Environmental Risk Assessment of Pharmaceuticals

Parrott, Joanne L.; McLaughlin, Alison; Lapen, David R.; Topp, Edward

doi:10.1002/9780470593028.ch15

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) provided a standard method for testing soluble pollutant sorption to activated sludge with the publication of the OPPTS 835.1110 Activated Sludge Sorption Isotherm test guideline . The experimental method outlined in this guideline has become standard industry and research practice for predicting chemical removal from wastewater during biological treatment in WWTPs. ,− OPPTS 835.1110 calls for the use of freeze-dried and heat-treated (FDH) activated sludge as sorbent. Unlike fresh activated sludge, which must be collected, processed, and used daily, FDH activated sludge can be stored for several months, allowing for a convenient and uniform supply of sorbent for batch experiments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanomaterial Transformation and Association with Fresh and Freeze-Dried Wastewater Activated Sludge: Implications for Testing Protocol and Environmental Fate

Kiser

Ladner

Hristovski

et al. 2012

Environ. Sci. Technol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are an emerging class of contaminants entering wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), and standardized testing protocols are needed by industry and regulators to assess the potential removal of ENMs during wastewater treatment. A United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) standard method (OPPTS 835.1110) for estimating soluble pollutant removal during wastewater treatment using freeze-dried, heat-treated (FDH) activated sludge (AS) has been recently proposed for predicting ENM fate in WWTPs. This study is the first to evaluate the use of FDH AS in batch experiments for quantifying ENM removal from wastewater. While soluble pollutants sorbed equally to fresh and FDH AS, fullerene, silver, gold, and polystyrene nanoparticles' removals with FDH AS were approximately 60-100% less than their removals with fresh AS. Unlike fresh AS, FDH AS had a high concentration of proteins and other soluble organics in the liquid phase, an indication of bacterial membrane disintegration due to freeze-drying and heat exposure. This cellular matter stabilized ENMs such that they were poorly removed by FDH AS. Therefore, FDH AS is not a suitable sorbent for estimating nanoparticle removal in WWTPs, whereas fresh AS has been shown to reasonably predict full-scale performance for titanium removal. This study indicates that natural or engineered processes (e.g., anaerobic digestion, biosolids decomposition in soils) that result in cellular degradation and matrices rich in surfactant-like materials (natural organic matter, proteins, phospholipids, etc.) may transform nanoparticle surfaces and significantly alter their fate in the environment.

show abstract