Screening for transformation products and metabolites of pharmaceuticals in treated and untreated waste water

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Pharmaceuticals are a group of organic micropollutants that is typically emitted from waste water treatment plants into aquatic systems. To enhance the removal of pharmaceuticals during waste water treatment, the efficiency of additional treatment processes, for example ozonation, is currently studied. In this context, the analysis of formation and fate of transformation products from pharmaceuticals is necessary to evaluate the potential environmental impact of such additional treatment steps. Moreover, the behavior of human metabolites of pharmaceuticals during waste water treatment should be studied since some of these metabolites can easily be retransformed into the parent molecule. To this end, liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry is a promising technique. In the project proposed here, measurements from different pilot-scale treatment plants operated with real waste water will be re-analyzed for a carefully selected set of potential chemical or microbiological transformation products and human metabolites. The occurrence and behavior of such compounds will be studied with respect to the treatment technique, and the applicability of the overall method for the tentative identification and quantification of such compounds in a complex matrix like waste water will be evaluated.