Removal of Pharmaceutical Compounds by Anaerobic Digestion of Sewage Sludge
Asplund, Katrin (2022)
2022
All rights reserved. This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2022061417914
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2022061417914
Tiivistelmä
Pharmaceuticals are a heterogenous group of compounds, that are oftentimes difficult for traditional wastewater treatment plants to break down and degrade. Due to being continuously released into the environment, they can also be considered as a form of pseudo-persistent contaminants.
In this thesis, the aim has been to further study and investigate the behaviour of common pharmaceuticals during the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge. During laboratory tests, known types and quantities of pharmaceuticals were mixed together with inoculum and sewage sludge, and anaerobically digested under thermophilic conditions at 55°C. Samples were sent for analysis at day 15, 30 and 45, and the biomethane production was continuously monitored during the experiment.
The obtained results point to a varying degree of degradation for the four studied pharmaceuticals, and whereas some pharmaceuticals had a high removal, others were more reluctant to biodegrading. Even though the pharmaceutical concentrations initially dropped, the concentrations went up again during the latter third of the experiment for three of the studied pharmaceuticals. Overall, the pharmaceutical samples also produced slightly more biomethane than the control group, with the difference being largest in the day-15 samples.
In this thesis, the aim has been to further study and investigate the behaviour of common pharmaceuticals during the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge. During laboratory tests, known types and quantities of pharmaceuticals were mixed together with inoculum and sewage sludge, and anaerobically digested under thermophilic conditions at 55°C. Samples were sent for analysis at day 15, 30 and 45, and the biomethane production was continuously monitored during the experiment.
The obtained results point to a varying degree of degradation for the four studied pharmaceuticals, and whereas some pharmaceuticals had a high removal, others were more reluctant to biodegrading. Even though the pharmaceutical concentrations initially dropped, the concentrations went up again during the latter third of the experiment for three of the studied pharmaceuticals. Overall, the pharmaceutical samples also produced slightly more biomethane than the control group, with the difference being largest in the day-15 samples.