Occurrence and removal of illicit drugs in different wastewater treatment plants with different treatment techniques

Abstract

Background: As a class of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), illicit drugs should be taken into account in the water management because of their social and public health risks. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are usually considered as the source and sink of contaminants, and drug residues are observed in their effluents due to the inefficient removal of CECs. In this study, wastewater samples were collected from eight WWTPs in Changzhou City for assessment of the abuse of 12 illicit drugs in the city by wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) method.Results: Drug concentrations ranged from < LOD-51.62 ng/L to < LOD-22.44 ng/L in influent and effluent samples, respectively. The highest removal rate of drugs was 79.0% in the WWTP which used sequencing batch reactor activated sludge (SBR) process method, while the lowest was found in the WWTP using anoxic oxic (A/O) process (47.0%), indicating that the drug removal rates were closely related to the treatment techniques. WBE method was applied to estimate the population normalized illicit drugs consumption. It demonstrated that methamphetamine (METH) was the most abused drug in Changzhou City, ranging from 0.16 to 20.65 mg/d/1000 inh, while other target drugs ranged from < LOD-1.52 mg/d/1000 inh. Consumption of cocaine (COC) and ecstasy was very low among the samples. Conclusion:Overall, this research suggests that drug removal rates varied in different WWTPs and the SBR process is the best for removing illicit drugs. All target drugs were incompletely removed in wastewater treatment plants. WBE can be readily used to monitor the abuse of drugs in those regions, compared with traditional monitoring models.

Pharmaceutical Pollution and Disposal of Expired, Unused, and Unwanted Medicines in the Brazilian Context

“…Besides the steadily bulky discharges of untreated or inappropriately treated industrial wastewater, pharmaceutical pollution includes the active ingredients and the final medicinal products (micropollutants) discarded by residences and healthcare systems [5,6]. Even illicit drugs and their metabolites related to drug abuse, like cocaine, methamphetamine, opioids, ketamine, benzoylecgonine, among others, have been detected in wastewaters of several urban localities, contributing to increasing the problem with water quality [7,8].…”

“…Usually, effluent treatment in conventional WWTPs is not sufficiently efficient to remove all physicochemically diverse APIs discharged in wastewaters. The efficiency of pharmaceutical and chemical removal varies according to the technologies of wastewater treatment, and these technologies do not work well to remove the entirety of bioactive chemicals from sewage effluents [7,10]. For instance, Komolafe et al [53] investigated the occurrence and effectiveness elimination of several chemicals from different classes (e.g., triclosan, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, estrogens, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers), ranging from 0.1 to 49 µg L −1 , in three technologically diverse full-scale WWTPs.…”

Detection and remediation of chiral pharmaceuticals from wastewater: A review

“…The psychoactive impacts of MAMP are stereoselective, and the (S)-(+)-form is significantly more potent than the (R)-(À)-form. 79 The detection of two enantiomers was evaluated by SPE-chiral-LC-QTOF MS employing UPLC. The chromatographical conditions used were 4 mM of ammonium acetate methanol and 0.005% of HCOOH at 0.1 ml/min.…”

“…The recalcitrant characteristic of MDMA was affirmed by kinetic analysis. 79 In a study, effluent captured from eight WWTP procedures in Changzhou City was assessed for the misuse of 12 illegal drugs in the town. MDMA was ascertained in 75% of the specimens.…”

“…( S )‐(+)‐Amphetamine (Figure 2E) is twofold as high as ( R )‐(−)‐AMP activity. The psychoactive impacts of MAMP are stereoselective, and the ( S )‐(+)‐form is significantly more potent than the ( R )‐(−)‐form 79 . The detection of two enantiomers was evaluated by SPE‐chiral‐LC‐QTOF MS employing UPLC.…”