Multisite Calibration of a Microporous Polyethylene Tube Passive Sampler for Quantifying Drugs in Wastewater

Abstract

Passive sampling approaches to monitor licit and illicit drugs of concern in wastewater shows promise as a supplementary sampling technique to grab sampling when conventional composite autosampling may not be possible. Recent studies have assessed the applicability of passive sampling at a single wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). However, it remains unknown whether a single-site calibration can be applied to other WWTPs. This study evaluated the in situ calibration of microporous polyethylene tube passive samplers (MPTs) against simultaneously collected composite samples for 22 different WWTPs. Samples were analyzed for methylamphetamine, amphetamine, hydroxycotinine, cotinine, benzoylecgonine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, and noroxycodone. Estimated rates of chemical uptake (sampling rates) were calculated using the mass accumulated in the samplers, the concentration measured in composite samples, and the duration of deployment. The estimated sampling rates were consistent between WWTPs (>90% within a factor of two) and ranged from 5 mL day–1 (amphetamine) to 9 mL day–1 (noroxycodone). The samplers were effective at estimating analyte concentrations, with 77% of results having a normalized difference to 24 h composite samples of below 30%. Our study suggests that MPT passive samplers provide a tool for the spatiotemporal monitoring of drug use where automated integrative sampling techniques may not be feasible.

Field Validation of a Novel Passive Sampler for Dissolved PFAS in Surface Waters

“…Pollutant uptake is presumably limited by passive diffusion through the tube's porous polyethylene walls. These passive samplers have been previously used for the assessment of polar herbicides (Cárdenas‐Soracá et al, 2020; Fauvelle, Montero, et al, 2017), and licit and illicit drugs in surface waters with some success (McKay et al, 2020; Verhagen et al, 2021), but require further validation to evaluate sampling performance under a wider range of environmentally relevant conditions, including dynamic water bodies, such as estuaries.…”