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Partitioning Behavior of Five Pharmaceutical Compounds to Activated Sludge and River Sediment

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Abstract

Pharmaceutical substances have been detected in sewage effluents as well as receiving waters in many parts of the world. To assess the fate and removal of these compounds within sewage treatment plants, an understanding of their partitioning behavior between the solid and aqueous phases is critical. Therefore, a preliminary study was conducted to ascertain an understanding of the binding behavior of five drug substances sorbing to the solid phase in a laboratory scale–activated sludge plant (Husmann unit). For comparison, uncontaminated river sediment was also used as a substrate. All of the compounds tested partitioned more readily to the sludge than the sediment, likely because of the former’s higher organic carbon content. Partitioning to the solid phase correlated roughly with predicted log Kow values. A period of initial sorption was followed by a phase of desorption, and net absorption of the selected drugs (with the exception of mefenamic acid) after 5 hours of mixing was minimal.

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Acknowledgments

One of the authors (O.A.H.J.) is grateful to the United Kingdom Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for the award of a doctoral scholarship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science and Technology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Imperial College, London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom

    O. A. H. Jones, N. Voulvoulis & J. N. Lester

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  1. O. A. H. Jones
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  2. N. Voulvoulis
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  3. J. N. Lester
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Correspondence to J. N. Lester.

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Jones, O.A.H., Voulvoulis, N. & Lester, J.N. Partitioning Behavior of Five Pharmaceutical Compounds to Activated Sludge and River Sediment. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 50, 297–305 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-005-1095-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-005-1095-3

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