Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 115, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark; Process and Systems Engineering Centre (PROSYS), Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Søltofts Plads 229, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark.
Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 115, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark.
Sci Total Environ. 2018 Dec 10;644:1612-1616. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.06.307. Epub 2018 Jul 23.
Temperature is one of the key factors, influencing the transformation kinetics of organic chemicals. In the context of wastewater-based epidemiology, however, temperature differences among sewer catchments and within the same catchment (due to, e.g., seasonal variations) have been neglected to date as a factor influencing the estimation of illicit drug consumption. In this study, we assessed the influence of temperature on the transformation of biomarkers in wastewater and its ensuing implications on the back-calculation of chemical consumption rate in urban catchments using the example of selected illicit drugs. Literature data, obtained in laboratory-scale experiments, on the stability of drug biomarkers in untreated wastewater at trace levels was systematically reviewed, and transformation rates obtained at different temperatures were collected. Arrhenius-based equations were fitted to empirical data and identified to describe the transformation of selected cocaine and morphine biomarkers at applicability temperature range (from 2-9 °C to 30-31 °C), with estimated exponential Arrhenius coefficients between 1.04 and 1.18. These empirically-derived relationships were used to assess the influence of temperature on the transformation of drug biomarkers during in-sewer transport and its effect on the back-calculation of drug consumption rate in hypothetical urban catchment scenario simulations. Up to 4-fold increase in removal efficiency was estimated when wastewater temperature increased from 15 °C to 25 °C. Findings from this study can help reducing the uncertainty intrinsic to wastewater-based epidemiology studies, and will be beneficial in comparing chemical consumption estimates from different catchments worldwide.
温度是影响有机化学物质转化动力学的关键因素之一。然而，在基于污水的流行病学中，迄今为止，由于季节性变化等原因，下水道集水区之间和同一集水区内的温度差异一直被忽视，这是影响非法药物消费估计的一个因素。在这项研究中，我们评估了温度对污水中生物标志物转化的影响，以及利用选定的非法药物对城市集水区中化学消费率的回溯计算的影响。我们系统地回顾了文献中关于痕量未处理污水中药物生物标志物稳定性的实验室规模实验数据，并收集了不同温度下的转化速率。基于 Arrhenius 的方程被拟合到经验数据中，并被确定为描述选定的可卡因和吗啡生物标志物在适用温度范围内（从 2-9°C 到 30-31°C）的转化，估计的指数 Arrhenius 系数在 1.04 到 1.18 之间。这些从经验中得出的关系被用来评估在污水中运输过程中温度对药物生物标志物转化的影响及其对假设城市集水区情景模拟中药物消费率回溯计算的影响。当污水温度从 15°C 增加到 25°C 时，去除效率估计增加了 4 倍。本研究的结果有助于减少基于污水的流行病学研究中固有的不确定性，并将有利于比较来自全球不同集水区的化学消费估计。
