Occurrence, fate, and mass balance of different classes of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in an anaerobic-anoxic-oxic wastewater treatment plant in Xiamen, China

Muhammad Ashfaq; Yan Li; Yuwen Wang; Wenjie Chen; Han Wang; Xiangqiang Chen; Wei Wu; Zhenyi Huang; Chang-Ping Yu; Qian Sun

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2017.07.014

Occurrence, fate, and mass balance of different classes of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in an anaerobic-anoxic-oxic wastewater treatment plant in Xiamen, China

Water Res. 2017 Oct 15:123:655-667. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2017.07.014. Epub 2017 Jul 7.

Authors

Muhammad Ashfaq¹, Yan Li², Yuwen Wang², Wenjie Chen³, Han Wang⁴, Xiangqiang Chen⁵, Wei Wu⁵, Zhenyi Huang⁵, Chang-Ping Yu⁶, Qian Sun⁷

Affiliations

¹ CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Department of Chemistry, University of Gujrat, Gujrat 50700, Pakistan.
² CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100043, China.
³ CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; College of Ecology and Resources Engineering, Wuyi University, Wuyishan City 354300, China.
⁴ College of Ecology and Resources Engineering, Wuyi University, Wuyishan City 354300, China.
⁵ General Water of Xiamen Sewage Co. Ltd., Xiamen 361000, China.
⁶ CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan.
⁷ CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China. Electronic address: qsun@iue.ac.cn.

PMID: 28710982
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2017.07.014

Abstract

In this study, the occurrence and fate of 49 pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) were investigated in an anaerobic-anoxic-oxic (A2/O) wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) for seven consecutive days using 24-h composite sampling technique. Special emphasis was placed to understand the distribution of PPCPs in dissolved and adsorbed phase, and to evaluate PPCP fate in different treatment units. Among the 49 PPCPs, 40 PPCPs in influent, 36 in effluent, 29 in sludge and 23 in suspended solids were detected at least once during sampling. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and a stimulant were predominant PPCPs in influent whereas antibiotics were predominant in sludge, effluent and suspended solids. Removal efficiencies from the aqueous phase based on the dissolved PPCPs showed variable contribution in removing different PPCPs under screen and grit chamber, anaerobic treatment, anoxic treatment, oxic treatment and sedimentation-UV treatments, with the highest removal percentage by anaerobic process in terms of both individual and overall treatment. Mass load analysis showed that 352 g PPCPs enter the WWTP daily while 14.5 g and 58.1 g were discharged through effluent and excess sludge to the receiving sea water and soil applications, respectively. Mass balance analysis based on both aqueous and suspended PPCPs showed 280 g (79.4%) mass of influent PPCPs was lost along the wastewater treatment processes, mainly due to degradation/transformation.

Keywords: A2/O process; Mass balance; Mass load; PPCPs; Removal.

MeSH terms

China
Cosmetics
Pharmaceutical Preparations
Waste Disposal, Fluid*
Wastewater*
Water Pollutants, Chemical

Substances

Cosmetics
Pharmaceutical Preparations
Waste Water
Water Pollutants, Chemical