বিডিটুডেঃ PhD PROJECT WATER SCIENCES, Canada

Higher Study

PhD PROJECT WATER SCIENCES, Canada

24 January 2014, Friday

New Biochar-enzyme impregnated micro and nano systems (BEMS/BENS) for efficient degradation of pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) in wastewater and drinking water
INRS
The Institut national de la recherche scientifique is a university dedicated to research and training at the graduate level. French is the official language.

The Centre Eau Terre Environnement focuses its activities on the sustainable management of water and earth resources.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Rising trend in demographics coupled with enhanced health standards has led to the increased release of various pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) into the environment. There are over nine thousand different types of drugs and personal care products registered for use in Canada. Canada’s total drug expenditure has increased steadily from $3.8 billion in 1985 to $28.0 billion in 2008 with an average annual growth rate of 9.1%. Prescription and non-prescription pharmaceuticals have been reported in Canadian wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) effluent. PhACs that are not degraded in WWTPs may remain dissolved in the aqueous phase of wastewater effluents, or they may bind to biosolids and thus end up in the aquatic and soil environment. Further, antibiotic resistance of the enteric bacteria is an important public health issue which is an outcome of the presence of the PhACs in wastewaters. While most pharmaceuticals and their metabolites are not considered to be persistent in nature, their continual release into the ecosystem results in an apparent persistence. A wealth of recent investigations have examined PhACs fate during wastewater treatment, focusing on their removal during conventional (e.g. activated sludge) and advanced (e.g. ozonation and membrane filtration) treatment processes. However, still lacunae exist and most of these treatment methods are not foolproof or efficient enough in removing the PhACs. On the contrary, these methods mostly result in the formation of potentially toxic by-products as is the case with membrane filtration and activated sludge. Ozonation is capable of degrading a wide variety of PhACs, albeit some of them remain unchanged, such as carbamazepine. Hence, the complete removal of PhACs through the novel techniques of membrane retention and enzymatic oxidation by using biochar-enzyme impregnated micro and nano systems (BEMS/BENS) is a timely and important research approach.

The main research directions will include development of these micro and nanosystems and their application in the removal of major PhACs, such as

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