PARENT SESSION

PW08 Ecotoxicity and Environmental Chemistry of Antibiotics
Exhibit Hall
8:00 AM - Wednesday, 12 November 2003

(PW128) The fate of the -blocker propranolol hydrochloride in wastewater treatment plants.

Roberts, G¹, Good, J¹, Gillings, E¹, ¹ AstraZeneca Global SHE, Brixham, Devon, UK

ABSTRACT- Pharmaceuticals used in human medicine are mainly released into the environment via the sewage system. Various human pharmaceuticals have been detected at concentrations in the low g l^-1 range in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents. For most pharmaceuticals, very little data on the fate of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) has been published at these low concentrations. The current study aimed to improve our knowledge by studying the fate of a -blocker, propranolol hydrochloride, in laboratory tests to simulate its fate in a WWTP. The test systems consisted of batch experiments using sewage collected from a WWTP treating predominantly domestic waste. Sorption, primary and ultimate biodegradation were measured using ¹⁴C-labeled propranolol hydrochloride. The range of test substance concentrations was 1 g l^-1 to 100 mg l^-1 and the biomass concentration was 30 mg l^-1 and 3000 mg l^-1. The results of these studies will be presented and the data compared to data generated using conditions described in standard (OECD) test guidelines.

Key words: -blocker, Fate, Propranolol hydrochloride