Detection, occurrence and fate of 22 psychiatric pharmaceuticals in psychiatric hospital and municipal wastewater treatment plants in Beijing, China

The liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometer (LC-MS/MS) method coupled with an automated solid-phase extraction procedure has been developed to identify 22 psychiatric pharmaceuticals, including seven anxiolytic-sedative-hypnotics, six antidepressants, and nine anti-schizophrenia drugs, in wastewater samples from two psychiatric hospital wastewater treatment plants (P-WWTPs) and three municipal wastewater treatment plants (M-WWTPs) in Beijing, China. Analyte recoveries from splicing experiments in the WWTP influent and effluent at three concentrations ranged from 70% to 110%, excluding sulpiride, ziprasidone, and olanzapine. Method detection limits for five, eight, and nine analytes in the WWTP influent and effluent were 20-80, 1-16, and <1 ng L-1, respectively. High psychiatric pharmaceutical concentrations (e.g., similar to 942 ng L-1 oxazepam, 5552-12,782 ng L-1 clozapine, 2762-9832 ng L(-1)sulpiride, and 2030-4967 ng L-lquetiapine) were frequently observed in P-WWTP influent compared to M-WWTPs. Although P-WWTPs typically had higher removal rates, significantly higher concentrations of the target compounds were observed in the P-WWTP secondary effluent than in the M-WWTP influent (e.g., 752 ng L-1 oxazepam, 8183 ng L-1 clozapine, 10,833 ng L-1 sulpiride, and 1168 ng L-1 quetiapine). Thus, the discharge control of psychiatric pharmaceuticals from psychiatric hospitals requires improvement. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.