organics, i.e. after biological treatment. Especially low molecular weight (LMW) compounds are known to compete with pharmaceuticals for adsorption sites. The goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that biological treatment is necessary for efficient pharmaceutical removal. Source-separated urine after anaerobic storage (anaerobically stored urine) and after aerobic biological removal of organics without nitrification (organics-depleted urine) were used in this study. In anaerobically stored urine 60% of the organic compounds were LMW organics, of which about 40% were acetate and propionate. 74% of the DOC and 100% of acetate and propionate were removed during aerobic biological treatment. To investigate the effect of the organic compounds on pharmaceutical removal, sorption experiments with 19 spiked pharmaceuticals and one artificial sweetener were conducted with powdered activated carbon. Ethanol, another LMW organic, was included in the study, as it is regularly used for pharmaceutical spiking thereby strongly increasing the DOC content. The experiments showed that the adsorption of the pharmaceuticals and the sweetener were hardly affected by the easily biodegradable LMW organics or ethanol. Therefore, it was concluded that biological pre-treatment is not necessary for efficient pharmaceutical adsorption. Since acetate, propionate and ethanol contribute substantially to the DOC content but do not absorb UV light, the latter is recommended as indicator for pharmaceutical removal in solutions with high contents of biodegradable LMW organics.
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