Recent studies of the aquatic environment have revealed the presence of drugs in sewage treatment plant effluents, treated wastewater and surface water, which means incomplete metabolism of drugs in the human body. These substances, both in unchanged form and in the form of biologically active forms, are present in the environment and affect living organisms. Most pharmaceuticals are characterized by a stable chemical structure, and it is not possible to remove them by conventional methods used in wastewater treatment plants. Thus, the danger of accumulation of drugs over many years appears to be real. Chemical methods are required for their removal from the environment. Methods based on ad valorem oxidation processes (AOPs) utilize free hydroxyl radicals that react non-selectively with many organic substances due to their high normal potential. AOPs include chemical and photochemical oxidation processes, such as ozone and hydrogen peroxide oxidation, photochemical dissociation by ultraviolet radiation, Fenton reactions (hydrogen peroxide - divalent iron ion system) and photochemical Fenton reaction, as well as combinations and modifications of these processes.
Activated sludge-based wastewater treatment is known to be one of the most effective and popular methods of wastewater treatment. Activated sludge, which is a mixture of microorganisms, is an excellent material for research both in the field of microbiology and technology, which allows finding a way to efficiently utilize various chemicals. This study investigates temporal changes in the microbial community on the membranes of bioreactor bioreactors of wastewater treatment plants whose wastewater contains large amounts of ammonia nitrogen. Knowledge of species composition and its variability over time in response to environmental factors is important from both microbial ecology and technological perspectives. The aim of this study was to compare the composition of the activated sludge community at two different sludge ages. The analysis was performed to assess the abundance of the main species and the structure of the bacterial community, mainly using ammonia- and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria as examples. The aim of the short report is to familiarize the reader with the problems of increasing loads of nitrogen compounds due to various anthropogenic activities. It is clear that protecting our water resources is of great importance on a global scale.
