Vatten- och energiförbrukning är ett av mänsklighetens största nuvarande och framtida problem då världens vattenkonsumtion ständigt ökar på grund av bättre levnadsstandard samt ständigt ökande population och industrialisering. Förorenat vatten orsakar sjukdomar, sänkt livstid, reducerad sanitet och försämrad hälsa. Att rena vatten på ett energi- och miljöeffektivt sätt så att det kan återanvändas är därför ett måste för en hållbar framtid. En undersökning av koaguleringsförmågan för ett antal utvalda organiska föreningar via elektrokoagulation har utförts hos företaget Axolot Solutions AB. Axolot Solutions AB är ett företag som arbetar med rening av industriella vatten med elektrokemiska metoder, framförallt elektrokoagulation. De organiska föreningar som undersökts har delats in i grupperna sockerarter (maltos, raffinos, glukos samt laktos), organiska syror (myrsyra, citronsyra, hexansyra, smörsyra, oktansyra), alkoholer (1-propanol, 2-propanol), fettsyror (lecitin) och övriga (formaldehyd, vanillin, nonylfenol, α-pinen). Även ett industriellt vatten från en barkavvattningsprocess har undersökts samt modellvatten av ämnena xylan och lignin som kan hittas i barkvatten. Reningsförmågan av processen har undersökts genom att mäta COD halter före och efter behandling med ett kontinuerligt elektrokoagulationssystem. Varje förening har undersökts vid fyra olika initial pH: 4, 6, 7,5 och 9 och dessutom såväl järnanod och aluminiumanod testats. Även olika strömstyrkor har undersökts för ett par av de organiska föreningarna. Resultaten visar ingen COD reduktion för vatten innehållande xylan, sockerarter, organiska syror och alkoholer. Tekniken visade mycket god reduktion av ämnena: lecitin (85,5%) och lignin (98,1%). En mindre reduktion skedde även för vatten innehållande nonylfenol (33,6%), α-pinen (42,1%), och barkvatten (21,5%). En reduktion av COD skedde även för vanillinvatten med initial pH 4 vid användandet av aluminiumanod, detta var dock det enda vattnet innehållande vanillin som påverkades. Det går inte att dra någon generell slutsats kring vilket initial pH och vilken anod som bör användas vid elektrokoagulation då den mest effektiva anordningen inte är densamma för de olika undersökta föreningarna. / Water- and energy consumption is one of humanities biggest current and future problems because of ever increasing global water consumption and because of better living conditions, increasing population and industrialization. Polluted water results in diseases, reduced life expectancy, sanitation and reduced overall health of those affected. Purifying water in an energy and environmentally effective way is therefore a must for a sustainable future. A study of the coagulation capabilities for a select number of organic compounds by electrocoagulation has been performed at Axolot Solutions AB. Axolot Solutions AB is a company developing electrochemical water treatment solutions, with a focus on the electrocoagulation process. The compounds that have been studied are sugars (raffinose, maltose, glucose, lactose), organic acids (formic acid, citric acid, hexanoic acid, butyric acid, octanoic acid), alcohols (1-propanol, 2-propanol), fatty acids (lecithin), others (formaldehyde, vanillin, nonylphenol, α-pinene). Industrial water coming from a debarking process was also investigated as well as two compounds that are often present in this type of water, xylan and lignin. The treatment efficiency was determined by measuring the COD values of the investigated water before and after the electrocoagulationprocess. Each compound was studied by using an iron anode and an aluminum anode at four different initial pH values: 4, 6, 7.5, 9. Different current densities were also studied for some of the investigated compounds. The results show no COD reduction for sugars, alcohols, organic acids and xylan. The process resulted in large reductions of the compounds lecithin (85.5%) and lignin (98.1%). A lesser reduction was found for the waters containing: nonylphenol (33.6%), α-pinene (42.1%) and barkwater (21.5%). A reduction of COD was also found in the water containing vanillin with an initial pH of 4 that was treated with an aluminum anode was affected. The most efficient setup for the investigated compounds varies. For that reason, no conclusion as to which initial pH and anode that should be for electrocoagulation processes in general can be drawn.

