Occurrence of sulfonamide antibiotics in sewage treatment plants

• Published in: Chinese science bulletin 2008-02, Vol.53 (4), p.514-520
• Main Authors: Chang, Hong, Hu, JianYing, Wang, LeZheng, Shao, Bing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Articles Special Topics; Chemistry/Food Science; Earth Sciences; Engineering; Humanities and Social Sciences; Life Sciences; multidisciplinary; Physics; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); 城市污水处理厂; 污水处理; 生物转化; 磺胺类药抗生素
• ISSN: 1001-6538; 1861-9541
• DOI: 10.1007/s11434-008-0123-x

The occurrence of sulfonamide antibiotics （SAs） was investigated in the six sewage treatment plants （STPs） of Beijing, China. Of the 13 objective antibiotics, suIfamethoxazole, suIfapyrldine, suIfamerazine, sulfadiazine and suIfamethizol were detected in the influents with the average concentrations of 1.2 ± 0.45, 0.29 ± 0.25, 0.048 ± 0.012, 0.35 ± 0.52 and 0.33 ± 0.21 μg·L^-1, respectively, and those in the effluents were 1.4 ± 0.74, 0.22 ± 0.19, 0.021 ± 0.008, 0.22 ± 0.21and 0.01± 0 μg·L^-1, respectively. SuIfamethoxazole was the predominant compound detected, and was found in all wastewater samples with the other two compounds sulfapyridine and suIfamerazine. It should be noted that suIfadiazine was first reported in wastewatera, and the concentration levels of all detected compounds except for suIfamethizol （detected once in the effluent samples） in the influents were observed to be similar to those in the effluents. From the dsts in this study, it can be found that suIfamethoxazole, suIfapyridine, suIfamerazine and suIfadiazine could be partly removed in anoxic and aerobic treatment unit and vice versa in anaerobic process, which led to their low or even negative removal rates in the effluents. The increase on the concentrations of suIfamethoxazole and suIfapyridine in the effluents was found probably due to the biotransformation of their acetylated forms in anaerobic treatment unit. In addition, it was observed that the biodegradation of suIfamethoxazole and suIfapyridine could partly occur during the anoxic and aerobic process, while suIfamerazine was partly eliminated in the anaerobic and anoxic units.