Journal of Environmental Management 233 (2019) 76–82

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Environmental Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jenvman

Research article

Post-treatment of anaerobic reactor effluent for reuse using a triple filtration T

system
Cleber Pinto da Silvaa,∗, Carlos Raphael Pedrosob, Diogo Ingles Zarpellonc,
José Geraldo Machado Filhoc, Carlos Magno Sousa Vidalb, Ciro Maurício Zimmermannd,
Sandro Xavier de Camposa
a
Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Environmental and Sanitary, Ponta Grossa State University (UEPG), Ponta Grossa, Paraná, Brazil
b
Department Environmental Engineering, Unicentro, Irati, Paraná, Brazil
c
Sanitation Company of Paraná, Regional Unit of Ponta Grossa, Ponta Grossa, Paraná, Brazil
d
Department of Chemical Engineering, Federal Technological University of Paraná, Ponta Grossa, Paraná, Brazil

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This study evaluated the triple filtration technology efficiency as a post-treatment of anaerobic reactor effluent.
Post-treatment This study was carried out employing different concentrations of ferric chloride as coagulant and peracetic acid
Triple filtration or calcium hypochlorite as oxidant. The filtration rates used were 150 m3/m2 d and 120 m3/m2 d. The efficiency
Coagulation of the system was evaluated through physicochemical and microbiological parameters. The best conditions
Oxidation
found were those using 20 mg/L ferric chloride, 120 m3/m2 d filtration rate and 0.8 and 1.6 mg/L free chlorine.
Reuse
These conditions resulted in turbidity < 1.0 NTU, Total Organic Carbon < 1.5 mg/L, Chemical Oxygen
Demand < 1.0 mg/L, Biochemical Oxygen Demand < 1.0 mg/L, in addition 100% removal of Total Phosphorus
and Linear Alkylate Sulfonate. The post-oxidation process promoted inactivation of 100% Total Coliforms and E.
coli. The post-treatment was able to produce effluent with characteristics that enable its urban, damming,
creation and maintenance of wetlands, industrial and agricultural reuse proposed by USEPA.

1. Introduction regarding the release of effluents in water bodies (Norton-Brandão

There is a growing trend towards water demand in the coming
decades. This is due to factors such as agricultural and industrial ex-
pansion, energy production and urbanization. Around 70% of the water
consumption results from farming activities which involve irrigation of
different crops around the world (WWAP, 2017). Thus, there is a
growing potential for the reuse of effluents of Wastewater Treatment
Plant (WWTP) (Meda and Cornel, 2010; WWAP, 2017).
Anaerobic systems are common technologies of WWTP secondary
treatments existing in several countries (Cavallini et al., 2016). How-
ever, these technologies treat the sewage partially, producing effluents
that contain high organic matter load, drugs and heavy metals, among
others (Lee et al., 2016; WWAP, 2017) and require post-treatment. The
use of post-treatment polishing ponds is common in developing coun-
tries such as Brazil, India and China, for example (Khan et al., 2013).
However, the resulting natural sedimentation method is quite slow and
requires large areas for its installation, in addition to not guaranteeing
enough quality to meet the legal requirements of many countries
et al., 2013).
Among the post-treatment systems for effluent from anaerobic re-
actors already studied, few studies have evaluated technologies based
on sand filtration (Khan et al., 2013; Norton-Brandão et al., 2013).
Some of the studies found address slow sand filtration used as post-
treatment for Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactor ef-
fluents (Buuren et al., 1986; Tyagi et al., 2009). However, the great
volume of urban effluent produced daily and the reduction in the space
available in large cities renders this technology obsolete, due to the
slow filtration rate and the lack of physical space. One alternative
would be the previous coagulation-oxidation followed by double fil-
tration in gravel and sand that would allow the treatment of large vo-
lumes of effluent requiring a smaller area of installation (Cavallini
et al., 2016). However, this system revealed certain limitation re-
garding the removal of dissolved organic matter, which prevents the
effluent from being used according to more strict guidelines, including
those proposed by US.EPA (2012).
Activated carbon has been used in the treatment of water supply,

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: qaasuepgcleber@gmail.com (C.P. da Silva), campos@uepg.br (S.X. de Campos).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.12.030
Received 13 April 2018; Received in revised form 15 November 2018; Accepted 9 December 2018
0301-4797/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
C.P. da Silva et al. Journal of Environmental Management 233 (2019) 76–82

