Disinfection of pathogens and removal of emerging contaminants during wastewater and biosolids treatment

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Disinfection of pathogens and removal of emerging contaminants are two challenging tasks during wastewater and biosolids treatment. Recent research on indicator and pathogenic bacteria shows that microorganisms are able to survive wastewater and sludge disinfection processes, and regrow quickly after discharge to environment. It is therefore important to study the fate and survival of microorganisms through wastewater and biosolids disinfection processes, identify the circumstances that lead to their survival, and develop new approaches and processes to improve their inactivation. The proposed research focuses on these important tasks and aims to advance current disinfection processes without generating harmful chlorinated disinfection by-products. Another area of recent concern is the removal of emerging contaminants from wastewater, which include endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). Emerging contaminants are present in extremely low concentrations; however, they have been shown to accumulate and adversely affect the growth and reproduction of aquatic organisms as well as humans. Wastewater discharges and land application of biosolids are the main sources of EDCs and PPCPs, and the best management policy is to stop their release at the source. Unfortunately, wastewater treatment plants are neither designed nor equipped to remove these compounds. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the development of innovative and cost-effective methods that can efficiently remove emerging contaminants from wastewater. The proposed research will use novel molecularly-imprinted (MIP) and non-imprinted (NIP) particles to achieve this goal. MIPs and NIPs are "smart" polymeric particles that can be designed to selectively target and remove a single compound or a wide range of compounds simultaneously. MIP and NIP particles have the potential to achieve nearly complete removal of emerging contaminants without generating other daughter products. The research program will help to better protect the environment and public health, and will train a pool of undergraduate and graduate students in an area of critical importance for Canada.