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Tackling micropollutant removal in wastewater treatment plants - Integrating impacts on recipients

Type of project

M.Sc.

Contact

Fabio Polesel (fapo@dhigroup.com)

Topic

Municipal wastewater contains a multitude of micropollutants (MPs), e.g., pharmaceuticals, PFAS, pesticides, that can pose risk to water environments.

The recent approval of the new EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (EU UWWTD) has introduced stringent requirements for the removal of MPs through upgrade and retrofitting of existing treatment facilities. These requirements are defined for a small set of target substances, and do not take into account the impact on recipients.

The goals of this thesis projects are:

(i) to collect existing information and data on MP removal by existing advanced treatment technologies (ozonation, activated carbon)

(ii) simulate and predict removal of a larger set of MPs (beyond those defined in the EU UWWD)

(iii) predict improvements in the environmental quality of recipients as a result of the implementation of advanced treatment technologies

Relevance to DHI

This project is closely aligned with the ongoing work at DHI on “Digital Twins for the Water Environment” (2025-2028 research contract), focusing on novel approaches for predicting and reducing impacts from wastewater discharges in water recipients.

What is the student's contribution

  • Review existing literature and collect data on state-of-the-art advanced treatment technologies (ozonation, activated carbon) and the removal of MPs
  • Calibrate mechanistic models for advanced treatment technologies in the software WEST for a defined set of MPs
  • Implement models in the software WEST that describe the removal of MPs in recipients (e.g., rivers)
  • Integrate advanced treatment and recipient models to assess the impact of EU UWWT directive on recipient quality