Associated biological and physical-chemical treatment processes for the removal of antibiotics in wastewater.

• Grant number: 23/08707-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: March 01, 2024
• End date: July 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering - Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment
• Principal Investigator: Márcia Helena Rissato Zamariolli Damianovic
• Grantee: Thiago Vinicius Ribeiro Soeira
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Several antibiotics are found in the water bodies of the country, mainly due to the discharge of raw effluent and sewage treatment plants (STPs). Changes in the morphology of aquatic biota and in the hormonal system of living beings are observed by the consumption of water resources containing antibiotics. In this sense, the objective of this project is to evaluate different treatment processes, with combined usual and unusual technologies, for the removal of antibiotics aiming at the mitigation of their environmental impacts. The removal will be evaluated by the biological treatment process in continuous upflow reactor and sludge blanket (UASB), with immobilized biomass in conductive support material and physical-chemical treatment in hydrodynamic cavitation (CH) system, associated with advanced oxidative process (AOP). In the biological treatment process, the direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) mechanism will be investigated. In the first experimental phase, the biological treatment process followed by physicochemical post-treatment will be proposed. In the second phase, the physicochemical treatment process will be evaluated as a pre-treatment step for the anaerobic process. The performance analyses of the applied processes will allow comparisons between antibiotic removal efficiencies, along with taxonomic and functional identification of the microorganisms involved. It is hoped that this project can contribute by proposing a treatment system configuration capable of removing the antibiotics present in wastewater from WWTPs for the preservation of water bodies.