Poursat, Baptiste A.J. and Rempe, Fleur and Pereira, João and Sutton, Nora B. and Ter Heijne, Annemiek (2024) Unravelling the mechanisms of organic micropollutant removal in bio-electrochemical systems: Insights into sorption, electrochemical degradation, and biodegradation processes. Science of the Total Environment, 945: 173932. ISSN 0048-9697
AI Summary:
This study investigated the removal of organic micropollutants from water treatment plants using bio-electrochemical systems (BESs). The results showed that BESs can remove these pollutants through various mechanisms, including sorption, electrochemical degradation, and biodegradation.AI Topics:
Bio-electrochemical systems (BESs) have recently been proposed as an efficient treatment technology to remove organic micropollutants from water treatment plants. In this study, we aimed to differentiate between sorption, electrochemical transport/degradation, and biodegradation. Using electro-active microorganisms and electrodes, we investigated organic micropollutant removal at environmentally relevant concentrations, clarifying the roles of sorption and electrochemical and biological degradation. The role of anodic biofilms on the removal of 10 relevant organic micropollutants was studied by performing separate sorption experiments on carbon-based electrodes (graphite felt, graphite rod, graphite granules, and granular activated carbon) and electrochemical degradation experiments at two different electrode potentials (-0.3 and 0 V). Granular activated carbon showed the highest sorption of micropollutants; applying a potential to graphite felt electrodes increased organic micropollutant removal. Removal efficiencies >80 % were obtained for all micropollutants at high anode potentials (+0.955 V), indicating that the studied compounds were more susceptible to oxidation than to reduction. All organic micropollutants showed removal when under bio-electrochemical conditions, ranging from low (e.g. metformin, 9.3 %) to exceptionally high removal efficiencies (e.g. sulfamethoxazole, 99.5 %). The lower removal observed under bio-electrochemical conditions when compared to only electrochemical conditions indicated that sorption to the electrode is key to guarantee high electrochemical degradation. The detection of transformation products of chloridazon and metformin indicated that (bio)-electrochemical degradation occurred. This study confirms that BES can treat some organic micropollutants through several mechanisms, which merits further investigation.
Poursat, Baptiste
Author
Poursat, Baptiste A.J. and Rempe, Fleur and Pereira, João and Sutton, Nora B. and Ter Heijne, Annemiek (2024) Unravelling the mechanisms of organic micropollutant removal in bio-electrochemical systems: Insights into sorption, electrochemical degradation, and biodegradation processes. Science of the Total Environment, 945: 173932. ISSN 0048-9697
Shi, Xiang and Pereira, Ryan and Uzma and Savage, Laurie and Poursat, Baptiste and Quinn, Dominic and Kostrytsia, Anastasiia and Cholet, Fabien and Smith, Cindy J. and Gauchotte-Lindsay, Caroline and Sloan, William T. and Ijaz, Umer and Vignola, Marta (2024) Microbial stratification and DOM removal in drinking water biofilters: implications for enhanced performance. Water Research, 262: 122053. ISSN 0043-1354
Poursat, Baptiste A.J. and Langenhoff, Alette A.M. and Feng, Jiahao and Goense, Julianne and Peters, Ruud J.B. and Sutton, Nora B. (2024) Effect of ultra-high-density polyethylene microplastic on the sorption and biodegradation of organic micropollutants. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 279: 116510. ISSN 0147-6513
See full publications listRempe, Fleur
Author
Poursat, Baptiste A.J. and Rempe, Fleur and Pereira, João and Sutton, Nora B. and Ter Heijne, Annemiek (2024) Unravelling the mechanisms of organic micropollutant removal in bio-electrochemical systems: Insights into sorption, electrochemical degradation, and biodegradation processes. Science of the Total Environment, 945: 173932. ISSN 0048-9697
See full publications listPereira, João
Author
Poursat, Baptiste A.J. and Rempe, Fleur and Pereira, João and Sutton, Nora B. and Ter Heijne, Annemiek (2024) Unravelling the mechanisms of organic micropollutant removal in bio-electrochemical systems: Insights into sorption, electrochemical degradation, and biodegradation processes. Science of the Total Environment, 945: 173932. ISSN 0048-9697
See full publications listSutton, Nora B.
Author
Poursat, Baptiste A.J. and Rempe, Fleur and Pereira, João and Sutton, Nora B. and Ter Heijne, Annemiek (2024) Unravelling the mechanisms of organic micropollutant removal in bio-electrochemical systems: Insights into sorption, electrochemical degradation, and biodegradation processes. Science of the Total Environment, 945: 173932. ISSN 0048-9697
Poursat, Baptiste A.J. and Langenhoff, Alette A.M. and Feng, Jiahao and Goense, Julianne and Peters, Ruud J.B. and Sutton, Nora B. (2024) Effect of ultra-high-density polyethylene microplastic on the sorption and biodegradation of organic micropollutants. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 279: 116510. ISSN 0147-6513
See full publications listTer Heijne, Annemiek
Author
Poursat, Baptiste A.J. and Rempe, Fleur and Pereira, João and Sutton, Nora B. and Ter Heijne, Annemiek (2024) Unravelling the mechanisms of organic micropollutant removal in bio-electrochemical systems: Insights into sorption, electrochemical degradation, and biodegradation processes. Science of the Total Environment, 945: 173932. ISSN 0048-9697
See full publications listAvailable under License Creative Commons Attribution.
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