Ozonation of wastewater: removal and transformation products of drugs of abuse.

In this study amphetamine, methamphetamine, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), cocaine (COC), benzoylecgonine (BE), ketamine (KET) and oxycodone (OXY) in wastewater at concentrations of 100 µgL(-1) were subjected to ozone to determine their removals as a function of ozone dose and to identify significant oxidation transformation products (OTPs) produced as a result of ozonation. A method based on high resolution mass spectrometry and differential analysis was used to facilitate and accelerate the identification and structural elucidation of the transformation products. The drug removal ranged from 3 to 50% depending on the complexity of the matrix and whether a mixture or individual drugs were ozonated. Both transient and persistent oxidation transformation products were identified for MDMA, COC and OXY and their chemical formulae were determined. Three possible structures of the persistent transformation product of MDMA (OTP-213) with chemical formula C10H16O4N, were determined based on MS(n) mass spectra and the most plausible structure (OTP-213a) was determined based on the chemistry of ozone. These results indicate that ozone is capable of removing drugs of abuse from wastewater to varying extents and that persistent transformation products are produced as a result of treatment.

Identification and structural elucidation of ozonation transformation products of estrone.

BACKGROUND: Quantitative methods for the analysis of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) are abundant in the scientific literature. However, there are few reports on systematic methods of identification and structural identification of transformation products. For this reason, a new method based on high-resolution mass spectrometry and differential analysis was developed in order to facilitate and accelerate the process of identification and structural elucidation of transformation products CECs. This method was applied to the study of ozonation transformation products (OTPs) of the natural hormone estrone (E1). RESULTS: A control compare trend experiment consisting in the comparison of a control sample to several samples having been exposed to decreasing concentrations of O3(aq) indicated that 593 peaks could be associated with OTPs. After applying various filters to remove background noise, sample contaminants and signal spikes, this data set was reduced to 16 candidate peaks. By inspection of the shape of these peaks, only two compounds OTP-276 (m/z 275.12930) and OTP-318 (m/z 317.14008) were considered as good candidates for further study. Multi-stage tandem mass spectrometry (MSn) experiments of SPE extracts of the ozonated samples of E1 and of a deuterium-labeled analogue (E1-d4) showed that OTP-276 and OTP-318 had carboxylic acid and hydroxyl functional groups, as previously reported for OTPs of other hormones. Structures for these two compounds were proposed based on their MSn spectra. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that the method proposed is a systematic and rapid approach to study transformation products of CECs.