Sponsor: National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
Headed by Dr. Qian Sun
Start data: 2016.01
End data: 2019.12
Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are a major class of emerging contaminants widely dispersed in the environment. Current studies mainly focused on their occurrence and distribution in the environment. There is a knowledge gap of the transformation and fate of PPCPs in the aquatic system. In this project, PPCPs, including the antibiotics, analgesics/ antipyretics, etc, which are of high concentrations and high detection frequencies in the Jiulong River, are selected based on our previous studies. The microcosm studies will be carried out to test the photolysis, biodegradation, and the combination of bio-photo-degradation in the aqueous phase, as well as the aerobic, anaerobic, and abiotic degradation in the sediments. The transformation products will be identified by high resolution technology, including the liquid chromatography-quadrupole/ time-of-flight mass spectrometers (LC-Q/TOF-MS) et al. The suspected screening is conducted, in which a list of suspected products is predicted based on the references and the prediction system, and the exact mass is extracted from the chromatogram to identify the molecular structure of the transformation products. The non-target screening is carried out to cover the potential missing transformation products by the suspected screening. In addition, the toxicity of the transformation products will be tested. Finally, samples will be collected from the Jiulong River at different time intervals. The concentrations of the selected PPCPs and their major transformation products in the aqueous phase, suspended solids, and sediments, will be determined. From this study, the transformation of selected PPCPs in the river area will be elucidated. In addition, the spatial-temporal distribution and the fate of PPCPs and their major transformation products will be understood. This project will focus not only the PPCPs but also their major transformation products. The results will provide useful information to evaluate the ecological risk of PPCPs in the river.