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Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering

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Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.    2018, Vol. 12 Issue (6) : 7    https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-018-1053-8
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Occurrence, removal, and environmental risks of pharmaceuticals in wastewater treatment plants in south China
Huang Huang1,2, Jie Wu1,2, Jian Ye1,2, Tingjin Ye3, Jia Deng1,2, Yongmei Liang1,2(), Wei Liu1,2()
1. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
2. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control and Remediation Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
3. Foshan Water Group Co., Ltd., Foshan 528000, China
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Abstract

Five pharmaceuticals were detected in wastewater treatment plants in southern China.

Biological treatment was the most effective process for PhACs removal.

Metoprolol showed negative removal during secondary treatment process.

The pharmaceuticals studied posed a low environmental risk to aquatic ecosystems.

Pharmaceutically active compounds in wastewater released from human consumption have received considerable attention because of their possible risks for aquatic environments. In this study, the occurrence and removal of 10 pharmaceuticals in three municipal wastewater treatment plants in southern China were investigated and the environmental risks they posed were assessed. Nifedipine, atenolol, metoprolol, valsartan and pravastatin were detected in the influent wastewater. The highest average concentration in the influents was observed for metoprolol (164.6 ng/L), followed by valsartan (120.3 ng/L) in August, while median concentrations were higher in November than in August. The total average daily mass loadings of the pharmaceuticals in the three plants were 289.52 mg/d/person, 430.46 mg/d/person and 368.67 mg/d/person, respectively. Elimination in the treatment plants studied was incomplete, with metoprolol levels increasing during biological treatment. Biological treatment was the most effective step for PhACs removal in all of the plants studied. Moreover, the removal of PhACs was observed with higher efficiencies in August than in November. The WWTP equipped with an Unitank process exhibited similar removals of most PhACs as other WWTPs equipped with an anoxic/oxic (A/O) process or various anaerobic-anoxic-oxic (A2/O) process. The environmental risk assessment concluded that all of the single PhAC in the effluents displayed a low risk (RQ<0.1) to the aquatic environments.
Keywords Pharmaceuticals      Wastewater treatment      Pearl River Delta      Occurrence      Removal      Risk assessment     
Corresponding Author(s): Yongmei Liang,Wei Liu   
Issue Date: 19 August 2018
 Cite this article:   
Huang Huang,Jie Wu,Jian Ye, et al. Occurrence, removal, and environmental risks of pharmaceuticals in wastewater treatment plants in south China[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2018, 12(6): 7.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-018-1053-8
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2018/V12/I6/7
Fig.1  Schematic diagrams of the WWTPs studied
Fig.2  Concentration ranges of PhACs in the influents of three WWTPs in the PRD area
Fig.3  Average daily mass loadings of target PhACs in three WWTPs
PhAC August
WWTPA WWTPB-1 WWTPB-2 WWTPB-3 WWTPC
