The presence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the environment is primarily the result of discharge of waste, including from onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTSs) which are employed by 25% of homes in the United States. However, the occurrence and removal of PPCPs in OWTSs is not well understood, particularly given the large diversity in PPCP compounds as well as in OWTS designs. In this study, we monitored 26 different PPCPs in 13 full-scale nitrogen removing biofilters (NRBs), an innovative/alternative type of OWTS that utilizes an overlying sand layer and an underlying woodchip/sand layer to simultaneously remove nitrogen and other wastewater-derived contaminants. The specific objectives of this study were (i) to measure the occurrence of PPCPs in septic tank effluent (STE) that served as an influent to NRBs, (ii) to quantify PPCP removal in three types of NRB configurations (n = 13), and (iii) to evaluate PPCP removal with depth and environmental conditions in NRBs. Aqueous samples were taken during 42 separate sampling events during 2016 – 2019 and analyzed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Analysis of the STE samples yielded detection of 23 of the 26 PPCPs, with caffeine being the most abundant and frequently detected compound at 52,000 ng/L (range: 190 – 181,000 ng/L), followed by acetaminophen and paraxanthine at 47,500 ng/L (190 – 160,000 ng/L), and 34,300 ng/L (430 – 210,000 ng/L) respectively. Cimetidine, fenofibrate, and warfarin were the only compounds not detected. The average removal of PPCPs by NRBs ranged from 58% to >99% for the various compounds. PPCP removal as a function of depth in the systems showed that 50 to >99% of the observed removal was achieved within the top oxic layer (0 - 46 centimeters) of the NRBs for 19 analytes. Seven of the compounds had >85% removal by the same depth. These results indicate that NRBs are effective at removing PPCPs and that a large portion of the removal is achieved within the oxic nitrifying layer of the NRBs. Overall, the removal of PPCPs in NRBs were comparable (n = 8) or better (n = 15) than that observed for conventional wastewater treatment plants.

环境中药物和个人护理产品 (PPCP) 的存在主要是废物排放的结果，包括美国 25% 的家庭采用的现场废水处理系统 (OWTS)。然而，人们对 OWTS 中 PPCP 的出现和去除尚不清楚，特别是考虑到 PPCP 化合物以及 OWTS 设计的巨大多样性。在这项研究中，我们在 13 个全尺寸除氮生物过滤器 (NRB) 中监测了 26 种不同的 PPCP，这是一种创新/替代类型的 OWTS，利用覆盖的沙层和下面的木屑/沙层同时去除氮和其他废水衍生的污染物。本研究的具体目标是 (i) 测量作为 NRB 进水的化粪池流出物 (STE) 中 PPCPs 的发生情况，n = 13)，和 (iii) 评估 NRB 中 PPCP 的去除深度和环境条件。在 2016 年至 2019 年期间的 42 次独立采样事件中采集了水样，并通过液相色谱串联质谱法进行了分析。对 STE 样品进行分析，检测到 26 种 PPCP 中的 23 种，其中咖啡因是含量最高、检测频率最高的化合物，浓度为 52,000 ng/L（范围：190 – 181,000 ng/L），其次是对乙酰氨基酚和对黄嘌呤，浓度为 47,500 ng/L (190 – 160,000 ng/L) 和 34,300 ng/L (430 – 210,000 ng/L)。西咪替丁、非诺贝特和华法林是仅有的未检测到的化合物。对于各种化合物，NRB 对 PPCP 的平均去除率从 58% 到 >99% 不等。作为系统深度函数的 PPCP 去除表明，50 至 > 对于 19 种分析物，在 NRB 的顶部氧化层（0 - 46 厘米）内实现了 99% 的观察到的去除。在相同深度下，其中七种化合物的去除率大于 85%。这些结果表明 NRB 可有效去除 PPCP，并且大部分去除是在 NRB 的含氧硝化层内实现的。总体而言，NRB 中 PPCP 的去除效果相当（n  = 8) 或更好 ( n  = 15) 比观察到的传统污水处理厂。