Study of Anaerobic Digestion Mediated Micropollutant Degradation by UPLC-MS/MS

Antibiotics have received considerable international interest but with its increased production and abuse and the risk of Antibiotic-Resistant bacteria and Antibiotic Resistance Genes (ARG’s) dispersing across several habitats it has become a serious issue. Residues of various organic micro-pollutants occur at low concentrations (ng/L to micro gram/L) in water bodies and possibly influence the environment and living organisms even at those low concentrations. Processes such as oxidation processes (advanced), chlorination, ozonation, electro-chemical as well as biological have been studied for micropollutant degradation. Anaerobic digestion (AD) can prove to be an effective way for biodegradation of this compound as its less time and energy consuming. Biomethane Potential Tests (BMP) were set up using Food, Sludge, Septage in four different ratios with six different loading rates in BMP vials of capacity 120 mL. Working volume of 80 mL was maintained. The digestate from nearby anaerobic reactor was used as an inoculum and was stabilized for a week prior to use. Loading rate of 1 kgVS/m3 (8:1:1) was used for the purpose of LC/MS as it gave highest biogas production for a 30-day monitoring period. The setup was spiked with Trimethoprim (TMP), Ciprofloxacin (CIP) and Estrone (EST) (Concentration 1 mg/L) followed by monitoring every 24, 48, and 72 h. The experiment aimed to establish a dependable and sensitive UPLC-MS/MS (Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry) method to study TMP, CIP and EST degradation rates in AD.