Fate of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) during anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge

The behaviour of 13 pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) has been studied during anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge: two musks (Galaxolide and Tonalide), one tranquilliser (Diazepam), one anti-epileptic (Carbamazepine), three anti-phlogistics (Ibuprofen, Naproxen and Diclofenac), two antibiotics (Sulfamethoxazole and Roxithromycin), one X-ray contrast medium (Iopromide) and three oestrogens (Estrone, 17β-oestradiol and 17α-ethinyloestradiol). Two parallel processes have been carried out, one in mesophilic range (37 °C) and the other in thermophilic range (55 °C). The influence of temperature and sludge retention time (SRT) has been analysed. Among the substances considered, the higher removal efficiencies were achieved for the antibiotics, natural oestrogens, musks and Naproxen. For the other compounds, the values ranged between 20% and 60%, except for Carbamazepine, which showed no elimination. The removal of oestrogens, Diazepam and Diclofenac occurred after sludge adaptation. In general, no influence of SRT and temperature on PPCPs removal was observed. Considering the difficulty of obtaining reliable PPCPs concentrations, especially those corresponding to the fractions sorbed onto sludge, a methodology to validate the experimental data has been developed and successfully applied.