Experiments were conducted to measure the behaviour of eight pharmaceuticals during urine treatment as part of the project ‘SANIRESCH – Sustainable sanitary recycling Eschborn’. Urine was collected from 200 people in a public building via waterless urinals and NoMix toilets. It was then stored at room temperature at different pH values to analyse the extent to which bacteria and pharmaceuticals are eliminated over time. Although a partial elimination of pharmaceuticals could be detected, the storage at defined pH values cannot be advised. As the persons tested used pharmaceuticals with different structures, in different amounts and at varying intervals, this method of treatment is insufficient for removing them from urine. Precipitating the urine with MgO, washing it with saturated struvite solution and drying it at 30 °C will result in a free-flowing granular powder of struvite (NH4MgPO4·6H2O) that is free of pharmaceuticals and pathogens and can be used as fertiliser and a source of nitrogen, magnesium and phosphorus.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
Research Article|
May 01 2012
Fate of pharmaceuticals and bacteria in stored urine during precipitation and drying of struvite
B. Schürmann;
1Institute of Environmental Engineering (ISA), RWTH Aachen University, Mies-van-der-Rohe-Str. 1, 52074 Aachen, Germany
E-mail: schuermann@isa.rwth-aachen.de
Search for other works by this author on:
W. Everding;
W. Everding
1Institute of Environmental Engineering (ISA), RWTH Aachen University, Mies-van-der-Rohe-Str. 1, 52074 Aachen, Germany
Search for other works by this author on:
D. Montag;
D. Montag
1Institute of Environmental Engineering (ISA), RWTH Aachen University, Mies-van-der-Rohe-Str. 1, 52074 Aachen, Germany
Search for other works by this author on:
J. Pinnekamp
J. Pinnekamp
1Institute of Environmental Engineering (ISA), RWTH Aachen University, Mies-van-der-Rohe-Str. 1, 52074 Aachen, Germany
Search for other works by this author on:
Water Sci Technol (2012) 65 (10): 1774–1780.
Article history
Received:
July 15 2011
Accepted:
December 12 2011
Citation
B. Schürmann, W. Everding, D. Montag, J. Pinnekamp; Fate of pharmaceuticals and bacteria in stored urine during precipitation and drying of struvite. Water Sci Technol 1 May 2012; 65 (10): 1774–1780. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2012.041
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Client Account
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.
Impact Factor 2.430
CiteScore 3.4 • Q2
13 days submission to first
decision
1,439,880 downloads in 2021
65
Views
11
Citations