The Impact of the Top 3 Strategic Imperatives on the Emerging Contaminants Treatment Industry

Innovative Business Model

• Why: Municipal authorities in several developing markets have been selling nutrient-rich sludge and digestate waste, which acts as a good fertilizer, to farmers. However, the nutrient-rich sludge and digestate waste contain toxic emerging contaminants that will slowly accumulate in the environment and enter the food value chain.
• Frost Perspective: Various innovative business models have emerged, including decentralized and cost-effective chemical and bioremediation-based wastewater and sludge management processes to remove emerging contaminants. The decentralized systems will enable the municipal authorities to reduce the sludge disposal and other maintenance expenditures significantly. The system will also allow authorities to generate additional revenue by selling soil amendments.

Disruptive Technologies

• Why: Conventional technologies using incineration and activated carbon filtration (granular and powdered activated carbon [PAC]) result in the ineffective removal of emerging contaminants from wastewater influent. This inefficiency necessitates integrating additional pre- and post-treatment processes, increasing capital and operational expenditures associated with wastewater treatment.
• Frost Perspective: The industry has seen technical advancements in using foam fractionation (FF), non-thermal plasma (NTP), ion-exchange (IX) treatment, and other bio-based remediation techniques to effectively remove emerging contaminants from wastewater by integrating them into wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). These processes ensure efficient characteristics remain valid within the maximum permissible limits and aid plant operators in enhancing the water management value chain. The processes mitigate harmful chemicals entering the environment, impacting the negative impacts on human health and the environment.

Transformative Mega Trends

• Why: Innovating to Zero, health wellness and well-being, and the future of energy are transformative Mega Trends associated with the water management value chain. The plant operators must upgrade the wastewater treatment processes to enable risk-free discharge of effluents into water bodies.
• Frost Perspective: Integrating advanced treatment technologies such as FF and electro-oxidation or electrokinetic remediation (EKR) with phytoremediation ensures significant removal of recalcitrant pollutants and other emerging contaminants from treated effluents, enabling Innovation to Zero. The effective removal of heavy metals, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) compounds, and other emerging contaminants significantly reduces the accumulation of toxic and carcinogenic compounds in the water value chain, enhancing health and wellness.

Scope of Analysis

• The existing large-scale water treatment, municipal, and common effluent WWTPs use outdated and ineffective treatment processes to remove recalcitrant contaminants from the treated effluents. These WWTPs face scrutiny owing to the non-adherence to regulatory wastewater guidelines as many heavy metals, recalcitrant contaminants, and other persistent organic pollutants (POPs) go into the water bodies and groundwater. Hence, installing efficient wastewater treatment technologies to remove toxic contaminants while complying with stringent guidelines has a lot of scope.
• Using advanced wastewater treatment technologies such as FF, NTP, catalytic ozonation, IX, and bioremediation processes for efficient separation and degradation of toxic contaminants and minimizing the negative impact on the environment and human health is important.

Segmentation

This research analyzes the technologies required for removing POPs, heavy metals, and other emerging contaminants that conventional treatment methods in industrial and municipal WWTPs do not treat effectively. The study identifies treatment technologies for removing contaminants within large-scale WWTPs in all regions while enabling the treatment plant operators to comply with stringent discharge guidelines.

Processes such as adsorption and membrane filtration are seeing extensive usage as part of physical technologies to remove/separate POPs and other emerging contaminants from wastewater. However, chemical and biological methods can degrade POPs into less toxic waste.

Treatment Technologies for POPs and Other Recalcitrant Contaminants

Separation & Degradation

Physical

• FF
• Gamma Ray Irradiation
• Plasma Technology
• EKR
• Electro-oxidation

Chemical

• Photocatalysis
• UV-ozone
• Supercritical Treatment
• Catalytic Ozonation
• IX

Biological

• Bioremediation
• Mycoremediation
• Phytoremediation

Growth Drivers

Harmful Effects on Human Health:

Continuous accumulation of toxic pollutants such as PFAS in the water that humans consume increases the occurrence of several waterborne diseases, cancer, thyroid, cholesterol, hypertension, hormone imbalance, and other health-related problems.

Stringent Regulatory Guidelines:

Various government regulatory bodies impose stringent guidelines to meet the prescribed water quality discharge criteria. Compliance with stringent regulations mandates the use of advanced wastewater treatment technologies to remove toxic pollutants from the effluent.

Increasing Water Pollution:

The growing population and rapid industrialization have resulted in the generation and disposal of wastewater with substantial amounts of toxic pollutants, including pharmaceuticals, pesticides, synthetic dyes, and chemicals, into the surrounding water bodies. This increases the presence of POPs, heavy metals, and other emerging contaminants detrimental to marine ecosystems.

Growth Restraints

High Capital Expenditure: Commissioning large-scale advanced technologies for municipal and wastewater treatment technologies to efficiently remove POPs and other recalcitrant contaminants requires significant initial investment owing to complex equipment utilization. Installation of such technologies in small-scale industries is economically non-viable. Moreover, operational and maintenance expenditures are high, as they involve energy consumption, catalyst replacement, and schedule maintenance.

Lack of Awareness: Several municipal and industrial WWTP operators are unaware of the effectiveness of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) and electrochemical technologies in removing POPs and other toxic contaminants. Remote communities and small-scale industries are likelier to use ineffective bio-based treatment technologies to treat specific contaminants. Thus, POPs and other toxic contaminants predominantly go untreated, resulting in lower water quality of the treated effluent.