https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/33344/4/A%20review%20on%20the%20occurrence%20of%20micropollutants%20in%20the%20aquatic%20environment%20and%20their%20fate%20and%20removal%20during%20wastewater%20treatment.pdf

A review on the occurrence of micropollutants in the aquatic environment and their fate and removal during wastewater treatment

A review on emerging contaminants in wastewaters and the environment: current knowledge, understudied areas and recommendations for future monitoring.

Antibiotics and organic explosives are among the main organic pollutants in wastewater; their detection and removal are quite important but challenging. As a new class of porous materials, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are considered as a promising platform for the sensing and adsorption applications. In this work, guided by a topological design approach, two stable isostructural Zr(IV)-based MOFs, Zr6O4(OH)8(H2O)4(CTTA)8/3 (BUT-12, H3CTTA = 5′-(4-carboxyphenyl)-2′,4′,6′-trimethyl-[1,1′:3′,1″-terphenyl]-4,4″-dicarboxylic acid) and Zr6O4(OH)8(H2O)4(TTNA)8/3 (BUT-13, H3TTNA = 6,6′,6″-(2,4,6-trimethylbenzene-1,3,5-triyl)tris(2-naphthoic acid)) with the the-a topological structure constructed by D4h 8-connected Zr6 clusters and D3h 3-connected linkers were designed and synthesized. The two MOFs are highly porous with the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area of 3387 and 3948 m2 g–1, respectively. Particularly, BUT-13 features one of the most porous water-stable MOFs reported so far. Interestingly, these MOFs ...

Highly Stable Zr(IV)-Based Metal–Organic Frameworks for the Detection and Removal of Antibiotics and Organic Explosives in Water

Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are now becoming a significant fraction of the material flows in the global economy. We are already reaping the benefits of improved energy efficiency, material use reduction, and better performance in many existing and new applications that have been enabled by these technological advances. As ENMs pervade the global economy, however, it becomes important to understand their environmental implications. As a first step, we combined ENM market information and material flow modeling to produce the first global assessment of the likely ENM emissions to the environment and landfills. The top ten most produced ENMs by mass were analyzed in a dozen major applications. Emissions during the manufacturing, use, and disposal stages were estimated, including intermediate steps through wastewater treatment plants and waste incineration plants. In 2010, silica, titania, alumina, and iron and zinc oxides dominate the ENM market in terms of mass flow through the global economy, used mostly in coatings/paints/pigments, electronics and optics, cosmetics, energy and environmental applications, and as catalysts. We estimate that 63–91 % of over 260,000–309,000 metric tons of global ENM production in 2010 ended up in landfills, with the balance released into soils (8–28 %), water bodies (0.4–7 %), and atmosphere (0.1–1.5 %). While there are considerable uncertainties in the estimates, the framework for estimating emissions can be easily improved as better data become available. The material flow estimates can be used to quantify emissions at the local level, as inputs for fate and transport models to estimate concentrations in different environmental compartments.

