Multiresidue Determination of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds in Sewage Treatment Plants (SPE-HPLC-DAD)

Carla Vidal,Pablo Barbosa,Germana Pessoa,Mário Paz,Antônio Farias Filho,Ronaldo Nascimento,Rivelino Cavalcante,Patrícia Buarque,José Nascimento,André Dos Santos

doi:10.21577/0103-5053.20200127

Abstract

This work focuses on the validation and application of solid phase extraction followed by high-performance liquid chromatography (SPE-HPLC) analysis of important endocrine disruptors compounds (EDC) from different classes in highly complex wastewater matrix. The endocrine disruptors investigated included three different categories: pharmaceuticals (sulfamethoxazole (SMZ), trimethoprim (TMP) and diclofenac (DCF)), hormones (estrone (E1), 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) and 17β-estradiol (E2)) and plastic materials (bisphenol A (BPA)). The method involves pre-concentration by SPE using Strata-X extraction cartridges followed by HPLC coupled with diode array detector (DAD). As the assumption of homoscedasticity was met for analytical data, ordinary linear regression procedure was applied to the data. The method was considered validated for 7 EDC after consistent evaluation of the key analytical parameters. Recoveries were ranged from 52.3 to 179.6%. Limits of quantification were in the range 6.0-0.4 µg L−1. The described method was applied to evaluate the occurrence and removal efficiency of EDC in two biological sewage treatment plants (STPs). The influent mean concentrations of E1, E2 and EE2 hormones were 79.54; 175.09 and 102.19 µg L−1, respectively, while for SMZ, TMP, DCF and BPA were 215.17; 187.01; 218.97 and 87.12 µg L−1 for STP A, respectively. The efficiencies for the removal of EDCs ranged from 0 to 79.4%.

Highlights

Endocrine disruptors compounds (EDC) are components or active ingredients of pharmaceuticals, personal care products, veterinary medicines, “lifestyle compounds”, Most of technologies used in Brazilian’s WWTPs are conventional biologicalJ
The goal of this paper is to develop and validate an SPE High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-diode array detector (DAD) method for the qualitative and quantitative simultaneous determination of selected endocrine disruptors compounds (EDC) in two two biological sewage treatment plants (STPs) as well as the evaluation of the occurrence of those EDC in two sewage treatment plants located in the state of Ceará, Brazil
If two analytes have different spectra, it is possible to distinguish them using HPLC-DAD even if they have similar tR. Another common DAD application is in determination of the compound purity, wherein the software calculates the rate of absorption through the peak

Summary

Introduction

Endocrine disruptors compounds (EDC) are components or active ingredients of pharmaceuticals, personal care products, veterinary medicines, “lifestyle compounds”, Most of technologies used in Brazilian’s WWTPs (wastewater treatment plants) are conventional biologicalJ. Endocrine disruptors compounds (EDC) are components or active ingredients of pharmaceuticals, personal care products, veterinary medicines, “lifestyle compounds”, Most of technologies used in Brazilian’s WWTPs (wastewater treatment plants) are conventional biological. Type, specially of stabilization ponds, activated sludge systems and anaerobic reactors, such as upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB). Several investigations have shown that EDC are frequently not removed during conventional biological wastewater treatment and not biodegraded in the environment.[5,6,7,8] Their insufficient removal from the WWTPs is mentioned as the major source of their release into environment.[9,10]

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