Modeling Microconstitutent Removal in Biotreatment

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Modeling Microconstituent Removal in Biotreatment Microconstituents are agents that are present in exceedingly low concentrations in wastewaters and natural waters. The significance of microconstiuents is their power to affect hormonal responses in humans and other life forms as well as have other adverse impacts, such as toxicity, on health. Perhaps the most dramatic impact that was identified by research conducted in Canada, is the gender-bender effect, where male fish exhibit female traits. Through use of pharmaceutical (the birth control pill is a good example), personal care products and other products which contain microconstituents, people discharge them into wastewater. Wastewater treatment plants are the final barrier to discharge of the substances into our natural watercourses. The research in this project is to experimentally examine the removal of some microconstituent agents and understand the biological and chemical phenomena that influence their removal in a wastewater treatment plant. With the knowledge derived from this research, plant designers and operators will be able to obtain the best performance from treatment operations.