Global life cycle releases of engineered nanomaterials

Systemic insecticides are applied to plants using a wide variety of methods, ranging from foliar sprays to seed treatments and soil drenches. Neonicotinoids and fipronil are among the most widely used pesticides in the world. Their popularity is largely due to their high toxicity to invertebrates, the ease and flexibility with which they can be applied, their long persistence, and their systemic nature, which ensures that they spread to all parts of the target crop. However, these properties also increase the probability of environmental contamination and exposure of nontarget organisms. Environmental contamination occurs via a number of routes including dust generated during drilling of dressed seeds, contamination and accumulation in arable soils and soil water, runoff into waterways, and uptake of pesticides by nontarget plants via their roots or dust deposition on leaves. Persistence in soils, waterways, and nontarget plants is variable but can be prolonged; for example, the half-lives of neonicotinoids in soils can exceed 1,000 days, so they can accumulate when used repeatedly. Similarly, they can persist in woody plants for periods exceeding 1 year. Breakdown results in toxic metabolites, though concentrations of these in the environment are rarely measured. Overall, there is strong evidence that soils, waterways, and plants in agricultural environments and neighboring areas are contaminated with variable levels of neonicotinoids or fipronil mixtures and their metabolites (soil, parts per billion (ppb)-parts per million (ppm) range; water, parts per trillion (ppt)-ppb range; and plants, ppb-ppm range). This provides multiple routes for chronic (and acute in some cases) exposure of nontarget animals. For example, pollinators are exposed through direct contact with dust during drilling; consumption of pollen, nectar, or guttation drops from seed-treated crops, water, and consumption of contaminated pollen and nectar from wild flowers and trees growing near-treated crops. Studies of food stores in honeybee colonies from across the globe demonstrate that colonies are routinely and chronically exposed to neonicotinoids, fipronil, and their metabolites (generally in the 1–100 ppb range), mixed with other pesticides some of which are known to act synergistically with neonicotinoids. Other nontarget organisms, particularly those inhabiting soils, aquatic habitats, or herbivorous insects feeding on noncrop plants in farmland, will also inevitably receive exposure, although data are generally lacking for these groups. We summarize the current state of knowledge regarding the environmental fate of these compounds by outlining what is known about the chemical properties of these compounds, and placing these properties in the context of modern agricultural practices.

/pdf/environmental-fate-and-exposure-neonicotinoids-and-fipronil-ln5a08bl9m.pdf

Environmental fate and exposure; neonicotinoids and fipronil

Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry in food safety

An overview is given on pesticide-residue determination in environmental and food samples by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). Pesticides comprise a large number of substances that belong to many completely different chemical groups, the only common characteristic is that they are effective against pests. They still constitute a challenge in MS because there is no collective pathway for fragmentation. A brief introduction to the theory of tandem MS permits a discussion of which parameters influence the ionization efficiency when the ions are subjected to different actions. Emphasis is placed on the different tandem MS instruments: triple and ion-trap quadrupoles, and hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF), including advantages and drawbacks, typical detection limits, and ion signals at low concentrations. The instrumental setup, as well as LC and mass spectrometric experimental conditions, must be carefully selected to increase the performance of the analytical system. The capacity of each instrument to provide useful data for the identification of pesticides, and the possibility to obtain structural information for the identification of target and non-target compounds, are discussed. Finally, sample preparation techniques and examples of applications are debated to reveal the potential of the current state-of-the-art technology, and to further promote the usefulness of tandem MS.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/mas.10071

Environmental and food applications of LC-tandem mass spectrometry in pesticide-residue analysis: an overview.

Contamination of the environment by pharmaceuticals, quinolones among them, is recognized as an emerging issue of concern to scientists and the public. Literature on the environmental analysis of quinolones has addressed a very small percentage of these compounds, and the analytical methods developed to determine them are very scarce. By contrast, a large number of methods have been proposed for their analysis in food, which has classically been considered the source of these residues for human beings. Although both matrices, food and environment, differ, most of the information obtained from one field can be applied to the other. However, to be able to do this, there is need for critical discussion about how analytical determination is carried out in each case. This review summarizes the most relevant issues that condition the analogies and the contrasts between food and environmental matrices in the analysis of quinolones. We describe and compare the target analytes and their relevant levels. We also critically review the approaches to extraction (e.g., solvent extraction (SE), pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) and solid-phase extraction (SPE)), depending on the sample characteristics. We also detail the main analytical techniques (e.g., liquid chromatography (LC) and capillary electrophoresis (CE) combined with UV, fluorescence (FLD) and mass spectrometry (MS), immunoassays and biosensors) used to identify and to quantify quinolone residues in both matrices. We present an updated overview of the recent uses and future prospects for the different analytical methods employed in food and environmental samples.

Cristina Blasco

Papers

Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry in food safety

Environmental and food applications of LC-tandem mass spectrometry in pesticide-residue analysis: an overview.

Analytical strategies to determine quinolone residues in food and the environment

Screening of currently used pesticides in water, sediments and biota of the Guadalquivir River Basin (Spain)

Determination of tetracyclines in multi-specie animal tissues by pressurized liquid extraction and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry