Simultaneous Determination of Seven Antibiotics and Five of Their Metabolites in Municipal Wastewater and Evaluation of Their Stability under Laboratory Conditions

Sheng Han, Xinyue Li, Hongmei Huang, Ting Wang, Zhenglu Wang, Xiaofang Fu, Zilei Zhou, Peng Du and Xiqing Li
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Sheng Han: Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Xinyue Li: Development Research Center, Ministry of Water Resources of China, Beijing 100036, China
Hongmei Huang: Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Ting Wang: Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Zhenglu Wang: College of Oceanography, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
Xiaofang Fu: Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Zilei Zhou: Hubei Provincial Academy of Eco-Environmental Sciences, Wuhan 430070, China
Peng Du: Beijing Key Laboratory of Urban Hydrological Cycle and Sponge City Technology, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Xiqing Li: Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 20, 1-14

Abstract: The selection and spread of antibiotic resistance poses risks to public health by reducing the therapeutic potential of antibiotics against human pathogens. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is potentially the most reliable approach to estimate antibiotics use. Previous WBE studies used parent antibiotics as biomarkers, which may lead to overestimation since parent antibiotics may be directly disposed of. Using metabolites as biomarkers can avoid this drawback. This study developed a simultaneous solid-phase extraction coupled with ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method for analyzing 12 antibiotics and human metabolites in wastewater to help assess health risk. Optimum conditions were achieved using a PEP cartridge at pH 3.0. The extraction efficiencies were 73.3~95.4% in influent and 72.0~102.7% in effluent for most of the target analytes. Method detection limit ranged from 0.1 to 1.5 ng/L for influent wastewater and 0.03 to 0.7 ng/L for effluent wastewater. A stability experiment showed that sulfonamide parents and their metabolites were stable at 4 °C, ?20 °C and ?80 °C, while macrolides metabolites were more stable than their corresponding parents at 4 °C and ?20 °C. Finally, the method was applied to measure these analytes in wastewater samples collected from three Beijing WWTPs and to derive apparent removal rates. All metabolites were detected in wastewater samples with concentrations ranging from 1.2 to 772.2 ng/L in influent, from Keywords: antibiotics; metabolites; simultaneous analysis; stability; wastewater; human health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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