Existence of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) in the Conventional Water Treatment Process

Abstract

AbstractPharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are categorized as contaminants of concerns. It mainly includes regularly used personal care and cosmetic products and medicines. PPCPs have been widely detected in different water matrices. PPCPs being adversely affecting the ecological system and human health and therefore are of great concerns. Presence of PPCPs in effluents from municipal wastewater treatment plants, behaviour and biological impact have become a topical concern and important issues of water quality. PPCPs are considered as potent endocrine disruptors (EDCs). Their bioactive metabolites find its way into the aquatic environment in the form of complex combinations through a number of ways but mostly by both untreated and treated sewage.The work was done to understand the fate of PPCPs during the conventional treatment. Four class of PPCPs, viz.; phenols, anti-microbial, oestrogen, and stimulants were targeted. One compound from each class, i.e. 4-n-Nonylphenol, Triclosan, 17β-estradiol, and Caffeine was selected for method standardization in GC-MS. The samples from inlet and outlet of STP were analysed for the selected compounds. Sufficient concentration of three compounds, viz.; 4-n-Nonylphenol, Triclosan, and 17β-estradiol were detected in inlet samples. Also considerable concentration of these compounds was found in outlet samples. Although much work have been done to find out different treatment methods for the deletion of PPCPs from wastewater and receiving waters. However in Indian scenario, the treatment system is designed for the conventional process which is not effective in the removal of these PPCPs. This is clearly revealed in the results of study that PPCPs are highly concentrated in the inlets of STPs and their removal needs to be look-in during treatment process.KeywordsPharmaceuticalsPersonal care productsToxicityTreatment process