Quantitative structure-property relationships for predicting sorption of pharmaceuticals to sewage sludge during waste water treatment processes.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the sorption of pharmaceuticals to sewage sludge during waste water treatment processes is important for understanding their environmental fate and in risk assessments. The degree of sorption is defined by the sludge/water partition coefficient (K_d). Experimental K_d values (n=297) for active pharmaceutical ingredients (n=148) in primary and activated sludge were collected from literature. The compounds were classified by their charge at pH7.4 (44 uncharged, 60 positively and 28 negatively charged, and 16 zwitterions). Univariate models relating log K_d to log K_ow for each charge class showed weak correlations (maximum R²=0.51 for positively charged) with no overall correlation for the combined dataset (R²=0.04).

SUBMITTER: Berthod L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5206221 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature