Fate of Sucralose During Wastewater Treatment

Abstract

Sucralose, a chlorinated carbohydrate, is used as an artificial sweetener in more than 80 countries and in excess of 4,000 products. Thus far, minimal research has been done on the degradation and fate of sucralose in municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). We collected samples from WWTPs and surface waters in Arizona, United States. The average sucralose concentration of seven WWTP effluents was 2,800 ± 1,000 ng/L. Similarly, surface waters in Arizona contained sucralose at concentrations up to 300 ± 30 ng/L, which corroborates sucralose discharge from WWTPs into the environment. Biological degradation and chemical oxidation processes were evaluated to remove or transform sucralose under potential WWTP operation scenarios. Sucralose did not degrade in aerobic or anaerobic biological reactors, either metabolically or co-metabolically (in the presence of sucrose), after 42-62 days of experiments. Prolonged exposure to ultraviolet radiation did not oxidize sucralose significantly, and chlorine and ozone addition led only to slow sucralose oxidation. Sucralose is not expected to degrade by free chlorine or ozone under typical WWTP operational conditions. Our results suggest that no significant sucralose degradation occurs in WWTPs, that it is present in their effluent waters, and that it reaches environmental water sources. We report for the first time the presence of sucralose in U.S. inland surface waters. Our measurements of sucralose concentrations in WWTP effluents and surface waters also confirm the low degradability of sucralose.

Organic micropollutants in the Yangtze River: Seasonal occurrence and annual loads

“…The high sucralose concentrations come from the diet of the people in the south of China, who prefer sweetened food. The persistence of sucralose in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and the aquatic environment (Mead et al, 2009;Torres et al, 2011) was another reason for the high sucralose in the river. The load of sucralose in the Yangtze River amounted to 169 t/yr, representing 85% of the sucralose consumption in China (200 t/yr).…”

Degradation of Sucralose by Peroxidation Assisted with Ultraviolet Radiation and Photo-Fenton

“…Therefore, in addition to degradation assays, bioassayscould be conducted to evaluate its toxicity. Studies with aerobic and anaerobic biological reactors have shown that these processes were not able to degrade the molecule [15].…”

Photo Degradation of Cotnaminants of Emerging concern (CECs) under Simulated Solar Radiation: Implications for their Environmental Fate

“…The chlorinated structure of the sucralose seems to be resistant to microbial degradation even in the mixed media of a sewage treatment facility, which explains its persistence through wastewater treatment processes in municipal plants (Soh et al, 2011a;Torres et al, 2011) and likely resulting in the high concentrations observed in reclaimed water. Sucralose has become the most detected unregulated chemical and artificial sweetener in wastewater, surface water and groundwater samples (Lange et al, 2012a).…”

“…Antibiotics can be classified on the basis of their structure, mode of action or spectrum of activity. Different classes of antibiotics include sulfonamides, quinolones, tetracyclines, macrolides, beta lactams and other miscellaneous ones (Moore, 2013 artificial sweetener in over 4,000 consumer products all over the world (Torres et al, 2011). The most familiar consumer product of sucralose is Splenda, which contains 1% sucralose and 99% maltodextrin and dextrose.…”

“…It is used in 4000 consumer products globally (Torres et al, 2011). Sucralose (4-chloro-4-deoxy-α, D-galactopyranosyl-1, 6-dichloro-1, 6-didexoy-β, D-fructofuranoside, CAS number 56038-13-2, pKa 11.8 ) is a chlorinated disaccharide which originates from the non-chlorinated compound sucrose (Fig.…”