A critical review of wastewater-based epidemiology as a tool to evaluate the unintentional human exposure to potentially harmful chemicals.

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is a powerful tool to gather epidemiological insights at the community level, providing objective data on population exposure to harmful substances. A considerable portion of the human exposure to these potentially harmful chemicals occurs unintentionally, unlike substances such as pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs, or alcohol. In this context, this comprehensive review analyzes WBE studies focused on classes of organic chemicals to which humans are unintentionally exposed, namely organophosphorus flame retardants, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), benzotriazoles and benzothiazoles, phthalates and terephthalates, benzophenones, pesticides, bisphenols, and parabens.

Biotransformation pathways of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) during acidogenesis and methanogenesis of anaerobic digestion.

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) exhibit varying biodegradability during the acidogenic and methanogenic phases of anaerobic digestion. However, there is limited information regarding the end products generated during these processes. This work investigates the biotransformation products (BTPs) generated in a two-phase (TP) acidogenic-methanogenic (Ac-Mt) bioreactor using advanced suspect and nontarget strategies.

Anaerobic co-metabolic biodegradation of pharmaceuticals and personal care products driven by glycerol fermentation.

Anaerobic digestion in two sequential phases, acidogenesis and methanogenesis, has been shown to be beneficial for enhancing the biomethane generation from wastewater. In this work, the application of glycerol (GOH) as a fermentation co-substrate during the wastewater treatment was evaluated on the biodegradation of different pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). GOH co-digestion during acidogenesis led to a significant increase in the biodegradation of acetaminophen (from 78 to 89%), ciprofloxacin (from 25 to 46%), naproxen (from 73 to 86%), diclofenac (from 36 to 48%), ibuprofen (from 65 to 88%), metoprolol (from 45 to 59%), methylparaben (from 64 to 78%) and propylparaben (from 68 to 74%).

Two-phase (acidogenic-methanogenic) anaerobic fixed bed biofilm reactor enhances the biological domestic sewage treatment: Perspectives for recovering bioenergy and value-added by-products.

The organic matter bioconversion into methane during anaerobic digestion (AD) comprises different steps, the acidogenic and methanogenic phases being clearly distinct in terms of metabolic activities. In this work, new configurations of anaerobic fixed bed biofilm reactors (AFBBR) were operated under conventional methanogenic conditions (single phase - SP-AFBBR, MR), and in a sequential two-phase system, acidogenic reactor followed by methanogenic reactor (TP-AFBBR, AcR + MR), in order to verify the impact of the AD phase separation on the overall system performance in operational, kinetics and microbiological aspects. The results indicated that feeding the methanogenic reactor with the acidogenic effluent stream provided a shorter operating start-up period (11 and 32 days for SP and TP-AFBBR, respectively), a greater alkalinity generation (0.

Influence of organic loading rate on ciprofloxacin and sulfamethoxazole biodegradation in anaerobic fixed bed biofilm reactors.

Antibiotic compounds, notably sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and ciprofloxacin (CIP), are ubiquitous emerging contaminants (ECs), which are often found in domestic sewage. They are associated with the development of antimicrobial resistance. Operational parameters, e.

Acidogenesis is a key step in the anaerobic biotransformation of organic micropollutants.

Understanding the role of the different anaerobic digestion stages on the removal of organic micropollutants (OMPs) is essential to mitigate their release from wastewater treatment plants. This study assessed the fate of 21 OMPs during hydrolysis and acidogenesis to elucidate the contribution of these stages to the overall anaerobic removal. Moreover, the removal mechanisms and factors influencing them were investigated.

Feasibility of anaerobic packed and structured-bed reactors for sulfamethoxazole and ciprofloxacin removal from domestic sewage.

This study assessed the applicability of fixed bed bioreactors in two configurations - anaerobic structured bed reactor (ASBR) and anaerobic packed bed reactor (APBR) - in the removal of Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and Ciprofloxacin (CIP), two antibiotics frequently detected in sanitary sewage. The problem of these pharmaceuticals as emerging contaminants in conventional sewage treatment systems is mainly because they encourage the development and spread of resistance genes in bacteria. Both reactors had similar performances, and the antibiotics were highly removed - APBR: 85 ± 10% for SMX and 81 ± 16% for CIP; ASBR: 83 ± 12% for SMX and 81 ± 15% for CIP.