Enhancement of pharmaceuticals treatment on activated sludge process by magnetic activated carbon pretreatment system

In this study, the effect of antibiotic wastewater containing 20 common pharmaceuticals (14 antibiotics and 6 non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)) individually as well as their combination was investigated on activated sludge in batch reactors. The chemical oxygen demand (COD), the ammonium concentration, the inhibition rate and toxicity index of COD and ammonium were investigated in wastewater. The inhabitation for COD and ammonium removal was variable for each drug so that the pharmaceuticals are applied simultaneously had such a greater adverse effect on inhibition rate than individual compounds. The pretreatment of wastewaters containing drugs was performed by powdered activated carbon PAC to reduce the adverse effect of these drugs on activated sludge. The appropriate method for separation of PAC from wastewater before introducing to activated sludge process and the optimized adsorption and contact time during the pretreatment process were studied. The pretreatment of pharmaceuticals wastewater with activated carbon improved well COD and NH4 + removal to 71 % and 55 %, respectively, that demonstrate the activated carbon can be considered as a suitable pretreatment option for the activated sludge.