Biodegradation and removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in treatment systems: a review

Abstract

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) have been the focus of much recent research as concerns rise about their occurrence in bodies of water worldwide. In an effort to characterize the risk and determine the prevalence of these micropollutants in lakes and rivers, many researchers are examining PPCP removal from impaired water during wastewater treatment and water recycling (soil passage) processes. Biodegradation studies and projects considering combinations of biodegradation and other removal processes have been conducted over a wide range of compound categories and therapeutic classes, as well as across different systems and scales of study. This review summarizes the extent of PPCP removal observed in these various systems.

Treatment of micropollutants in municipal wastewater: Ozone or powdered activated carbon?

“…Some compounds such as the antibiotic clindamycin, the beta blocker metoprolol and most of the pharmaceutical metabolites were found at higher concentrations (in the dissolved phase) in the effluent of the biological treatment than in the influent. Similar observations in other studies were attributed to (i) release during the treatment of compounds trapped in faeces particles (Göbel et al, 2007), (ii) biological cleavage in the treatment of pharmaceutical conjugates (human metabolites) producing again the parent compound (Onesios et al, 2009), (iii) formation of bacterial metabolites during the biological treatment or (iv) analytical uncertainties.…”

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

“…First, open questions remain regarding the influence of temperature, as well as of operational parameters such as hydraulic retention time (HRT) and solids retention time (SRT) on removal efficiency. As discussed in detail by Onesios et al, 58 several studies have found an enhanced elimination of PPCPs during warmer seasons, whereas at least one study reported no effect of temperature on removal. Opposing conclusions have also been reached regarding the effect of SRT and HRT on treatment performance.…”

Biodegradation of sulfamethoxazole: current knowledge and perspectives

“…Although previous review articles have focused on the input, occurrence, fate, and effects of antibiotics in the environment (Kümmerer 2009a) and the biodegradation of a wide array of pharmaceutical compounds (in WW treatment and in the environment) (Onesios et al 2009), this is the first review to provide an overview and analysis of the knowledge on the biodegradation of SMX.…”

“…As mentioned in the "Scope of this article," a relatively recent review of pharmaceutical biodegradation was published in which SMX was discussed (Onesios et al 2009). A thorough summary of the published literature was provided at the time, which highlighted the variability in biological removal of SMX observed in the different systems studied (lab-, pilot-, and full-scale, conventional WW treatment; membrane bioreactor (MBR); sequencing batch reactor (SBR); and anaerobic digester) ranging from negative (due to SMX being re-formed from its metabolites and conjugates) to 99 % removal.…”

“…As discussed in the review by Onesios et al (2009), there are large discrepancies in reported SMX removals via biodegradation which may be attributed to variation in experimental conditions, especially the use of different AS inocula with inconsistent microbial communities.…”