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  • Pharmaceutically active compounds in sludge stabilization treatments: anaerobic and aerobic digestion, wastewater stabilization ponds and composting.

Pharmaceutically active compounds in sludge stabilization treatments: anaerobic and aerobic digestion, wastewater stabilization ponds and composting.

The Science of the total environment (2014-06-10)
Julia Martín, Juan Luis Santos, Irene Aparicio, Esteban Alonso
ABSTRACT

Sewage sludge disposal onto lands has been stabilized previously but still many pollutants are not efficiently removed. Special interest has been focused on pharmaceutical compounds due to their potential ecotoxicological effects. Nowadays, there is scarce information about their occurrence in different sludge stabilization treatments. In this work, the occurrence of twenty-two pharmaceutically active compounds has been studied in sludge from four sludge stabilization treatments: anaerobic digestion, aerobic digestion, composting and lagooning. The types of sludge evaluated were primary, secondary, anaerobically-digested and dehydrated, composted, mixed, aerobically-digested and dehydrated and lagoon sludge. Nineteen of the twenty-two pharmaceutically active compounds monitored were detected in sewage sludge. The most contaminated samples were primary sludge, secondary sludge and mixed sludge (the average concentrations of studied compounds in these sludges were 179, 310 and 142 μg/kg dm, respectively) while the mean concentrations found in the other types of sewage sludge were 70 μg/kg dm (aerobically-digested sludge), 63 μg/kg dm (lagoon sludge), 12 μg/kg dm (composted sludge) and 8 μg/kg dm (anaerobically-digested sludge). The antibiotics ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin were found at the highest concentration levels in most of the analyzed sludge samples (up to 2660 and 4328 μg/kg dm, respectively). Anaerobic-digestion treatment reduced more considerably the concentration of most of the studied compounds than aerobic-digestion (especially in the case of bezafibrate and fluoroquinolones) and more than anaerobic stabilization ponds (in the case of acetaminophen, atenolol, bezafibrate, carbamazepine, 17α-ethinylestradiol, naproxen and salicylic acid). Ecotoxicological risk assessment, of sludge application onto soils, has also been evaluated. Risk quotients, expressed as the ratio between the predicted environmental concentration and the predicted non-effect concentration, were lower than 1 for all the pharmaceutically active compounds so no significant risks are expected to occur due to the application of sewage sludge onto soils, except for 17α-ethinylestradiol when chronic toxicity was considered.

MATERIALS
Product Number
Brand
Product Description

USP
Estrone, United States Pharmacopeia (USP) Reference Standard
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Carbamazepine, European Pharmacopoeia (EP) Reference Standard
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Atenolol, European Pharmacopoeia (EP) Reference Standard
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USP
Atenolol, United States Pharmacopeia (USP) Reference Standard
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USP
Salicylic acid, United States Pharmacopeia (USP) Reference Standard
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Bezafibrate, European Pharmacopoeia (EP) Reference Standard
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Supelco
Melting point standard 235-237°C, analytical standard
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Supelco
Salicylic acid, Pharmaceutical Secondary Standard; Certified Reference Material
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Supelco
Carbamazepine, Pharmaceutical Secondary Standard; Certified Reference Material
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Supelco
Ibuprofen, Pharmaceutical Secondary Standard; Certified Reference Material
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Supelco
Salicylic acid, 1.0 mg/mL in acetonitrile, ampule of 1 mL, certified reference material, Cerilliant®
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Paracetamol, European Pharmacopoeia (EP) Reference Standard
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Ibuprofen, European Pharmacopoeia (EP) Reference Standard
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USP
Trimethoprim, United States Pharmacopeia (USP) Reference Standard
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Propranolol hydrochloride, European Pharmacopoeia (EP) Reference Standard
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Supelco
Propranolol hydrochloride, Pharmaceutical Secondary Standard; Certified Reference Material
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Salicylic acid, European Pharmacopoeia (EP) Reference Standard
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Supelco
Clofibric acid, analytical standard
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Caffeine for system suitability, European Pharmacopoeia (EP) Reference Standard
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Ibuprofen for peak identification, European Pharmacopoeia (EP) Reference Standard
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Estrone, European Pharmacopoeia (EP) Reference Standard
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Supelco
Salicylic acid, certified reference material, TraceCERT®, Manufactured by: Sigma-Aldrich Production GmbH, Switzerland
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Norfloxacin for system suitability, European Pharmacopoeia (EP) Reference Standard
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Supelco
Carbamazepine, analytical standard
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Sigma-Aldrich
Ammonium formate, reagent grade, 97%
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Trimethoprim, European Pharmacopoeia (EP) Reference Standard
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Supelco
Estrone, Pharmaceutical Secondary Standard; Certified Reference Material
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USP
Ibuprofen, United States Pharmacopeia (USP) Reference Standard
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USP
Propranolol hydrochloride, United States Pharmacopeia (USP) Reference Standard
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USP
Carbamazepine, United States Pharmacopeia (USP) Reference Standard
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