Multicriteria Comparison of Ozonation, Membrane Filtration, and Activated Carbon for the Treatment of Recalcitrant Organics in Industrial Effluent: A Conceptual Study

Urban wastewater and industrial effluents are treated by conventional technologies according to their biological or physicochemical properties. Yet new approaches to waste treatment are needed due to the problems associated with micropollutants (phenolic compounds, organochlorines and organofluorines, antibiotics, etc.) present in surface water. Some of these contaminants are refractory to commonly used wastewater treatments, and could have long-term impacts on the environment and on human health. Efficient waste treatments are needed to tackle this issue without adversely affecting the cost-effective environmental balance. This study aimed to define a strategy to choose the best waste treatment process based on the nature of the wastewater and the treatment objectives. A customizable methodology was devised to analyze and compare three different technologies (ozonation, membrane filtration, and activated carbon adsorption) to choose the best treatment strategy based on environmental, technical, and economic criteria. These various criteria were compiled by weighting and rating them to generate a scoring table of the overall performance of the technologies in question. A conceptual study was then performed to test the methodology designed for the treatment of an industrial effluent. The results show that activated carbon adsorption yielded the best results when the spent carbon was reactivated. Membrane filtration resulted in a good water quality that, when reused, improved its score. Based on these results, a decision tree was devised to determine the best strategy for the treatment of organic pollutants in order to reach reuse or discharge objectives. Highlights Advance treatments are efficient at treating recalcitrant organics. A multicriteria approach was devised. Optimization of these treatments is needed to limit environmental issues. GAC with reactivation of the carbon resulted in the best process performance. Internal water reuse increases the overall performance of a process.