Predicting the Fate of Emerging Contaminants in Wastewater Treatment Plants

The aim of this work was to model and assess the efficacy of different wastewater treatment trains on the removal of selected emerging contaminants under dynamic conditions. To this end, state-of-the-art wastewater treatment models were extended with emerging contaminants fate sub-models to predict the performance of treatment trains such as conventional (CAS), nitrifying (NAS) and nutrient removal (BNR) activated sludge plants, CAS with sand filtration and enhanced primary clarification with ozonation. Engineers and plant managers can use these models to design and optimize wastewater treatment plants in order to reduce the release of emerging contaminants in the environment. The results show that rain events can significantlyalter the performance of the plant with regards to the removal of emerging contaminants and that tertiary treatment (ozone) and long sludge age systems are more efficient to remove pollutants.