The potential persistence and migration of 14 antibiotics comprising sulfonamides, fluoroquinolones, macrolides and tetracyclines were conducted using a 50-d recirculating flume study supported by batch attenuation experiments with spiked concentrations. The study demonstrated that photodegradation was the dominant attenuation process for these antibiotics in the water environment. The half-lives of 2–26 d were in order of sulfadiazine > sulfadimethoxine > sulfamerazine > sulfamethoxazole > sulfamethazine > sulfathiazole > ofloxacin > enrofloxacin > norfloxacin > ciprofloxacin > erythromycin > tetracycline > roxithromycin > oxytetracycline. These modest half-lives meant that the antibiotics were predicted to travel 30–400 km down a typical river before half the concentration would be lost. All antibiotics were detected on the surface sediment in the flume study. Under hyporheic exchange, some of them continually migrated into the deeper sediment and also the sediment pore water. All fluoroquinolones were detected in the sediments. The sulfonamides were detected in the pore water with relatively high concentrations and frequencies. Sulfadiazine, sulfamethazine and sulfathiazole in the upper layer pore water were found to be approaching equilibrium with the surface water. The high presence of sulfonamides in the pore water indicated that their high mobility and persistence potentially pose a risk to hyporheic zone.

We investigated the effect of solution pH and soil structure on transport of sulfonamide antibiotics (sulfamethoxazole, sulfadimethoxine and sulfamethazine) in combination with batch sorption tests and column experiments. Sorption isotherms properly conformed to Freundlich model, and sorption potential of the antibiotics is as follows; sulfadimethoxine > sulfamethoxazole > sulfamethazine. Decreasing pH values led to increased sorption potential of the antibiotics on soil material in pH range of 4.0–8.0. This likely resulted from abundance of neutral and positive-charged sulfonamides species at low pH, which electrostatically bind to sorption sites on soil surface. Due to destruction of macropore channels, lower hydraulic conductivities of mobile zone were estimated in the disturbed soil columns than in the undisturbed soil columns, and eventually led to lower mobility of the antibiotics in disturbed column. The results suggest that knowledge of soil structure and solution condition is required to predict fate and distribution of sulfonamide antibiotics in environmental matrix.

This study evaluated the occurrence of 36 PPCPs in urban river water samples collected from Beijing, Changzhou and Shenzhen. Twenty-eight compounds were detected. Compounds found with highest median concentrations included: sulfadimethoxine (164 ng/L), sulpiride (77.3 ng/L), atenolol (52.9 ng/L), and indomethacin (50.9 ng/L). Antibiotic was the predominant class detected and contributed about half of the overall PPCPs contamination level. Effluents from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) were demonstrated to be the predominant pathways through which PPCPs entering into aquatic environment in all investigated areas. The ratio of persistent PPCPs like sulpiride and carbamazepine was identified to be feasible in tracing their contamination sources in rivers. Concentrations of most detected PPCPs showed significant positive correlations with total nitrogen and total phosphorus. Two groups of representative PPCPs were selected as the chemical indicators for predicting the overall PPCPs contamination, based on the significant correlations between PPCPs.

Extraction and analysis methods have been developed for the detection of the following four antibacterial agents and two natural estrogens in treated municipal wastewater sludge and commercial compost: sulfamethoxazole (SMX), sulfadimethoxine (SDM), tetracycline (TET), oxytetracycline (OXY), estrone (E1), and 17β-estradiol (E2). The antibiotics and estrogens were extracted from secondary sludge and mixed compost using ultrasonic solvent extraction. Citric acid (pH 4.7) and methanol were used as extraction buffer, followed by tandem-solid-phase extraction cleanup, strong anion exchange + hydrophilic–lipophilic balance for antibiotics and CarboPrep/NAX for estrogens. For quantification, two different methods were employed, using HPLC–MS/MS, with an electrospray ionization source for antibiotics and an atmospheric-pressure chemical ionization source for estrogens. Recoveries were 11–31% for the sulfonamides (SMX and SDM) and tetracyclines (TET and OXY) and 30–59% for the estrogens (E1 and E2) over the entire method. Limits of detection for the extraction method were in the nanogram per gram range for dry weight sludge and compost samples. Neither of the two sulfonamide antibiotics was detected in secondary sludge or mixed compost samples. Estrogens were found in compost in amounts of 160 ± 65 ng/g (E1) and 21 ± 3 ng/g (E2), but not in sludge. The tetracyclines, as well as what is believed to be the 4-epimer of OXY, were found in both sludge and compost in amounts of 1.57 ± 0.67 and 2.95 ± 0.42 μg/g (TET), 0.56 ± 0.12 and 6.51 ± 0.52 μg/g (OXY), and 7.60 ± 1.68 and 1.35 ± 0.24 μg/g (4-epi-OXY), respectively. These results indicate that sorption-prone compounds are not removed during the wastewater treatment process and can persist through sludge digestion and that the composting process does not sufficiently eliminate these particular contaminants. Thus, biosolids (even composted) are an additional source of drug residues leaching into the environment, and it must be considered while using biosolids as fertilizer.