industrial and municipal wastewater, leachate from landfills and con-

taminated groundwater (De Gisi et al., 2016). Different classes of con-
taminants may be present in municipal effluents and activated charcoal
has been shown to be capable of removing several classes of pesticides
(Gar Alalm and Nasr, 2018; Voltan et al., 2016), metallic ions (Lima
et al., 2011; Macías-García et al., 2017), phosphates and nitrogen spe-
cies (Authman et al., 2015; Mor et al., 2017), among others. According
to (De Gisi et al., 2016) activated carbon may be best used to remove
specific contaminants as part of a multistage approach.
Effluents treated using conventional technologies present several
types of pathogenic microorganisms, and according to the US.EPA
(2012) for some classes of reuse it is necessary to disinfect the final
effluent. Chlorine is the most used oxidant for pre and post disinfection,
and it is widely used for the removal of organic contaminants during
water treatment (Acero et al., 2010). For chlorination disinfection
purposes the aqueous hypochlorite solution is prepared commercially
with chlorine gas, aqueous sodium hypochlorite or solid calcium hy-
pochlorite (Feliziani et al., 2016). However, its efficiency depends on
the conditions of treatment employed, including pH, which directly
affects the reactivity of chlorine in water (Duan et al., 2018). In addi- Fig. 1. Diagram of the pilot triple filtration system.
tion, chlorination can generate toxic disinfection byproducts, such as
trihalomethanes (THM) and haloacetic acids (HAA) (Remucal and out by emptying the filter completely with a 1200 m3/m2 d initial rate.
Manley, 2016). Among commercial alternatives to chlorine, peracetic IFD was performed during filtration careers when the turbidity was >
acid (PAA) is a strong oxidant capable of eliminating pathogenic mi- 15.0 NTU in the UGF or > 1.0 in the DSF. The FFD were performed at
croorganisms in suspension (Ölmez and Kretzschmar, 2009). When the end of each test, prior to performing the of DSF washing. When
compared to the formation of toxic disinfection byproducts, PAA has turbidity at the DSF output was > 1.0 NTU or the flow was reduced by
shown less formation of halogenated species in relation to the use of 50% the DSF washing was adopted during filtration careers. The UGF
chlorine (Shah et al., 2015). PAA is active against enteric bacteria and, and DSF were washed with a 1.5 m/min ascending water velocity with
to a lesser extent, against viruses, bacterial spores and protozoan cysts a maximum time of 2.0 min. Experimentally it was found that under
(Kitis, 2004). these conditions the procedure was sufficient for thorough cleaning of
Several technologies for the post-treatment of anaerobic reactor the filter medium.
effluent can be found in the literature (Khan et al., 2013). Many of these
technologies are expensive or require large physical spaces. However,
reports on triple filtration associated with hypochlorite oxidation or 2.2. Parameters analyzed
PAA applied to post-treatment of anaerobic reactor effluent are scarce
in the literature. The removal efficiency was analyzed through physicochemical and
In this study, the following treatment system was evaluated in a microbiological parameters, according to the Standard Methods for the
pilot scale for the post-treatment of anaerobic reactor effluent: coagu- Examination of Water and Wastewater (APHA, 2005), presented in
lation, sedimentation, triple filtration and oxidation (chlorine or per- Table 1.
acetic acid).
2.3. Evaluation of the efficiency of ferric chloride with different
2. Material and methods concentrations

2.1. Triple filtration pilot unit operation The pH of coagulation and the range of ferric chloride concentra-
tions employed for the treatment of effluents in the triple filtration pilot
In this study, a pilot unit was assembled at the WWTP Rio das Antas, unit were previously determined in bench tests. Fig. 2 shows the main
Irati, state of Parana, Brazil, which serves a population of approxi- results obtained in tests using jar test equipment.
mately 58,000 inhabitants, with an 80 L/s flow. The system in opera-
tion has primary treatment that includes coarse material containment Table 1
screens and sand removal system. Then the effluent is directed to the Physicochemical and microbiological parameters assessed.
secondary system consisting of two anaerobic reactors working in Parameters Method
parallel with a capacity of 40 L/s each. An equalization box combines
the secondary effluent from the anaerobic reactors, which goes to the Turbidity (NTU) Nephelometric 2130B
Biochemical Oxygen Demand – BOD (mg Oxymetric 5210B
final polishing pond. For the tests carried out in this work, effluent was
O2/L)
collected in the equalization box. Chemical Oxygen Demand – COD (mg/L) Spectrophotometric (Hach 8000®)a
Three filters were used in the study. The first was the upward gravel Free chlorine (mg/L) Spectrophotometric (Alphakit®)a
filter (UGF) (Fig. 1), disposed in four 300 × 150 mm layers, with dif- Total Phosphorus – TP (mg/L) Spectrophotometric (Spectroquant®)a
ferent grain sizes within the following intervals: 19.1 to 38.1; 9.52 to Ammonia Nitrogen – AN (mg/L) Spectrophotometric (Alphakit®)a
Total Nitrogen – TN (mg/L) Spectrophotometric (Spectroquant®)a
19.1; 4.8 to 9.52 and 2 to 4.8 mm. The second was the downward sand Partial Alkalinity – PA (mg CaCO3/L) Potentiometric titration 2320 B
filter (DSF) disposed in a 150 × 700 mm monolayer and 0.30 mm ef- Apparent color (C.U) Spectrophotometric 2120 C
fective grain size with a 0.348 m2/g surface area and 0.00078 cm3/g Total suspended solids - SST (mg/L) Filtration/gravimetric 2540 D
pore volume. The third was the downward charcoal filter (DCF), mea- E. coli (CFU/100 ml) Membrane filter 9222 B
Total coliforms - TC (CFU/100 mL) Membrane filter 9222 B
suring 150 × 700 mm, with a 21.31 m2/g surface area and 0.0601 cm3/
Linear Alkylate Sulfonate - LAS (mg/L) Spectrophotometric (Alphakit®)a
g pore volume. Total Organic Carbon - TOC (mg/L) TOC-L (Shimadzu®)
The UGF was operated with the execution of intermediate fund
a
discharge (IFD) and Final Fund Discharges (FFD), which were carried Kit.

77
C.P. da Silva et al. Journal of Environmental Management 233 (2019) 76–82

A 100 B Table 2
100
removal percentage (%)

Physicochemical results obtained for the anaerobic reactor effluent (Raw) and
90 90 anaerobic reactor effluent post-treatment by triple filtration.
80
80 Ferric COD (mg/L) BOD (mg/L) TOC (mg/L) LAS (mg/L)
70
chloride
60 70
50 20 (mg/L) DCF 12.7 ± 0.6a 5.1 ± 0.9a 2.9 ± 0.2a < 0.1
60 50 (mg/L) 11.9 ± 2.2a 5.7 ± 0.6a 2.4 ± 0.2b < 0.1
40 Turbidity (NTU) Color (C.U) Turbidity (NTU) Color (C.U) 80 (mg/L) 13.1 ± 2.8a 5.7 ± 0.6a 2.7 ± 0.1a < 0.1
30 50 20 (mg/L) DSF 27.96 ± 2.9b 12.7 ± 2.2b 9.5 ± 1.9c 2.2 ± 0.2a
5 6 7 8 9 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
50 (mg/L) 23.13 ± 3.2b 9.9 ± 1.2b 8.5 ± 1.4c 2.0 ± 0.3a
pH ferric chloride (mg/L)
80 (mg/L) 25.6 ± 5.2b 9.4 ± 1.1b 8.3 ± 0.93c 0.9 ± 0.1b
Raw 253.6 ± 66.9 100.4 ± 18.2 69.6 ± 3.6 8.4 ± 0.3
Fig. 2. Main results obtained in jar test. A: mixing gradient 300 s−1; time of
mixing 15 s and concentration of ferric chloride 80 mg/L. B: mixing gradient
Parameters with the same superscript letter did not differ statistically.
300 s−1; mixing time 15 s and original effluent pH 6.9 ± 0.2. (Mean ± SD,
(Mean ± SD, n = 6).
n = 3).

