Pharmaceuticals – improved removal from municipal wastewater and their occurrence in the Baltic Sea

Sammanfattning: Pharmaceutical residues are found in the environment due to extensive use in human and veterinary medicine. The active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) have a potential impact in non-target organisms. Municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are not designed to remove APIs.In this thesis, two related matters are addressed 1) evaluation of advanced treatment to remove APIs from municipal wastewater and 2) the prevalence and degradation of APIs in the Baltic Sea.A stationary pilot plant with nanofiltration (NF) and a mobile pilot plant with activated carbon and ozonation were designed to study the removal of APIs at four WWTPs. By NF, removal reached 90%, but the retentate needed further treatment. A predictive model of the rejection of APIs by NF was developed based on the variables: polarizability, globularity, ratio hydrophobic to polar water accessible surface and charge. The pilot plants with granular and powdered activated carbon (GAC) and (PAC) removed more than 95% of the APIs. Screening of activated carbon products was essential, because of a broad variation in adsorption capacity. Recirculation of PAC or longer contact time, increased the removal of APIs. Ozonation with 5-7 g/m3 ozone resulted in 87-95% removal of APIs. Elevated activity and transcription of biomarkers indicated presence of xenobiotics in regular effluent. Chemical analysis of APIs, together with analysis of biomarkers, were valuable and showed that GAC-filtration and ozonation can be implemented to remove APIs in WWTPs, with decreased biomarker responses.Sampling of the Baltic Sea showed presence of APIs in 41 out of 43 locations. A developed grey box model predicted concentration and half-life of carbamazepine in the Baltic Sea to be 1.8 ng/L and 1300 d respectively.In conclusion, APIs were removed to 95% by GAC or PAC treatment. The additional treatment resulted in lower biomarker responses than today and some APIs were shown to be widespread in the aquatic environment.