Evaluation of sample processing methods for the polar contaminant analysis of sewage sludge using liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry (LC/MS)

Abstract

Recebido em 20/8/09; aceito em 7/1/10; publicado na web em 28/4/10Monitoring of sewage sludge has proved the presence of many polar anthropogenic pollutants since LC/MS techniques came into routine use. While advanced techniques may improve characterizations, flawed sample processing procedures, however, may disturb or disguise the presence and fate of many target compounds present in this type of complex matrix before analytical process starts. Freeze-drying or oven-drying, in combination with centrifugation or filtration as sample processing techniques were performed followed by visual pattern recognition of target compounds for assessment of pretreatment processes. The results shown that ovendrying affected the sludge characterization, while freeze-drying led to less analytical misinterpretations.

Behaviour of emerging contaminants in sewage sludge after anaerobic digestion

“…Although there is not current legislation on the use of biosolids on agricultural land with respect to the concentration of emerging contaminants (in part due to the scarce data reported on such analysis (Petrie et al, 2014)), it is important to perform effective removal to decrease, as much as possible, the potential risk to the environment and agriculture. In the biological treatment, bacteria degrade, metabolize or even mineralize, the dissolved and emulsified solid pollutants contained in municipal 4/28 and/or industrial wastewater (De Sena et al, 2010). Anaerobic digestion (AD) has been extensively used and proven to be an efficient biological treatment to stabilize organic substrates in sewage (Zhou et al, 2014).…”

“…The most applied extraction technique for the aqueous phase is solid phase extraction (SPE) using different cartridges and conditions (Bijlsma et al, 2014;Diaz et al, 2013;Paíga et al, 2015). Regarding the solid phase of the sludge, the most frequent extraction procedures are based on Pressurized Liquid Extraction (PLE) (Benítez-Villalba et al, 2013;De Sena et al, 2010;Dorival-García et al, 2013;Masiá et al, 2015;Mastroianni et al, 2013;Ternes et al, 2005), the Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe (QuEChERS) (Herrero et al, 2014;Masiá et al, 2015;Peysson and Vulliet, 2013) and UltraSonic Extraction (USE) (Benítez-Villalba et al, 2013;Dorival-García et al, 2013;GagoFerrero et al, 2015;Ternes et al, 2005;Topuz et al, 2014;Zhou et al, 2012).…”

Methods to alleviate the inhibition of sludge anaerobic digestion by emerging contaminants: a review

“…The presence of emerging pollutants in the sludge causes serious problems, notably in agricultural sectors, and these emerging pollutants also have a detrimental impact on the efficacy of the anaerobic digestion process; thus, sludge treatment and removal of emerging pollutants are high priorities (Jelic et al 2011;Ahmad et al 2022). The sludge produced by wastewater treatment facilities mostly comprises emerging contaminants that need to be eliminated prior to agriculture uses (Sena et al 2010). Morales et al (2016) investigated the fate of emerging pollutants in an anaerobic digester fed with sewage sludge and operated at an organic loading rate of 1.1-1.4 kg/m 3 •d and sludge residence time of 20 days.…”

Fourier Transform Mass Spectrometry: The Transformation of Modern Environmental Analyses

“…These complex solid-liquid phase matrices require advanced high performance methods to monitor ultra-trace (part per trillion) levels of target compounds. Some of these have been detected even after the final purification stage in drinking water [ 4 ]. The presence of un-metabolized pharmaceuticals discharged into wastewater also is unavoidable with the current treatment processes in place [ 5 ].…”