monitoring, and are included in many water quality control guidelines

Complementary tests using a mixing gradient of 100 to 500 s−1 and
fast mixing time of 5.0 to 30.0 s did not present statistically significant
differences. For the treatment of the anaerobic reactor effluent on a
triple filtration pilot scale, ferric chloride was used in 80, 50 and
20 mg/L combinations with a filtration rate of 150 m3/m2 d keeping the
original pH of the effluent (6.62–7.21).
2.4. Evaluation of the efficiency of the paracetic acid and free chlorine in
oxidation-disinfection
For the initial oxidation tests, a 150 m3/m2 d filtration rate was
adopted for the three filters with 20 mg/L ferric chloride. The oxidant
solutions were prepared with 15% (m/v) paracetic acid (PAA) and 64%
(m/m) calcium hypochlorite (free chlorine). After the triple filtration,
the following concentrations were tested: PAA (4.0 and 8.0 mg/L) and
free chlorine (0.8 and 1.6 mg/L) obtained from the calcium hypo-
chlorite dissolution.
2.5. Filter operation time
Filtration runs were performed at rates of 150 m3/m2 d and 120 m3/
2
m d, in order to compare the efficiency of the proposed system under
different treatment rates.
2.6. Evaluation of the filtration rate reduction
To evaluate the influence of the filtration rate on the efficiency of
the proposed system, a filtration rate reduced to 120 m3/m2 d was
tested. Ferric chloride (20 mg/L) was used along with final post-oxi-
dation of the effluent with PAA (4.0 and 8.0 mg/L) and for free chlorine
(0.8 and 1.6 mg/L).
2.7. Statistical analyses
Analysis of variance was carried out with the software Sisvar 5.6. A
completely randomized variance analysis through the Scott-Knott test
was used to assess the significant differences between the results ob-
tained from the treatments. P < 0.05 was considered statistically sig-
nificant.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Evaluation of the efficiency of ferric chloride with different
concentrations
Table 2 presents the results of the removal of COD, BOD, TOC and
LAS for the evaluation of different concentrations of ferric chloride used
as coagulant, followed by triple filtration with a 150 m3/m2 d rate.
COD is a measure of total organic molecules (biodegradable and
non-biodegradable) dissolved in effluents, contributing to the WWTP
(Kolb et al., 2017). COD removal values ranged from 94.9 to 95.4%
using different concentrations of ferric chloride for triple filtration
(DCF). However, when collecting samples in the DSF, COD removal
could be observed between 88.9 and 90.8%. No significant variation of
this parameter was observed as a function of the reduction in the
coagulant concentrations. However, when compared to sample collec-
tion in DCF and DSF, approximately twice as much COD for DSF could
be observed. This indicates that COD removal is directly associated to
the coagulation in the proposed system and characteristics of the filters
used in this study. This can be confirmed when comparing to the data
presented by (Cavallini et al. (2016) who studied effluent double fil-
tration treatment in similar conditions as the ones in this study, using
80 mg/L ferric chloride and obtained below 70% COD removal. In an-
other study on secondary effluent treatment through coagulation-floc-
culation, using the same coagulant in concentrations up to 150 mg/L,
the values obtained for the same parameter were below 40% (Üstün
et al., 2011). The use of activated charcoal contributed significantly to
higher COD removal, since better performance was obtained in com-
parison DCF and DSF. This characteristic of the proposed system en-
ables the use of lower ferric chloride concentrations. Such increased
efficiency has been confirmed by studies on COD removal related to the
activated charcoal porous surface (Bansode et al., 2004; De Lima et al.,
2017; El-Naas et al., 2010).
BOD removal varied from 94.3 to 95.1% in DCF, which indicates
high efficiency in the biodegradable organic carbon removal with triple
filtration (Asthana et al., 2017). There was no significant variation of
this parameter as a function of the coagulant concentration reduction.
However, when compared to sample collection from DCF and DSF,
approximately twice as much BOD for DSF could be observed. When
compared, to the values of BOD removal lower than 80% found for
gravel and sand double filtration (Cavallini et al. (2016) and 85% found
for sand slow filtration (Tyagi et al., 2009), the triple filtration showed
around 10% improvement in this parameter removal. Considering that
BOD related to a measure of organic compounds present in the effluent
and that can be biodegraded, it is possible to state that the addition of
activated charcoal in the final phase contributed to the removal of or-
ganic matter. This can confirmed by the low TOC concentrations, which
varied from 2.4 to 2.9 mg/L in the DCF, indicating high efficiency in the
organic carbon removal, compared with the DSF that presented values
between 8.3 and 9.5 mg/L.
Considering that the quantification limit for LAS was 0.1 mg/L, the
triple filtration (DCF) removed 100% of this contaminant. LAS can in-
crease the solubility of certain organic contaminants in aqueous phase
(Zanoletti et al., 2017) hampering the effluent treatment. In this sense,
the addition of activated charcoal to the process was efficient to remove
LAS, when compared the results for DCF and DSF. This hypothesis was
confirmed in this treatment when compared to that with sand slow
filtration, which contained concentrations of 8.3 mg/L surfactant, si-
milarly to this study, and obtained 31% efficiency in the removal of this

