Hans Wouters, Managing Director, Brightwork BV, Netherlands
(free)Micropollutants, present in effluent from municipal waste water treatment plants, may affect the aquatic environment. The environmental impact of these substances is expressed particularly by their persistency, bioaccumulation potential and toxicity. Municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are among the most important contributors of micropollutants released into surface water bodies.
Also the reduction of the total phosphorus levels in the final effluent of WWTPs is an objective to improve the quality of the surface water bodies. It requires further extensions of the treatment process.
A research has been conducted to combine those two objectives under the umbrella of the Dutch Innovation Program Removal of Micropollutants (IPMV). This project investigates the feasibility of biologically activated continuous filtration over granular activated carbon (Bio-GAC), for the tertiary removal of micropollutants from effluent. Simultaneously coagulants are dosed to reduce soluble phosphorus and enhance solids removal. The practical research is executed at WWTP Emmen in the Netherlands. The first promising results are reported in this paper.
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