Fate and removal of persistent pharmaceuticals during advanced sludge digestion processes

市政和工业依靠生物处理工艺来处理废水中的有机污染物。然而，生物处理废水的缺点之一是残余污泥的产生量高。由于对垃圾填埋、海洋处置和焚烧的质量要求更为严格，因此残余污泥的处理和处置在发展中国家和工业国家都是污水处理厂运行的瓶颈。近年来，越来越多的污泥在经过常规或高级污泥处理工艺（即堆肥、好氧或厌氧消化）后才被有益地用作土壤改良剂。虽然生物固体（处理过的废水污泥）的土地应用已被认为是一种具有成本效益的废物处理方法，可提供其他好处（即回收养分以改善土壤质量），但它可能带来环境风险。气味、病原体、重金属和其他人为微污染物，如雌激素、药品和个人护理产品、溴化阻燃剂和麝香是越来越受到关注的主要污染物，引起公众对生物固体在土地上应用的反对。拟议的计划将解决与传统和先进生物污泥处理技术对六种持久性药物的命运和去除的影响相关的知识空白；一种抗生素（阿奇霉素），一种脂质调节剂（贝扎贝特），一种抗癫痫药（卡马西平）和三种镇痛/抗炎药（双氯芬酸，布洛芬和甲非那酸）。这些化合物由于其缓慢的可生物降解性、广泛的用途、毒性和生物蓄积潜力而被选择。此外，除阿奇霉素外，它们被列为内分泌干扰化合物，当排放到环境中时，会干扰激素的正常功能。在短期内，该项目将在UBC生物反应器技术实验室检查各种传统和先进污泥消化配置的性能和操作策略，以提高沼气产量，最大限度地减少残留生物固体的体积，并提高选定药物的生物降解。从长远来看，待开发的污泥处理技术将允许生产更安全、更容易被公众接受的生物固体。其他益处将包括就如何改进传统生物固体处理工艺以减轻微污染物的释放/影响提出建议，以及在新兴领域培训高素质人员。我们的市政合作伙伴将获得有关其污泥处理效率和先进污泥消化工艺的宝贵信息。加拿大卫生部和不列颠哥伦比亚省环境部将获得有关其生物固体中新兴化合物优先清单命运的更多信息。

Municipalities and industries rely on biological treatment processes to treat organic pollutants in wastewater. However, one of the drawbacks of biological wastewater treatment is high residual sludge generation. Treatment and disposal of residual sludge is a bottleneck in wastewater treatment plant operation in both developing and industrial countries due to more stringent quality requirements for landfilling, ocean disposal, and incineration. It is only in recent years that more sludge is beneficially used as soil amendment after conventional or advanced sludge treatment processes (i.e. composting, aerobic or anaerobic digestion). Although land application of biosolids (treated wastewater sludge) has been accepted as a cost-effective waste disposal method that provides other benefits (i.e. recycling nutrients to improve soil quality), it can carry environmental risks. Odours, pathogens, heavy metals and other anthropogenic micropollutants, such as estrogenic hormones, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, brominated flame retardants, and musks are major contaminants with emerging concern creating public opposition to land application of biosolids. The proposed program will address gaps in knowledge related to the impact of conventional and advanced biological sludge treatment technologies on the fate and removal of six persistent pharmaceuticals; one antibiotic (Azithromycin), one lipid regulator (Bezafibrate), one anti-epileptic (Carbamazepine), and three analgesics/anti-inflammatory agents (Diclofenac, Ibuprofen and Mefenamic acid). These compounds have been selected due to their slowly-biodegradable nature, vast usage, toxicity and bioaccumulation potential. Furthermore, except Azithromycin, they are listed as endocrine disrupting compounds that can interfere with the normal function of hormones when discharged to the environment. In the short term, the project will examine the performance of various conventional and cutting-edge sludge digestion configurations and operational strategies to enhance biogas production, to minimize the volume of residual biosolids and to enhance the biodegradation of the selected pharmaceuticals at the UBC Bioreactor Technology Laboratory. In the long term, the sludge treatment technology to be developed will allow for the production of safer and publically more acceptable biosolids. Other benefits will include recommendations on ways to improve conventional biosolids treatment processes to mitigate the release/impact of micropollutants and the training of highly qualified personnel in an emerging area. Our municipal partners will obtain valuable information on the efficiency of their sludge treatment and advanced sludge digestion processes. Health Canada and the BC Ministry of Environment will obtain additional knowledge on the fate of their prioritized list of emerging compounds in biosolids.