78
C.P. da Silva et al.
Table 3
Physicochemical and microbiological results obtained through the study of oxidation-disinfection by triple filtration and for the anaerobic reactor effluent (Raw).
Free chlorine
0.8 1.6
c b
COD (mg/L) 11.1 ± 1.9 22.4 ± 3.1
BOD (mg O2/L) 1.6 ± 0.2c 1.2 ± 0.1c
Turbidity (NTU) 0.71 ± 0.02a 0.73 ± 0.08a
Color (C.U) < 1.0 1.6 ± 0.6
TSS (mg/L) < 1.0 < 1.0
PA (mg CaCO3/L) 97.2 ± 11.9a 46.5 ± 6.4c
TP (mg/L) < 0.5 < 0.5
E. coli (CFU/100 ml) ND ND
T.C (CFU/100 ml) ND ND
Parameters with the same superscript letter did not differ statistically. Values for E. coli and T.C presented in logarithm. ND: not detected; PA: Partial Alkalinity; TP:
Total Phosphorus; T.C: Total coliforms. (Mean ± SD, n = 3).
contaminant (Zipf et al., 2016).
3.2. Evaluation of the efficiency of peracetic acid and free chlorine in
oxidation-disinfection
The physicochemical and microbiological results for the study on
oxidation-disinfection using peracetic acid (PAA) and free chlorine,
with a 150 m3/m2 d filtration rate and 20 mg/L and ferric chloride by
triple filtration are presented in Table 3.
The results presented in Table 3 show that the addition of oxidants
increased COD values. The variation observed between chlorine addi-
tions was 11.3 mg/L while those for PAA addition were 9.3 mg/L. The
addition of 8 mg/L PAA was seen to result in an increase of around
16 mg/L in the effluent COD, which is in accordance to reports by
(Cavallini et al., 2013). Regarding the increase in free chlorine addi-
tions, a more pronounced increase in COD was observed, since the free
chlorine concentrations added were lower than the PAA concentrations,
which agrees with the results obtained by the effluent chlorination
process (El-Rehaili, 1995).
There was no significant variation of the BOD parameter when free
chlorine doses were considered. However, the increase in PAA con-
centration showed a reduction in the BOD value. These results show
that the BOD response in relation to PAA oxidation was stronger in
comparison to the chlorine oxidation. However, the lower value ob-
served in the BOD measures free chlorine might be ascribed to the
oxidation of part of the biodegradable dissolved organic matter.
The removal of turbidity and apparent color was over 99%. This
efficiency in the turbidity and color removal might be explained by the
retention of colloidal particles and dissolved solids in the sand and
activated charcoal filter, in addition to the effluent residual organic
load mineralization process during the oxidation process (Aguiar et al.,
2007; Cavallini et al., 2016).
In relation to total phosphorus, 100% removal was observed when
the 0.5 mg/L quantification limit for the determination method was
considered. The coagulation process carried out in the post-treatment
initial phase contributed significantly to the total phosphorus removal,
due to the possible formation of ferric hydrates, in addition to the in-
corporation of phosphate in hydrated oxide structures, formation of
mixed cation phosphates and ferric phosphate (Metcalf and Eddy,
2013). This condition can be verified when the post-treatment proposed
in this study is compared to other technologies already reported in the
literature, such as the urban effluent treatment with sand filtration
without previous coagulation, which presented up to 65% phosphorus
removal (Laaksonen et al., 2017), and to the effluent treatment using
coagulation and fast filtration which obtained about 90% total phos-
phorus removal (Altmann et al., 2016, 2015).
Partial alkalinity reduction ranged between 68.1 and 84.7% in the
treatments using free chlorine and between 62.3 and 77.7% for those
using PAA. The alkalinity reduction during treatment occurred because
79
Journal of Environmental Management 233 (2019) 76–82
PAA Raw
4 8
b
19.3 ± 2.4 28.5 ± 3.7a 269.7 ± 82.25
6.2 ± 0.8a 3.2 ± 0.5b 99.6 ± 5.1
0.66 ± 0.07b 0.58 ± 0.03b 108.4 ± 9.0
5.0 ± 1.0 8.0 ± 1.0 832.0 ± 86.0
< 1.0 < 1.0 98.1 ± 18.8
114.9 ± 12.29a 67.9 ± 6.2b 304.4 ± 47.5
< 0.5 < 0.5 3.19 ± 1.26
ND ND 6.12 ± 6.0
1.4 ± 0.4 1.38 ± 0.6 6.16 ± 8.85
the ferric chloride reacted with the weak acid anions present in the
effluent, producing polymerizable insoluble metal oxides and hydro-
xides, which are able to aggregate colloidal particles present in the
effluent (Keeley et al., 2016). Such polymerization was able to generate
flakes that were sedimented or retained in the filters (Cavallini et al.,
2016).
In this study, free chlorine in the form of hypochlorite was added
after the filtration process, and the 0.8 and 1.6 mg/L concentrations
were tested for a 30-min minimum contact time. Total inactivation of E.
coli and total coliforms was observed with all free chlorine dosages.
Chlorination is the most used effluent disinfection method in WWTP in
the world (Hunter et al., 2018; Tyagi et al., 2010). However, peracetic
acid was also tested, and it has been used in several industrial activities
as an alternative oxidant (Cavallini et al., 2016; Mcfadden et al., 2017).
All PAA tests resulted in E. coli total inactivation and values below
30 CFU/100 ml for total coliforms, which represents inactivation over
99.9% for total coliforms and 100% for E. coli. This indicates that the
disinfection process was efficient, even with lower PAA concentrations.
3.3. Filter operation time
Fig. 3 shows the turbidity and effluent flow rates for the filtration
runs at 150 and 120 m3/m2 d rates.
For the 150 m3/m2 d filtration rate (Fig. 3-A), high turbidity de-
termined the final of the filtering career of the UGF and DSF in 2.5 h.
The treated effluent flow during this period was observed to reduce
from 2.64 to 2.16 m3/d, requiring intermediate fund discharge in the
UGF and washing of the DSF. The turbidity for the DCF was below 1.0
NTU for most of the study time, except for the periods where the tur-
bidity of the DSF was greater than 10.0 NTU, and the filtration course
was finished in the DCF when the final effluent showed turbidity
value > 1.0 NTU.
For the 120 m3/m2 d (Fig. 3-B) filtration rate, the turbidity de-
termined the final of the filtration career of the UGF in 4.0 h, when the
turbidity was > 15 NTU, causing turbidity increase to values > 1.0 in
the DSF. The execution of an IFD was sufficient to obtain values < 1.0
NTU in the DSF again in the following couple of hours. The career in the
DSF was closed with 12 h of operation when the leak fell to 0.84 m3/d.
Regarding the 120 m3/m2 d the filtration rate (Fig. 3-C), the tur-
bidity determined the final of the filtration career of the UGF in 7.5 h,
when turbidity removal decreased to values < 20% and increased
turbidity of DSF to values > 1.0 NTU, requiring IFD in the UGF. The
turbidity values of the final effluent after the DCF remained < 0.01
NTU. The effluent flow was seen to remain constant, except when
performing intermediate bottom discharges in the UGF.
The observations suggest that the 150 m3/m2 d rate decreases the
efficiency of the UGF by the transport of material present in the ef-
fluent, leading to the rapid obstruction of the DSF. At a filtration rate of
120 m3/m2 d with initial turbidity of 35.4 to 49.6 NTU, an
C.P. da Silva et al. Journal of Environmental Management 233 (2019) 76–82

