Persistence and fate of highly soluble pharmaceutical products in various types of municipal wastewater treatment plants

• Published in: Transactions on ecology and the environment Vol. 109; pp. 799 - 807
• Main Authors: GAGNON, C, LAJEUNESSE, A
• Format: Conference Proceeding Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Southampton WIT 01.01.2008; W I T Press
• Subjects: Activated sludge; Aerated lagoons; Aeration; Aerobic conditions; Antibiotics; Applied sciences; Bioavailability; Biological and medical sciences; Biological treatment of waters; Biotechnology; Carbamazepine; Chemical wastewater; Clofibric acid; Consumer products; Contaminants; Diclofenac; Effluent treatment; Effluents; Environment and pollution; Environmental impact; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Ibuprofen; Industrial applications and implications. Economical aspects; Lagoons; Municipal wastewater; Naproxen; Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; Organic chemistry; Other wastewaters; Pharmaceuticals; Polarity; Pollution; Receiving waters; Selectivity; Toxicity; Wastewater treatment; Wastewater treatment plants; Wastewaters; Water treatment; Water treatment and pollution; Canada; North America; America; Quebec; Canada, Quebec, Montreal; Drug; Persistence; Activated sludge; Pollutant behavior; Aerated lagoon; Polarity; Urban waste water; Physicochemical purification; Property structure relationship; Waste water purification; Organic compounds; Biological purification
• DOI: 10.2495/WM080811
• ISBN: 1845641132; 9781845641139
• ISSN: 1746-448X

Municipal effluents are important source of contaminants including many socalled Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) substances, whose potential impacts on the receiving environment are poorly understood. New emerging substances, in the form of pharmaceutical drugs like antibiotics, anti-inflammatory, and anti-convulsive, are now being frequently measured in these wastewaters. While PPCPs substances undergo major transformation at the treatment plant and again in the receiving waters, their bioavailability and toxicity may be modified considerably. The influence of different wastewater treatment processes on pharmaceutical products was investigated. Pharmaceutical substances such as clofibric acid, carbamazepine, diclofenac, ibuprofen and naproxen were found in the Montreal physicochemical primary-treated effluents at concentrations ranging from 13 to 3522 ng-L. Most of the substances were eliminated at a rate lower than 10%. Biological treatments (aerobic conditions) with activated sludge resulted in much better removal rates (> 50%) for those studied substances. Interestingly, this type of process showed some selectivity with respect to the size and polarity of the removed substances; the smallest and most polar substances were removed at better rates, while the persistent carbamazepine (273-483 ng-L) and diclofenac (52-68 ng-L) were poorly removed. In the case of treatment by aerated lagoons, the most abundant substances were hydroxy-ibuprofen (339-3938 ng-L), naproxen (16-763 n-L) and carbamazepine (164-425 ng-L). To assess the impacts of all these contaminants on the environment and human health, we need to better understand the chemical and physical transformations occurring at the treatment plant and in the receiving waters.