Screening Organic Compounds in Urban Wastewater Using NMR

What is it about?

The pollution of aquatic environments is a major challenge for modern society as the quality of water resources is declining, and the demand for water recovery is growing. This article proposes pattern recognition tools using quantitative NMR (qNMR), chemometrics, and the hyphenated system highperformance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet-solid-phase extraction/NMR (HPLC-UV-SPE/NMR) to screen the organic composition in wastewater before and after treatment by a sewage treatment plant (STP). The suggested methods monitor the levels of volatile fatty acids that correspond to organic matter degradation (acetic, propionic, and formic acids) as well as dimethylamine. These matrix variables are visualized in heat map form, and the levels of major compounds from personal care products and pharmaceutical and industrial production are determined using the partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and hyphenated NMR system. In general, several trends were observed in the wastewater composition according to the STP treatment, storm water, and seasonality. In addition, recalcitrant compounds, such as surfactants and phthalates, were detected in the effluent. The ineffciency of STPs regarding the removal of recalcitrant compounds occurred owing to their biologic degradation, which can only occur anaerobically. These fndings highlight the need for further investment in sewage treatment systems.

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