Occurrence and fate of dissolved and particulate antimicrobials in municipal wastewater treatment

Senta, Ivan; Terzić, Senka; Ahel, Marijan (2013) Occurrence and fate of dissolved and particulate antimicrobials in municipal wastewater treatment. Water research, 47 (2). pp. 705-714. ISSN 0043-1354

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2012.10.041

Abstract

Comprehensive study on the occurrence and fate of several classes of antimicrobials, including sulfonamides, trimethoprim, fluoroquinolones and macrolides, in Croatian municipal wastewaters was performed using an integrated approach, which comprised analysis of both dissolved and particulate fractions. A nation-wide screening showed ubiquitous occurrence of human-use antimicrobials in raw wastewater samples with the total concentrations ranging from 2 to 20 μg/L, while veterinary antimicrobials were typically present in much lower concentrations (<100 ng/L). The percentage of the particulate fraction in raw wastewater varied significantly depending on the type of the antimicrobial and the load of suspended solids. A detailed study of the mass flows of dissolved and particulate antimicrobials, performed in the wastewater treatment plant of the city of Zagreb, allowed an improved assessment of the biological and physico- chemical removal mechanisms of investigated compounds during the conventional activated sludge treatment. The overall removal efficiencies of antimicrobials from the water phase were rather variable, ranging from 0% for trimethoprim to 85% for norfloxacin. A significant percentage of fluoroquinolones (norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin) and macrolides (azithromycin and clarithromycin) was associated with the primary and excess secondary sludge, explaining 14 to 77% of the total removal. The removal, which could be attributed to biological transformation, was relatively poor for all antimicrobials, exceeding 30% only for SMX (32%) and clarithromycin (55%).

Item Type:

Article

Additional Information:

© IWA Publishing 2013. The definitive peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Water Research, Volume 47, Issue 2, 1 February 2013, Pages 705–714, doi:10.1016/j.watres.2012.10.041 and is available at www.iwapublishing.com.

Uncontrolled Keywords:

antimicrobials; fluoroquinolones; macrolides; sulfonamides; trimethoprim; wastewater treatment

Subjects:

NATURAL SCIENCES > Interdisciplinary Natural Sciences > Environmental Science

Divisions:

Division for Marine and Enviromental Research

Projects:

Project title	Project leader	Project code	Project type
Organic molecular markers of anthropogenic impact on the environment (Organski spojevi kao molekulski obilježivači antropogenog utjecaja na okoliš)-	Marijan Ahel	098-0982934-2712	MZOS

Depositing User:

Ivan Senta

Date Deposited:

11 Dec 2015 08:37

URI:

http://fulir.irb.hr/id/eprint/2397

DOI:

10.1016/j.watres.2012.10.041