Advancing Biological Wastewater Treatment: Extended Anaerobic Conditions Enhance the Removal of Endocrine and Dioxin-like Activities

Environ Sci Technol. 2016 Oct 4;50(19):10606-10615. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.5b05732. Epub 2016 Feb 24.

Abstract

Conventional activated sludge treatment of wastewater does not completely remove micropollutants. Here, extending anaerobic conditions may enhance biodegradation. To explore this, we combined iron-reducing or substrate-limiting and aerobic pilot-scale reactors directly at a wastewater treatment plant. To assess the removal of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) as group of micropollutants that adversely affects wildlife, we applied a bioanalytical approach. We used in vitro bioassays covering seven receptor-mediated mechanisms of action, including (anti)androgenicity, (anti)estrogenicity, retinoid-like, and dioxin-like activity. Untreated wastewater induced antiandrogenic, estrogenic, antiestrogenic, and retinoid-like activity. Full-scale as well as reactor-scale activated sludge treatment effectively removes the observed effects. Nevertheless, high antiandrogenic and minor dioxin-like and estrogenic effects persisted in the treated effluent that may still be environmentally relevant. The anaerobic post-treatment under substrate-limiting conditions resulted in an additional removal of endocrine activities by 17-40%. The anaerobic pre-treatment under iron-reducing conditions significantly enhanced the removal of the residual effects by 40-75%. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that a further optimization of biological wastewater treatment is possible. Here, implementing iron-reducing anaerobic conditions preceding aerobic treatment appears promising to improve the removal of receptor-mediated toxicity.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Dioxins*
  • Sewage
  • Waste Disposal, Fluid
  • Wastewater*
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical

Substances

  • Dioxins
  • Sewage
  • Waste Water
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical