Fate of selected pharmaceuticals and personal care products after secondary wastewater treatment processes in Taiwan

摘要

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) constitute a class of chemicals of emergingnconcern due to the potential risks they pose to organisms and the environment, even at lownconcentrations (ng/L). Recent studies have found that PPCPs are not efficiently removed innsecondary wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). This study has: (1) simultaneously investigatednthe occurrence of sixty-one PPCPs using solid phase extraction and high-performance liquidnchromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, (2) evaluated removal efficiencies of target PPCPsnin six WWTPs that discharge effluents into major Taiwanese rivers, and lastly (3) examined matrixninterference during analysis of target PPCPs in water samples. The twenty target PPCPs werenchosen for their high detection frequencies, high influent concentrations, and stability duringnwastewater treatment processes. Caffeine and acetaminophen were detected at the highestnconcentrations (as high as 24,467 and 33,400 ng/L) and were effectively removed (both .96%);nother PPCPs were detected in the high ng/L range but were not effectively removed. Matrixninterference (by ion suppression or enhancement) during the analysis resulted in underestimationnof the removal efficiencies of erythromycin-H2O, cefazolin, clarithromycin, ibuprofen, diclofenac,nclofibric acid and gemfibrozil.