title: AOX contamination status and genotoxicity of AOX-bearing pharmaceutical wastewater.
abstract: Adsorbable organic halogens (AOX) are a general indicator for the total amount of compounds containing organically bonded halogens. AOX concentrations and components were investigated along the wastewater treatment process in four large-scale pharmaceutical factories of China, and genotoxicity based on the SOS/umu test was also evaluated. The results showed that AOX concentrations in wastewater of four factories ranged from 4.6 to 619.4mg/L, which were high but greatly different owing to differences in the raw materials and products. The wastewater treatment process removed 50.0%-89.9% of AOX, leaving 1.3-302.5mg/L AOX in the effluents. Genotoxicity levels ranged between 2.1 and 68.0μg 4-NQO/L in the raw wastewater and decreased to 1.2-41.2μg 4-NQO/L in the effluents of the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). One of the main products of factory I, ciprofloxacin, was identified as the predominant contributor to its genotoxicity. However, for the other three factories, no significant relationship was observed between genotoxicity and detected AOX compounds.
authors.affiliation: School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. Electronic address: xyw13@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yawei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Science and Technology, Zhejiang 314006, China. Electronic address: chenlj@tsinghua.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Lujun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Science and Technology, Zhejiang 314006, China. Electronic address: liuruitsinghuazj@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D006846:Hydrocarbons, Halogenated / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D006846:Hydrocarbons, Halogenated; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: AOX; Biological treatment; Genotoxicity; Pharmaceutical wastewater