WP1 Wastewater Treatment Effluents: Endocrine Disrupters and Pharmaceuticals
Wednesday, 16 November 2005: 8:00 AM - 6:30 PM in Exhibit Hall

(BAT-1117-730202) Influence of Municipal Treatment Plant Design on the Removal Efficiency of Antibiotics from Wastewaters.

Batt, Angela¹, Kim, Sungpyo¹, Aga, Diana¹, ¹ State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, United States

ABSTRACT- Samples from various stages of treatment from five full-scale wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) employing different technologies and designs were analyzed for antibiotics and caffeine. The WWTPs chosen utilized a variety of secondary removal processes, such as a two stage activated sludge process with nitrification, extended aeration, rotating biological contactors, pure oxygen activated sludge, and carbon adsorption. Advanced treatment processes, such as sand filtration, metal salt precipitation, and chemical disinfection were also incorporated in some of the WWTPs. Among the antibiotics detected were sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim, ciprofloxacin, and tetracycline at concentrations ranging from to 0.061 to 7.9 g/L. Caffeine was detected in the influent or primary effluent of all WWTPs at concentrations above the dynamic range of the method (1000 g/L) and in the final effluent at concentrations ranging from 0.56 to 132 g/L. The antibiotics removal efficiencies by each treatment process, along with the overall removal efficiencies of each municipal WWTP were determined. The results from this study give insight on how the WWTP design and operation parameters, such as solids retention time (SRT) and hydraulic retention time (HRT), affect the removal of antibiotics from wastewater.

Key words: antibiotics, wastewater treatment, LC/MS/MS