The Biotransformation of Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Pharmaceuticals and Their Metabolites by Nitrifying and Heterotrophic Cultures
| Category | Publications |
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| Abstract | Residues of human and veterinary pharmaceuticals are introduced into the environment via a number of pathways, but primarily from discharges of wastewater treatment plants or land application of sewage sludge and animal manure. Presently, it is difficult to accurately assess the overall ecological impacts of pharmaceutical residues in the environment because information on the identities and quantities of their degradation products is very limited. This lack of information is largely due to analytical challenges encountered in detecting and quantifying trace levels of unknown compounds in complex environmental matrices. The objective of this research was to examine the removal efficiencies of selected pharmaceuticals in a pilot scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) and a full-scale conventional wastewater treatment plant in Barcelona, Spain, and compare the results with the data from our current studies in Buffalo, New York (USA). The research was performed at the Chemical & Environmental Research Institute of Barcelona (Institut d'Investigacions Quimiques i Ambientals de Barcelona or IIQAB), Spain. To investigate the pharmaceutical removal efficiencies of various full-scale wastewater treatment systems in Barcelona, Spain and compare their efficiencies with the common treatment systems in the United States. We exchanged graduate student between our institutions and utilized state-of-the art instrumentation for trace analysis of pharmaceutical contaminant is environmental samples. These include a new ultrahigh pressure liquid chromatograph with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer (UPLC Q-ToF-MS), a high resolution mass spectrometer, in the identification of trace levels of pharmaceutical metabolites formed during their treatment and degradation in the environment. |
| Contributor | Mourad Ouzzani
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| Bio | Diana S. Aga is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY. Diana Aga received her B.S. degree in Agricultural Chemistry at the University of the Philippines at Los Baños (1988), and her Ph.D. in Environmental and Analytical Chemistry at the University of Kansas (1995). She was a research assistant at the United States Geological Survey, Lawrence, Kansas (1993-1996), and a postdoctoral fellow at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG), Switzerland (1996-1998). Diana Aga is recipient of various research awards such as the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Scientific and Environmental Affairs Fellowship, and the Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship.
Mary Dawn Celiz is a Ph.D. student in Analytical Chemistry at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY. She received her B.S. degree in Agricultural Chemistry at the University of the Philippines at Los Baños. She is currently supported by the NSF grant no. BES 0504359. |
| Sponsored By | NSF CBET-504359 |
| Cite this work | Researchers should cite this work as follows: Diana S. Aga, "The Biotransformation of Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Pharmaceuticals and Their Metabolites by Nitrifying and Heterotrophic Cultures", Trip report presented at the NSF IREE 2007 Grantees Conference, October 30 - November 1, 2007, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana |
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