In-sewer stability assessment of 140 pharmaceuticals, personal care products, pesticides and their metabolites: Implications for wastewater-based epidemiology biomarker screening

作者：Jiaqi Wen, Lei Duan, Bin Wang, Qian Dong, Yanchen Liu, Chao Chen, Jun Huang, Gang Yu · 发表于：Environment International · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1016/j.envint.2024.108465 · 被引用次数：43 · 研究领域：Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts、Urban Stormwater Management Solutions、Water Treatment and Disinfection

The monitoring of pharmaceuticals, personal care products (PCPs), pesticides, and their metabolites through wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) provides timely information on pharmaceutical consumption patterns, chronic disease treatment rates, antibiotic usage, and exposure to harmful chemicals. However, before applying them for quantitative WBE back-estimation, it is necessary to understand their stability in the sewer system to screen suitable WBE biomarkers thereby reducing research uncertainty. This study investigated the in-sewer stability of 140 typical pharmaceuticals, PCPs, pesticides, and their metabolites across 15 subcategories, using a series of laboratory sewer sediment and biofilm reactors. For the first time, stability results for 89 of these compounds were reported. Among the 140 target compounds, 61 biomarkers demonstrated high stability in all sewer reactors, while 41 biomarkers were significantly removed merely by sediment processes. For biomarkers exhibiting notable attenuation, the influence of sediment processes was generally more pronounced than biofilm, due to its stronger microbial activities and more pronounced diffusion or adsorption processes. Adsorption emerged as the predominant factor causing biomarker removal compared to biodegradation and diffusion. Significantly different organic carbon-water partitioning coefficient (Koc) and distribution coefficient at pH=7 (logD) values were observed between highly stable and unstable biomarkers, with mos...