Waterborne pathogens including viruses, bacteria and micropollutants secreted from population can spread through the sewerage system. In this study, the efficiency of unique effervescent ferrate-based tablets was evaluated for total RNA and DNA removal, disinfection and degradation of micropollutants in hospital wastewater. For the purpose of testing, proposed tablets (based on citric acid or sodium dihydrogen phosphate) were used for various types of hospital wastewater with specific biological and chemical contamination. Total RNA destruction efficiency using tablets was 70-100% depending on the type of acidic component. DNA destruction efficiency was lower on the level 51-94% depending on the type of acidic component. In addition, our study confirms that effervescent ferrate-based tablets are able to efficiently remove of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from wastewater. Degradation of often detected micropollutants (antiepileptic, antidepressant, antihistamine, hypertensive and their metabolites) was dependent on the type of detected pharmaceuticals and on the acidic component used. Sodium dihydrogen phosphate based tablet appeared to be more effective than citric acid based tablet and removed some pharmaceuticals with efficiency higher than 97%. Last but not least, the disinfection ability was also verified. Tableted ferrates were confirmed to be an effective disinfectant and no resistant microorganisms were observed after treatment. Total and antibiotic resistant bacteria (coliforms and enterococci) were determined by cultivation on diagnostic selective agar growth media.

Department Nutrition and Food Quality Assessment Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava Radlinského 9 SK 812 37 Bratislava Slovak Republic

Department of Analytical Chemistry Faculty of Natural Sciences Comenius University in Bratislava Mlynská dolina Ilkovičova 6 SK 842 15 Bratislava 4 Slovak Republic

Department of Environmental Engineering Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava Radlinského 9 SK 812 37 Bratislava Slovak Republic

Department of Inorganic Technology Institute of Inorganic Chemistry Technology and Materials Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava Radlinského 9 SK 812 37 Bratislava Slovak Republic

Department of Molecular Biology Faculty of Natural Sciences Comenius University Ilkovičova 6 842 15 Bratislava Slovakia

Department of Polymer Processing Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava Krškanská 21 SK 949 01 Nitra Slovak Republic

Department of Zoology and Fisheries Faculty of Agrobiology Food and Natural Resources Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Kamýcka 129 165 00 Praha 6 Suchdol Czech Republic

Institute of Molecular Biomedicine Faculty of Medicine Comenius University in Bratislava Sasinkova 4 SK 811 08 Bratislava Slovak Republic

Institute of Pathophysiology Faculty of Medicine Comenius University Sasinkova 4 811 08 Bratislava Slovakia

Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials Palacký University Olomouc Šlechtitelů 27 CZ 783 71 Olomouc Czech Republic

South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice Zátiší 728 2 CZ 389 25 Vodňany Czech Republic

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Hospital Wastewater-Source of Specific Micropollutants, Antibiotic-Resistant Microorganisms, Viruses, and Their Elimination