Occurrence and discharge of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in dewatered sludge from WWTPs in Beijing and Shenzhen

This study mainly focused on the occurrence of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) in sewage dewatered sludge and their discharges through sludge disposal from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The data were obtained and calculated from seven PPCPs in dewatered sludge collected from 12 WWTPs in two typical cities, Beijing and Shenzhen in China. Four of seven PPCPs, diclofenac acid, carbamazepine, mefenamic acid and N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide were detectable in dewatered sludge from Beijing and Shenzhen with concentration up to 4240, 11,060, 92 and 219 μg/kg respectively. While, the other three compounds, trimethoprim, chloramphenicol and bezafibrate were not detected in collected samples from these two cities. The highest discharge of diclofenac acid and carbamazepine were 1023 g/d and 494 g/d respectively. In addition, the total discharge of these four detected PPCPs from each plant ranged from 5 to 1092 g/d in Beijing and 4–497 g/d in Shenzhen. Thus, PPCP discharge through sludge disposal cannot be neglected, and further research on transfer of PPCPs during sludge disposal onto agriculture land and influence of sludge application is required and essential.