Influent Primary effluent Secondary effluent Final effluent Influent Primary
effluent		 Secondary
effluent		 Final effluent Influent Primary
effluent		 Secondary
effluent		 Final effluent Influent Primary
effluent		 Secondary
effluent		 Final effluent Influent Primary
effluent		 Secondary
effluent		 Final effluent
NIP 23.0 19.0 9.0 6.0 29.8 25.6 18.7 3.2 -- -- -- -- 11.4 9.0 4.8 2.7 6.8 6.0 5.4 0
ATE 10.0 8.0 4.9 0 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
MET 386.8 300.0 415.9 405 96.6 80.7 97.6 97.6 221.5 198.9 252.4 252.2 169.7 150.5 198.5 198.3 78 74.2 141.6 119.6
VAL 211.0 198.0 98.0 72.0 87.4 73.0 12.2 8.4 96.4 93.1 46.8 41.0 96.5 80.3 13.4 10.5 200.9 192.2 101.6 90.1
PRA 112.0 108.0 64.0 53.0 67.9 61.9 47.5 47.1 123.9 122.8 85.8 68.8 54.6 54.1 32.6 28.9 98.3 94.6 62.3 52.9
Tab.1  Average PhACs concentrations (ng/L) in the effluents from various treatment units of three WWTPs
PhAC November
WWTPA WWTPB-1 WWTPB-2 WWTPB-3 WWTPC
Influent Primary
effluent		 Secondary
effluent		 Final effluent Influent Primary
effluent		 Secondary
effluent		 Final effluent Influent Primary
effluent		 Secondary
effluent		 Final effluent Influent Primary
effluent		 Secondary
effluent		 Final effluent Influent Primary
effluent		 Secondary
effluent		 Final effluent
NIP 34.3 31.1 21.3 19.8 32.0 28.8 25.3 20.5 -- -- -- -- 18.1 16.1 8.8 7.2 48.6 43.3 19.4 17.5
ATE 12.3 10.6 7.7 6.73 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
MET 116.8 116.5 171.7 197.1 382.6 376.5 615.3 613.2 206.0 208.8 330.4 329.3 119.7 115.2 126.1 121.0 49.5 43.4 145.7 138.1
VAL 278.2 253.2 180.5 153.9 587.2 500.9 253.7 171.3 132.7 113.5 86.1 75.2 280.5 267.9 31.3 25.1 146.5 113.5 51.7 46.3
PRA 180.5 165.3 96.9 72.9 131.9 97.6 94.6 74.2 594.1 316.8 77.8 45.8 158.3 117.9 75.5 66.3 144.3 113.8 65.6 58.4
Tab.2  
Fig.4  Overall PhACs removal efficiencies of various treatment processes in three WWTPs (Missing values were undetectable in the influent or effluent samples)
NIP ATE MET VAL PRA
August WWTPA Primary 17.4 20.0 22.4 6.2 3.6
Secondary 43.5 31.0 -30.0 47.4 39.3
Disinfection 13.0 49.0 2.8 12.3 9.8
Total 73.9 100.0 -4.7 65.9 52.7
WWTPB-1 Primary 14.1 -- 16.4 16.4 8.9
Secondary 23.3 -- -17.5 69.6 21.1
Disinfection 51.9 -- 0 4.4 0.6
Total 89.3 -- -1.1 90.4 30.6
WWTPB-2 Primary -- -- 10.2 3.4 0.9
Secondary -- -- -24.2 48.1 29.8
Disinfection -- -- 0.1 6.0 13.7
Total -- -- -13.8 57.5 44.4
WWTPB-3 Primary 20.9 -- 11.3 8.5 16.8
Secondary 37.3 -- -28.3 69.3 39.5
Disinfection 17.9 -- 0.1 3.0 6.7
Total 76.1 -- -16.9 89.1 46.9
WWTPC Primary 12.0 -- 4.8 4.3 3.7
Secondary 8.5 -- -86.3 45.1 32.8
Disinfection 79.5 -- 28.2 5.7 9.6
Total 100.0 -- -53.3 55.1 46.2
November WWTPA Primary 9.3 13.9 0.3 8.9 8.4
Secondary 28.6 23.4 -47.3 26.1 37.9
Disinfection 4.4 7.8 -21.8 9.6 13.3
Total 42.2 45.3 -68.8 44.7 59.6
WWTPB-1 Primary 10.2 -- 1.6 14.7 26.0
Secondary 10.7 -- -62.4 42.1 2.3
Disinfection 15.1 -- 0.5 14.0 15.5
Total 36.0 -- -60.3 70.8 43.8
WWTPB-2 Primary -- -- -1.3 14.5 46.7
Secondary -- -- -59.0 20.6 40.2
Disinfection -- -- 0.6 8.2 5.4
Total -- -- -59.8 43.3 92.3
WWTPB-3 Primary 11.0 -- 3.6 4.5 25.5
Secondary 40.6 -- -9.1 84.3 26.8
Disinfection 8.4 -- 4.3 2.2 5.8
Total 60.1 -- -1.1 91.1 58.1
WWTPC Primary 10.9 -- 12.3 22.6 21.1
Secondary 49.0 -- -206.8 42.1 33.4
Disinfection 4.0 -- 15.4 3.7 5.0
Total 64.0 -- -179.1 68.4 59.5
Tab.3  Removal efficiencies (%) of PhACs detected in various treatment unit of three WWTPs
Fig.5  Estimated RQs of the PhACs in effluents of WWTPs for acute toxicity of daphnia, fish, and algae
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