Residual antibiotics in land-applied manure and biosolids present a potential threat to public and ecological health. It remains important to determine antibiotic degradation efficiencies for manure and biosolids waste management practices and to identify conditions that enhance antibiotic degradation. The fates of the antibiotics florfenicol, sulfadimethoxine, sulfamethazine, and tylosin were studied during pilot-scale static pile thermophilic composting, and the effects of temperature and feedstock particles on antibiotic degradation rates were tested. The antibiotics were spiked into dairy manure solids and wastewater biosolids, and treatments included aerated and non-aerated manure and biosolids/wood-product (1:3 v/v) composting. Results showed no significant differences between aerated and non-aerated treatments; on average, ≥85, ≥93, and ≥95 % antibiotic degradation was observed after 7, 14, and 21 days of composting. Greater antibiotic degradation was observed in manure compost compared to biosolids compost for florfenicol (7, 14, 21, 28 days) and tylosin (14, 28 days); however, there was no significant difference for sulfadimethoxine and sulfamethazine. Peak temperatures were 66–73, and ≥55 °C was maintained for 6–7 days in the biosolids compost and 17–20 days in the manure compost. Bench-scale experiments conducted at 25, 55, and 60 °C showed that lower temperature decreased degradation of the sulfonamides and tylosin in both feedstocks and florfenicol in the biosolids. The presence of compost particles increased antibiotic degradation, with time to 50 % degradation ≤2 days in the presence of solids (60 °C) compared to no degradation in their absence. These results indicate that thermophilic composting effectively degrades parent antibiotic compounds in manure and biosolids.

Retention and transport of sulfonamides (SAs) in subsurface can strongly affect groundwater quality. In this work, a range of laboratory batch sorption and column transport experiments were conducted to determine the effect of cation type in mixed Ca-Na systems on the retention and transport of two typical SAs, sulfadimethoxine (SDM) and sulfacetamide (SCA), in saturated limestone porous media. Column experimental data showed divalent cation Ca²⁺ played a more important role than monovalent cation Na⁺ in decreasing the transport of only SDM in co-cation systems in the saturated limestone media. Further, in the single-cation (i.e., including either Ca²⁺ or Na⁺) system, increasing ionic strength (IS) of either NaCl or CaCl₂ had little effect on SCA transport; however, increasing of IS of CaCl₂ promoted the retention of SDM in the saturated limestone porous media. This is mainly due to the cation bridging effect of Ca²⁺ on SDM and limestone. Overall, SDM showed much higher retention in the limestone columns than SCA, which can be attributed to the two SAs’ different physicochemical properties. Moreover, limestone showed stronger ability to retain the two SAs than quartz sand. Findings in this study suggest that cation type and the concentration of certain electrolyte (e.g., CaCl₂) as well as medium type play an important role in controlling the environmental fate and transport of antibiotics.

Mangroves represent a special coastal vegetation along the coastlines of tropical and subtropical regions. Sulfonamide antibiotics (SAs) are the most commonly used antibiotics. The application of white-rot fungi extracellular enzyme-containing microcapsules (MC) for aerobic degradation of SAs in mangrove sediments was investigated in this study. Degradation of three SAs, sulfamethoxazole (SMX), sulfadimethoxine (SDM), and sulfamethazine (SMZ), was enhanced by adding MC to the sediments. The order of SA degradation in batch experiments was SMX > SDM > SMZ. Bioreactor experiments revealed that SA removal rates were higher with than without MC. The enhanced SA removal rates with MC persisted with three re-additions of SAs. Thirteen bacteria genera (Achromobacter, Acinetobacter, Alcaligenes, Aquamicrobium, Arthrobacter, Brevundimonas, Flavobacterium, Methylobacterium, Microbacterium, Oligotropha, Paracoccus, Pseudomonas, and Rhodococcus) were identified to be associated with SA degradation in mangrove sediments by combination of next-generation sequencing, bacterial strain isolation, and literature search results. Results of this study suggest that MC could be used for SA removal in mangrove sediments.

