Interaction of pig manure-derived dissolved organic matter with soil affects sorption of sulfadiazine, caffeine and atenolol pharmaceuticals

Pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) released into the environment have an adverse impact on the soil and water ecosystem as well as human health. Sorption of PhACs by soils and its potential modification through introduced DOM in the applied animal manure or treated wastewater (TWW) determines the mobility and environmental relevance of PhACs. Sulfadiazine, caffeine and atenolol were selected as target PhACs to investigate their sorption behaviors by five selected arable soils in the absence and presence of pig manure DOM. Sulfadiazine was least sorbed, followed by caffeine and atenolol according to the Freundlich sorption isotherm fit (soil average K(f) [μg((1−n)) mL(n) g(−1)] 4.07, 9.06, 18.92, respectively). The addition of manure DOM (31.34 mg C L(−1)) decreased the sorption of sulfadiazine and especially of caffeine and atenolol (average K(f) 3.04, 6.17, 5.79, respectively). Freundlich sorption isotherms of the PhACs became more nonlinear in the presence of manure DOM (Freundlich exponent n changed from 0.74–1.40 to 0.62–1.12), implying more heterogeneous sorption of PhACs in soil–DOM binary systems. Sorption competition of DOM molecules with sulfadiazine and caffeine mostly contributed to their decreased soil sorption when DOM was present. In contrast, the formation of DOM–atenolol associates in the solution phase caused the largely decreased soil sorption of atenolol in the presence of DOM. It is suggested that DOM concentration (e.g., ≥ 60 mg C L(−1)) and its interaction with PhACs should be taken into consideration when assessing the environmental impact of land application of animal manure or irrigation with TWW. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10653-021-00904-3.