Landfill leachates are identified as a significant source of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs), which might pose a threat to groundwater and surface water nearby the landfill. However, knowledge of PPCP contamination in the surrounding water environment of landfills is very limited. Here we investigated eighteen PPCPs in water environment near the largest landfill in China, focusing on their occurrences and spatial distribution, as well as the environmental risks. The results showed the concentration of target PPCPs was below the limit of quantification (

Knowledge on the pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in landfill leachates, which are an important source of PPCPs in the environment, was very limited. Hence, four sampling campaigns were conducted to determine eighteen PPCPs in the landfill leachates from a landfill reservoir in Shanghai. Five of the target PPCPs were first included in a landfill leachate study. Additionally, their removal from landfill leachates by a full-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) was illustrated. The results showed fourteen out of eighteen PPCPs were detectable in at least one sampling campaign and achieved individual concentrations ranging from 0.39 to 349 mu g/L in the landfill leachates. Some PPCPs exhibited higher contamination levels than those reported in other countries. Good removal of PPCPs by MBR led to a largely reduced contamination level (<LOQ to 10.6 mu g/L) in the treated landfill leachates, which was, however, still much higher than those in municipal wastewaters in Shanghai. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the removal of PPCPs in landfill leachates. The findings emphasized the necessity to further study the PPCPs in the landfill leachates in China and the requirement to enhance their removal in the landfill leachates. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The concentrations of 7selected pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the leachate samples from a landfill site of municipal solid waste in Shanghai were determined by solid phase extraction and high liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry. Besides, the removal efficiencies of the leachate treatment processes for the target PPCPs were investigated. The developed analytical method showed acceptable recoveries (89%~173%), relative standard deviation (<20%) and limits of quantification (0.025~1.0μg/L), meeting the requirement for detecting environmental samples. The results showed that the target PPCPs ranged from below limit of quantification (<LOQ) to 23μg/L in the studied leachate samples. The concentration levels were generally lower than or consistent with the concentration levels reported in other relevant studies. The removal efficiencies of PPCPs by membrane bioreactor (MBR) process and disk tube reverse osmosis (DTRO) process were 21%~98% and >90%, respectively, and the total removal efficiencies were above 97%. The concentrations of target PPCPs in the final effluent were from <LOQ to 116ng/L, unlikely to produce a high load of PPCP discharge to the receiving wastewater treatment plant.

Lab-scale experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of initial concentration, temperature and pH on the removal of bezafibrate (BF) by activated sludge under aerobic condition. The results showed that adsorption of BF onto activated sludge was negligible, and biodegradation was the main removal mechanism of BF. The removal of BF in the aqueous phase by the activated sludge can be described by a pseudo-first-order reaction. The reaction rate constants had a negative relationship with the initial concentration of BF, and dramatically reduced from 0.050 to 0.007 h−1, when the temperature dropped from 20 °C to 10 °C. Variation of pH between 5.0 and 9.0 did not have significant influence on the removal of BF, indicating a high adaptation of microorganism in the activated sludge responsible for BF degradation to a wide pH range. The findings of this study are helpful to improve the removal of pharmaceuticals during the wastewater treatment plants by selecting the appropriate process variables, and eventually eliminate their release to the environment.

Ten pharmaceuticals and two consumer products were investigated in four wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Shanghai, China. The concentrations of target compounds in the wastewater influents ranged from below the limit of quantification (LOQ) to 9340 ng/L, with the frequency of detection of 31-100 %, and the removal efficiencies were observed to be -82 to 100 % in the four WWTPs. Concentrations of most target compounds (i.e. diclofenac, caffeine, metoprolol, sulpiride) in the wastewater influents were around three to eight times higher in urban WWTPs than in suburb ones, probably due to the different population served and lifestyles. Mean concentrations of target compounds in the wastewater influent generally decreased by 5-76 % after rainfall due to the dilution of raw sewage by rainwater, which infiltrated into the sewer system. In the WWTPs located in the suburb area, the increased flow of wastewater influent led to a shortened hydraulic retention time (HRT) and decreased removal efficiencies of some compounds. On the contrary, the influence of rainfall was not significant on the removal efficiencies of investigated compounds in urban WWTPs, probably due to the almost unchanged influent flow, good removal performance, or bypass system employed.

The presence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the aquatic environment may pose potential threat to the ecosystem and human health, hence PPCPs have aroused much concern over the world. The contamination of PPCPs in the groundwater, the main source of drinking water supply in many countries and regions, has been extensively studied in the last decade. This paper reviews the occurrence of frequently detected PPCPs, including antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, lipid-regulators, carbamazepine, caffeine, and N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide in groundwater, with special concern to the progress made over the past three years. Possible emission sources for PPCPs in groundwater, such as wastewater and contaminated surface water, landfills, septic systems, livestock breeding and sewer leakage, are summarized. Besides, adsorption, migration and degradation, the dominant mechanisms in the subsurface transport and fate of PPCPs, are discussed, and the insights into the future study of PPCPs in the groundwater are provided.