Antibiotics in the aquatic environment - A review - Part II

The increasing worldwide contamination of freshwater systems with thousands of industrial and natural chemical compounds is one of the key environmental problems facing humanity. Although most of these compounds are present at low concentrations, many of them raise considerable toxicological concerns, particularly when present as components of complex mixtures. Here we review three scientific challenges in addressing water-quality problems caused by such micropollutants. First, tools to assess the impact of these pollutants on aquatic life and human health must be further developed and refined. Second, cost-effective and appropriate remediation and water-treatment technologies must be explored and implemented. Third, usage and disposal strategies, coupled with the search for environmentally more benign products and processes, should aim to minimize introduction of critical pollutants into the aquatic environment.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/313/5790/1072.full.pdf

The Challenge of Micropollutants in Aquatic Systems

/pdf/water-analysis-emerging-contaminants-and-current-issues-4iaf1qar5i.pdf

Water Analysis: Emerging Contaminants and Current Issues

Removal of residual pharmaceuticals from aqueous systems by advanced oxidation processes.

https://www.dora.lib4ri.ch/eawag/islandora/object/eawag%3A7182/datastream/PDF2/Michael-2013-Urban_wastewater_treatment_plants_as-%28accepted_version%29.pdf

Urban wastewater treatment plants as hotspots for the release of antibiotics in the environment: a review

Biological degradation of pharmaceuticals in municipal wastewater treatment: proposing a classification scheme.

To reduce the release of pharmaceuticals and endocrine disruptors into the aquatic environment or to remove them from wastewater intended for direct or indirect reuse, the application of advanced wastewater treatment may be required. In the present study, municipal wastewater effluents were treated with ozone (O3) in a pilot-scale plant consisting of two bubble columns. The investigated effluents, which varied in suspended solids concentrations, comprised an effluent of conventional activated sludge treatment (CAS), the same effluent dosed with 15 mg of TSS L-1 of activated sludge (CAS + SS), and the effluent of a membrane bioreactor pilot plant (MBR). Selected classes of pharmaceuticals were spiked in the wastewater at realistic levels ranging from 0.5 to 5 μg L-1. Samples taken at the inlet and the outlet of the pilot plant were analyzed with liquid chromatography (LC)−electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (MS). Macrolide and sulfonamide antibiotics, estrogens, and the acidic pharmaceuticals diclofenac,...

/pdf/oxidation-of-pharmaceuticals-during-ozonation-of-municipal-4u60r2hhzk.pdf

Oxidation of pharmaceuticals during ozonation of municipal wastewater effluents: a pilot study.

In recent years there has been growing interest on the occurrence and the fate of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment. Nevertheless, few data are available covering the fate of the pharmaceuticals in the water/sediment compartment. In this study, the environmental fate of 10 selected pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical metabolites was investigated in water/sediment systems including both the analysis of water and sediment. The experiments covered the application of four 14C-labeled pharmaceuticals (diazepam, ibuprofen, iopromide, and paracetamol) for which radio-TLC analysis was used as well as six nonlabeled compounds (carbamazepine, clofibric acid, 10,11-dihydro-10,11-dihydroxycarbamazepine, 2-hydroxyibuprofen, ivermectin, and oxazepam), which were analyzed via LC-tandem MS. Ibuprofen, 2-hydroxyibuprofen, and paracetamol displayed a low persistence with DT50 values in the water/sediment system 365 d were found, which exhibit their high persistence in the water/sediment system. An elevated level of sorption onto the sediment was observed for ivermectin, diazepam, oxazepam, and carbamazepine. Respective Koc values calculated from the experimental data ranged from 1172 L x kg(-1) for ivermectin down to 83 L x kg(-1) for carbamazepine.

Environmental Fate of Pharmaceuticals in Water/Sediment Systems

A multi-residue method was developed that allows for the simultaneous determination of psychoactive compounds such as opioids, tranquilizers, antiepileptics (primidone, carbamazepine plus two metabolites), the cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine, the antidepressant doxepin, as well as the calcium channel blocker verapamil in raw and treated wastewater, surface water, groundwater, and drinking water. After solid-phase extraction with Oasis HLB at neutral pH, the analytes were detected by LC electrospray tandem MS in the positive ion mode. With a few exceptions relative recoveries of the analytes exceeded 70%. The limits of quantification were in the low ng/L range. Matrix effects were compensated by using appropriate deuterated or 13C-15N-labeled surrogate standards. For raw and treated wastewater, concentration factors were lowered to reduce matrix effects. Most analytes (15 of 20) were found in raw and treated wastewater as well as in surface water, and hence, are presumably ubiquitously present in the en...

Dirk Löffler

Papers

Biological degradation of pharmaceuticals in municipal wastewater treatment: proposing a classification scheme.

Oxidation of pharmaceuticals during ozonation of municipal wastewater effluents: a pilot study.

Environmental Fate of Pharmaceuticals in Water/Sediment Systems

Simultaneous Determination of Psychoactive Drugs and Their Metabolites in Aqueous Matrices by Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry

Extraction and determination of sulfonamides, macrolides, and trimethoprim in sewage sludge.