Seasonal Variation in the Occurrence and Removal of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Different Biological Wastewater Treatment Processes

Abstract

The occurrence of 12 pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in two wastewater treatment plants in Beijing was studied monthly over the course of one year. The removal of PPCPs by three biological treatment processes including conventional activated sludge (CAS), biological nutrient removal (BNR), and membrane bioreactor (MBR) was compared during different seasons. Seasonal variations of PPCPs in the wastewater influent were discrepant, while in the wastewater effluent, most PPCPs had lower concentrations in the summer than in the winter. For the easily biodegradable PPCPs, the performance of MBR was demonstrated to be more stable than CAS or BNR especially during winter months. Diclofenac, trimethoprim, metoprolol, and gemfibrozil could be moderately removed by MBR, while their removal by CAS and BNR was much lower or even negligible. Nevertheless, no removal was achieved regardless of the season or the treatment processes for the recalcitrant PPCPs. Studies on the contribution of each tank of the MBR process to the total removal of four biodegradable PPCPs indicated the oxic tank was the most important unit, whereas membrane filtration made a negligible contribution to their elimination.

Elimination of polar micropollutants and anthropogenic markers by wastewater treatment in Beijing, China

“…Carbamazepine epoxide concentrations were below the LOQ (3 ng L À1 ) in all samples. The elimination of both CBMZDI and carbamazepine was limited (À13% to 45%) in the WWTPs, as found in other studies, due to the chemical inertness and weak adsorption of these compounds on sludge (Lin et al, 2009;Zhou et al, 2010;Sui et al, 2011;Bueno et al, 2012), as well as by the reformation from the conjugated forms by microbial activity during treatment (Miao et al, 2005).…”

“…These levels were 2-4 times higher than those found in our study although the elimination efficiencies were similar. Both studies used 24 h composite samples, so the differences observed for this compound could possibly be explained by seasonal variations in the raw wastewater (Sui et al, 2011;Gao et al, 2012b).…”

“…Several studies have focused on the occurrence and elimination efficiency of pharmaceuticals, caffeine, and DEET in the WWTPs of Beijing (Sui et al, 2010(Sui et al, , 2011Zhou et al, 2010;Li et al, 2013). The pharmaceuticals included antibiotics, lipid regulators, beta-blockers, and antiphlogistics and varied in concentration from several ng L À1 to thousands of ng L À1 in the influents and from below detection to hundreds of ng L À1 in the effluents.…”

Occurrence and removal efficiency of pharmaceuticals in an urban wastewater treatment plant: Mass balance, fate and consumption assessment

“…IBU and DIC) differs greatly 380 between cold and hot seasons (Sui et al, 2011;Vieno et al, 2005). As the sampling 381 campaign was carried out only in the hot season (end of spring and summer), the low 382 consumption of anti-inflammatory drugs when compared with yearly consumption may 383 result from the significant seasonal differences in their consumption.…”

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

“…Membrane bioreactor (MBR) treatment processes showed improved PPCP removal compared with CAS and biological nutrient removal processes (Sipma et al 2010;Sui et al 2011). Constructed wetlands based on shallow pond, beds, or trenches containing aquatic macrophytes are considered to be cost-effective in treating wastewater due to a relatively low cost in construction, operation, and maintenance (Wu et al 2015b).…”