Behavior and prioritization of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment

• Grant number: 18/09697-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: August 01, 2018
• End date: July 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Analytical Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Susanne Rath
• Grantee: Alyson Rogério Ribeiro
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Among the emerging contaminants (EC), human and veterinary pharmaceuticals are highlighted due to their intended biological activity, widely usage and due to their pressure on antimicrobial resistance acquirement. Pharmaceuticals have been detected in the environment due to factors as lack of proper legislations, low removal yields in usual treatment systems and diffuse and intermittent discharges. Therefore, methodologies are needed to prioritize pharmaceuticals of environmental interest as well as to understand their fate, behave and effects on the environment. In this direction, microcosm essays rise as a promising tool to assess pharmaceuticals in environmental matrices. In fact, this project aims at the identification of the main abiotic processes involved on the fate of mixed pharmaceuticals (i.e. florfenicol, ciprofloxacin, sulfaquinoxaline, carbamazepine, ibuprofen, metformin) in aquatic matrices. Adapting international guidelines, surface water and sediment will be analyzed separated and combined and variables as temperature, microbiological activity and lighting will be strictly controlled. Water and sediment samples from Atibaia River, an important water body of Campinas (SP), along with analytical technics as SPE-UHPLC-MS/MS will be used for microcosms essays. Complementally, methodologies for prioritization of environmental relevant pharmaceuticals will be studied. To do so, data of pharmaceuticals sales, consumption, removal efficiency, mobility and toxicity among others will be compiled and used based on international methodologies. Besides criteria and strategies for pharmaceuticals prioritization, it is also expected as result the understanding of fate and behavior of selected EC on the aquatic ecosystem.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

CUNHA ALVES, PRISCILLA DA COSTA; RODRIGUES-SILVA, CAIO; RIBEIRO, ALYSON ROGERIO; RATH, SUSANNE. Removal of low-calorie sweeteners at five Brazilian wastewater treatment plants and their occurrence in surface water. Journal of Environmental Management, v. 289, JUL 1 2021. (18/03571-2, 18/09697-8, 14/50951-4)

PIVETTA, RHANNANDA COPETTI; RODRIGUES-SILVA, CAIO; RIBEIRO, ALYSON ROGERIO; RATH, SUSANNE. Tracking the occurrence of psychotropic pharmaceuticals in Brazilian wastewater treatment plants and surface water, with assessment of environmental risks. Science of The Total Environment, v. 727, JUL 20 2020. (18/03571-2, 18/09697-8, 14/50951-4)