title: Removal of endocrine disruptors and cytostatics from effluent by nanofiltration in combination with adsorption on powdered activated carbon.
abstract: Direct capillary nanofiltration also in combination with an upstream powdered activated carbon treatment was tested for high quality water reuse of tertiary effluent from a municipal wastewater treatment plant. Two endocrine disruptors (BPA and EE2) and two cytostatics (CytR and 5-FU) were spiked in concentrations of 1 to 2 microg/L to evaluate the process performance. In direct NF the real total removal of the micropollutants was between 5 and 40%. Adsorption to the membrane played a major role leading to a seemingly total removal between 35 and 70%. Addition of powdered activated carbon and lignite coke dust largely reduced the influence from adsorption to the membrane and increased the total removal to >95 to 99.9% depending on the PAC type and dose. The cytostatics showed already in direct NF a very high removal due to unspecified losses. Further investigations are ongoing to understand the underlying mechanism. The PAC/NF process provided a consistently high permeate quality with respect to bulk and trace organics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Turmstrasse 46, 52056 Aachen, Germany. kazner@ivt.rwth-aachen.de
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kazner
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lehnberg
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kovalova
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wintgens
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Melin
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hollender
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dott
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D052244:Endocrine Disruptors / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005374:Filtration / Q000379:methods*; D011208:Powders; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D052244:Endocrine Disruptors; D011208:Powders; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D002244:Carbon