Journal
WATER RESEARCH
Volume 108, Issue -, Pages 57-67Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2016.10.053
Keywords
Emerging contaminants; Anthropogenic tracers; Suspended solids; Settled sediment; Stormwater; Batch equilibrium
Funding
- NSERC
- Canadian Research Chair on Source Water Protection
- NSERC Industrial Chair on Drinking Water
- Canada Foundation for Innovation
- Norwegian Research Council [231736/F20]
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Pharmaceuticals are discharged to the environment from wastewater resource recovery facilities, sewer overflows, and illicit sewer connections. To understand the fate of pharmaceuticals, there is a need to better understand their sorption dynamics to suspended sediments (SS) and settled sediments (StS) in sewer systems. In this study, such sorption dynamics to both SS and StS were assessed using a batch equilibrium method under both static and dynamic conditions. Experiments were performed with natively occurring and artificially modified concentrations of sewer pharmaceuticals (acetaminophen, theophylline, carbamazepine, and a metabolite of carbamazepine) and caffeine. Differences in apparent distribution coefficients, K-d,K-app, between SS and StS were related to differences in their organic carbon (OC) content, and the practice of artificially modifying the concentration. K-d,K-app values of modified contaminant concentrations and high OC sediments were substantially higher. Pseudo-second order desorption rates for these mobile compounds were also quantified. Successive flushing events to simulate the addition of stormwater to sewer networks revealed that aqueous concentrations would not necessarily decrease, because the added water will rapidly return to equilibrium concentrations with the sediments. Sorption and desorption kinetics must be considered in addition to dilution, to avoid underestimating the influence of dilution on concentrations of pharmaceuticals discharged to the environment. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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