Occurrence of emerging pollutants in urban wastewater and their removal through biological treatment followed by ozonation.
This work reports a systematic survey of over seventy individual pollutants in a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) receiving urban wastewater. The compounds include mainly pharmaceuticals and personal care products, as well as some metabolites. The quantification in the ng/L range was performed by Liquid Chromatography-QTRAP-Mass Spectrometry and Gas Chromatography coupled to Mass Spectrometry. The results showed that paraxanthine, caffeine and acetaminophen were the main individual pollutants usually found in concentrations over 20 ppb. N-formyl-4-amino-antipiryne and galaxolide were also detected in the ppb level. A group of compounds including the beta-blockers atenolol, metoprolol and propanolol; the lipid regulators bezafibrate and fenofibric acid; the antibiotics erythromycin, sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim, the antiinflammatories diclofenac, indomethacin, ketoprofen and mefenamic acid, the antiepileptic carbamazepine and the antiacid omeprazole exhibited removal efficiencies below 20% in the STP treatment. Ozonation with doses lower than 90 microM allowed the removal of many individual pollutants including some of those more refractory to biological treatment. A kinetic model allowed the determination of second order kinetic constants for the ozonation of bezafibrate, cotinine, diuron and metronidazole. The results show that the hydroxyl radical reaction was the major pathway for the oxidative transformation of these compounds.
Rosal
Roberto
R
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Alcalá, 28771 Alcalá de Henares, Spain. roberto.rosal@uah.es
Rodríguez
Antonio
A
Perdigón-Melón
José Antonio
JA
Petre
Alice
A
García-Calvo
Eloy
E
Gómez
María José
MJ
Agüera
Ana
A
Fernández-Alba
Amadeo R
AR
D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D002947:Cities; D003358:Cosmetics / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000379:methods*; D007700:Kinetics; D010126:Ozone / Q000737:chemistry*; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D012722:Sewage / Q000737:chemistry*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry
D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D003358:Cosmetics; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D012722:Sewage; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D010126:Ozone