UGF DSF DCF raw flow rate A

55
50
45 2.5
40

flow rate (m3/d)

turbidity (NTU)
35
30 2.0
25
20
15
1.5
10
5
0
-5 1.0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
time in hours

60 UGF DSF DCF raw flow rate

B
55
50 2.0
45
40

flow rate (m3/d)

turbidity (NTU)

35
30 1.5
25
20
15
1.0
10
5
0
-5 0.5
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
time in hours

UGF DSF DCF raw flow rate C

35

30 2.0

25
flow rate (m3/d)
turbidity (NTU)

20
1.5
15

10
1.0
5

-5 0.5
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
time in hours
(caption on next page)
80
C.P. da Silva et al. Journal of Environmental Management 233 (2019) 76–82

Fig. 3. Results of turbidity and effluent flow in the triple filtration system using 20 mg/L of ferric chloride. A: 150 m3/m2 d with initial turbidity from 32.4 to 49.1
NTU; B: 120 m3/m2 d with initial turbidity from 35.4 to 49.6 NTU; C: 120 m3/m2 d with initial turbidity from 19.3 to 29.8 NTU; UGF: Upward Gravel Filter; DSF:
Downward Sand Filter; DCF: Downward Charcoal Filter; Δ: Intermediate Fund Discharge from UGF; ×: washing the DSF.

Table 4
Results obtained in anaerobic reactor effluent with a filtration rate reduction.
Free chlorine PAA Raw

0.8 1.6 4 8

COD (mg/L) < 1.0 < 1.0 8.4 ± 1.7 9.6 ± 0.6 176.5 ± 23.3
BOD (mg O2/L) < 1.0 < 1.0 1.7 ± 0.2 2.1 ± 0.3 80.5 ± 7.9
TOC (mg/L) 1.4 ± 0.01c 1.1 ± 0.8c 5.8 ± 0.5b 9.7 ± 0.15a 66.18 ± 4.03
LAS (mg/L) < 0.1 < 0.1 < 0.1 < 0.1 14.0 ± 1.4
Turbidity (NTU) 0.45 ± 0.01a 0.35 ± 0.03a 0.31 ± 0.01a 0.29 ± 0.02a 38.2 ± 2.6
Color (C.U) < 1.0 < 1.0 < 1.0 < 1.0 385 ± 63.14
TSS (mg/L) < 1.0 < 1.0 < 1.0 < 1.0 90.5 ± 7.9
Free chlorine 0.5 ± 0.1 1.1 ± 0.3 < 0.1 < 0.1 < 0.1
TP (mg/L) < 0.5 < 0.5 < 0.5 < 0.5 6.4 ± 0.3
AN (mg/L) 41.5 ± 2.1a 39.5 ± 2.2a 38.5 ± 0.7a 35.5 ± 0.7a 55.0 ± 4.2
Nitrite (mg/L) < 0.01 < 0.01 < 0.01 < 0.01 0.03 ± 0.01
Nitrate (mg/L) < 0.01 < 0.01 < 0.01 < 0.01 0.82 ± 0.04
TN (mg/L) 56.0 ± 1.0a 56.5 ± 8.5a 58.0 ± 12.0a 55.5 ± 3.5a 87.5 ± 11.5
E. coli (CFU/100 ml) ND ND ND ND 6.36 ± 5.75
T.C (CFU/100 ml) ND ND ND ND 6.63 ± 6.18

Parameters with the same superscript letter did not differ statistically. Values for E. coli and T.C presented in logarithm. ND: not detected. AN: Ammonia Nitrogen;
TN: Total Nitrogen; TP: Total Phosphorus; T.C: total coliforms. Filtration rate 120 m3/m2 d and 20 mg/L ferric chloride. (Mean ± SD, n = 3).