A vast number of sites that have been contaminated by industrial activities have been identified worldwide. Many such sites now pose serious risks to humans and the environment. Given the large number of contaminated sites there is a great need for efficient, cost-effective  remediation methods. Extensive research has therefore been focused on the development of such methods. However, the remediation of old industrial sites is challenging, for several reasons. One major  problem is that organic contaminants become increasingly strongly sequestered as they persist in the soil matrix for a long period of time. This process is often referred to as ‘aging’, and leads to decreasing availability of the contaminants, which also affects the remediation efficiency. In the work underlying this thesis, the influence of soil and contaminant properties on the efficiency of various physical and chemical soil remediation methods was investigated. The investigated contaminants were polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs). Briefly, the results show that as the size of soil particles decreases the contaminants become more strongly sorbed to the soil’s matrix, probably due to the accompanying increases in specific surface area. This affected the efficiency of the removal of organic pollutants by both a process based on solvent washing and processes based on chemical oxidation. The sorption strength is also affected by the hydrophobicity of the contaminants. However, for a number of the investigated PAHs their chemical reactivity was found to be of greater importance for the degradation efficiency. Further, the organic content of a soil is often regarded as the most important soil parameter for adsorption of hydrophobic compounds. In these studies the effect of this parameter was found to be particularly pronounced for the oxidation of low molecular weight PAHs, but larger PAHs were strongly adsorbed even at low levels of organic matter. However, for these PAHs the degradation efficiency was positively correlated to the amount of degraded organic matter, probably due to the organic matter being oxidized to smaller and less hydrophobic forms. The amount of organic matter in the soil had little effect on the removal efficiency obtained by the solvent-washing process. However, it had strong influence on the performance of a subsequent, granular activated carbon-based post-treatment of the washing liquid. In conclusion, the results in this thesis show that remediation of contaminated soils is a complex process, the efficiency of which will be affected by the soil matrix as well as the properties of the contaminants present at the site. However, by acquiring thorough knowledge of the parameters affecting the treatability of a soil it is possible to select appropriate remediation methods, and optimize them in terms of both remediation efficiency and costs for site- and contaminant-specific applications.

<p>Reactive Black 5 and Procion Red MX 5B, an azo and anthraquinone dye repectively were decoulorized by mean of microorganisms growing on wood chips. The process consisted of three reactors, two anaerobic reactors and one aerobic reactor. The anaerobic process was used in order to make it possible to break the nitrogen bond of the azo group, (-N=N-) and the aerobic one to increase the possibility for the degradation of possible intermediates. After pumping wastewater through the system it was shown that mixtures or Reactive Black 5 and Procion Red MX 5B were efficiently decolourised at 50 mg/l as well as 200 mg/l of each of the dyes.</p><p><strong> </strong></p>

Reactive Black 5 and Procion Red MX 5B, an azo and anthraquinone dye repectively were decoulorized by mean of microorganisms growing on wood chips. The process consisted of three reactors, two anaerobic reactors and one aerobic reactor. The anaerobic process was used in order to make it possible to break the nitrogen bond of the azo group, (-N=N-) and the aerobic one to increase the possibility for the degradation of possible intermediates. After pumping wastewater through the system it was shown that mixtures or Reactive Black 5 and Procion Red MX 5B were efficiently decolourised at 50 mg/l as well as 200 mg/l of each of the dyes.

Av de läkemedel som intas kan kroppen endast ta upp en liten del medan en stor del utsöndras igen, framförallt via urinen. Då avloppsvatten kommer in till avloppsreningsverken renas det genom mekaniska, kemiska och biologiska processer men dagens avloppsreningsverk är inte designade för att ta hand om och bryta ner läkemedelsrester och andra organiska föreningar från till exempel tvättmedel, färgrester etc.  Beroende på de olika substansernas kemiska och fysikaliska egenskaper följer de antingen med det färdigrenade utloppsvattnet, som lämnar avloppsreningsverket, eller så hamnar de i slammet som bildas av sedimenterande partiklar under reningen. Slammet rötas och avvattnas och kan sedan bland annat användas som gödningsmedel på jordbruksmark. I denna studie undersöktes huruvida samkompostering av avloppsslam och annat organiskt material kan höja slammets status som gödselmedel med avseende på minskad lukt, näringsinnehåll och minskad förekomst av läkemedelsrester och organiska föreningar. Tre olika typer av inblandningsmaterial undersöktes;  hästgödsel, djupströgödsel från nöt och trädgårdskompost. Även tre olika metoder för syresättning av kompoststukorna utvärderades. Dessa var luftning genom byggdräneringsrör med tillkopplad fläkt, självdrag genom byggdräneringsrör samt omblandning med hjälp av grävskopa. Temperaturen i stukorna mättes med jämna mellanrum för att avgöra vilken metod som gav störst mikrobiell aktivitet. Näringsämnes- och metallanalyser utfördes innan, mitt i och efter kompostering för att avgöra hur materialen förändrades samt om slutprodukterna kunde anses vara bra gödselmedel. Den stuka som ansågs haft högst mikrobiell aktivitet analyserades även med avseende på halten av en rad olika läkemedelsrester