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Tracking acidic pharmaceuticals, caffeine, and triclosan through the wastewater treatment process
Author(s) -
Thomas Paul M.,
Foster Gregory D.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
environmental toxicology and chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1552-8618
pISSN - 0730-7268
DOI - 10.1897/04-144r.1
Subject(s) - triclosan , ketoprofen , wastewater , mefenamic acid , naproxen , chemistry , sewage treatment , clofibric acid , chromatography , diclofenac , extraction (chemistry) , environmental chemistry , caffeine , environmental science , environmental engineering , medicine , biochemistry , alternative medicine , pathology , endocrinology
Pharmaceuticals are a class of emerging contaminants whose fate in the wastewater treatment process has received increasing attention in past years. Acidic pharmaceuticals (ibuprofen, naproxen, mefenamic acid, ketoprofen, and diclofenac), caffeine, and the antibacterial triclosan were quantified at four different steps of wastewater treatment from three urban wastewater treatment plants. The compounds were extracted from wastewater samples on Waters Oasis hydrophilic‐lipophilic balance solid‐phase extraction columns, silylated, and analyzed by gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry. For the chemicals studied, it was found that the majority of the influent load was removed during secondary treatment (51–99%), yielding expected surface water concentrations of 13 to 56 ng/L.