improvement of approximately 37% in the filtration career time was
verified in relation to the 150 m3/m2 d rate. This indicates that the
lower filtration rate decreased the drag of flocculated material in the
settler and the UGF. For a filtration rate of 120 m3/m2 d with initial
turbidity from 19.3 to 29.8 NTU, an improvement of approximately
46.6% in the filtration run time was verified in relation to the 120 m3/
m2 d turbidity rate with initial turbidity from 35.4 to 49.6 NTU. This
can be explained by the fact that effluents with higher turbidity present
higher content of suspended solids, which would require a higher
concentration of ferric chloride in the coagulation.
3.4. Evaluation of the filtration rate reduction
The physicochemical and microbiological results of the treatments
with reduction in the filtration rate are presented in Table 4.
Reduction in the filtration rate enabled the improvement of the COD
removal to values < 1.0 mg/L using free chlorine and values <
10 mg/L when PAA used. The same trend was seen when the TOC
values were compared, with values < 1.5 mg/L for the free chlorine
treatments and values < 10 mg/L for treatments with PAA.
LAS, turbidity, color and total suspended solid values were < 0.1
mg/L, < 1.0 NTU, < 1.0 C.U and < 1.0 mg/L, respectively. This in-
dicates improvement in the removal of dissolved and suspended ma-
terials. The free chlorine residuals values determined after oxidations
were 0.5 and 1.1 considering, respectively, the initial values 0.8 and
1.6 mg/L, after a 30-min minimum contact time, which ensured the
inactivation of pathogenic microorganisms.
Regarding the removal of phosphorus, nitrite and nitrate, 100%
removal could be verified when a quantification limit of 0.5, 0.01 and
0.01 mg/L was considered, respectively. For the ammonia nitrogen, the
removal observed ranged between 24.5 and 35.4%. Ammonia can
oxidized to chloramines (Pressley et al., 1972). However, chloramine
can be oxidized by chlorine under slightly alkaline conditions in ni-
trogen gas. In addition, other end products such as nitrate and nitrogen
trichloramine may be formed during the disinfection process using a
strong oxidizing agent such as chlorine or PAA (Cavallini et al., 2016;
Mitch and Sedlak, 2002; Pressley et al., 1972; Shah et al., 2015). For the
total nitrogen, the removal observed ranged between 21.2 and 24.1%.
For the total nitrogen, a pattern of oxidation is observed. The
chlorination process rapidly oxidizes ammonia. Nitrogen from simple
and unsubstituted amino acids is oxidized more slowly. Protein ni-
trogen has an insignificant loss, even after prolonged periods of chlor-
ination (Pressley et al., 1972). Inorganic nitrogen compounds have no
significant effect on PAA decay by oxidation. As for organic nitrogen
compounds, only proteins significantly affect the demand of PAA
(Domínguez Henao et al., 2018). In a summarized way, possibly the
removal of organic nitrogen occurred during the coagulation and fil-
tration process. For the removal of ammonia nitrogen, the oxidation
process is expected to be the most relevant.
The 120 m3/m2 d filtration rate resulted in a better quality effluent
when compared to the 150 m3/m2 d rate, since it decreased the organic
matter dragging in the form of solids between the filter particles, as can
be observed by comparing the results of COD, BOD and TOC in Tables 3
and 4.
The post-treatment using gravel, sand and activated charcoal fil-
tration was shown to be a promising alternative to the treatment of
anaerobic reactor effluent. The results obtained meet all the parameters
set forth in the reuse handbook US.EPA (2012) for urban reuse, re-
stricted/non restricted damming, creation and maintenance of wet-
lands, industrial and agricultural reuse. They also partially meet the
requirements for reuse as drinking water, due to the restriction of
drinking water quality parameters that were not evaluated in this study.
The results presented pointed out that the use of activated charcoal
contributed to the improvement in the removal of all parameters ana-
lyzed in relation to similar studies. In addition, the system proposed
produced an effluent with reuse qualities, employing reduced con-
centrations of ferric chloride (20 mg/L). These results represent sig-
nificant advances in treatment of anaerobic reactor effluent, when
compared to similar studies of sand slow filtration carried out by Tyagi
et al. (2009) and double filtration proposed by Cavallini et al. (2016)
which only obtained suitable conditions for agricultural reuse.
4. Conclusion
The results showed that triple filtration can become an alternative
to the post-treatment of anaerobic reactor effluent. The activated
charcoal filter contributed efficiently to the reduction in the ferric
chloride dose, in addition to improving the removal of physicochemical

