Determination of pharmaceuticals in biosolids using accelerated solvent extraction and liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

An analytical method was developed to quantitatively determine pharmaceuticals in biosolid (treated sewage sludge) from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The collected biosolid samples were initially freeze dried, and grounded to obtain relatively homogenized powders. Pharmaceuticals were extracted using accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) under the optimized conditions. The optimal operation parameters, including extraction solvent, temperature, pressure, extraction time and cycles, were identified to be acetonitrile/water mixture (v/v 7:3) as extraction solvent with 3 extraction cycles (15 min for each cycle) at 100 °C and 100 bars. The extracts were cleaned up using solid-phase extraction followed by determination by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. For the 15 target pharmaceuticals commonly found in the environment, the overall method recoveries ranged from 49% to 68% for tetracyclines, 64% to 95% for sulfonamides, and 77% to 88% for other pharmaceuticals (i.e. acetaminophen, caffeine, carbamazepine, erythromycin, lincomycin and tylosin). The developed method was successfully validated and applied to the biosolid samples collected from WWTPs located in six cities in Michigan. Among the 15 target pharmaceuticals, 14 pharmaceuticals were detected in the collected biosolid samples. The average concentrations ranged from 2.6 μg/kg for lincomycin to 743.6 μg/kg for oxytetracycline. These results indicated that pharmaceuticals could survive wastewater treatment processes, and accumulate in sewage sludge and biosolids. Subsequent land application of the contaminated biosolids could lead to the dissemination of pharmaceuticals in soil and water environment, which poses potential threats to at-risk populations in the receiving ecosystems.