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Removal of sulfonamide antibiotics upon conventional activated sludge and advanced membrane bioreactor treatment

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Abstract

This work reports the removal efficiencies of nine sulfonamides (SAs) and one of their acetylated metabolites during conventional activated sludge (CAS) and membrane bioreactor (MBR) treatments. Two different types of membranes were studied, hollow-fiber membranes and flat-sheet membranes, in two separate pilot plants operating in parallel to a full-scale CAS treatment. A total of 48 water samples and 16 sewage sludge samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. We obtained 100 % elimination in the MBR effluents for three SAs (sulfadiazine, sulfadimethoxine, and sulfamethoxypyridazine) and the metabolite. For the rest of the SAs, the removal efficiencies during CAS and MBR treatments were similar and usually below 55 %. Sulfamethizole was the most recalcitrant SA, exhibiting negative removal efficiencies in all the treatments investigated. The concentrations of SAs in the different sewage sludge types were also calculated and ranged from 0.01 to 11 ng g-1. Furthermore, adsorption and biodegradation of SAs in activated sludge were investigated in two sets of batch reactors, which were spiked at high and low concentration (1,000 and 50 ng mL-1, respectively). All SAs followed a similar trend and, with the exception of sulfathiazole, were not fully eliminated after 25 days of treatment.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the projects CEMAGUA (CGL2007-64551/HID) and SCARCE (Consolider Ingenio 2010 CSD2009-00065). The authors would like to thank the staff of the Terrasa WWTP for their help throughout the sampling campaign, and A. Navarro for her kind assistance. M.J.G. acknowledges AGAUR (Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain) for economic support through an FI predoctoral grant. Prof. Barcelo acknowledges King Saud University (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) for his contract position as Visiting Profesor.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Chemistry, IDAEA-CSIC, Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034, Barcelona, Spain

    María Jesús García Galán, M. Silvia Díaz-Cruz & Damià Barceló

  2. Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Parc Científic i Tecnològic de la Universitat de Girona, C/ Emili Grahit, 101 Edifici H2O, 17003, Girona, Spain

    Damià Barceló

Authors
  1. María Jesús García Galán
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  2. M. Silvia Díaz-Cruz
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  3. Damià Barceló
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Correspondence to M. Silvia Díaz-Cruz.

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García Galán, M.J., Díaz-Cruz, M.S. & Barceló, D. Removal of sulfonamide antibiotics upon conventional activated sludge and advanced membrane bioreactor treatment. Anal Bioanal Chem 404, 1505–1515 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-012-6239-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-012-6239-5

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