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Removal rates of antibiotics in four sewage treatment plants in South India

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Abstract

The occurrence and removal of seven selected pharmaceutical compounds (PCs) in sewage treatment plants (STPs) in South India were investigated. The PCs selected for this study were sulfamethoxazole (SMX), trimethoprim (TMP), chloramphenicol (CAP), erythromycin (ERY), naproxen (NPX), bezafibrate (BZF), and ampicillin (AMP). Wastewater samples were collected from inlet and outlet of the STPs during pre-monsoon, monsoon, and post-monsoon seasons to investigate the seasonal influences in occurrence and removal rates. The analytical method was based on simultaneous extraction of all target compounds by solid phase extraction (SPE), using a hydrophilic–lipophilic-balanced (HLB) sorbent followed by high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). The STP that catered exclusively to domestic wastewater had lesser concentrations of PCs compared to the STPs serving the combined hospital and domestic effluents. SMX was the dominant compound in all effluents with the highest concentration at 3.2 μg/L in the outlet of an STP. TMP and ERY were the other PCs present at higher concentrations in STP outlets (1 μg/L and 0–0.13 μg/L, respectively). Removal rates varied from 100 % for BZF to 60–100 % for SMX, CTX, and AMP.

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Acknowledgments

This study was partly supported by KAKENHI Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) (Number 24256004)2012-2015 (to K.S.G., N.Y. and M.A), Project no. 240629 for N.Y and Dr. TMA Pai Endowment Chair in Earth Sciences awarded to KB.

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Author notes

  1. Valiparambil Prabhakaranunni Prabhasankar

    Present address: Department of Civil Engineering, Universal Engineering College, Vallivattom, Kerala, 680123, India

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT), Manipal University, Manipal, 576104, India

    Valiparambil Prabhakaranunni Prabhasankar, Derrick Ian Joshua, Keshava Balakrishna, Iyanee Faroza Siddiqui & Yerabham Praveenkumarreddy

  2. National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 16-1 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-859, Japan

    Sachi Taniyasu & Nobuyoshi Yamashita

  3. Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health and Department of Environmental Health Sciences, State University of New York at Albany, New York, NY, USA

    Kurunthachalam Kannan

  4. Bacterial and Parasitic Disease Research Division, National Institute of Animal Health, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Kannondai 3-1-5, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0856, Japan

    Masato Akiba

  5. Pathology and Pathophysiology Research Division, National Institute of Animal Health, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Kannondai 3-1-5, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0856, Japan

    Keerthi S. Guruge

Authors
  1. Valiparambil Prabhakaranunni Prabhasankar
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  2. Derrick Ian Joshua
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Correspondence to Keshava Balakrishna.

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Prabhasankar, V.P., Joshua, D.I., Balakrishna, K. et al. Removal rates of antibiotics in four sewage treatment plants in South India. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 8679–8685 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5968-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5968-3

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