Enzymatic Wastewater Treatment: Removal and Fate of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

CBET 1336179 Kerry A. Kinney University of Texas at Austin The discharge of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) into natural waters threatens not only aquatic ecosystems, but also humans who routinely ingest trace levels of these compounds with their drinking water. Discharges from municipal wastewater treatment plants are the major point source for PPCPs into natural waters. Thus, to protect both aquatic ecosystems and human health, PPCPs must be removed from municipal wastewater prior to discharge into rivers and streams. The proposed treatment process addresses this critical need by employing a novel enzymatic treatment system near the front end of a wastewater treatment plant to maximize removal of PPCPs within the treatment plant. The overall objective of the proposed research is to assess the efficacy of using an enzymatic treatment to remove a mixture of representative PPCPs from wastewater. The research will include identifying the mechanisms that such treatment utilizes, and determining the fate of both the original compounds and any oxidation byproducts through a conventional wastewater treatment train. Despite the promise of this enzymatic treatment, the fundamental parameters that determine whether the enzyme can oxidize a given PPCP directly or indirectly need to be defined. Also, the byproducts formed in the process need to be identified and their fate in subsequent wastewater treatment needs to be determined. This project addresses these questions and evaluates the overall effectiveness of enzyme-catalyzed treatment of PPCPs in municipal wastewater, not only by measurement of the chosen PPCPs and their by-products, but also by assays for antimicrobial activity and estrogenicity. PPCPs are ubiquitous in our environment and are now being detected regularly in wastewater, surface water, and drinking water. Removing these compounds at wastewater treatment plants will reduce their presence in surface water and in drinking water, and thereby address both the ecological and public health issues associated with their presence. Successful development and implementation of enzymatic treatment of municipal wastewater could significantly reduce the release of PPCPs into the environment, and mitigate the potential toxicological effects of PPCP exposure to natural organisms and humans. The enzymatic treatment process that we will study is unique because, unlike other PPCP treatment processes that are being considered, it can be deployed early in the set of treatment processes and therefore take advantage of existing treatment to complete the degradation of the compounds. In addition to the graduate student working on the project, undergraduate students from underrepresented groups in engineering will participate in this study as part of the University of Texas Graduates Linked to Undergraduate Engineers (GLUE) mentoring program.