Quantification and Ecological Risk Assessment of Colloidal Fullerenes Nanoparticles in Sediments by Ultrasonic-Assisted Pressurized Liquid Extraction and High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

Fullerenes engineered nanomaterials are regarded as emerging environmental contaminants. This is as their widespread application in many consumer products, as well as natural release, increases their environmental concentration. In this work, an ultrasonic-assisted pressurized liquid extraction (UAPLE) method followed by high performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet-visible detector (HPLC-UV-vis) was developed for extraction and determination of fullerene in sediments. The method was validated and found to be suitable for environmental risk assessment. Thereafter, the method was used for the determination of fullerene (C61-PCBM) in sediment samples collected from Umgeni River, South Africa. The current method allows for adequate sensitivity within the linear range of 0.01–4 µg g−1, method limit detection of 0.0094 µg g−1 and recoveries ranged between 67–84%. All the parameters were determined from fortified sediments samples. The measured environmental concentration (MEC) of fullerene in the sediment samples ranged from not detected to 30.55 µg g−1. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the occurrence and ecological risk assessment of carbonaceous fullerene nanoparticles in African sediments and biosolids.

Risk Assessment of Personal Care Products, Pharmaceuticals, and Stimulants in Mgeni and Msunduzi Rivers, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

“…The presented potential ecological risk is based on the estimation of RQ using the concentration of drug residues found in each compartment. A standard assessment factor (1,000) introduced by Hernando et al has been adopted because it accounts for all species in the environment compared to other factors (10 or 100) (Hernando et al, 2006;Hendricks et al, 2021). The PNEC in aqueous and solid compartments have been determined following the formula (1) and (2) formulated by Hernando et al or obtained from the literature (Hernando et al, 2006).…”