Enzymatic Wastewater Treatment: Removal and Fate of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products

CBET 1336179德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校凯里·A·金尼将药品和个人护理产品(PPCP)排放到自然水域不仅威胁到水生生态系统，还威胁到经常从饮用水中摄取微量这些化合物的人类。城市污水处理厂的排放是PPCP进入天然水域的主要点源。因此，为了保护水生生态系统和人类健康，必须从城市污水中去除PPCPs，然后再排放到河流和溪流中。拟议的处理工艺通过在废水处理厂前端附近采用一种新的酶处理系统来最大限度地去除处理厂内的PPCPs，从而满足了这一关键需求。拟议研究的总体目标是评估使用酶处理从废水中去除具有代表性的PPCPs混合物的效果。这项研究将包括确定这种处理利用的机制，并通过传统的废水处理系统确定原始化合物和任何氧化副产物的命运。尽管这种酶处理有希望，但决定该酶是否可以直接或间接氧化给定的PPCP的基本参数仍需确定。此外，还需要确定在该过程中形成的副产品，并确定它们在随后的废水处理中的命运。这个项目解决了这些问题，并评估了酶催化处理城市污水中的PPCPs的整体效果，不仅通过测量选定的PPCPs及其副产物，还通过测定抗菌活性和雌激素活性。PPCPs在我们的环境中普遍存在，现在废水、地表水和饮用水中定期检测到PPCPs。在废水处理厂清除这些化合物将减少它们在地表水和饮用水中的存在，从而解决与它们存在相关的生态和公共卫生问题。成功开发和实施对城市污水的酶处理可以显著减少PPCP向环境中的排放，并减轻PPCP对自然生物和人类的潜在毒理学影响。我们将研究的酶处理工艺是独特的，因为与正在考虑的其他PPCP处理工艺不同，它可以在一套处理工艺中及早部署，从而利用现有的处理来完成化合物的降解。除了参与该项目的研究生外，来自工程学专业代表性不足群体的本科生将参与这项研究，作为德克萨斯大学毕业生与本科生工程师(GLUE)指导计划的一部分。

CBET 1336179Kerry A. KinneyUniversity of Texas at AustinThe discharge of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) into natural waters threatens not only aquatic ecosystems, but also humans who routinely ingest trace levels of these compounds with their drinking water. Discharges from municipal wastewater treatment plants are the major point source for PPCPs into natural waters. Thus, to protect both aquatic ecosystems and human health, PPCPs must be removed from municipal wastewater prior to discharge into rivers and streams. The proposed treatment process addresses this critical need by employing a novel enzymatic treatment system near the front end of a wastewater treatment plant to maximize removal of PPCPs within the treatment plant. The overall objective of the proposed research is to assess the efficacy of using an enzymatic treatment to remove a mixture of representative PPCPs from wastewater. The research will include identifying the mechanisms that such treatment utilizes, and determining the fate of both the original compounds and any oxidation byproducts through a conventional wastewater treatment train. Despite the promise of this enzymatic treatment, the fundamental parameters that determine whether the enzyme can oxidize a given PPCP directly or indirectly need to be defined. Also, the byproducts formed in the process need to be identified and their fate in subsequent wastewater treatment needs to be determined. This project addresses these questions and evaluates the overall effectiveness of enzyme-catalyzed treatment of PPCPs in municipal wastewater, not only by measurement of the chosen PPCPs and their by-products, but also by assays for antimicrobial activity and estrogenicity.PPCPs are ubiquitous in our environment and are now being detected regularly in wastewater, surface water, and drinking water. Removing these compounds at wastewater treatment plants will reduce their presence in surface water and in drinking water, and thereby address both the ecological and public health issues associated with their presence. Successful development and implementation of enzymatic treatment of municipal wastewater could significantly reduce the release of PPCPs into the environment, and mitigate the potential toxicological effects of PPCP exposure to natural organisms and humans. The enzymatic treatment process that we will study is unique because, unlike other PPCP treatment processes that are being considered, it can be deployed early in the set of treatment processes and therefore take advantage of existing treatment to complete the degradation of the compounds. In addition to the graduate student working on the project, undergraduate students from underrepresented groups in engineering will participate in this study as part of the University of Texas Graduates Linked to Undergraduate Engineers (GLUE) mentoring program.