Mobility of pharmaceutical and personal care products in lime amended wastewater biosolids

Abstract

Lime amendment of biosolids can produce large quantities of hydroxyl ions and increase biosolids pH. The mobility of some pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) is closely correlated with the pH of biosolids. In this study the mobility of six PPCPs: erythromycin, fluoxetine, carbamazepine, naproxen, gemfibrozil and triclosan, was measured in unamended and lime-amended biosolids over 63days. Biosolids were equilibrated either a at pH range of 5.5–11.5 or cured over a time period up to 63days. The mobility was calculated as the proportion of PPCPs associated with the soluble phase after a given equilibrium time or a curing period. In unamended biosolids the mobility of erythromycin, fluoxetine, gemfibrozil and triclosan decreased, the mobility of naproxen increased and the mobility of carbamazepine was almost unchanged over 63days of curing. Compared to unamended biosolids, lime addition increased the mobility of erythromycin and naproxen by 21.7% and 33.8% respectively, but suppressed the mobility of carbamazepine, fluoxetine, gemfibrozil and triclosan by up to 100% after 63days. The pH influence on hydrophobicity and speciation of PPCPs correlated well with the mobility of erythromycin and fluoxetine, but only partially correlated with the mobility of the other 4 compounds over the pH of 5.5–11.5. Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transformed infrared (ATR-FTIR) and emission-excitation matrices (EEMs) provided spectroscopic evidences showing that the increases in amide and carboxylic groups, the decrease in polysaccharides, and the increases in humic substances in dissolved organic matter (DOM) may be responsible for the changes in the PPCPs' mobility. The effects of lime amendment lasted for approximately a month. The results of this work suggest that lime amendment prevents some PPCPs from being dissolved in biosolids soluble phases, but may not “lock” all PPCPs into biosolids.