Emerging Contaminants in Wastewater: Eco-Toxicity and Sustainability Assessment

• Published in: Industrial Wastewater Reuse pp. 63 - 87
• Main Authors: Das, Pranjal P., Sontakke, Ankush D., Samanta, Niladri Shekhar, Purkait, Mihir K.
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer 2023; Springer Nature Singapore
• Subjects: Eco-toxicity; Emerging contaminants; Process hybridisation; Sustainability assessment
• ISBN: 981992488X; 9789819924882
• DOI: 10.1007/978-981-99-2489-9_4

The global presence of emerging contaminants (ECs), such as pesticides, pharmaceutical compounds, endocrine-disrupting chemicals and personal care products in water and their toxic effects on the biosphere is a universal concern. An increment in identification of varying ranges of ECs in different water bodies has motivated research in the field of toxicity effects and its degradation. However, a collection of adequate legislations for the established statutory guidelines of ECs in water and understanding the efficiency of different treatment processes in bringing down its concentration to non-hazardous levels is a domain that requires considerable attention. In this context, this chapter provides an in-depth analysis of the treatment techniques, sources and occurrences of ECs along with its eco-toxicological effects. An overview of the pathways involved, removal mechanism and various regulatory guideline practices are presented as well. The performance of various treatment processes based on their capacity to lower down the concentration of ECs below the established permissible limits have also been demonstrated. Unlike the conventional treatment processes, most of the advanced integrated systems have the ability to lower the concentration of ECs below the desirable guideline values. Comprehensive studies towards the treatment techniques involving integration of membrane bioreactor with ozonation, reverse osmosis and membrane distillation are extensively discussed and summarised in this chapter. The sustainability aspects of different processes have also been covered in this chapter to help readers identify suitable treatment techniques for the removal of ECs. Taken together, the present chapter catalyses the research and its application in real-life scenario for the treatment and management of ECs and bring forward a pragmatic solution to the researchers and policymakers.