TWAS-Antibio

QuEChERS EXTRACTION METHOD FOR SELECTED ANTIBIOTICS IN SEWAGE SLUDGE

01.09.2017 bis 28.02.2018

Pharmaceuticals are considered as emerging contaminants in the environment. Antibiotics are a significant group of pharmaceuticals that are extensively used by humans and animals against microbial infections. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been generally suggested to be a dominant source of antibiotics present in the environment. Antibiotics applied in human medicine can reach the terrestrial through land application of sewage sludge. To date, there is no data regarding the occurrence of antibiotics in sewage sludge from WWTPs in Nigeria as a developing country. Consequently, environmental risks due to the disposal of sewage sludge containing antibiotic substances into the Nigerian aquatic and terrestrial environment have not been investigated, to date. The applicability of QuEChERS extraction method for determination of pharmaceuticals in sewage sludge is still very scarce. QuEChERS extraction method combines several significant advantages such as its simplicity, rapidity, low-cost and low-solvent consumption. To date, there is no data regarding environmental contamination of sewage sludge by antibiotic compounds in Nigeria. This proposed research work aims at evaluating the applicability of QuEChERS extraction method with detection and quantification by LC-MS/MS of 21 selected antibiotics in sewage sludge; investigating the occurrence and ecotoxicological risks of the selected antibiotics in sewage sludge from four WWTPs in Lagos, Nigeria. The outcomes of this work will include availability of a novel, rapid, simple and robust analytical method for determination of antibiotics in sewage sludge based on QuEChERS extraction and LC-MS/MS and identifying, for the first time, the occurrence of the selected antibiotics in sewage sludge from WWTPs in Lagos, Nigeria. The proposed study will provide veritable information on the potential accumulation characteristics of antibiotics in the Nigerian environment and their potential environmental risks in Nigeria which are still unknown, to date.