Occurrence and fate of pharmaceutical and personal care products in a sewage treatment works

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rubén Reif ◽  
Ana Santos ◽  
Simon J. Judd ◽  
Juan M. Lema ◽  
Francisco Omil
Keyword(s):  
Sewage Treatment ◽  
Personal Care Products ◽  
Personal Care

Occurrence of 70 pharmaceutical and personal care products in Tone River basin in Japan

2007 ◽  
Vol 56 (12) ◽  
pp. 133-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Nakada ◽  
K. Komori ◽  
Y. Suzuki ◽  
C. Konishi ◽  
I. Houwa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Surface Waters ◽  
Solid Phase ◽  
Sewage Treatment ◽  
Personal Care Products ◽  
Personal Care ◽  
Population Total ◽  
Total Load ◽  
Sewage Treatment Plants ◽  
Flow Profiles

The occurrence of 70 pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) was investigated in the Tone River. The river has the largest basin in Japan, and the water is utilized not only for farming, but also as a source of water supply. One day in both January and October 2006, surface waters in the river and its tributaries and effluents from sewage treatment plants (STPs) directly discharging into the Tone River were collected, the location of which ranged over 150 km along the river. The 70 PPCPs in the samples were concentrated by solid phase cartridge and were measured by LC-MS/MS using three analytical methods. Fifty-seven PPCPs were detected in one or more samples. Bezafibrate, caffeine, carbamazepine, clarithromycin, crotamiton and sulpiride were frequently detected. Mass flow profiles of some PPCPs (e.g., crotamiton) were comparable to cumulative inhabitants in the basin, suggesting that these PPCPs could be markers of population. Total load of each PPCP into the basin from upstream, the tributaries, and the STPs were calculated. The contribution of selected PPCPs from the tributaries with lower sewerage system coverage was dominant compared to those from upstream and the STPs, suggesting the installation of sewerage systems is necessary to reduce the load of PPCPs in the Tone River basin.

Comparison of PPCPs removal on a parallel-operated MBR and AS system and evaluation of effluent post-treatment on vertical flow reed beds

2011 ◽  
Vol 63 (10) ◽  
pp. 2411-2417 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Reif ◽  
A. Besancon ◽  
K. Le Corre ◽  
B. Jefferson ◽  
J. M. Lema ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Retention Time ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Sewage Treatment ◽  
Personal Care Products ◽  
Post Treatment ◽  
Treatment Quality ◽  
Municipal Sewage ◽  
Vertical Flow ◽  
Personal Care ◽  
Reed Beds

The presence in the aquatic environment of xenobiotics such as Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) has emerged as an issue of concern. Upgrading sewage treatment quality with modern technologies such as Membrane Bioreactors (MBRs) and/or implementing a further post-treatment might mitigate the release of xenobiotics into surface waters. The performance of two processes treating municipal sewage, a MBR and an Activated Sludge (AS) unit, have been compared in terms of PPCPs removal. Moreover, their effluents were treated using vertical flow reed beds. Both systems were operated under similar conditions, more specifically Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT), maintained at 8 hours, and Sludge Retention Time (SRT) set at 6 and 20 days. Pharmaceuticals belong to therapeutic groups such as antiepileptics (carbamazepine) and analgesics (ibuprofen, naproxen, diclofenac), whereas the personal care products are musk fragrances (galaxolide and tonalide). Xenobiotics removals achieved in the MBR showed better results, particularly for the acidic drugs ibuprofen (87% vs. 50%) and naproxen (56% vs. 6%) operating at low SRT. After filtration through vertical flow reed-beds, PPCPs content in effluents was decreased, below 1 ppb in most cases, improving the effluent quality and confirming reed-beds as an interesting low cost alternative in order to attenuate xenobiotics contamination.

scholarly journals Spatiotemporal distributions and ecological risk assessment of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in groundwater in North China

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 911-924
Author(s):  
Jin Wu ◽  
Jingchao Liu ◽  
Zenghui Pan ◽  
Boxin Wang ◽  
Dasheng Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Risk ◽  
North China ◽  
Artificial Recharge ◽  
Sewage Treatment ◽  
Personal Care Products ◽  
Sewage Treatment Plant ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Ecological Effect ◽  
Personal Care ◽  
Effective Protection

Abstract The contamination of surface water by pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) has attracted widespread attention, but data regarding their impacts on groundwater (GW) are sparse. In river–GW interaction areas, rivers are likely an important source of PPCPs in aquifers, especially rivers impacted by sewage treatment plant effluent. Understanding the characterization, transport, and risk is valuable for the effective protection of vital aquatic ecosystem services, environmental health, and drinking water supplies. To attain this objective, statistics with spatial analysis and ecological risk were used to assess the effects of artificial recharge (AR) engineering on 16 PPCPs in aquifers in North China. The results indicated that 15 PPCPs were detected in unconfined and confined aquifers, with a few PPCPs being detected up to 1,000 ng/L. The most frequently detected PPCPs were sulfisoxazole, sulfachloropyridazine, sulfamerazine, sulfamethazine, sulfamethoxazole, and ibuprofen. In addition, the spatial and seasonal variations in most PPCPs were significant. Furthermore, the maximum concentrations were compared to the predicted no-effect concentrations to evaluate the ecological risk, and four PPCPs were found to be of medium or high ecological risk. This study highlights that AR engineering has a significant ecological effect on GW.

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