treatment stages from influent wastewater to effluent including recycling before
discharging it to River Trent. The sewage treatment work further removes 330 tonnes
of plastics and paper as well as 2000 tonnes of grit per year (Mustapha 2013).
Systematic samplings for the biweekly collections of samples were adopted to
obtain representative samples. To avoid effluent dilution due to distance from the
discharge point to the receiving waters, efforts were made to ensure that collections
were made at the same distance close to the effluent discharge points to minimize
uncertainties in analyte concentrations. The varying amounts of analytes at the
receiving waters further confirmed the major routes of sewage treatment plants by
which pharmaceutical compounds enter the aquatic environment. The new challenges are introduction of abused pharmaceuticals making treatability at sewage
treatment plants very difficult due to dearth of information of removal techniques.
In Table 9.9, there are 15 compounds that were detected from biweekly samplings
from Nottingham sewage treatment work effluents including ibuprofen, caffeine,
lidocaine, cocaine, codeine, amphetamine, ecgonine methyl ester, benzoylecgonine,
ephedrine, methadone, nicotine, 6-acetylmorphine, diacetylmorphine, diazepam and
procaine with their corresponding concentrations as presented. This study confirms
necessary analytical capabilities for the determination of drugs in wastewaters using
solid-phase extraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The presence of
15 different compounds, ibuprofen, caffeine, lidocaine, cocaine, codeine, amphetamine, ecgonine methyl ester, benzoylecgonine, ephedrine, methadone, nicotine,
6-acetylmorphine, diacetylmorphine, diazepam and procaine, was found. The compounds detected in effluents ranged from 0.3 to 30.2 ng L
À1 with percentage
recoveries from 78.6 to 97.8%, using solid-phase extraction-gas chromatographymass spectrometry. The instrumental limits of detection ranged from 0.1 to
1.5 ng L
À1 and standard deviation values of 1.1–21.4%. The most abundant compounds found in the final effluents were nicotine, ibuprofen, codeine, ephedrine,
procaine, benzoylecgonine, lidocaine and caffeine, with mean concentrations of
19.2 Æ 5.8, 15.2 Æ 4.3, 13.6 Æ 5.7, 9.1 Æ 3.5, 8.2 Æ 3.1, 5.1 Æ 2.8, 4.7 Æ 1.7 and
4.2 Æ 1.7 ngL
À1 , respectively.
However, improved sampling strategies employed at the determination of effluents at Stoke Bardolph Sewage Treatment Plant in Nottingham have added new
trends that will further improve the treatment capability and assessments of the
sewage treatment plant (Mustapha 2013).
9.8 Conclusions
With the different aspects of drug’s occurrence, fate, treatability and transformations
in the aquatic environment in the literature, the pharmaceutical markets for numerous therapeutic and commercial purposes will keep escalating. The desired
approaches at safeguarding the environment in controlling and effective monitoring
of chemical discharges into the environment are the new pollution challenges.
This work examines aspects of some pharmaceuticals’ fate, transport routes,
294
A. O. Mustapha
discharging it to River Trent. The sewage treatment work further removes 330 tonnes
of plastics and paper as well as 2000 tonnes of grit per year (Mustapha 2013).
Systematic samplings for the biweekly collections of samples were adopted to
obtain representative samples. To avoid effluent dilution due to distance from the
discharge point to the receiving waters, efforts were made to ensure that collections
were made at the same distance close to the effluent discharge points to minimize
uncertainties in analyte concentrations. The varying amounts of analytes at the
receiving waters further confirmed the major routes of sewage treatment plants by
which pharmaceutical compounds enter the aquatic environment. The new challenges are introduction of abused pharmaceuticals making treatability at sewage
treatment plants very difficult due to dearth of information of removal techniques.
In Table 9.9, there are 15 compounds that were detected from biweekly samplings
from Nottingham sewage treatment work effluents including ibuprofen, caffeine,
lidocaine, cocaine, codeine, amphetamine, ecgonine methyl ester, benzoylecgonine,
ephedrine, methadone, nicotine, 6-acetylmorphine, diacetylmorphine, diazepam and
procaine with their corresponding concentrations as presented. This study confirms
necessary analytical capabilities for the determination of drugs in wastewaters using
solid-phase extraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The presence of
15 different compounds, ibuprofen, caffeine, lidocaine, cocaine, codeine, amphetamine, ecgonine methyl ester, benzoylecgonine, ephedrine, methadone, nicotine,
6-acetylmorphine, diacetylmorphine, diazepam and procaine, was found. The compounds detected in effluents ranged from 0.3 to 30.2 ng L
À1 with percentage
recoveries from 78.6 to 97.8%, using solid-phase extraction-gas chromatographymass spectrometry. The instrumental limits of detection ranged from 0.1 to
1.5 ng L
À1 and standard deviation values of 1.1–21.4%. The most abundant compounds found in the final effluents were nicotine, ibuprofen, codeine, ephedrine,
procaine, benzoylecgonine, lidocaine and caffeine, with mean concentrations of
19.2 Æ 5.8, 15.2 Æ 4.3, 13.6 Æ 5.7, 9.1 Æ 3.5, 8.2 Æ 3.1, 5.1 Æ 2.8, 4.7 Æ 1.7 and
4.2 Æ 1.7 ngL
À1 , respectively.
However, improved sampling strategies employed at the determination of effluents at Stoke Bardolph Sewage Treatment Plant in Nottingham have added new
trends that will further improve the treatment capability and assessments of the
sewage treatment plant (Mustapha 2013).
9.8 Conclusions
With the different aspects of drug’s occurrence, fate, treatability and transformations
in the aquatic environment in the literature, the pharmaceutical markets for numerous therapeutic and commercial purposes will keep escalating. The desired
approaches at safeguarding the environment in controlling and effective monitoring
of chemical discharges into the environment are the new pollution challenges.
This work examines aspects of some pharmaceuticals’ fate, transport routes,
294
A. O. Mustapha