As part of the joint project, VP02 - AIX-SOLVED "Advanced treatment stages for the removal of dissolved substances", a purification process is being developed in which adsorber granules are biofunctionalized with enzymes, whereby the dissolved substances are adsorbed and/or degraded. As part of the project, a prototype is being developed and tested both on a laboratory scale and in pilot tests on the demonstrator (VP01 - AIX-WWR) as an advanced treatment stage using three different types of substance as examples.
The contamination of wastewater from private households and industry with heavy metals and dissolved trace substances, such as additives and pharmaceuticals, is steadily increasing in Europe. As these dissolved substances are difficult or impossible to biodegrade and accumulate in the environment, plants and animals with unknown effects, environmental regulations for wastewater treatment and water reuse in the EU are increasing. However, these trace substances do not sediment and pass through conventional filter systems due to their size in the nanometer and micrometer range. Furthermore, due to their low bioavailability, they are hardly biodegraded in wastewater treatment plants, making it increasingly difficult to comply with environmental regulations in the EU.
For this reason, a purification process based on adsorber granules biofunctionalized with enzymes is to be developed for the first time in this project. As part of the project, a prototype will be developed and tested both on a laboratory scale and in pilot tests on the demonstrator in VP01 - AIX-WWR as an advanced treatment stage for three types of substances commonly found in wastewater:
Heavy metals: zinc, copper, chromium, cadmium and nickel, which are present in domestic wastewater due to domestic installations, removal of metal roofs and gutters and use of detergents and cleaning agents
Additives: such as the UV-B filter octocrylene in sun creams, the corrosion inhibitor 1H-benzotriazole and the plasticizer bisphenol A
Medicines: analgesics (such as diclofenac), antiepileptics (such as carbamazepine, gabapentin and primidone), antibiotics (such as clarithromycin, sulfamethoxazole, metronidazole and trimethoprim) as well as antihypertensives and beta-blockers (such as candesartan, valsartan and metoprolol).