Redox and Temperature Dependent Attenuation of Twenty Organic Micropollutants - A Systematic Column Study

Owing to advanced analytical procedures an increasing number of organic micropollutants have been identified within the aquatic environment. Results from field investigations evidenced the attenuation of various organic micropollutants to be impacted by the predominant hydrochemical conditions. In the course of this study, column experiments were performed to examine the influence of redox conditions and temperature on the attenuation of 20 wastewater derived organic micropollutants. For this purpose, the degradation behavior of these compounds were investigated under oxic, nitrate reducing, iron/manganese reducing and sulfidic conditions at 21 °C in sandy aquifer sediments. Redox dependent degradation was observed for the pharmaceutically active compounds atenolol, metoprolol, sotalol, iopromide, phenazone, propyphenazone, acesulfame and trimethoprim as well as for two phenazone type metabolites. In order to identify temperature dependencies, oxic columns were in addition operated at 6 °C, indicating the removal of several compounds to be influenced by the prevalent temperature.