New Biochar-enzyme impregnated micro and nano systems (BEMS/BENS) for efficient degradation of pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) in wastewater and drinking water

药物活性化合物(PHAC)是新出现的令人关注的污染物，主要来源于地表水和饮用水，主要是因为它们在饮用水/废水中的持久性。在一些环境中，PHAC的存在水平已经高到足以损害水生生物。在常规(如活性污泥)废水处理和高级(如臭氧和膜过滤)处理过程中，PHAC没有得到有效的去除。大多数先进的处理方法需要新的基础设施，增加了处理成本。在此背景下，可以开发新型的生物炭-酶浸渍微纳米系统(BEMS/BENS)，无需额外的基础设施投入即可完全去除处理后的废水/水流中的这些新兴污染物。该项目包括以下目标：1)开发不同的生物炭木质素分解酶浸渍微纳米系统(BEMS/BENS)；2)使用模拟废水/水测试BEMS/BENS的性能；模拟废水/水包括主要PHAC，如卡马西平、吉非罗齐、萘普生、双氯芬酸和磺胺甲恶唑；3)最佳执行技术的技术经济分析；4)真实废水条件下技术经济过程的小试研究。除了提供发生数据外，该项目还将探索这些化合物在BEMS/BENS治疗期间的去向，以衡量处理技术的影响，为这些化合物的持久性或转化和残留毒性提供重要信息。拟议的项目将产生重大的环境和经济影响，因为它将带来一种处理含有PHACS的废水/水的创新方法，所开发的技术可以加强加拿大在废水和水处理领域现有的强大环境技术部门。该项目还将为保护健康和环境的联邦环境监管机构增加重要的PHACS数据库。此外，这项研究对于在即将到来的关键环境领域产生HQP是非常及时的。

Pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) represent pollutants of emerging concern, originating in surface and drinking waters largely from their persistence in drinking water/ wastewater effluent. PhACs have been present in some environments at levels higher enough to harm aquatic organisms. PhACs during conventional (e.g. activated sludge) wastewater treatment and during advanced (e.g. ozonation and membrane filtration) treatment processes are not efficiently removed. Most of the advanced treatment methods demand new infrastructure increasing treatment costs. In this context, novel biochar-enzyme impregnated micro and nano systems (BEMS/BENS) can be developed that can lead to the complete removal of these emerging pollutants in the treated wastewater/water streams without extra infrastructure input. The proposed project comprises the following objectives: 1) Development of different biochar-ligninolytic enzyme impregnated micro and nano systems (BEMS/BENS); 2) Performance testing of BEMS/BENS using simulated wastewater/water comprising major PhACs, such as carbamazepine, gemfibrozil, naproxen, diclofenac and sulfamethoxazole; 3) Techno-economical analysis of the best performing technologies and 4) Bench scale study of techno-economical processes in real wastewater conditions. In addition to providing occurrence data, the project will probe the fate of these compounds during treatment in BEMS/BENS to measure the impact of the treatment technique giving important information on the persistence or transformation and residual toxicity of these compounds. The proposed project will have significant environmental and economical impact as it will lead to an innovative method for treatment of wastewaters/waters laced with PhACs and the developed technology can enhance the already existing strong Canadian environmental technology sector in the field of wastewater and water treatment. The project will also add important database on PhACs for the federal environmental regulatory agencies protecting health and environment. Furthermore, this research is very timely in generating HQP in this upcoming and critical environmental field.