81
C.P. da Silva et al.
parameters when compared to similar studies. The study obtained a
treated effluent for reuse with 20 mg/L ferric chloride, which resulted
in lower reagent consumption. The post-oxidation-disinfection process
using free chlorine and paracetic acid enabled higher efficiency in E.
coli and total coliform inactivation, since chlorine addition is a re-
quirement in several reuse guidelines. The 120 m3/m2 d filtration rate
improved the quality of physicochemical parameters, besides reducing
the consumption of water to wash the filters. The anaerobic reactor
effluent post-treatment through triple filtration resulted in an effluent
that meets the requirements of urban, damming, creation and main-
tenance of wetlands, industrial and agricultural reuses.
Acknowledgements
To the Companhia de Saneamento do Paraná (SANEPAR) for pro-
viding physical space and support to the development of the study.
References
Acero, J.L., Benitez, F.J., Real, F.J., Roldan, G., 2010. Kinetics of aqueous chlorination of some
pharmaceuticals and their elimination from water matrices. Water Res. https://doi.org/10.
1016/j.watres.2010.05.012.
Aguiar, A., Ferraz, A., Contreras, D., Rodríguez, J., 2007. Mecanismo e aplicações da reação de
fenton assistida por compostos fenólicos redutores de ferro. Quim. Nova 30, 623–628.
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0100-40422007000300023.
Altmann, J., Rehfeld, D., Träder, K., Sperlich, A., Jekel, M., 2016. Combination of granular
activated carbon adsorption and deep-bed filtration as a single advanced wastewater
treatment step for organic micropollutant and phosphorus removal. Water Res. 92,
131–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2016.01.051.
Altmann, J., Sperlich, A., Jekel, M., 2015. Integrating organic micropollutant removal into
tertiary filtration: combining PAC adsorption with advanced phosphorus removal. Water
Res. 84, 58–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2015.07.023.
APHA, 2005. Standards Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, twenty-first ed.
(Washington).
Asthana, M., Kumar, A., Sharma, B.S., 2017. Wastewater treatment. In: Singh, R.L. (Ed.),
Principles and Applications of Environmental Biotechnology for a Sustainable Future.
Springer Singapore, Singapore, pp. 173–232. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1866-
4_6.
Authman, M.M., Zaki, M.S., Khallaf, E.A., Abbas, H.H., 2015. Use of fish as bio-indicator of the
effects of heavy metals pollution. J. Aquacult. Res. Dev. 06. https://doi.org/10.4172/2155-
9546.1000328.
Bansode, R.R., Losso, J.N., Marshall, W.E., Rao, R.M., Portier, R.J., 2004. Pecan shell-based
granular activated carbon for treatment of chemical oxygen demand (COD) in municipal
wastewater. Bioresour. Technol. 94, 129–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2003.
12.009.
Buuren, J.C.L. van, Willers, H., Luyten, L., Manen, M. van, 1986. The pathogen removal from
UASB-effluent by intermittent slow sand filtration. AQUATEC 86, 707–710.
Cavallini, G.S., de Campos, S.X., de Souza, J.B., de Sousa Vidal, C.M., 2013. Evaluation of the
physical–chemical characteristics of wastewater after disinfection with peracetic acid.
Water, Air, Soil Pollut. 224, 1752. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-013-1752-5.
Cavallini, G.S., de Sousa Vidal, C.M., de Souza, J.B., de Campos, S.X., 2016. Post-treatment of
anaerobic reactor effluent using coagulation/oxidation followed by double filtration.
Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 23, 6244–6252. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5836-1.
De Gisi, S., Lofrano, G., Grassi, M., Notarnicola, M., 2016. Characteristics and adsorption ca-
pacities of low-cost sorbents for wastewater treatment: a review. Sustain. Mater. Technol.
9, 10–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.susmat.2016.06.002.
De Lima, L.S., Quinaia, S.P., Yanarico, V.N.O., 2017. Recovery and reuse of activated carbon
and diatomaceous earth used in purification processes of syrups. Rev. Virtual Quim. 9,
1853–1867. https://doi.org/10.21577/1984-6835.20170109.
Domínguez Henao, L., Delli Compagni, R., Turolla, A., Antonelli, M., 2018. Influence of in-
organic and organic compounds on the decay of peracetic acid in wastewater disinfection.
Chem. Eng. J. 337, 133–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2017.12.074.
Duan, X., Sanan, T., De La Cruz, A., He, X., Kong, M., Dionysiou, D.D., 2018. Susceptibility of
the algal toxin microcystin-LR to UV/chlorine process: comparison with chlorination.
Environ. Sci. Technol. 52, 8252–8262. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.8b00034.
El-Naas, M.H., Al-Zuhair, S., Alhaija, M.A., 2010. Reduction of COD in refinery wastewater
through adsorption on date-pit activated carbon. J. Hazard. Mater. 173, 750–757. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2009.09.002.
El-Rehaili, A.M., 1995. Response of BOD, COD and TOC of secondary effluents to chlorination.
Water Res. 29, 1571–1577. https://doi.org/10.1016/0043-1354(94)00234-X.
Feliziani, E., Lichter, A., Smilanick, J.L., Ippolito, A., 2016. Disinfecting agents for controlling
fruit and vegetable diseases after harvest. Postharvest Biol. Technol. 122, 53–69. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.postharvbio.2016.04.016.
Gar Alalm, M., Nasr, M., 2018. Artificial intelligence, regression model, and cost estimation for
removal of chlorothalonil pesticide by activated carbon prepared from casuarina charcoal.
Sustain. Environ. Res. 28, 101–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.serj.2018.01.003.
Hunter, R.G., Day, J.W., Lane, R.R., Shaffer, G.P., Day, J.N., Conner, W.H., Rybczyk, J.M.,
Mistich, J.A., Ko, J.-Y., 2018. Using natural wetlands for municipal effluent assimilation: a
half-century of experience for the Mississippi river delta and surrounding environs BT -
82
Journal of Environmental Management 233 (2019) 76–82
multifunctional wetlands: pollution abatement and other ecological services from natural
and constructed. In: Nagabhatla, N., Metcalfe, C.D. (Eds.), Multifunctional Wetlands.
Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp. 15–81. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-
67416-2_2.
Keeley, J., Smith, A.D., Judd, S.J., Jarvis, P., 2016. Acidified and ultrafiltered recovered coa-
