The national environmental research group in Spain ‘Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas’ CIEMAT is currently working in one important on-going project (EDARSOL) to develop an integrated process for removing emerging pollutants in waste water through the combination of biological treatment with advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) based on solar photo catalysis (TiO2, foto-Fenton) and ozonation.
This project is taking place in the ‘Plataforma Solar de Almería’ PSA. To carry out the different possibilities of the biological process, the PSA research team is now starting up a pilot plant provided with activated sludge and moving bed biofilm (MBBR) in a combined SBR reactor.
Emerging pollutants like pharmaceuticals, personal care products and pesticides are of increasing interest to governments around the world that are concerned about the impact of these contaminants on aquatic life as well as drinking water for human consumption. Current waste water treatment processes can not remove some of these contaminants from water.