Sewage sludge – nutrient-rich fertilizer or

hazardous waste?Kohtla-Järve

27th April, 2010

Lembit Nei and Egge Haiba Tallinn University of Technology

Merike Lillenberg Estonian University of Life SciencesKarin Kipper and Koit Herodes

Tartu University

Tartu College

Tartu College

Our first students in

2005

Introduction (1)

The amount of sewage sludge increases all over the world

Sewage sludge compost may be used as a fertilizer. Heavy metals, E. coil and helmints’ eggs are of concern.

Sludge contains traces of several pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics

Maximum residue limit for pharmaceuticals in manure is 100 μg/kg and 10 or 1 μg/kg in soil.

Introduction (2)

The accumulation of pharmaceuticals into plants depends on many factors and mainly on their soil concentrations

No limits have been set for drugs in plant products at present

Even small amounts of antibiotics in everyday food may generate resistant bacteria, provoke allergy and affect the liver

Antibiotics in sewage sludge (1)

Traces of tetracyclines (TCs), fluoroquinolones (FQs) and sulfonamides (SAs) were analyzed from sewage sludge and its compost from two Estonian wastewater treatment plants

Pressurized liquid extraction followed by solid phase extraction and LC-MS analysis method for simultaneous determination of 7 antibiotics in sludge were developed and validated

Antibiotics in sewage sludge (2) Sludge from two sewage treatment plants of Estonian largest cities, Tallinn and Tartu

426

162

3821

6

111 110

3922

40

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

CIP NOR OFL SDM SMX

Tallinn

Tartu

Manure

Soil

μg/L

Samples

FQs and SAs traces and their uptake by lettuce from soil mixed with aqueous solution of pharmaceuticals were analyzed

Lettuce samples after 40 days.

Antibiotics in plants (1) Chromatograms of the analysed antibiotics in lettuce root.

Sulfadimethoxine

Sulfamethoxazole

Norfloxacin

Antibiotics in plants (2)

Ciprofloxacin

Ofloxacin

Antibiotics in plants (3)Antibiotics content in dry lettuce

(μg/kg)

Samplec (soil) [mg/kg] SMX SDM NOR CIP OFL

Roots 10 7830 2050 498 383 454

Leaves 10 446 175 n.d. n.d. 107

Roots 1 400 47 n.d. 53 39

Leaves 1 n.d. n.d. n.d. n.d. 7

Roots 0,5 411 242 155 61 21

Leaves 0,5 n.d. n.d. n.d. n.d. 13

Roots 0,1 103 58 n.d. 79 n.d.

Leaves 0,1 n.d. n.d. n.d. n.d. n.d.

Antibiotics in plants (4)

Sulfamethoxazole concentrations in lettuce samples

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Concentration in soil [mg/kg]

Co

nce

ntr

atio

n i

n p

lan

ts [

μg

/kg

]

RootsLeaves

Publications Lillenberg, M.; Yurchenko, S.; Kipper, K.; Herodes, K.; Pihl, V.; Lõhmus, R.; Ivask, M.; Kuu, A. ; Kutti,

S.; Litvin, S. V.; Nei, L. (2010). Presence of fluoroquinolones and sulfonamides in urban sewage sludge and their degradation as a result of composting. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 7(2), 307 - 312.

Lillenberg, M.; Herodes, K.; Kipper, K.; Nei, L. (2010). Plant Uptake of some Pharmaceuticals from Fertilized Soils . Proceedings of 2009 International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology, 5p [in press]

Lillenberg, M.; Herodes, K.; Kipper, K; Nei, L. (2010). Fluoroquinolones and sulfonamides in sewage sludge and its compost. In: Abstract book: SETAC Europe 19th Annual Meeting, Seville:, 2010. [in press]

Lillenberg, M.; Yurchenko, S.; Kipper, K.; Herodes, K..; Pihl, V.; Sepp, K.; Lõhmus, R.; Nei, L. (2009). Simultaneous determination of fluoroquinolones, sulfonamides and tetracyclines in sewage sludge by pressurized liquid extraction and liquid chromatography electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry. Journal of Chromatography A, 1216, 5949 - 5954.

Nei, L.; Kruusma, J.; Ivask, M.; Kuu, A. (2009). Novel approaches to heavy metals bioindication in soils contaminated by oil shale wastes. Oil Shale, 26(3), 424 - 431.

Kipper, Karin; Lillenberg, Merike; Yurchenko, Sergei; Herodes, Koit; Pihl, Viljar; Sepp, Kalev; Lõhmus, Rünno; Nei, Lembit (2009). Determination of antibiotic residues in sewage sludge by pressurized liquid extraction and LC-ESI-MS. In: Book of Abstracts: 5th Conference by Nordic Separation Sciense Society, 26.-29. Aug., 2009, Tallinn, Estonia. , 2009, 102.

Nei, Lembit; Lillenberg, Merike (2009). Reoveesettest valmistatud komposti peab hoolega kontrollima. . Keskkonnatehnika, 7, 12 - 13.

Lillenberg, Merike; Yurchenko, Sergei; Kipper, Karin; Herodes, Koit; Nei, Lembit (2008). Degradation of antibiotic residues during sewage sludge composting. In: Abstract Book: SETAC North America 29th Annual Meeting, Tampa. , 2008, 197.

Lillenberg, M.; Herodes, K.; Yurchenko, S.; Kipper, K; Sepp, K.; Nei, L. (2008). Antibiotic residues in some fertilizers. In: Abstract Book: SETAC Europe 18th Annual Meeting, Warsaw. , 2008, 79 - 80.

Conclusion

Method for determination of antibiotic residues in plants was developed

Uptake of ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, ofloxacin, sulfadimethoxine and sulfamethoxazole was demonstrated in lettuce

Detected levels of the studied pharmaceuticals in leaves were

relatively low if compared to soil concentrations

Concentrations in lettuce roots were 4 to 18 times higher than in leaves

Further studies are needed to determine the uptake of pharmaceuticals by various crop plants

Acknowledgements

Present work was funded: Estonian Environmental Investment Centre Estonian Science Foundation (grant no 7127) Estonian research target project SF 0180058s07

Thank you for your attention!