A completely biological method for removing a first group of micropollutants of pharmaceutical origin and a second group of micropollutants of pharmaceutical origin from raw wastewater includes: providing a first buffer tank upstream of a bioreactor; providing a moving bed membrane bioreactor (MB-MBR) for developing biomass growth both on a fixed support and in suspension in a form of flocs, and on mobile supports, the bioreactor obtaining an effluent with a COD concentration of organic matter of less than 50 mg l.sup.−1 and a total nitrogen concentration of less than 15 mg l.sup.−1; providing a biofiltration tank, separate from the first buffer tank of the bioreactor, that includes one or more biologically activated carbon (BAC) columns containing activated carbon; supplying the first buffer tank upstream of the bioreactor with raw wastewater containing micropollutants of pharmaceutical origin; pretreating the wastewater by passing the wastewater through a fine mesh sieve.

The present invention provides systems and methods for treating liquids including contaminant molecules dispersed therein by combining physical treatment, biological treatment and/or chemical treatment.

A system for treating pharmaceutical waste at a location at which the pharmaceutical waste is disposed includes a waste conduit having an inlet that is configured to receive the pharmaceutical waste, a diluent conduit fluidly coupled to the waste conduit and configured to discharge water into the waste conduit, a first reagent conduit fluidly coupled to the waste conduit and configured to dispense a first reagent into the waste conduit, and a second reagent conduit fluidly coupled to the waste conduit and configured to discharge a second reagent into the waste conduit. In some embodiments, the waste conduit further comprises an outlet disposed downstream from the second reagent conduit. The waste conduit may be free of waste-receiving vessels between the inlet and the outlet.

A process for obtaining a coagulant of natural origin based on tannins from the polymerization of Acacia mearnsii extract, monoethanolamine, and formaldehyde is characterized by its metal-free properties and an active material content of 28 to 32% by weight obtained from the polymerisation of an Acacia mearnsii extract, an amino compound and an aldehyde. The product obtained is a highly efficient coagulant for the purification of wastewater and drinking water.

A liquid treatment apparatus constituted of: a vessel arranged to contain liquid; at least one first electrode in contact with the liquid; at least one second electrode in contact with the liquid; an electrical pulse generator, a first polarity output of the electrical pulse generator coupled to each of the first electrodes and a second polarity output of the electrical pulse generator coupled to each of the second electrodes, the first polarity opposing the second polarity; at least one third electrode disposed in the liquid in the vessel, and a mechanical force generator arranged to provide a predetermined mechanical force along a predetermined path within the liquid, a portion of the mechanical force applied to the least one third electrode so as to chaotically interrupt a conducting pathway formed by the at least one third electrode between a pair of the first and second electrodes.

A plant for the treatment of medicinal waste including at least one reaction cell suitable for containing at least one liquid or liquid-diluted medicinal waste material; a heating system suitable for uniformly heating at least one portion of the outer surface of the reaction cell; and one device for controlling the pressure and temperature of the reaction cell, connected to the heating system.

A process for the primary clarification of feeds, including chemically treated flocculated feeds, containing the target biomolecules of interest such as mAbs, mammalian cell cultures, or bacterial cell cultures, using a primary clarification depth filtration device without the use of a primary clarification centrifugation step or a primary clarification tangential flow microfiltration step. The primary clarification depth filtration device contains a porous depth filter having graded porous layers of varying pore ratings. The primary clarification depth filtration device filters fluid feeds, including chemically treated flocculated feeds containing flocculated cellular debris and colloidal particulates having a particle size distribution of approximately about 0.5 m to 200 m, at a flow rate of about 10 litres/m.sup.2/hr to about 100 litres/m.sup.2/hr. Kits and methods of using and making the same are also provided.

Various aspects described herein relate to electrochemical devices, e.g., for separation of one or more target organic or inorganic molecules (e.g., charged or neutral molecules) from solution, and methods of using the same. In particular embodiments, the electrochemical devices and methods described herein involve at least one redox-functionalized electrode, wherein the electrode comprises an immobilized redox-species that is selective toward a target molecule (e.g., charged molecule such as ion or netural molecule). The selectivity is based on a Faradaic/redox-activated chemical interaction (e.g., directional hydrogen binding) between the oxidized state of the redox species and a moiety of the target molecule (e.g., charged molecule such as ion or netural molecule).

The present invention provides a magnetic Fe.sub.2O.sub.3 nanosphere with PNH surface modification and application thereof in water treatment. First, 2,2-bipyridyl-5,5-dicarboxylic acid is reacted with thionyl chloride to obtain 2,2-bipyridyl-5,5-diacid chloride; then 2,2-bipyridyl-5,5-diacid chloride and 1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane react in the presence of triethylamine to obtain a polynitrogen heterocyclic polymer; the polynitrogen heterocyclic polymer is added into an aqueous solution with iron salt to obtain a magnetic Fe.sub.2O.sub.3 nanosphere with PNH surface modification which has strong light absorption ability, which improves its ability to catalyze in degradation of tetracycline under visible light, so that the pollutants are removed from water.

A catalyst including an amorphous matrix of a metallic glass including iron and phosphorous; wherein when the catalyst performs a catalytic reaction with a reactant, the metallic glass catalyst activates at least some of the reactant, and at least a portion of the catalyst at a surface of the metallic glass matrix transforms to a surface layer including a material property different from that of the metallic glass matrix being covered by the surface layer; and wherein the surface layer is arranged to maintain an amorphous structure of the metallic glass matrix and to facilitate the catalytic reaction to occur at the surface layer.