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

在废水和生物固体处理过程中，病原体的消毒和新污染物的去除是两项具有挑战性的任务。近年来对指示菌和致病菌的研究表明，微生物能够在废水和污泥消毒过程中存活，并在排放到环境中后迅速再生。因此，通过废水和生物固体消毒过程研究微生物的命运和生存，确定导致其生存的环境，并开发新的方法和工艺来改善其灭活是很重要的。拟议的研究侧重于这些重要任务，旨在推进当前的消毒过程，而不会产生有害的氯化消毒副产物。最近关注的另一个领域是从废水中去除新出现的污染物，其中包括内分泌干扰化合物（EDCs）以及药品和个人护理产品（PPCPs）。新出现的污染物浓度极低；然而，它们已被证明会累积并对水生生物和人类的生长和繁殖产生不利影响。废水排放和生物固体的土地利用是EDCs和ppcp的主要来源，最好的管理政策是在源头上停止它们的释放。不幸的是，污水处理厂既没有设计也没有设备来去除这些化合物。因此，迫切需要开发能够有效去除废水中新出现的污染物的创新和经济有效的方法。提出的研究将使用新的分子印迹（MIP）和非印迹（NIP）颗粒来实现这一目标。MIPs和NIPs是“智能”聚合物颗粒，可以被设计成选择性地靶向并同时去除单一化合物或多种化合物。MIP和NIP颗粒有可能实现几乎完全去除新出现的污染物，而不会产生其他子产品。该研究项目将有助于更好地保护环境和公众健康，并将在一个对加拿大至关重要的领域培养一批本科生和研究生。

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.