Avaliação de micropoluentes emergentes em esgotos e águas superficiais

Abstract

In Brazil, studies evaluating emerging micropollutants in environmental matrices such as sewage and hospital wastewater, as well as surface waters, are still quite incipient as well as the removal of these compounds in low cost Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) such as stabilization ponds, as well as in activated sludge systems or anaerobic/aerobic compact systems. This work aimed to investigate the presence of micropollutants in environmental matrices such as sewage and hospital wastewaters, and in surface waters. Additionally, this study evaluated the removal of these compounds in low-cost WWTPs and studied the advanced oxidation process (AOP) – UV/H2O2 – as a post-treatment option. The main emerging micropollutants studied were: 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, pentachlorophenol, caffeine (CAF), dipyrone (DIP), sodium diclofenac (DCF), bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol (E2), estradiol acetate (EA2), 17α-ethinyl estradiol (EE2) and cholesterol (CHO). The samples were collected from WWTPs located in Fortaleza and its metropolitan region. The receiving surface waters investigated were: Maranguapinho River and Paupina Creek. For the pre-concentration studies of micropollutants, solid phase extraction (SPE) with C-18 cartridges was used, as well as the liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) method. The SPE technique was the most efficient method in concentrating the majority of emerging micropollutants, and the LLE proved to be the best technique for organochlorine compounds. Optimization studies were performed to detect the ideal conditions to determine the compounds by using gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) techniques. In all wastewater samples pharmaceuticals and endocrine disrupting compounds were identified, and the range of effluent concentrations were: CAF (3.0-15.8 μg/L), DIP (0.3 μg/L), DCF (1.9 μg/L), DEHP (0.01-8.5μg/L), E1 (0.04-1.7 μg/L), E2 (0.03-4.0 μg/L), EA2 (0.14-9.3 μg/L), EE2 (1.0 μg/L) and CHO (0.01-6.2 μg/L). Endocrine disrupting compounds were identified in the Maranguapinho River and Paupina Creek. The wastewater treatment in the WWTPs was not enough for the complete removal of all micropollutants studied; however, the efficiency level for most of compounds was above 50%. Regarding the evaluation in stabilization ponds systems, the study revealed good removal of micropollutants in systems composed of anaerobic pond followed by facultative and maturation ponds, in which the lowest efficiency levels were verified when a single facultative pond was present. The evaluation of the AOP as a post-treatment option by multivariate factorial design showed that the optimal conditions for the removal of emerging micropollutants were acidic pH (pH 3), hydrogen peroxide concentration above 400 mg/L and hydraulic retention times in the reactor above 50 minutes.