Investigating the removal of some pharmaceutical compounds in hospital wastewater treatment plants operating in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The concentrations of 12 pharmaceutical compounds (atenolol, erythromycin, cyclophosphamide, paracetamol, bezafibrate, carbamazepine, ciprofloxacin, caffeine, clarithromycin, lidocaine, sulfamethoxazole and N-acetylsulfamethoxazol (NACS)) were investigated in the influents and effluents of two hospital wastewater treatment plants (HWWTPs) in Saudi Arabia. The majority of the target analytes were detected in the influent samples apart from bezafibrate, cyclophosphamide, and erythromycin. Caffeine and paracetamol were detected in the influent at particularly high concentrations up to 75 and 12 ug/L, respectively. High removal efficiencies of the pharmaceutical compounds were observed in both HWWTPs, with greater than 90 % removal on average. Paracetamol, sulfamethoxazole, NACS, ciprofloxacin, and caffeine were eliminated by between >95 and >99 % on average. Atenolol, carbamazepine, and clarithromycin were eliminated by >86 % on average. Of particular interest were the high removal efficiencies of carbamazepine and antibiotics that were achieved by the HWWTPs; these compounds have been reported to be relatively recalcitrant to biological treatment and are generally only partially removed. Elevated temperatures and high levels of sunlight were considered to be the main factors that enhanced the removal of these compounds.

Assessment of Pharmaceuticals, Personal Care Products, and Hormones in Wastewater Treatment Plants Receiving Inflows from Health Facilities in North West Province, South Africa

“…These results revealed that there is no significant difference in ATE concentration between these two WWTPs (p>0.05). Compared to the levels observed in the present study, lower concentrations of ATE have been reported in hospital WWTP effluents (0.055 μ g/L) in Saudi Arabia [ 68 ]. The high concentrations of ATE in WWTP-A effluent may be related to its high usage by the hospital.…”

Integration of Membrane Bioreactor and Nanofiltration for the Treatment Process of Real Hospital Wastewater in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

“…In wastewater, although decomposed products such as ammonium, nitrite, and nitrate play a pivotal role in the water ecosystem, and nitrogen content is essential to oxidation capacity of the activated sludge, excessive amounts of such substances may form carcinogens. In the study of Al Qarni et al, and Liu, it is reported that the maximum removal of NH 4 + and NH 3 reached 99% and 95% for aerobic and MBR processes, respectively [6,30]. This is comparable with the results of this study, where nitrification and nitrate reduction achieved more than 80%, corresponding to 4.9 g/L of average total nitrogen in the effluent.…”

Evaluating Physicochemical Parameters, Heavy Metals, and Antibiotics in the Influents and Final Effluents of South African Wastewater Treatment Plants

“…Antibiotics were detected in appreciable amounts at the inlet of the wastewater treatment plant. Example includes: a high concentration of sulfamethoxazole (59.28 μg L -1 ) was detected at the influent of the WWTP, Northern water works, Durban, South Africa [10]; among the 12 pharmaceutical compounds investigated by Qarni and co-workers (2016), sulfamethoxazole was found in the influents and effluents of two hospital WWTPs in Saudi Arabia [11]; of the 22 representative antibiotics studied by Zhang et al (2016), sulfadiazine (396 ng L -1 ) and sulfamethazine (382 ng L -1 ) were the dominating antibiotics in the influent, and the concentrations of selected antibiotics ranged from ND-41.8 ng L -1 in the effluent-receiving river [12]; and in a nationwide groundwater survey conducted by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), sulfamethoxazole appeared in 23% of the samples at an average concentration of 1.11 µg L -1 .…”