och organiska föreningar, både före och efter kompostering, och jämfördes sedan med en referensstuka som enbart innehöll avloppsslam och som inte luftades. Intervjuer med lantbrukare och inblandad personal visade att de samkomposterade slutprodukterna luktade bättre och inte lika starkt som slam som enbart lagrats under motsvarande tid. En hel del lukt kvarstod dock. Analys av näringsämnen och metaller visade att de samkomposterade slutprodukterna hade ett gynnsamt näringsämnesinnehåll och metallhalter som låg under gränsvärdena. Hästgödsel och djupströgödsel från nöt var de inblandningsmaterial som gav bäst resultat. Luftning genom omblandning var den luftningsmetod som genererade högst temperaturer och som var enklast för lantbrukarna att använda då den ställer lägre krav på val av plats för stukan och både anläggning och upptag av stukan underlättas då inga byggdräneringsrör krävs. Vid analys av oönskade organiska föreningar visade resultaten att nedbrytning av ftalater, LAS, organofosfater, triclosan och alkylfenoler/alkylfenoletoxylat var större i stukan där avloppsslam samkomposterades med djupströgödsel från nöt och som luftades genom omblandning jämfört med referensstukan. Fler upprepningar av försöket krävs för att fastställa resultaten. Ytterligare undersökningar av läkemedelsrester krävs. Majoriteten av de analyserade substanserna uppvisade en större minskning i den samkomposterade stukan än i referensstukan men i flera fall var förhållandet omvänt och för vissa substanser ökade totalvikten under kompostering. Detta beror på att endast substansernas grundform analyserades och den andel av substanserna som var bundna i konjugat och metaboliter gav därför inget utslag. Om en stor andel av en substans totalmängd var bunden i konjugat innan kompostering och dessa konjugat bröts upp under komposteringen kan detta ha lett till en stor ökning av den analyserade mängden av denna substans. Av samma anledning går det inte att sluta sig till att den analyserade minskningen av en substans beror enbart på nedbrytning. / The human body is only capable to take care of a fraction of the pharmaceutical compounds a person eats and the rest is excreted, mainly by urine. When the sewage water reaches the wastewater treatment plant it is treated mechanically, chemically and biologically but the wastewater treatment plants are not designed to take care of pharmaceutical residues or organic compounds  from detergents, paint, etc. Based on the chemical and physical properties of the compound it will either leave the plant with the discharge water or end up in the sewage sludge. The sludge is stabilized through anaerobic digestion, dewatered and may then be used as agricultural fertilizer. This study examines if composting of sewage sludge together with other organic matter can improve the sludge by resulting in less odor, high nutrient content and reduced incidence of pharmaceutical residues and undesired organic compounds. Three different kinds of organic matter were tested; horse manure, deep litter manure from cattle and garden compost. Also, three different methods for oxygenation were used and evaluated. In the first method drainage tubes buried in the compost was attached to a fan. The second method also included the drainage tubes but instead of using a fan the air  flowed through the tubes by natural ventilation. In the third method the compost was mixed by an excavator. From regular measurement of the temperature in the composts it was decided which method that generated the highest microbial activity. Before, half-way through and after composting, analyses were performed regarding nutrients and metals to see how the composition of the matter changed during the process of composting and to decide whether the products could be considered as good fertilizers. In the compost with the highest microbial activity analyses of pharmaceutical residues and undesired organic compounds were performed as well  and compared with a reference consisting only sewage sludge that had not been treated in any way to increase oxygenation. Interviews  with farmers and project staff showed that the mixed product was not odor-free but it did not smell as bad and strong as pure sludge that had been stored for an equal amount of time. Analyses of nutrients and metals showed that the mixed products are good fertilizers and their content of metals are below the limit for metals in fertilizers. Horse manure and deep litter manure from cattle gave the best results. Mixing of the compost with an excavator generated highest temperatures  and was the method preferred by the farmers since it was easier to handle the compost when it did not have tubes in it and also the choice of location is free when the operation doesn't depend on access to electricity. Analyses of undesired organic compounds showed that the degradation of phtalates, LAS, organophosphates, triclosan and alkyphenol/alkylphenoletoxylate were bigger in the compost consisting a mix of sludge and deep litter manure from cattle and which was oxygenated by mixing of the matter compared with the reference compost. To verify the result the examination has to be repeated multiple times. Further investigations must be performed on the degradation of pharmaceutical residues. The degradation was bigger in the mixed compost for a majority  of the analyzed substances but in several cases the result was the opposite and in some cases the total amount of the substance increased during composting. The latter is due to the fact that only the primary form of the substances were analyzed and not their metabolites. If a large part of the substance was in the form of a metabolite before composting and transformed back to the primary form during composting it may have looked like there was an increase in the total amount of that substance. For the same reason it is impossible to decide whether a decrease is due to decomposition of the substance or if it is due to formation of metabolites.

