Abstract:
The occurrence and removal of thirty representative pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) in two urban wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are being investigated for the period of one year to evaluate current systems’ treatment efficacy and assess reusability for the wastewater. In the wastewater influents, all but three target PPCPs are routinely detected at average total concentration of 133-139 µg/L with 30-35% of coefficient of variation; acetaminophen, DEET, caffeine, ibuprofen, and naproxen are present at the highest concentrations (>10 µg/L). The removal efficiency by the wastewater treatment processes varies greatly among different PPCP compounds with the average removal rate observed at 91 ± 6% for WWTP 1, and 92 ± 4% for WWTP 2. The data indicates a seasonal dependence with higher PPCPs removal rate in warmer weather, and the removal of PPCPs can be correlated to the organic carbon removal.
