Modelling Emerging Pollutants in Wastewater Treatment: A Case Study using the Pharmaceutical 17α−ethinylestradiol

Acheampong, Edward; Dryden, Ian L.; Wattis, Jonathan A.D.; Twycross, Jamie; Scrimshaw, Mark D.; Gomes, Rachel L.

Abstract

Mathematical modelling can play a key role in understanding as well as quantifying uncertainties surrounding the presence and fate of emerging pollutants in wastewater treatment processes (WWTPs). This paper presents for the first time a simplified emerging pollutant pathway in the WWTP that incorporates two potential pathways to sequestration. It develops de-terministic and stochastic ordinary differential equations to gain insight into the fate and behaviour of a case study pharmaceutical, with particular focus on sorption to the solid phase, as well as the nature of the experimentally measured solid parent compound. Statistical estimation and inferential procedures are developed and via a proof-of-concept examination, the study explores the transformation pathways of the bioactive chemicals (BACs) in the bioreactor, which is the heart of the WWTP. With a focus on the case study pharmaceutical 17α−ethinlyestradiol (EE2), the simulation results show good agreement with the EE2 data. In addition, the results suggest that the experimentally measured solid EE2-parent concentration is very similar to the model-based sequestered EE2-parent concentration.

Citation

Acheampong, E., Dryden, I. L., Wattis, J. A., Twycross, J., Scrimshaw, M. D., & Gomes, R. L. (2019). Modelling Emerging Pollutants in Wastewater Treatment: A Case Study using the Pharmaceutical 17α−ethinylestradiol. Computers and Chemical Engineering, 128, 477-487. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compchemeng.2019.06.020

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 25, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jul 2, 2019
• Publication Date: Sep 2, 2019
• Deposit Date: Jun 28, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 3, 2020
• Journal: Computers & Chemical Engineering
• Electronic ISSN: 1873-4375
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 128
• Pages: 477-487
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compchemeng.2019.06.020
• Keywords: Differential equations; Pharmaceutical pollutants; Sequestration; Transformation pathways; Wastewater treatment
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2239113
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0098135419300729
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Modelling emerging pollutants in wastewater treatment: A Case study using the pharmaceutical ethinylestradiol; Journal Title: Computers & Chemical Engineering; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compchemeng.2019.06.020; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
• Contract Date: Jun 28, 2019