The design and operation of wastewater treatment systems for hospital is a challenge for wastewater engineers. In this study, a pilot-scale system integrated anaerobic-aerobic fixed film reactor for hospital wastewater treatment was constructed and its performance was evaluated. The aim of the study was the elimination of organic compounds and a significant reduction of bacteria. The system had been operated for 90 days. The results show that the system efficiently removed 95.1% of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) from a hospital wastewater with the influent COD of 700 mg L^-1, leaving 34 mg L^-1 COD in the effluent. The significant removal of pathogenic bacterial has been do after operating of the system. The advantages of the treatment system studied for small wastewater flows include: (I) simple operation and maintenance; (II) efficient removal of COD and bacteria; and (III) low-energy consumption

This study addresses the possibility for low pressure reverse osmosis membrane (RE 2521, CSM) process to serve as an alternative to remove selected antibiotics (ampicillin and amoxicillin) from synthetic wastewater by changing operating conditions such as pH = 3, 6.5 and 10; Pressure = 9, 11 and13 (bar); antibiotic concentration = 10, 255 and 500(mg/L), and temperature = 20, 30 and 40°C. The experiment was designed based on Box-benken, which is a Response Surface methodology design (RSM), using Design Expert software. The concentration of antibiotics was measured by applying a UV-spectrophotometer (Cecil), at the wavelength of 254 nm. Results showed a range of rejection percentage from 73.52% to 99.36% and 75.1% to 98.8%, for amoxicillin and ampicillin, respectively. Considering the solute rejections and the membrane porosity show that the prevailing rejection mechanism of the examined antibiotics by the membrane was the size exclusion effect. The permeate flux for both of the antibiotics was 12–18.73 L/m2.h. Although the permeate flux and antibiotic rejection are influenced by operating pressure, pH, and temperature individually, the interaction between operating parameters did not have noticeable effects. According to the results obtained in this study, the application of RO membrane is recommended for the selected antibiotics to be removed to a considerable degree (up to 95%).

Biocarriers are an important component of anaerobic moving bed biofilm reactors (AMBBRs). In this study, the capability of cigarette filter rods (CFRs) as a biocarrier in an anaerobic moving bed biofilm reactor was evaluated. Two similar lab-scale anaerobic moving bed biofilm reactors were undertaken using Kaldnes-K3 plastic media and cigarette filter rods (wasted filters from tobacco factories) as biofilm attachment media for wastewater treatment. Organic substance and total posphours (TP) removal was investigated over 100 days. Synthetic wastewater was prepared with ordinary water and glucose as the main sources of carbon and energy, plus balanced macro- and micro-nutrients. Process performance was studied by increasing the organic loading rate (OLR) in the range of 1.6-4.5 kg COD/m3 x d. The COD average removal efficiency were 61.3% and 64.5% for AMBBR with cigarette filter rods (Reactor A) and AMBBR with Kaldnes plastic media (Reactor B), respectively. The results demonstrate that the performance of the AMBBR containing 0.25 litres of cigarette filters was comparable with a similar reactor containing 1.5 litres of Kaldnes plastic media. An average phosphorus removal of 67.7% and 72.9% was achieved by Reactors A and B, respectively.

Bio-carriers are an important component of integrated fixed-film activated sludge (IFAS) processes. In this study, the capability of cigarette filter rods (CFRs) as a bio-carrier in IFAS processes was evaluated. Two similar laboratory-scale IFAS systems were operated over a 4-month period using Kaldnes-K3 and CFRs as IFAS media. The process performance was studied by using chemical oxygen demand (COD). The organic loading rate was in the range 0.5-2.8 kgCOD/(m(3)·d). The COD average removal efficiencies were 89.3 and 93.9% for Kaldnes-K3 (reactor A) and cigarette filters (reactor B), respectively. The results demonstrate that the performance of the IFAS reactor containing CFRs was comparable to the reactor using Kaldnes. The CFRs, which have a high porous surface area and entrapment ability for microbial cells, could be successfully used in biofilm reactors as a bio-carrier.

No abstract