title: Biotransformation of pharmaceuticals in surface water and during waste water treatment: Identification and occurrence of transformation products.
abstract: Venlafaxine, gemfibrozil, ibuprofen, irbesartan and ofloxacin are highly-consumed pharmaceuticals that show considerable removal efficiencies (between 40 and 98%) in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Consequently, they are expected to generate transformation products (TPs) during wastewater treatment and in surface water (SW) receiving WWTP effluent. In this work, degradation experiments for these five pharmaceuticals have been carried out with SW and WWTP activated sludge under laboratory-controlled aerobic conditions to identify their transformation products by liquid chromatography coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF MS). Initially, 22 pharmaceutical TPs were tentatively identified. A retrospective analysis was performed in effluent wastewater (EWW) and SW samples. All parent compounds as well as several TPs were found in some of the selected EWW and SW samples. Additionally, valsartan and 3 TPs were also detected by searching for common fragments in these waters. It is important to highlight that some TPs, such as O-desmethyl-venlafaxine and an oxidized gemfibrozil TP, were more frequently found than their corresponding parent compounds. On the basis of these results, it would be recommendable to include these TPs (at least those found in EWW and SW samples analyzed) in monitoring programs in order to gain a more realistic understanding of the impact of pharmaceuticals on water quality.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Avda. Sos Baynat, E-12071 Castellón, Spain.
authors.forename: Clara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Boix
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Avda. Sos Baynat, E-12071 Castellón, Spain.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ibáñez
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Avda. Sos Baynat, E-12071 Castellón, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Sancho
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Parsons
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands; KWR Watercycle Research Institute, Chemical Water Quality and Health, P.O. Box 1072, 3430 BB Nieuwegein, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Pim de
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Voogt
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Avda. Sos Baynat, E-12071 Castellón, Spain. Electronic address: felix.hernandez@uji.es.
authors.forename: Félix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hernández
mesh_terms: D001711:Biotransformation; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D012722:Sewage / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D012722:Sewage; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Activated sludge biotransformation; Environmental waters; Pharmaceuticals; Time-of-flight mass spectrometry; Transformation/degradation products