The application of treated sewage sludge on farmland is a suggested method for recycling nutrients and reducing demand for commercial fertilizer. However, sludge needs to be safe from possible contaminants which can cause acute and long-term health and environmental problems. Residual pharmaceuticals and organic contaminants are mentioned as emerging threats since wastewater treatment plants are not designed to degrade these substances. The aim of this study was to screen and evaluate the presence, and reduction, of pharmaceuticals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) during anaerobic digestion of mixed primary and waste-activated sludge at 35, 55 and 60 °C and during pasteurization at 70 °C. The study showed the difficulty of analysing pharmaceutical compounds in low concentrations in the sludge matrix. No general reduction of these compounds was seen during treatment, but for individual substances some reduction occured. The PAHs were generally not reduced during digestion or pasteurization, but for three substances (indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene and dibenzo[a,h]anthracene (analysed together) and benzo[g,h,i]perylene) reduction (up to 60%) during digestion was seen. Digestion at 35 and 55 °C resulted in about the same order of reduction of the three individual PAHs, which was higher than for digestion at 60 °C.
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Research Article|
January 16 2014
Effect of anaerobic digestion at 35, 55 and 60 °C on pharmaceuticals and organic contaminants
Å. Davidsson;
1Water and Environmental Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, 221 00 Lund, Sweden
E-mail: asa.davidsson@chemeng.lth.se
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H. Kjerstadius;
H. Kjerstadius
1Water and Environmental Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, 221 00 Lund, Sweden
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S. Haghighatafshar;
S. Haghighatafshar
1Water and Environmental Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, 221 00 Lund, Sweden
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J. Fick;
J. Fick
2Department of Chemistry, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
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M. Olsson;
M. Olsson
3Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Miljoevej 113, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
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H. Wachtmeister;
H. Wachtmeister
3Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Miljoevej 113, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
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E. Eriksson;
E. Eriksson
3Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Miljoevej 113, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
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J. la Cour Jansen
J. la Cour Jansen
1Water and Environmental Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, 221 00 Lund, Sweden
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Water Sci Technol (2014) 69 (6): 1282–1288.
Article history
Received:
July 29 2013
Accepted:
January 03 2014
Citation
Å. Davidsson, H. Kjerstadius, S. Haghighatafshar, J. Fick, M. Olsson, H. Wachtmeister, E. Eriksson, J. la Cour Jansen; Effect of anaerobic digestion at 35, 55 and 60 °C on pharmaceuticals and organic contaminants. Water Sci Technol 1 March 2014; 69 (6): 1282–1288. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2014.016
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