title: Behaviour of pharmaceuticals and endocrine disrupting chemicals in simplified sewage treatment systems.
abstract: This work assessed the behaviour of nine pharmaceuticals and/or endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in demo-scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors (UASB reactors) coupled to distinct simplified post-treatment units (submerged bed, polishing ponds, and trickling filters) fed on raw sewage taken from a municipality in Brazil. 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 UASB reactors demonstrated that they were not appropriate for efficiently removing the assessed compounds from the sewage. Furthermore, this study demonstrated that the hydraulic retention time (HRT) was an important parameter for the removal of the hydrophilic and less biodegradable compounds, such as trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole. The post-treatment units substantially increased the removal of most target micropollutants present in the anaerobic effluents, with a greater removal of micropollutants in simplified systems that require a large construction area, such as the submerged bed and polishing ponds, probably because of the higher HRT employed. Alternatively, compact post-treatment systems, such as trickling filters, tended to be less effective at removing most of the micropollutants studied, and the type of packing proved to be crucial for determining the fate of such compounds using trickling filters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering (Departamento de Engenharia Sanitária e Ambiental - DESA), Faculty of Engineering (Escola de Engenharia), Federal University of Minas Gerais (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais), Av. Antônio Carlos, 6627, BL 1 - sala 4623, 31270-901 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
authors.forename: Emanuel M F
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Brandt
authors.forename: Fernanda B
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: de Queiroz
authors.forename: Robson J C F
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Afonso
authors.forename: Sérgio F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Aquino
authors.forename: Carlos A L
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Chernicharo
mesh_terms: D000693:Anaerobiosis; D019149:Bioreactors; D001938:Brazil; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods; D052244:Endocrine Disruptors / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D005374:Filtration / Q000295:instrumentation; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D012722:Sewage / Q000737:chemistry*; D052616:Solid Phase Extraction; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D052244:Endocrine Disruptors; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D012722:Sewage; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Antibiotic; Micropollutant; Oestrogen; UASB/polishing pond system; UASB/submerged bed system; UASB/trickling filter system