Transport of primidone carbamazepine and sulfame

Authors: Beate Müller Traugott Scheytt Gesche Grützmacher

Publish Date: 2013/03/14

Volume: 13, Issue: 5, Pages: 953-965

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Abstract

The transport behavior of human pharmaceuticals in groundwater depends on a multitude of factors such as the physicochemical conditions in the aquifer and the organic carbon content of the sediment and in particular on the redox conditions in the groundwater This is of special interest at managed aquifer recharge sites where the occurrence of trace organics is important for drinking water production The aim of this study was to evaluate the possibility of influencing the redox system of the aquifer in a way that optimizes the potential of managed aquifer recharge systems to reduce the amount of trace organicsColumn studies were performed using natural and thermally treated sediments from an infiltration basin of the Berlin area Germany Special emphasis was placed on thermal treatment of the sediments to influence the total organic carbon TOC content in the sediment In one experiment the sediment was thermally pretreated at 550 °C in two experiments the sediment was pretreated at 200 °C and in one the sediment was untreated Furthermore the influence of ozonation a very common disinfectant used in drinking water production was studied in the experiments The retardation and degradation parameters for primidone PMD carbamazepine CBZ and sulfamethoxazole SMX under different redox conditions were evaluatedOxic conditions were obtained in the experiment with low TOC 006 wt in the sediment pretreated at 550 °C Anoxic conditions were predominant in two column experiments with a TOC content of 017 wt in the sediment irrespective of the mode of treatment natural or 200 °C All three pharmaceutical compounds show almost conservative transport behavior with retardation factors between 102 and 125 for PMD between 106 and 137 for CBZ and between 100 and 108 for SMX Differences in the transport behavior were observed depending on the TOC content of the sediment For CBZ and to a minor extent for PMD the higher retardation factors were observed in the sediment with a TOC content of 017 wt under anoxic conditions The ozonation of the influent water affects the influent concentrations of PMD CBZ and SMX However it has no influence on the oxygen concentration of the column outflowCBZ and PMD are retarded in the presence of organic matter in the aquifer Variations of the TOC content of the sediment have a direct influence on the retardation of CBZ and PMD The three human pharmaceuticals may be ranked in order of decreasing retardation CBZ  PMD  SMX The microbial activity in the experiments was not studied although it can be assumed that the thermal pretreatment influences the microbial activity in the sediments In particular the microbial activity was severely inhibited at 550 °C resulting in a shift of the redox conditionsThis work was funded by Berliner Wasserbetriebe BWB and Veolia Water through the Berlin Centre of Competence for Water KWB gGmbH within the project OXIRED2 The authors would like to thank Karsten Nödler and Tobias Licha from Geoscience Centre of the University of Göttingen Department of Applied Geology for the analysis of the human pharmaceuticals Furthermore the authors grateful acknowledge the support of I Pieper K Yildiz S Banzhaf and D Radny from the Hydrogeology Research Group of the Technische Universität Berlin The ozonation was performed at the Chair for Water Quality Control of the Technische Universität Thanks to U Hübner for the assistance

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