Fate and risk assessment of emerging contaminants in reclaimed water production processes

Highlights

• PPCPs had the highest removal efficiency in A²O combined with MBR process (86.8%).

• ARGs and OPFRs were challenging to remove (6.50% and 31.0%, respectively).

• Octocrylene and tris(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate posed high risks to aquatic organisms.

• Meta-analysis was used to compare the ECs removal in wastewater treatment.

• Membrane treatment technology is the most promising treatment for ECs removal.

Abstract

Reclaimed water has been widely applied in irrigation and industrial production. Revealing the behavior of emerging contaminants in the production process of reclaimed water is the first prerequisite for developing relevant water quality standards. This study investigated 43 emerging contaminants, including 22 pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), 11 organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs), and 10 antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in 3 reclaimed wastewater treatment plants (RWTPs) in Beijing. The composition profiles and removal efficiencies of these contaminants in RWTPs were determined. The results indicated that the distribution characteristics of the different types of contaminants in the three RWTPs were similar. Caffeine, sul2 and tris(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate were the dominant substances in the wastewater, and their highest concentrations were 27104 ng/L, 1.4 × 10⁷ copies/mL and 262 ng/L, respectively. Ofloxacin and sul2 were observed to be the dominant substances in the sludge, and their highest concentrations were 5419 ng/g and 3.7 × 10⁸ copies/g, respectively. Anaerobic/anoxic/oxic system combined with the membrane bioreactor process achieved a relatively high aqueous removal of PPCPs (87%). ARGs and OPFRs were challenging to remove, with average removal rates of 6.5% and 31%, respectively. Quantitative meta-analysis indicated that tertiary treatment processes performed better in emerging contaminant removal than secondary processes. Diethyltoluamide exhibited the highest mass load discharge, with 33.5 mg/d per 1000 inhabitants. Octocrylene and tris(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate posed high risks (risk quotient>1.0) to aquatic organisms. This study provides essential evidence to screen high priority pollutants and develop corresponding standard in RWTPs.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Trace organic pollution / Antibiotic resistance genes / Reclaimed wastewater / Sludge / Risk assessment / Mass load

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Major Science and Technology Program for Water Pollution Control and Treatment (No. 2018ZX07111003), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41977142), the Key Technologies Research and Development Program (No.2019YFC1806104), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. JD2006).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-021-1392-8 and is accessible for authorized users.

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