The Analysis of Two Common Analgesic Drugs in Wastewater: Paracetamol (Acetaminophen) and Diclofenac
With diluted wastewater discharge being used as a source of drinking water in many locations throughout the world, it should be of concern which medications are commonly found in our wastewater. Researchers at the Institute of Environmental Technology, Vietnam Academy of Science & Technology have published a method for the determination of two common analgesics in wastewater using Solid-Phase Extraction (SPE) and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Photodiode Array (HPLC-PDA) analysis. Recoveries were greater than 95%.
Sample Preparation: The samples were filtered using a 0.45 µm syringe filter to remove particulates. The cartridge used was an Enviro-Clean® 500 mg/ 6 mL C18 (EUC18156). Samples were preserved with 0.1% HCl to pH 2 to decrease biological activity. Samples were stored in the dark at 4ºC until extraction.
- Activate the cartridge with 5 mL of methanol.
- Equilibrate the cartridge with 5 mL of deionized water.
- Add the sample at a rate of 7 mL/minute.
- Dry using vacuum pressure for 5 minutes.
- Elute the analytes with 5 mL. of methanol
- Evaporate the eluate to dryness and reconstitute the extract into 1 mL. of mobile phase. Acetonitrile: 0.02M NaH2PO4, pH = 5(70:30)
For more information please visit:
Trang, Nguyen T. T., et al. Simultaneous Determination of Paracetamol and Diclofenac in Wastewater by High-performance Liquid Chromatography Method. vol. 61, Vietnam Journal of Science and Technology, 2023, https://doi.org/10.15625/2525-2518/16418. pp. 599-608.
