Peer Reviewed: Scrutinizing Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Wastewater Treatment

Ternes, Thomas A.; Joss, Adriano; Siegrist, Hansruedi

doi:10.1021/es040639t

Cited by 754 publications

(398 citation statements)

References 26 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

384

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In WWTPs, the biological transformation of a compound depends on the age of the activated sludge. Ibuprofen requires an SRT of 2-4 days for a significant (>90%) degradation (Ternes et al 2004;Joss et al 2005). Assuming a SRT of 2-4 days before the upgrade of the WWTP Cluj-Napoca, a relatively efficient removal of ibuprofen could already be expected.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The elimination rate of PPCPs is dependent of the physicochemical properties of the substance, on the treatment process applied, and on further factors, like the age of the activated sludge (solid retention time [SRT]), the hydraulic retention time (HRT), temperature of the wastewater, the microbial population, etc. SRT is a major factor influencing microbial transformation and maximum transformation was determined at an SRT >10-12 days for several PPCPs (Ternes et al 2004;Joss et al 2005). Once pharmaceuticals reach surface waters, they can be transformed mainly via biodegradation and photodegradation or they can sorb onto the suspended particles in the water.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Environmental exposure of pharmaceuticals and musk fragrances in the Somes River before and after upgrading the municipal wastewater treatment plant Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Moldovan

Chira²,

Alder

2008

Environ Sci Pollut Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background, aim, and scope Pharmaceutically active substances are a class of emerging contaminants, which has led to increasing concern about potential environmental risks. After excretion, substantial amounts of unchanged pharmaceuticals and their metabolites are discharged into domestic wastewaters. The absence of data on the environmental exposure in Eastern Europe is significant, since use patterns and volumes differ from country to country. In Romania, the majority of wastewater, from highly populated cities and industrial complex zones, is still discharged into surface waters without proper treatment or after inefficient treatment. In respect to this, it is important to determine the environmental occurrence and behavior of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in wastewaters and surface waters. The objective of the present study was to investigate the occurrence of selected PPCPs during the transport in the Somes River by mass flow analysis before and after upgrading a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Cluj-Napoca, which serves 350,000 inhabitants and is the largest plant discharging into the Somes River. The concentrations of PPCPs at Cluj-Napoca can be correlated with the high population and a high number of hospitals located in the catchment area leading to higher mass flows. The results of this study are expected to provide information, with respect to the Romanian conditions, for environmental scientists, WWTP operators, and legal authorities. The data should support the improvement of existing WWTPs and implementation of new ones where necessary and, therefore, minimize the input of contaminants into ambient waters. Materials and methods The PPCPs were selected on the basis of consumption at the regional scale, reported aquatic toxicity, and the suitability of the gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) method for the determination of the compounds at trace levels. The studied PPCPs, caffeine (stimulant), carbamazepine (antiepileptic), pentoxifylline (anticoagulant), cyclophosphamide (cytostatic), ibuprofen (analgesic), and galaxolide (musk fragrance), were determined in samples of the Somes River. The analytes were enriched by solid-phase extraction and subsequently determined by GC/MS. Caffeine, pentoxifylline, and galaxolide were determined underivatized, whereas the acidic pharmaceuticals carbamazepine, cyclophosphamide, and ibuprofen were determined after derivatization with N-methyl-N-(trimethylsilyl)-trifluoroacetamide. Results and discussion The concentrations in the Somes River varied from below 10 ng/L up to 10 μg/L. A substantial decrease of the exposure in the Somes River could be observed due to the upgrade of the municipal WWTP in Cluj-Napoca. The loads in the river stretch between Cluj-Napoca and Dej (Somes Mic) varied strongly:Environ Sci Pollut Res (2009) 16 (Suppl 1):S46-S54

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental exposure of pharmaceuticals and musk fragrances in the Somes River before and after upgrading the municipal wastewater treatment plant Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Moldovan

Chira²,

Alder

2008

Environ Sci Pollut Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In contrast, the greatest contribution to PPCP removal during conventional wastewater treatment occurs during secondary (i.e., biological) treatment. 19 It is, therefore, the most thoroughly studied process with respect to PPCP removal, and a multitude of data exist pertaining to treatment efficiency. We note that for ease of comprehension, the term ''removal'' will be used to describe not only processes that result in true removal of PPCPs from the treatment stream (e.g., adsorption onto sludge or solids) but also those that lead to PPCP transformation (e.g., biodegradation or chemical reaction), even though the latter do not constitute true removal because metabolites and transformation products will remain in the system.…”

Section: Ppcp Occurrence and Removal During Wastewater Treatment:mentioning

confidence: 99%

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in effluent matrices: A survey of transformation and removal during wastewater treatment and implications for wastewater management

2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…In developed countries and regions, municipal wastewater is collected through sewer systems and get treated in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) before discharging into the environment. Therefore, many previous research efforts have been focused on characterizing the occurrence and fate of PPCPs in WWTPs (Esplugas et al 2007;Luo et al 2014;Ternes et al 2004;Tiwari et al 2017). The removal efficiency has been found to be compound specific, many PPCPs were poorly removed in WWTPs using conventional activated sludge (CAS) treatment processes, and considerable amount of PPCPs remained in effluent and/or biosolids (McClellan and Halden 2010;Melvin and Leusch 2016;Miège et al 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products from wastewater using algae-based technologies: a review

Wang

Liu

et al. 2017

Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol

137

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) consist of a variety of compounds extensively used for the treatment of human and animal diseases and for health or cosmetic reasons. PPCPs are considered as emerging environmental contaminants due to their ubiquitous presence in the environment and high environmental risks. In wastewater treatment plants using conventional activated sludge processes, many PPCPs cannot be efficiently removed. Therefore, there is an increasing need for more effective and cost-efficiency ways of removing PPCPs while treating wastewater. Algae-based technologies have recently attracted growing attentions for their potential application in wastewater treatment and hazardous contaminant removal, which are advantages in reducing operation cost while generating valuable products and sequestrating greenhouse gases at the same time. This work reviews the up-to date researches to reveal potential toxic effects of PPCPs on algae and algae-bacteria consortia, identify mechanisms involved in PPCP removal, and assess the fate of PPCPs in algae-based treatment systems. Current researches suggest that algae and algae-bacteria consortia have great potentials in PPCP removal but more works are required before algae-based technologies can be implemented in large scales. Knowledge gaps are identified and further research focuses are proposed in this review.

show abstract

Peer Reviewed: Scrutinizing Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Wastewater Treatment

Cited by 754 publications

References 26 publications

Environmental exposure of pharmaceuticals and musk fragrances in the Somes River before and after upgrading the municipal wastewater treatment plant Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Environmental exposure of pharmaceuticals and musk fragrances in the Somes River before and after upgrading the municipal wastewater treatment plant Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in effluent matrices: A survey of transformation and removal during wastewater treatment and implications for wastewater management

Removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products from wastewater using algae-based technologies: a review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About