IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute

In 2015 the municipality of Simrishamn, together with IVL decided to start a project for the design, implementation and evaluation of a full-scale plant for removal of micropollutants such as pharmaceuticals and hormone disturbing substances. This ambition came true within a VINNOVA funded programme, Challenge Driven Innovation and by a decision made by the City council for the investment in a full-scale demonstration plant. As the region, including Simrishamn municipality, have been facing water shortage in recent years, it was decided to also evaluate the possibility to reuse the treated water by infiltration to the ground water. For this, an advanced treatment was added to the existing wastewater treatment plant (WWTP).

The evaluation of the implemented three parallel advanced treatment systems consisting of only activated carbon (GAC), ozonation combined with sand filter, and ozonation combined with activated carbon clearly shows an added removal effect for pharmaceuticals but also other pollutants.

Evaluation of the reusability of the treated water also showed positive results. The removal of pharmaceuticals, endocrine disrupting substances and antibiotics was almost 100 % and indicates that the water could be reused, e.g. by recharging to the groundwater.

Simrishamns kommun har tillsammans med IVL utformat, uppfört och utvärderat en fullskalig anläggning för avlägsnande av mikroföroreningar som exempelvis läkemedel och hormonstörande ämnen från kommunalt avloppsvatten. Utvärderingen av de tre parallella avancerade behandlingsystemen visar en extra rening av läkemedel men också andra föroreningar. Dessutom visade utvärderingen att det behandlade vattnet genom mikrofiltrering och ozonering följt av ett mikrobiologiskt filter resulterar i ett återvinningsbart vatten om det kompletteras med desinfektion. Den här rapporten finns endast på engelska.