Sulfonamides are the second most widely used group of veterinary antibiotics which are often detected in the environment. They are eliminated from freshwaters mainly through photochemical degradation. The toxicity of sulfadimethoxine (SDM) was evaluated with the use of Lemna minor before and after 1- and 4-h irradiation in a SunTest CPS+ solar simulator. Eight endpoints consisting of: number and total area of fronds, fresh weight, chlorophylls a and b, carotenoids, activity of catalase and guaiacol peroxidase, and protein content were determined. The total frond area and chlorophyll b content were the most sensitive endpoints with EC50 of 478 and 554 μg L⁻¹, respectively. The activity of guaiacol peroxidase and catalase increased at SDM concentrations higher than 125 and 500 μg L⁻¹, respectively. The SDM photodegradation rate for first order kinetics and the half-life were 0.259 h⁻¹ and 2.67 h, respectively. The results show that the toxicity of irradiated solutions was caused by SDM only, and the photoproducts appeared to be either non-toxic or much less toxic to L. minor than the parent compound. To study the recovery potential of L. minor, after 7 days exposure in SDM solutions, the plants were transferred to fresh medium and incubated for the next 7 days. L. minor has the ability to regenerate, but a 7-day recovery phase is not sufficient for it to return to an optimal physiological state.

This study investigated the degradation of sulfonamide antibiotics (SAs) and microbial community changes in sludge-amended soil. In batch experiments, SA degradation was enhanced by addition of spent mushroom compost (SMC), SMC extract, and extract-containing microcapsule, with SMC showing higher SA degradation rate than the other additives in soil-sludge mixtures. In bioreactor experiments, the degradation of SAs in soil-sludge mixtures was in the order of sulfamethoxazole > sulfadimethoxine > sulfamethazine during four times of SA addition. SA removal was higher in soil-sludge mixtures than in soil alone. The bacterial composition differed in soil-sludge mixtures with and without SMC. In total, 44 differentially distributed bacterial genera were identified from different experimental settings and stages. Four bacterial genera, Acinetobacter, Alcaligenes, Brevundimonas, and Pseudomonas, were previously found involved in SA degradation, and 20 of the 44 bacterial genera were previously found in aromatic hydrocarbon degradation. Therefore, these bacteria have high potential to be SA degradation bacteria in this study.

Use of animal manure is a main source of veterinary pharmaceuticals (VPs) in soil and groundwater through a series of migration processes. The sorption–desorption and transport of four commonly used VPs including trimethoprim (TMP), sulfapyridine, sulfameter, and sulfadimethoxine were investigated in three soil layers taken from an agricultural field in Chongming Island China and two types of aqueous solution (0.01 M CaCl₂solution and wastewater treatment plant effluent). Results from sorption–desorption experiments showed that the sorption behavior of selected VPs conformed to the Freundlich isotherm equation. TMP exhibited higher distribution coefficients (Kd = 6.73–9.21) than other sulfonamides (Kd = 0.03–0.47), indicating a much stronger adsorption capacity of TMP. The percentage of desorption for TMP in a range of 8–12 % is not so high to be considered significant. Low pH (<pKₐof tested VPs) and rich soil organic matter (e.g., 0–20 cm soil sample) had a positive impact on sorption of VPs. Slightly lower distribution coefficients were obtained for VPs in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent, which suggested that dissolved organic matter might affect their sorption behavior. Column studies indicated that the transport of VPs in the soil column was mainly influenced by sorption capacity. The weakly adsorbed sulfonamides had a high recovery rate (63.6–98.0 %) in the leachate, while the recovery rate of TMP was only 4.2–10.4 %. The sulfonamides and TMP exhibited stronger retaining capacity in 20–80 cm and 0–20 cm soil samples, respectively. The transport of VPs was slightly higher in the columns leached by WWTP effluent than by CaCl₂solution (0.01 M) due to their sorption interactions.