Engineering the household removal of micropollutants from wastewater

我的目标是开发“原理证明”，即微污染物降解酶可以用于家用洗衣粉和清洁产品，从源头上处理废水，从而消除对去除微污染物的能源密集型管道末端处理技术的需要。在全球范围内，每年有来自数百种不同产品的3亿吨微量污染物（微污染物）通过废水进入自然水系统，其中一些具有显著的生态毒理学影响和未知的人类影响。迄今为止，最能证明生态毒理学效应会导致野生动物数量锐减的证据是避孕药和双氯芬酸中的合成激素17a-乙基雌二醇。欧盟正在考虑对这两种药物和天然雌激素（17b -雌二醇，E2）的立法环境质量标准限制；这种化合物在世界上尚属首次。这具有重要和深远的影响。对数千种药品和家用化学产品的监管既缓慢又昂贵，用更无害的替代品取代它们的可能性也很遥远。因此，这样的立法对昂贵的管道末端废水处理解决方案施加了压力，如高级氧化工艺，这在英国将耗资高达300亿英镑。这将使现有资产的能源需求增加多达30%。在能源价格不断上涨的时代，废水处理已经占英国用电量的1.5%，占二氧化碳排放量的0.5%。这样的解决方案是不可持续的，也不适合大多数世界和富裕世界的贫困地区，在这些地区，水的负担能力是一个问题。从长远来看，以牺牲气候和社会上最贫困人口为代价来拯救河流是不可取的。我提出了一个完全不同的可扩展方法，利用；新一代测序技术的最新进展、生物技术的创新以及家用产品制造商的现有技术、营销和全球影响力。我设想这样一个世界：使用家庭清洁产品中的酶从源头上消除微污染物。

I aim to develop the "proof of principle" that micropollutant-degrading enzymes can be used in household washing powders and cleaning products to treat wastewater at source and thus obviate the need for energy-intensive end-of-pipe treatment technologies for micropollutant removal. Globally, 300 Mt per annum of trace contaminants (micropollutants) from hundreds of different products enter natural water systems through wastewater, some of which have significant ecotoxicological effects and unknown human effects. The best evidence of ecotoxicological effects that propagate into wildlife population crashes has so far been provided for the synthetic hormone 17a-ethinyl estradiol, in the contraceptive pill, and diclofenac. Legislative environmental quality standard limits are being considered by the EU for these two pharmaceuticals and the natural estrogen (17B-estradiol, E2); a world first for such compounds. This has important and far-reaching ramifications. Regulation of the thousands of pharmaceutical and household chemical products is slow and expensive and the possibility of replacing them with more benign alternatives is remote. Such legislation therefore places pressure on costly end-of-pipe wastewater treatment solutions such as advanced oxidation processes, which would cost up to £30 billion in the UK. These would increase the energy demand of existing assets by as much as 30%. Wastewater treatment already accounts for 1.5% of UK electricity use, and 0.5% of its CO2 emissions, in an age of increasing energy prices. Such solutions are unsustainable and inappropriate for the majority world and poorer sections of the rich world, where water affordability is an issue. Saving the river at the expense of the climate, and the poorest in society is not, in the long term, desirable.I propose a radically different scalable approach that draws on; contemporary advances in next-generation sequencing, innovation in biotechnology, and the existing know-how, marketing and global reach of household product manufacturers. I envisage a world where micropollutants will be eliminated at source using enzymes delivered in household cleaning products.