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Evaluation of the treatment of reverse osmosis concentrates from municipal wastewater reclamation by coagulation and granular activated carbon adsorption

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Abstract

Reverse osmosis concentrate (ROC) from municipal wastewater reclamation reverse osmosis (mWRRO) contains elevated concentrations of contaminants which pose potential risks to aquatic environment. The treatment of ROC from an mWRRO using granular activated carbon (GAC) combined pretreatment of coagulation was optimized and evaluated. Among the three coagulants tested, ferric chloride (FeCl3) presented relatively higher DOC removal efficiency than polyaluminium chloride and lime at the same dosage and coagulation conditions. The removal efficiency of DOC, genotoxicity, and antiestrogenic activity concentration of the ROC could achieve 16.9, 18.9, and 39.7 %, respectively, by FeCl3 coagulation (with FeCl3 dosage of 180.22 mg/L), which can hardly reduce UV254 and genotoxicity normalized by DOC of the DOM with MW <5 kDa. However, the post-GAC adsorption column (with filtration velocity of 5.7 m/h, breakthrough point adsorption capacity of 0.22 mg DOC/g GAC) exhibited excellent removal efficiency on the dominant DOM fraction of MW <5 kDa in the ROC. The removal efficiency of DOC, UV254, and TDS in the ROC was up to 91.8, 96, and 76.5 %, respectively, by the FeCl3 coagulation and post-GAC adsorption. Also, the DOM with both genotoxicity and antiestrogenic activity were completely eliminated by the GAC adsorption. The results suggest that GAC adsorption combined pretreatment of FeCl3 coagulation as an efficient method to control organics, genotoxicity, and antiestrogenic activity in the ROC from mWRRO system.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Danmeng Shuai (GWU) for the review and discussion. This study was funded by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 21306003) and Beijing Natural Science Foundation (No. 8142010) and China Scholarship Council.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing, 100048, People’s Republic of China

    Ying-Xue Sun, Zhe Yang, Na Shi & Yuan Tian

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA

    Tao Ye

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  1. Ying-Xue Sun
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  2. Zhe Yang
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  4. Na Shi
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Correspondence to Ying-Xue Sun.

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Responsible editor: Gerald Thouand

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Sun, YX., Yang, Z., Ye, T. et al. Evaluation of the treatment of reverse osmosis concentrates from municipal wastewater reclamation by coagulation and granular activated carbon adsorption. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 13543–13553 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6525-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6525-4

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