Analysis of paracetamol, caffeine and fluoxetine in stoke bardolph effluent using SPE and UPLC-QTOF-MS

Identifier:  TFG:1365

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TFG1365

Authors:  Pascual Caro, Sergi

Abstract:
A method to achieve the chromatographic separation and mass identification of a group of pharmaceuticals was carried on using Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-QToF-MS). With a 1.7 μm particle size column good chromatographic separation was achieved in 20 minutes. After a solid phase extraction of 700 mL of sample low limits of detection and quantification were obtained. This methodology was applied to real samples of Stoke Bardolph Sewage Treatment Works effluent, in Nottingham and fluoxetine was found at concentrations of 8 ppb which considering the flow of the effluent canal it is equal to 16500 doses of 60 mg. This project also includes a study of the efficiency comparing the number of plates between different conditions of analysis.