Biological Degradation of Common Pharmaceuticals a

Authors: Deborah L Carr Audra N Morse John C Zak Todd A Anderson

Publish Date: 2010/08/03

Volume: 217, Issue: 1-4, Pages: 127-134

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Abstract

Biological degradation rates of six pharmaceuticals and personal care products were examined in soil from a land application site and in adjacent soil with no prior history of effluent exposure Microbial degradation rates were compared over 2 weeks under standing water or saturated conditions and draining conditions after having been saturated for 3 days Biological degradation of 17βestradiol exhibited rapid rates of biological degradation under both saturated and draining conditions Halflives for 17βestradiol ranged from 15 to 4 days 66–97 was lost from the soils Estriol showed a pattern of biological degradation in both saturated and draining conditions though the halflives were longer 87–259 days than those observed for 17βestradiol Twentyeight percent to 73 of estriol was lost over the 14 days treatment period Estrone and 17αethinylestradiol exhibited slower rates of biological transformation under saturated and draining conditions Halflives for estrone ranged between 275 and 568 days with loss of at most 21 17αethinylestradiol exhibited halflives of 226–207 days Halflife data for ibuprofen ranged from 304 to 17064 days in this experiment Losses of up to 17 were observed in draining soils Triclosan loss was at most 10 and halflives were 709–3988 days In all cases soils that were draining from saturated conditions exhibited faster degradation rates than soils that remained saturated Prior exposure of the soil to effluent did not always result in higher biological degradation rates

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