Removal of Antibiotics from Surface and Distilled Water in Conventional Water Treatment Processes
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 128, Issue 3
Abstract
Conventional drinking water treatment processes were evaluated under typical water treatment plant conditions to determine their effectiveness in the removal of seven common antibiotics: carbadox, sulfachlorpyridazine, sulfadimethoxine, sulfamerazine, sulfamethazine, sulfathiazole, and trimethoprim. Experiments were conducted using synthetic solutions prepared by spiking both distilled/deionized water and Missouri River water with the studied compounds. Sorption on Calgon WPH powdered activated carbon, reverse osmosis, and oxidation with chlorine and ozone under typical plant conditions were all shown to be effective in removing the studied antibiotics. Conversely, coagulation/flocculation/sedimentation with alum and iron salts, excess lime/soda ash softening, ultraviolet irradiation at disinfection dosages, and ion exchange were all relatively ineffective methods of antibiotic removal. This study shows that the studied antibiotics could be effectively removed using processes already in use in many water treatment plants. Additional work is needed on by-product formation and the removal of other classes of antibiotics.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
American Water Works Association (AWWA). (1990). Water treatment plant design, 3rd Ed., McGraw-Hill, New York.
Amirtharajah, A., and Mills, K.(1982). “Rapid-mix design for mechanisms of alum coagulation.” J. Am. Water Works Assoc., 74(4), 210–216.
Belter, P. A. (1985). “Ion exchange recovery of antibiotics.” Principles of Biotechnology, Pergamon, New York, Vol. 2, 473–480.
Belter, P. A., Cunningham, F. L., and Chen, J. W.(1973). “Development of a recovery process for Novobiocin.” Biotechnol. Bioeng., 15, 533.
Daughton, C. G., and Ternes, T. A.(1999). “Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environment: Agents of subtle change?” Environ. Health Perspect., 107, 907–942.
Garcia, A., Rivas, H. M., Figueroa, J. L., and Monroe, A. L.(1995). “Case history: Pharmaceutical wastewater treatment plant upgrade (SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals Company).” Desalination, 102, 255–263.
Gringauz, A. (1997). Introduction to medicinal chemistry: How drugs act and why, Wiley–VCH, New York.
Hach. (1997). Water analysis handbook, Hach, Loveland, CO.
Halling-Sorensen, B., Nielson, S. N., Lanzky, P. F., and Ingerslev, L. F. (1998). “Occurrence, fate and effects of pharmaceutical substances in the environment—a review.” Chemosphere, 36, 357–393.
Hansch, C., Leo, A., and Hoekman, D. (1995). Exploring QSAR: Hydrophobic, electronic, and steric constant, American Chemical Society Professional Reference Book, Washington, D.C.
Hofl, C., Gerhard, S., Specht, O., Wurdack, I., and Wabner, C.(1997). “Oxidative degradation of AOX and COD by different advanced oxidation processes: A comparative study with two samples of pharmaceutical wastewater.” Water Sci. Technol., 35, 257–264.
Howard, P. H., and Meylan, W. M. (1997). Handbook of physical properties of organic chemicals, Lewis, New York.
Ingerslev, F., and Halling-Sorensen, B.(2000). “Biodegradability properties of sulfonamides in activated sludge.” Envir. Toxicol. Chem., 19, 2467–2473.
Kolpin, D. W., Riley, D., Meyer, M. T., Meyer, P., and Thurman, E. M. (1999). “The occurrence of antibiotics in Iowa streams.” 1999: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Boulder, CO, 31.
Kummerer, K., Hartmann, T. S., and Meyer, M.(1997). “Biodegradability of the antitumour agent ifosfamide and its occurrence in hospital effluents and communal sewage.” Water Res., 31, 2705–2710.
Letterman, R. D. (1999). Water quality and treatment, 5th Ed., McGraw-Hill, New York.
Lin, C.-E., Lin, W.-C., Chen, Y.-C., and Wang, S.-W.(1997). “Migration behavior and selectivity of sulfonamides in capillary electrophoresis.” J. Chromatogr., A, 792, 37–47.
Meyer, M. T., Bumgarner, J. E., Thurman, E. M., Hostetler, K. A., and Daughtridge, J. V. (1999). “Occurrence of antibiotics in liquid waste at confined animal feeding operations and in surface and groundwater.” Proc., 20th Meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Pensacola, Fla., 111.
Meyer, M. T., Bumgarner, J. E., Varns, J. L., Daughtridge, J. V., Thurman, E. M., and Hostetler, K. A.(2000a). “Use of radioimmunoassay as a screen for antibiotics in confined animal feeding operations and confirmation by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry.” Sci. Total Environ., 248, 181–188.
Meyer, M. T., Kolpin, D. W., Bumgarner, J. E., Varns, J. L., and Daughtridge, J. V. (2000b). “Occurrence of antibiotics in surface and ground water near confined animal feeding operations and waste water treatment plants using radioimmunoassay and liquid chromatography/electrospray mass spectrometry.” Proc., 219th Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 40, Washington, D.C., 106.
Moffat, A. C., Jackson, J. V., Mass, M. S., and Widdop, B. (1986). Clarke’s isolation and identification of drugs in pharmaceuticals, body fluids, and post-mortem material, 2nd Ed., Pharmaceutical Press, London.
Pontius, F. W. (1990). Water quality and treatment, 4th Ed., McGraw-Hill, New York.
Potera, C.(2000). “Drugged drinking water.” Environ. Health Perspect., 108, A446.
Rey, R. P., Padron, A. S., Leon, P. L., Pozo, M. M., and Baluja, C.(1999). “Ozonation of cytostatics in water medium. Nitrogen bases.” Ozone. Sci. Eng., 21, 69–77.
Thurman, E. M. (1985). Organic geochemistry of natural waters, Martinus Nijhoff, Boston.
U. S. Filter. (1996). Water and wastewater treatment data book, Palm Desert, Calif.
White, G. C. (1999). Handbook of chlorination and alternative disinfectants, 4th Ed., Wiley, New York.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 128 • Issue 3 • March 2002
Pages: 253 - 260
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 12, 2001
Accepted: Aug 13, 2001
Published online: Mar 1, 2002
Published in print: Mar 2002
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.