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Fate of Pharmaceuticals in Composting Process

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Resource-Oriented Agro-sanitation Systems

Abstract

Composting toilet receives not only human excrement but also pharmaceuticals excreted in urine and/or feces. Since these compounds are physiologically active and its biodegradability seemed to be low, the fate and the effect of pharmaceuticals in composting process should be investigated. In our study, we focused on (1) the fate and the effect of antibiotics on the composting process of human excrement, (2) the factors affecting the degradation of antibiotics in composting reactor, and (3) the fate of pharmaceuticals other than antibiotics in composting process. Our results indicated that the amount of antibiotics expected from usually prescribed dose weaken the bacterial activity in composting reactor. Especially, effect of amoxicillin was strong. The composting reactor can treat antibiotics (amoxicillin, tetracycline, azithromycin). Though their degradation rates differed from antibiotics to antibiotics, the main factors affecting the degradation of antibiotics were found to be ammonia, phosphate, and hydroxyl ion. Since these concentrations in compositing toilet matrix were high in comparison with the other environmental media such as wastewater, this difference led the unique degradation mechanism in compositing toilet. As for pharmaceuticals other than antibiotics, laboratory-scale batch experiment showed that feces did not retard the degradation of pharmaceuticals, and among the pharmaceuticals examined, basic pharmaceuticals were treated faster than the acidic pharmaceuticals. But in the practically operated composting toilet, not only basic pharmaceuticals but also acidic and neutral ones were treated well. Detailed evaluation of the degradation mechanism and the degradation products would be necessary for future.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Environmental Science in Saitama, 914 Kamitanadare, Kazo, Saitama, 347-0115, Japan

    Takashi Kakimoto

  2. Institute of Environmental Ecology, IDEA Consultants, Inc., 1334-5 Riemon, Ooigawa-cho, Shida-gun, Shizuoka, 421-0212, Japan

    Yu Onoda

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  1. Takashi Kakimoto
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  2. Yu Onoda
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Correspondence to Takashi Kakimoto .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

    Naoyuki Funamizu

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Kakimoto, T., Onoda, Y. (2019). Fate of Pharmaceuticals in Composting Process. In: Funamizu, N. (eds) Resource-Oriented Agro-sanitation Systems. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56835-3_6

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