Removal of pharmaceuticals from municipal wastewater by adsorption onto pyrolyzed pulp mill sludge

AbstractA charcoal was produced from primary pulp mill sludge and then used for the adsorptive removal of diclofenac, salicylic acid, ibuprofen and acetaminophen. A main aim was to assess the utilization of this material for the tertiary treatment of sewage. For this purpose, the adsorption of the selected pharmaceuticals from the secondary effluent of a sewage treatment plant (STP) was compared with their adsorption from ultrapure water. Differences in the adsorption kinetics and equilibrium were evident between the four pharmaceuticals considered. However, differences between the adsorption from the two aqueous matrixes considered were negligible. It was hypothesized that synergetic microorganism removal compensated the competitive effects in wastewater