title: Meta-analysis of mass balances examining chemical fate during wastewater treatment.
abstract: Mass balances are an instructive means for investigating the fate of chemicals during wastewater treatment. In addition to the aqueous-phase removal efficiency (phi), they can inform on chemical partitioning, transformation, and persistence, as well as on the chemical loading to streams and soils receiving, respectively, treated effluent and digested sewage sludge (biosolids). Release rates computed on a per-capita basis can serve to extrapolate findings to a larger scale. This review examines over a dozen mass balances conducted for various organic wastewater contaminants, including prescription drugs, estrogens, fragrances, antimicrobials, and surfactants of differing sorption potential (hydrophobicity), here expressed as the 1-octanol-water partition coefficient (K(OW)) and the organic carbon normalized sorption coefficient (K(OC)). Major challengesto mass balances are the collection of representative samples and accurate quantification of chemicals in sludge. A meta-analysis of peer-reviewed data identified sorption potential as the principal determinant governing chemical persistence in biosolids. Occurrence data for organic wastewater compounds detected in digested sludge followed a simple nonlinear model that required only K(OW) or K(OC) as the input and yielded a correlation coefficient of 0.9 in both instances. The model predicted persistence in biosolids for the majority (> 50%) of the input load of organic wastewater compounds featuring a log10 K(OW) value of greater than 5.2 (log10 K(OC) > 4.4). In contrast, hydrophobicity had no or only limited value for estimating, respectively, phi and the overall persistence of a chemical during conventional wastewater treatment.
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins University Center for Water and Health, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.
authors.forename: Jochen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Heidler
authors.forename: Rolf U
authors.initials: RU
authors.lastname: Halden
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D012722:Sewage; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D012722:Sewage; D014873:Water Pollutants
references.citation: J Chromatogr A. 2005 Sep 2;1085(2):179-89
references.pmid: 16106697
references.citation: Arch Environ Contam Toxicol. 2005 Jul;49(1):9-17
references.pmid: 15959704
references.citation: Environ Sci Technol. 2005 Jun 1;39(11):3981-9
references.pmid: 15984773
references.citation: Environ Sci Technol. 2005 Jun 1;39(11):3946-56
references.pmid: 15984769
references.citation: Environ Sci Technol. 2005 May 1;39(9):3351-8
references.pmid: 15926589
references.citation: Environ Sci Technol. 2005 Mar 15;39(6):1420-6
references.pmid: 15819193
references.citation: Environ Toxicol Chem. 2005 Jan;24(1):25-30
references.pmid: 15683164
references.citation: Chemosphere. 1998 Jan;36(2):357-93
references.pmid: 9569937
references.citation: J Med Chem. 1997 Apr 25;40(9):1340-6
references.pmid: 9135031
references.citation: Crit Rev Toxicol. 1995;25(1):67-89
references.pmid: 7734060
references.citation: Water Res. 2004 Nov;38(19):4075-84
references.pmid: 15491655
references.citation: Chemosphere. 2004 Nov;57(8):863-70
references.pmid: 15488577
references.citation: Water Res. 2004 Jul;38(12):2918-26
references.pmid: 15223286
references.citation: Environ Sci Technol. 2004 Feb 15;38(4):1139-47
references.pmid: 14998029
references.citation: Environ Sci Technol. 2003 Sep 15;37(18):4021-6
references.pmid: 14524430
references.citation: Water Res. 2003 Sep;37(16):3891-6
references.pmid: 12909107
references.citation: Environ Sci Technol. 2003 Aug 1;37(15):3243-9
references.pmid: 12966965
references.citation: Environ Sci Technol. 2001 Mar 15;35(6):1041-9
references.pmid: 11347912
references.citation: Environ Sci Technol. 2002 Mar 15;36(6):1202-11
references.pmid: 11944670
references.citation: Environ Health Perspect. 1999 Dec;107 Suppl 6:907-38
references.pmid: 10592150
references.citation: Water Res. 2008 Jan;42(1-2):287-95
references.pmid: 17675136
references.citation: Arch Environ Contam Toxicol. 2007 May;52(4):451-7
references.pmid: 17354035
references.citation: Chemosphere. 2007 Jan;66(2):362-9
references.pmid: 16766013
references.citation: Environ Sci Technol. 2006 Dec 1;40(23):7350-7
references.pmid: 17180988
references.citation: Environ Sci Technol. 2006 Dec 1;40(23):7251-6
references.pmid: 17180974
references.citation: Environ Sci Technol. 2006 Dec 1;40(23):7207-15
references.pmid: 17180968
references.citation: Environ Sci Technol. 2006 Jun 1;40(11):3634-9
references.pmid: 16786704
references.citation: Sci Total Environ. 2006 Jun 15;363(1-3):149-65
references.pmid: 16081141
references.citation: Environ Sci Technol. 2006 Mar 1;40(5):1408-14
references.pmid: 16568749
references.citation: Environ Sci Technol. 2006 Feb 1;40(3):1042-8
references.pmid: 16509355
references.citation: Environ Sci Technol. 2005 Oct 1;39(19):7469-75
references.pmid: 16245817