gulants from water treatment works sludge for removal of phosphorus from wastewater.
Water Res. 88, 380–388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2015.10.039.
Khan, A.A., Gaur, R.Z., Kazmi, A.A., Lew, B., 2013. Sustainable Post Treatment Options of
Anaerobic Effluent, Biodegradation - Engineering and Technology. InTech 10.5772-
5256097.
Kitis, M., 2004. Disinfection of wastewater with peracetic acid: a review. Environ. Int. https://
doi.org/10.1016/S0160-4120(03)00147-8.
Kolb, M., Bahadir, M., Teichgräber, B., 2017. Determination of chemical oxygen demand (COD)
using an alternative wet chemical method free of mercury and dichromate. Water Res. 122,
645–654. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2017.06.034.
Laaksonen, P., Sinkkonen, A., Zaitsev, G., Mäkinen, E., Grönroos, T., Romantschuk, M., 2017.
Treatment of municipal wastewater in full-scale on-site sand filter reduces BOD efficiently
but does not reach requirements for nitrogen and phosphorus removal. Environ. Sci. Pollut.
Res. 24, 11446–11458. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8779-x.
Lee, D.-J., Hallenbeck, P.C., Ngo, H.H., Jegatheesan, V., Pandey, A. (Eds.), 2016. Current
Developments in Biotechnology and Bioengineering: Biological Treatment of Industrial
Effluents, 1st Ed, Current Developments in Biotechnology and Bioengineering: Biological
Treatment of Industrial Effluents. Elsevier.
Lima, L.S., Araujo, M.D.M., Quináia, S.P., Migliorine, D.W., Garcia, J.R., 2011. Adsorption
modeling of Cr, Cd and Cu on activated carbon of different origins by using fractional
factorial design. Chem. Eng. J. 166, 881–889. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2010.11.062.
Macías-García, A., Corzo, M.G., Domínguez, M.A., Franco, M.A., Naharro, J.M., 2017. Study of
the adsorption and electroadsorption process of Cu (II) ions within thermally and chemi-
cally modified activated carbon. J. Hazard. Mater. 328, 46–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
jhazmat.2016.11.036.
Mcfadden, M., Loconsole, J., Schockling, A.J., Nerenberg, R., Pavissich, J.P., 2017. Science of
the Total Environment Comparing peracetic acid and hypochlorite for disinfection of
combined sewer over fl ows : effects of suspended-solids and pH. Sci. Total Environ.
599–600, 533–539. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.04.179.
Meda, A., Cornel, P., 2010. Aerated biofilter with seasonally varied operation modes for the
production of irrigation water. Water Sci. Technol. 61, 1173–1181. https://doi.org/10.
2166/wst.2010.059.
Metcalf, L., Eddy, H.P. (Eds.), 2013. Tratamento de Efluentes e Recuperação de Recursos, fifth
ed. McGraw Hill Brasil, Porto Alegre.
Mitch, W.A., Sedlak, D.L., 2002. Formation of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) from di-
methylamine during chlorination. Environ. Sci. Technol. https://doi.org/10.1021/
es010684q.
Mor, S., Chhoden, K., Negi, P., Ravindra, K., 2017. Utilization of nano-alumina and activated
charcoal for phosphate removal from wastewater. Environ. Nanotechnol. Monit. Manag. 7,
15–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enmm.2016.11.006.
Norton-Brandão, D., Scherrenberg, S.M., van Lier, J.B., 2013. Reclamation of used urban waters
for irrigation purposes - a review of treatment technologies. J. Environ. Manag. 122, 85–98.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2013.03.012.
Ölmez, H., Kretzschmar, U., 2009. Potential alternative disinfection methods for organic fresh-
cut industry for minimizing water consumption and environmental impact. Food Sci.
Technol. 42, 686–693. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2008.08.001.
Pressley, T.A., Bishop, D.F., Roan, S.G., 1972. Ammonia-nitrogen removal by breakpoint
chlorination. Environ. Sci. Technol. 6, 622–628. https://doi.org/10.1021/es60066a006.
Remucal, C.K., Manley, D., 2016. Emerging investigators series: the efficacy of chlorine pho-
tolysis as an advanced oxidation process for drinking water treatment. Environ. Sci. Water
Res. Technol. 2, 565–579. https://doi.org/10.1039/c6ew00029k.
Shah, A.D., Liu, Z.Q., Salhi, E., Höfer, T., Werschkun, B., Von Gunten, U., 2015. Formation of
disinfection by-products during ballast water treatment with ozone, chlorine, and peracetic
acid: influence of water quality parameters. Environ. Sci. Water Res. Technol. 1, 465–480.
https://doi.org/10.1039/c5ew00061k.
Tyagi, V.K., Khan, A.A., Kazmi, A. a., Mehrotra, I., Chopra, A.K., 2009. Slow sand filtration of
UASB reactor effluent: a promising post treatment technique. Desalination 249, 571–576.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2008.12.049.
Tyagi, V.K., Khan, A.A., Kazmi, A.A., Chopra, A.K., 2010. Enhancement of coagulation floc-
culation process using anionic polymer for the post treatment of UASB reactor effluent.
Separ. Sci. Technol. 45, 626–634. https://doi.org/10.1080/01496390903566762.
US.EPA, 2012. Guidelines for Water Reuse- EPA/600/R-12/618. https://www3.epa.gov/
region1/npdes/merrimackstation/pdfs/ar/AR-1530.pdf, Accessed date: 15 November
2018.
Üstün, G.E., Solmaz, S.K.A., Çiner, F., Bažkaya, H.S., 2011. Tertiary treatment of a secondary
effluent by the coupling of coagulation-flocculation-disinfection for irrigation reuse.
Desalination 277, 207–212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2011.04.032.
Voltan, P.E.N., Dantas, A.D.B., Paschoalato, C.F.R., Di Bernardo, L., 2016. Prediction of gran-
ular activated carbon performance in removing herbicides with rapid small-scale column
tests. Eng. Sanitária Ambient. 21, 241–250. https://doi.org/10.1590/s1413-
41522016138649.
WWAP, 2017. The United Nations World Water Development Report 2017. Wastewater: the
Untapped Resource., the United Nations World Water Development Report. The Untapped
Resource, Wastewater Paris.
Zanoletti, A., Federici, S., Borgese, L., Bergese, P., Ferroni, M., Depero, L.E., Bontempi, E., 2017.
Embodied energy as key parameter for sustainable materials selection: the case of reusing
coal fly ash for removing anionic surfactants. J. Clean. Prod. 141, 230–236. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.09.070.
Zipf, M.S., Pinheiro, I.G., Conegero, M.G., 2016. Simplified greywater treatment systems: slow
filters of sand and slate waste followed by granular activated carbon. J. Environ. Manag.
176, 119–127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.03.035.