Distribution and persistence of cephalosporins in cephalosporin producing wastewater using SPE and UPLC-MS/MS method.
An investigation to study the distribution and persistence of cephalosporins in the cephalosporin producing wastewater was carried out in this paper. The target cephalosporins included ceftriaxone (CRO), cefalexin (CEF), cefotaxime (CTX), cefazolin (CZO), cefuroxime (CXM), cefoxitin (CFX) and cefradine (CF). A rapid and reliable detection method for cephalosporins was established based on solid phase extraction and ultra-performance liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry. In the cephalosporin producing wastewater effluent (CPWWeff), the limit of quantification for the targets ranged from 27.5ng/L to 131.8ng/L, and the recoveries for all of the analytes ranged from 73% to 102%. The mean concentrations of the seven cephalosporins were 12.85-141.55μg/L and 0.05-24.38μg/L in cephalosporin producing wastewater influent and effluent, respectively. Although high removal efficiencies were achieved for the cephalosporins (78.8-99.7%), up to 1.9kg of cephalosporins was discharged per day from the investigated C-WWTP. The degradation processes of CRO, CEF, CZO and CXM followed first-order kinetics in CPWWeff under all of the testing conditions. The degradation rates of tested cephalosporins were accelerated by high temperature and light. Persistence of CXM was the highest among the four tested cephalosporins in CPWWeff.
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Xin
X
Yu
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Xinyao
X
Tang
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. Electronic address: jiane.zuo@tsinghua.edu.cn.
Jiane
J
Zuo
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Mengyu
M
Zhang
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Lei
L
Chen
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hebei University of Science and Technology, Shijiazhuang 050018, China.
Zaixing
Z
Li
D002511:Cephalosporins / Q000032:analysis*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D052616:Solid Phase Extraction / Q000379:methods; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D062065:Wastewater / Q000032:analysis*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
D002511:Cephalosporins; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
Cephalosporin; Cephalosporin producing wastewater; Persistence; Tandem mass spectrometry; Ultra-performance liquid chromatography