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Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering

ISSN 2095-2201

ISSN 2095-221X(Online)

CN 10-1013/X

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Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.    2014, Vol. 8 Issue (6) : 888-894    https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-014-0735-0
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Occurrence and fate of antibiotics in advanced wastewater treatment facilities and receiving rivers in Beijing, China
Xinwei LI1,2,Hanchang SHI1,*(),Kuixiao LI2,Liang ZHANG2,Yiping GAN2
1. School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
2. Beijing Drainage Group Co. Ltd., Beijing 100044, China
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Abstract

The occurrence and removal of 13 antibiotics were investigated in five wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) with advanced wastewater treatment processes in Beijing, China. Most of the target antibiotics were detected in the secondary and tertiary effluents, with the concentrations of 4.8–1106.0 and 0.3–505.0 ng·L-1. Fluoroquinolone antibiotics showed relatively high concentrations in all samples (782–1814 ng·L-1). Different tertiary treatment processes showed discrepant antibiotics removal performances. Ozonation process was found more effective in removing target antibiotics compared to the coagulation-flocculation-sedimentation process and sand filtration process. Investigation of the target antibiotics in three typical urban rivers in Beijing was carried out to understand antibiotics occurrence in surface water environment. Eight antibiotics were detected in the studied rivers, with highest concentration of antibiotics in the river which was mainly replenished by reclaimed water. This study showed the necessity of employing more effective advanced treatment facilities to further reduce the discharge amount of antibiotics.
Keywords antibiotics      advanced treatment      urban river      reclaimed water     
Corresponding Author(s): Hanchang SHI   
Online First Date: 12 June 2014    Issue Date: 17 November 2014
 Cite this article:   
Xinwei LI,Hanchang SHI,Kuixiao LI, et al. Occurrence and fate of antibiotics in advanced wastewater treatment facilities and receiving rivers in Beijing, China[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2014, 8(6): 888-894.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-014-0735-0
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2014/V8/I6/888
class target antibiotics acronym MW CAS number molecular formula
Fluoroquinolones (QNs) Ofloxacin OFL 361 82419-36-1 C18H20FN3O4
Norfloxacin NOR 319 70458-96-7 C16H18FN3O3
Sulfonamides (SAs) Sulfapyridine SPD 249 144-83-2 C11H11N3O2S
Sulfadiazine SDZ 250 68-35-9 C10H10N4O2S
Sulfamethoxazole SMX 253 723-46-6 C10H11N3O3S
Sulfadimidine SDMD 278 57-68-1 C12H14N4O2S
Trimethoprime (TMP) Trimethoprime TMPs 290 738-70-5 C14H18N4O3
Macrolides (MLs) Roxithromycin ROX 837 80214-83-1 C41H76N2O15
Acetyl Spiramycin ASPM 885 – C45H76N2O15
Tetracyclines (TCs) Tetracycline TC 444 60-54-8 C22H24N2O8
Oxytetracycline OTC 460 79-57-2 C22H24N2O9
Chlortetracycline CTC 479 57-62-5 C22H23ClN2O8
Doxycycline DXC 444 564-25-0 C22H24N2O8
Tab.1  Characteristics of selected target antibiotics
WWTP treatment process capacity/(t·d-1) operational dosage
A Inf (*)-UF-O3 -NaClO- Eff (*) 80000 O3: 3.5 mg·L-1NaClO: 5–8 mg·L-1
B Inf (*) -O3 -NaClO-CFS- SF- UV- Eff (*) 60000 O3: 3.5 mg·L-1NaClO: 5–8 mg·L-1UV: 800 J·m-2
C Inf (*) -NaClO-CFS- SF- UV- O3- Eff (*) 40000 O3: 2 mg·L-1NaClO: 5–8 mg·L-11UV: 800 J·m-2
D Inf (*)- CFS- SF- ClO2 - Eff (*) 3000 ClO2: 5.6 mg·L-1
E Inf (*)- CFS- SF- Eff (*) 10000 –
Tab.2  Information of the investigated advanced treatment processes of WWTPs
Fig.1  Locations and sampling sites of the five WWTPs and three rivers in Beijing. A, B, C, D and E represent the locations of five WWTPs. ? represent the sampling sites in three urban rivers
Fig.2  Concentrations of target antibiotics in the secondary effluents of 5 municipal WWTPs in Beijing
Fig.3  Total concentrations of major antibiotic groups in the reclaimed wastewater (a) and removal efficiencies during advanced treatment (b)
Fig.4  Concentrations of target?antibiotics in three urban rivers
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