Summary

The principal objective of wastewater treatment is generally to allow human and industrial effluents to be disposed of without danger to human health or unacceptable damage to the natural environment. Typical processes that are investigated and applied to wastewater treatment can be the following: biological, adsorption, flocculation, oxidation, membranes, filtration, etc. This entry collection features information about many processes of wastewater treatment and many other related issues such as reuse, cost, fluid aspects, plants, etc.

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Entries
Topic Review
PFAS in the Environment
The current article reviews the state of art of the perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) compounds and provides an overview of PFASs occurrence in the environment, wildlife, and humans. This study reviews the issues concerning PFASs exposure and potential risks generated with a focus on PFAS occurrence and transformation in various media, discusses their physicochemical characterization and treatment technologies, before discussing the potential human exposure routes. The various toxicological impacts to human health are also discussed. The article pays particular attention to the complexity and challenging issue of regulating PFAS compounds due to the arising uncertainty and lack of epidemiological evidence encountered. The variation in PFAS regulatory values across the globe can be easily addressed due to the influence of multiple scientific, technical, and social factors. The varied toxicology and the insufficient definition of PFAS exposure rate are among the main factors contributing to this discrepancy. The lack of proven standard approaches for examining PFAS in surface water, groundwater, wastewater, or solids adds more technical complexity. Although it is agreed that PFASs pose potential health risks in various media, the link between the extent of PFAS exposure and the significance of PFAS risk remain among the evolving research areas. There is a growing need to address the correlation between the frequency and the likelihood of human exposure to PFAS and the possible health risks encountered.  The current entry highlighted the significance of the future research required to fill in the knowledge gap in PFAS toxicology and to better understand this through real field data and long-term monitoring programs.
  • 1.4K
  • 19 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Remediation Solutions for AMDrainage
Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) is a toxic wastewater stream formed when oxygenated water comes into contact with exposed mine rock surfaces containing sulphide minerals. The formation of AMD is most prominent in abandoned mines where water accumulates in mine shafts and pits allowing exposure to sulphide minerals. The resulting AMD is typically characterised by a low pH with high concentrations of heavy metals and dissolved sulphate. When left untreated, AMD streams can cause severe environmental degradation, including the contamination of natural water bodies, destroying aquatic life and toxifying natural habitats. AMD remediation methods can be divided into two main categories, active treatment and passive treatment methods. Active treatment methods are characterised by process inputs such as energy, chemicals, labour and automated control, whereas passive remediation technologies require minimal process inputs and are mostly self-sustaining. Passive treatment methods are typically at source constructions comprising of a combination of naturally occurring geochemical, physical and biological processes.
  • 1.4K
  • 04 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Removal of Pharmaceuticals from Water
It is important to consider and characterize the efficiency of pharmaceutical removal during wastewater and drinking-water treatment processes. Various treatment options have been investigated for the removal/reduction of drugs (e.g., antibiotics, NSAIDs, analgesics) using conventional or biological treatments, such as activated sludge processes or bio-filtration, respectively. The efficiency of these processes ranges from 20–90%.
  • 2.3K
  • 02 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Water Phytoremediation
Phytoremediation, the usage of plants to remove contaminants, is a technology that has been widely used to remediate pollution in soils, with particular reference to toxic elements. 
  • 3.4K
  • 21 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Coliphages in Urban Wastewater Treatments
There is an urgent need to control the fate of fecal microorganisms in wastewater to avoid the negative health consequences of releasing treated effluents into surface waters (rivers, lakes, etc.) or marine coastal water. On the other hand, the measurement of bacterial indicators yields insufficient information to gauge the human health risk associated with viral infections. It would therefore seem advisable to include a viral indicator—for example, somatic coliphages—to monitor the functioning of wastewater treatments.
  • 897
  • 08 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Polymeric Wastewater Purification Membranes
Over the past few years, polymeric membranes are widely used for applications in separation technologies. They show better flexibility, pore formation mechanism, thermal and chemical stability, and demand less area for installation. Wastewater purification is among the most desirable application of these membranes. In comparison to conventional separation materials, membranes offer economical and efficient treatment. The polymers employed in the synthesis of each membrane are selectively chosen to enhance the optimal performance in wastewater purification.
  • 1.2K
  • 09 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Forward Osmosis in Wastewater Treatment
Forward osmosis (FO), driven by the osmotic pressure difference between solutions divided by a semi-permeable membrane, has been recognised as a potential energy-efficient filtration process with a low tendency for fouling and a strong ability to filtrate highly polluted wastewater.
  • 1.6K
  • 02 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Membrane-Based Environmental Remediation
During the last century, industrialization has grown very fast and as a result heavy metals have contaminated many water sources. Due to their high toxicity, these pollutants are hazardous for humans, fish, and aquatic flora. Traditional techniques for their removal are adsorption, electro-dialysis, precipitation, and ion exchange, but they all present various drawbacks. Membrane technology represents an exciting alternative to the traditional ones characterized by high efficiency, low energy consumption and waste production, mild operating conditions, and easy scale-up. In this review, the attention has been focused on applying driven-pressure membrane processes for heavy metal removal, highlighting each of the positive and negative aspects. Advantages and disadvantages, and recent progress on the production of nanocomposite membranes and electrospun nanofiber membranes for the adsorption of heavy metal ions have also been reported and critically discussed. Finally, future prospective research activities and the key steps required to make their use effective on an industrial scale have been presented
  • 1.1K
  • 02 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Olive Oil Production Wastes
The production of high-quality olive oils implies the generation of vast quantities of solid residues and/or wastewaters that may have a great impact on terrestrial and aquatic environments because of their high phytotoxicity. Depending on the techniques used for olive oil production, namely, on the type of horizontal centrifugation (two-phase or three-phase), the process most adopted to separate olive oil from olive paste obtained after malaxation, different by-products are obtained.
  • 2.6K
  • 28 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Solar Concentration for Wastewaters Remediation
As the effectiveness of conventional wastewater treatment processes is increasingly challenged by the growth of industrial activities, a demand for low-cost and low-impact treatments is emerging. A possible solution is represented by systems coupling solar concentration technology with advanced oxidation processes (AOP).
  • 1.2K
  • 17 Jun 2021
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