Abstract
This paper demonstrates how occurrence, transport and fate of pharmaceuticals at trace levels can be
assessed when modelling wastewater treatment systems using two case studies. Firstly, two approaches
based on: 1) phenomenology; and, 2) Markov Chains, are developed to describe the dynamics of
pharmaceuticals with or without clear administration patterns. Additional simulations also show that
sewer conditions might have an important effect on the behaviour of the generated compounds and their
metabolites. The results demonstrate that different operating conditions in wastewater treatment plants
can have opposite effects on the studied pharmaceuticals, especially when they present co-metabolic or
inhibitory behaviour in the presence of biodegradable substrate. Finally, the paper ends with: i) a critical
discussion of the presented results; ii) a thorough analysis of the limitations of the proposed approach;
and, iii) future pathways to improve the overall modelling of micropollutants
Original language | English |
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Journal | Environmental Modelling & Software |
Volume | 62 |
Pages (from-to) | 112-127 |
ISSN | 1364-8152 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2014 |
Keywords
- Activated sludge modelling
- Benchmarking
- Influent modelling
- Xenobiotic trace pollutants
- Micropollutants
- Model-based evaluation
- Multi-criteria decision making
- Organic trace chemicals