Sorption and biodegradation parameters of selected pharmaceuticals in laboratory column experiments.

Pharmaceutically active compounds have increasingly been detected in groundwater worldwide. Despite constituting a risk for human health and ecosystems, their fate in the environment has still not been exhaustively investigated. This study characterizes the transport behavior of five selected pharmaceutically active compounds (antipyrine, atenolol, caffeine, carbamazepine and sulfamethoxazole) in two sediments (coarse quartz sand and sandy loam) using column experiments with long-term injection of spiked groundwater.

Sorption properties and behaviour at laboratory scale of selected pharmaceuticals using batch experiments.

Despite the increasing public concern about the frequent occurrence of pharmaceuticals in the water bodies, their transport and fate are not yet well known; in particular in groundwater. In this laboratory study, batch experiments were conducted to investigate the sorption behaviour of selected pharmaceuticals. The choice of compounds was motivated by their chemical properties as well as by their occurrence at the relevant field sites.

Identification of TCE and PCE sorption and biodegradation parameters in a sandy aquifer for fate and transport modelling: batch and column studies.

The main aim of this study was to determine the sorption and biodegradation parameters of trichloroethene (TCE) and tetrachloroethene (PCE) as input data required for their fate and transport modelling in a Quaternary sandy aquifer. Sorption was determined based on batch and column experiments, while biodegradation was investigated using the compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA). The aquifer materials medium (soil 1) to fine (soil 2) sands and groundwater samples came from the representative profile of the contaminated site (south-east Poland).