Development of Methods for the Determination of PhACs in Soil/Earthworm/Crop System Irrigated with Reclaimed Water

Abstract

Pharmaceuticals have been becoming a major concern of environmental pollution since the beginning of the century. The ways in which these contaminants are introduced into the environment are very different, but almost always associated with wastewater. In fact, current wastewater treatment plants are not designed for the removal of pharmaceutical products. Indeed, the problem of water scarcity has played an important role in the introduction of pharmaceutical products into the environment, particularly in the agricultural sector. Because of the drought, more and more countries are resorting to the use of treated wastewater to irrigate vegetables for human consumption. Consequently, the reuse of wastewater in agriculture constitutes a continuous introduction of these molecules into the soil. The effects of this practice are not entirely clear. However, the probability that these compounds can enter the food chain directly is high. In fact, through radical absorption, plants could uptake pharmaceuticals from soil and water, leading to the accumulation of drugs in the tissues. The development of analytical methods of solid matrices such as soil or plant tissues requires substantial work due to the great complexity of the matrices and the differences between the physico-chemical properties of analytes of interest. Several multi-class methods have recently been developed to determine a large number of pharmaceutical products in soil or plants using different extraction techniques. This chapter addresses to list all the analytical procedures published so far used for the extraction and analysis of pharmaceutical products from plant tissues and from the soil irrigated with treated wastewater.

Evaluation of different QuEChERS-based methods for the extraction of 48 wastewater-derived organic contaminants from soil and lettuce root using high-resolution LC-QTOF with MRMHR and SWATH acquisition modes

“…The selection of the investigated wastewater-derived organic compounds was based on their occurrence in treated wastewater, and their previous detection in edible crops (Christou et al 2019 ). Additionally, they cover a wide range of polarity (log P = −2.16 to log P = 5.31) (Tab S 1 ), which made method development more difficult (Manasfi et al 2021b ). They include a wide range of therapeutical classes such as analgesics and antiinflammatories, antihypertensives, antifungal agents, lipid regulators, psychiatric drugs and stimulants, β-blockers, antibiotics, and sweeteners with different characteristics and physical/chemical properties (Tab S 1 ).…”

“…In addition to sample preparation and extraction, LC-MS/MS analysis as well as data analysis are also time-consuming (Manasfi et al 2021b ). So, having a common extraction method for multiple matrices is very beneficial.…”

“…In particular, in recent years, various techniques have been introduced for the analysis of wastewater-derived organic pollutants in soil samples, such as pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) (Biel-Maeso et al 2017 ; Durán-Alvarez et al 2009 ; Vazquez-Roig et al 2010 ), microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) (Azzouz and Ballesteros 2012 ; Rice and Mitra 2007 ), and ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) (Albero et al 2015 ; Montemurro et al 2019 ; Xu et al 2008 ), which allowed to obtain high extraction recoveries. However, these techniques are time, materials, and solvents consuming, and require advanced instrumentation and analysts with high expertise to manipulate them (Manasfi et al 2021b ).…”

“…Lettuce crop is the most cultivated plant worldwide, it grows quickly in greenhouse and open fields, and it has a complex roots’ structure that may facilitate the uptake of organic contaminants from soil (Bigott et al 2021 ; Chuang et al 2019 ; Manasfi et al 2021b ; Martínez-Piernas et al 2018b ; Montemurro et al 2020 ; Montemurro et al 2017 ). Moreover, the roots of herbaceous plants and vegetables are intimately in contact with the soil, placing themselves in the first 50 cm of depth.…”