Occurrence of pharmaceuticals and endocrine disruptors in raw sewage and their behavior in UASB reactors operated at different hydraulic retention times

Abstract

This work investigated the occurrence of pharmaceuticals and endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in raw sewage (from Belo Horizonte city, Minas Gerais state, Brazil) and assessed their behavior in demo-scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors (UASB reactors) operated at different hydraulic retention times (HRT). The dissolved concentration of the studied micropollutants in the raw and treated sewage was obtained using solid phase extraction (SPE) followed by analysis in a liquid chromatography system coupled to a hybrid high resolution mass spectrometer consisting of an ion-trap and time of flight (LC-MS-IT-TOF). The natural (estradiol) and synthetic (ethinylestradiol) estrogens were hardly detected; when present, however, their concentrations were lower than the method quantification limits. The concentrations of bisphenol A and miconazole in raw sewage were similar to that reported in the literature (around 200 ng L⁻¹ and hardly detected, respectively). The antibiotics sulfamethoxazole (median 13.0 ng L⁻¹) and trimethoprim (median 61.5 ng L⁻¹), and the other pharmaceutical compounds (diclofenac and bezafibrate, with median 99.9 and 94.4 ng L⁻¹, respectively) were found in lower concentrations when compared with reports in the literature, which might indicate a lower consumption of such drugs in Brazil. The UASB reactors were inefficient in the removal of bisphenol A, and led to an increased concentration of nonylphenol in the effluent. The anaerobic reactors were also inefficient in the removal of diclofenac, and led to a partial removal of bezafibrate; whereas, for sulfamethoxazole there seemed to be a direct relationship between the HRT and removal efficiencies. For trimethoprim the sludge retention time (SRT) seemed to play an important role, although it was only partially removed in the UASB reactors.

Emerging pollutants in the Esmeraldas watershed in Ecuador: discharge and attenuation of emerging organic pollutants along the San Pedro–Guayllabamba–Esmeraldas rivers

“…Our literature survey of emerging organic contaminants in South and Central America revealed very few dedicated research articles on emerging contaminants. 27,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] Even those are mostly devoted to the occurrence of emerging contaminants in wastewater in Brazil and Mexico and for the removal of emerging contaminants from wastewater by different techniques. Fewer research projects addressed the pollution of rivers and surface water by emerging organic pollutants.…”

Contaminantes emergentes em matrizes aquáticas do Brasil: cenário atual e aspectos analíticos, ecotoxicológicos e regulatórios

“…6,7 Matriz: esgotos bruto e tratado , refletindo o padrão de consumo de cada região. 4,5,[10][11][12][13]15 No esgoto tratado as concentrações variaram entre 0,09 e 2080 ng L -1 para os hormônios, 8,10,11 e entre 680 e 78250 ng L -1 para os fármacos 4 e compostos de origem industrial. 8 A presença destas substâncias nos diversos efluentes é preocupante, pois eles podem ser considerados a maior fonte de contaminação para o ambiente.…”

Ocorrência e remoção de estrogênios por processos de tratamento biológico de esgotos

“…Mesmo com tal variabilidade entre os dados, é possível observar que ao analisar as concentrações obtidas por um mesmo autor, pode-se notar que há um significativo decaimento das concentrações desses estrogênios do esgoto bruto ao tratado (Pessoa et al, 2014;Queiroz et al, 2012;Froehner et al, 2011;Ternes et al, 1999), padrão este que confere com aquele Rev. Ambient.…”