The environmental occurrence and behaviour of the brominated flame retardant (BFR) decabromodiphenyl ethane (dbdpe) has only been studied to a limited extent. It is structurally similar to decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE), which makes it conceivable that dbdpe may also become an environmental contaminant of concern. A method for environmental analysis and comparative assessments of dbdpe and decaBDE was developed. Both BFRs were studied in: a mass balance of the Henriksdal WWTP in Stockholm (Paper I); an international survey of sewage sludge (Paper II); sediment along a transect from Henriksdal WWTP to the outer archipelago of Stockholm and from isolated Swedish lakes (Paper III); and a benthic food web from the Scheldt estuary (Paper IV). Dbdpe was found in sludge from every country surveyed, indicating that it may be a worldwide concern. The WWTP mass balance showed that virtually all of the BFRs were transferred from wastewater to sludge. A small fraction was emitted via the effluent, confirming emissions to the aquatic environment. In the marine sediment, the BFR levels close to the WWTP outfall were high. They decreased along the transect to low levels in the outer archipelago. The study of lake sediment showed a widespread presence of dbdpe in the Swedish environment and provided evidence that it originates from long range atmospheric transport. In the food web, dbdpe did bioaccumulate to a small extent which was similar to decaBDE. The transfer of the BFRs from sediment to benthic invertebrates was low, while transfer from prey to predator was higher. Biodilution was observed rather than biomagnification. This work suggests that the persistence, the susceptibility to long range atmospheric transport, and the potential for bioaccumulation are similar for dbdpe and the regulated decaBDE that it is replacing. Thus, there is a risk that a problematic environmental pollutant is being replaced with a chemical that is equally problematic. / At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: Submitted. Paper 4: Manuscript.

In the studies underlying this thesis, various source tracing techniques were applied to environmental samples from the Baltic region. Comprehensive sampling and analysis of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) in surface sediments in Swedish coastal and offshore areas resulted in a unique data set for this region. Nearly 150 samples of surface sediments were analyzed for all tetra- to octa-chlorinated PCDD/Fs. The levels showed large spatial variability with hotspots in several coastal regions. Neither Sweden nor the EU has introduced guideline values for PCDD/Fs in sediment, but comparisons to available guidelines and quality standards from other countries indicate that large areas of primarily coastal sediments may constitute a risk to marine organisms. Multivariate pattern analysis techniques and receptor models, such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF), were used to trace sources. These analyses suggested that three to six source types can explain most of the observed pattern variations found in the sediment samples. Atmospheric deposition was suggested as the most important source to offshore areas, thus confirming earlier estimates. However, spatial differences indicated a larger fraction of local/regional atmospheric sources, characterized by PCDFs, in the south. This was indicated by the identification of several patterns of atmospheric origin. In coastal areas, the influence of direct emission sources was larger, and among these, chlorophenol used for wood preservation and emissions from pulp/paper production and other wood related industry appeared to be most important. The historic emissions connected to processes involving chemical reactions with chlorine (e.g. pulp bleaching) were found to be of less importance except at some coastal sites. The analysis of PCDD/Fs in Baltic herring also revealed spatial variations in the levels and pollution patterns along the coast. The geographical match against areas with elevated sediment levels indicated that transfer from sediments via water to organisms was one possible explanation. Fugacity, a concept used to predict the net transport direction between environmental matrices, was used to explore the gas exchange of hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) between air and water. These estimates suggested that, in the Kattegat Sea, the gaseous exchange of HCHs primarily resulted in net deposition while PCBs were net volatilized under certain environmental conditions. The study also indicated that, while the air concentrations of both PCBs and γ-HCH are mostly dependent upon the origin of the air mass, the fluctuations in α-HCH were primarily influenced by seasonal changes.