Diclofenac and Ibuprofen Determination in Sewage Sludge Using a QuEChERS Approach: Occurrence and Ecological Risk Assessment in Three Nigerian Wastewater Treatment Plants

• Published in: Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology 2021-04, Vol.106 (4), p.690-699
• Main Authors: Ajibola, Akinranti S., Fawole, Segun T., Ajibola, Florence O., Adewuyi, Gregory O.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algae; Animals; Anti-inflammatory agents; Aquatic Pollution; Bacteria; Correlation coefficient; Correlation coefficients; Diclofenac; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecological risk assessment; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Fish; High performance liquid chromatography; Ibuprofen; Inflammation; Liquid chromatography; Nigeria; Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; Pollution; Reproducibility of Results; Risk Assessment; Sewage; Sewage disposal; Sewage sludge; Sludge; Soil Science & Conservation; Solid Phase Extraction; Solid phases; Trophic levels; Waste Water Technology; Wastewater treatment; Wastewater treatment plants; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Water Purification; Water treatment
• ISSN: 0007-4861; 1432-0800
• DOI: 10.1007/s00128-021-03139-1

A quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe (QuEChERS) method was optimized for the extraction of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) diclofenac and ibuprofen from sewage sludge. Dispersive-solid phase extraction (d-SPE) was employed for sample clean-up. Instrumental analysis was performed by high-performance liquid chromatography. Ecological risk was assessed for four trophic levels: fish, daphnia, algae and bacteria. The method limits of quantification for diclofenac and ibuprofen were 0.43 µg g − 1 and 0.45 µg g − 1 , respectively. Correlation coefficients were above 0.999. Extraction recoveries ranged from 70 to 118 % and satisfactory inter-day reproducibility (% RSD) of