Testing the removal of micropollutants begins at the Aartselaar sewage treatment plant!

For the past three weeks, the wastewater has been even cleaner than before: pharmaceutical residues have been removed.

As a subsequent step in the wastewater treatment process, we are spending the coming year testing the removal of organic micropollutants—including pharmaceutical residues—at Aquafin NV. This is being done using a combination of ozonation (O3) and Biological Granular Activated Carbon (BGAC) to evaluate the effectiveness of removing these harmful substances from the effluent.

The pilot setup is part of the Interreg Flanders-Netherlands project "Schone Waterlopen door O3G" (Clean Waterways through O3G), in which a consortium of partners from the Netherlands and Flanders is jointly researching the removal of pharmaceutical residues from wastewater. Over the course of the year, we will measure the efficiency of pharmaceutical residue removal under various process conditions.