Biological Degradation of Common Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Soils with High Water Content

Abstract

Biological degradation rates of six pharmaceuticals and personal care products were examined in soil from a land application site and in adjacent soil with no prior history of effluent exposure. Microbial degradation rates were compared over 2 weeks under standing water or saturated conditions and draining conditions after having been saturated for 3 days. Biological degradation of 17β-estradiol exhibited rapid rates of biological degradation under both saturated and draining conditions. Half-lives for 17β-estradiol ranged from 1.5 to 4 days; 66-97% was lost from the soils. Estriol showed a pattern of biological degradation in both saturated and draining conditions though the half-lives were longer (8.7-25.9 days) than those observed for 17β-estradiol. Twenty-eight percent to 73% of estriol was lost over the 14 days treatment period. Estrone and 17α-ethinylestradiol exhibited slower rates of biological transformation under saturated and draining conditions. Half-lives for estrone ranged between 27.5 and 56.8 days with loss of at most 21%. 17α-ethinylestradiol exhibited half-lives of 22.6-207 days. Half-life data for ibuprofen ranged from 30.4 to 1,706.4 days in this experiment. Losses of up to 17% were observed in draining soils. Triclosan loss was at most 10%, and half-lives were 70.9-398.8 days. In all cases, soils that were draining from saturated conditions exhibited faster degradation rates than soils that remained saturated. Prior exposure of the soil to effluent did not always result in higher biological degradation rates.

Variable Effects of Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) on Selected Biochemical Processes Mediated by Soil Microorganisms

“…It has been reported that the abiotic degradation of NSAIDs plays a role in many cases; however, this process is slow under anaerobic or sterile conditions. Many studies have indicated the key role of microorganisms in the transformation of DCF, NPX, IBF, KTP, and other pharmaceuticals in soils that have different characteristics (Xu et al, 2009; Carr et al, 2011a,b; Girardi et al, 2013; Nowak et al, 2013; Al-Rajab et al, 2015). …”

“…Pharmaceuticals adsorbed to the organic phase are likely to be far less bioavailable and more persistent than freshly added ones (Al-Rajab et al, 2015). Another mechanism that is responsible for the dissipation of NSAIDs is microbial-mediated degradation (Xu et al, 2009; Carr et al, 2011a,b; Girardi et al, 2013). It has been observed that DCF, IBF and NPX were quickly degraded (0.2–9.5 days) in soil at a concentration of 0.05 mg/kg soil and significantly longer (68 days) when they were applied at a concentration of 5 mg/kg soil (Grossberger et al, 2014).…”

Treatment technologies for emerging contaminants in water: A review

“…Carr et al [156] and it was found that estradiol derivatives were relatively easy to remove whereas other compounds like ibuprofen or triclosan were just slightly removed.…”

“…Although the main feature of AOPs is the production of hydroxyl radicals, the type of reaction for hydroxyl radical production and the experimental conditions are highly significant. For example, dicloxacilin degradation has been attempted using UV photolysis [155,163], the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide [156] or ozone [155,[157][158][159] using UV radiation, titanium dioxide photocatalysis [177] and sono-chemical oxidation [175]. A range of studies have reported that dicloxacilin is inert to UV radiation alone, slightly degradable by photocatalysis, but highly sensitive to sono-chemical conditions [175,176].…”

Using Conventional HPLC to Study the Interaction of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPS) with Plants

“…While liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) has become the gold standard for forensic determinations of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in environmental samples (for example [1,2]), we have observed that conventional HPLC with UV detection (HPLC-UV) can play a significant role in controlled laboratory studies on the environmental fate (sorption, biodegradation) of PPCPs [3][4][5][6]. For example, we have used conventional HPLC in a variety of ways related to the uptake of PPCPs into plants [7].…”