LC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS method development and validation for the determination of 2-methylisoborneol, geosmin and N-nitrosamines in drinking water treatment plants and evaluation of removal efficiency by developed filtration agents

Abstract

The metabolites 2-methylisoborneol and geosmin, responsible for earthy taste and odor of tap water, and the possible carcinogenic N-nitrosamines are emerging contaminants that can be present in drinking water and present harmful effects in the concentration range of nanogram per liter. Water treatment in Drinking Water Treatment Plants is not always effective in removing these contaminants and can produce N-nitrosamines from the degradation of ranitidine, a common drug that can also be present in water. In that way, the project proposal is to develop and validate analytical methods in LC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS systems with Solid Phase Extraction and Solid Phase MicroExtraction as pre-concentration techniques to determine these contaminants in water samples from Drinking Water Treatment Plants, evaluating the removal and formation of contaminants in each step of water treatment, as well studying the N-nitrosamine formation from the degradation of ranitidine. The filtration agents developed in Brazil's FAPESP PIPE project will also be evaluated regarding their capacity of contaminant removal as extraction sorbents in the collected water samples or simulated contaminated water samples in case there is no significant contaminant concentration in the Drinking Water Treatment Plants samples. (AU)