The pollution of the aquatic environment with products and intermediates from the chemical or related industry is a continuing challenge due to continuously changing chemical usage and the large number of unknown or undocumented chemicals being emitted. Non-target screening (NTS) using high-resolution mass spectrometry has proven to be a powerful method for the identification of previously unknown organic contaminants. However, in rivers, a large number of ubiquitously distributed water-borne compounds can be detected and their features must be filtered out to isolate specific substances. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a sampling and analysis workflow with filtering methods for the isolation and identification of industrial chemical compounds discharged into a river.<br/>This workflow was applied to the Nidda river basin located north of Frankfurt am Main (Germany) in a ten-day sampling with 28 sampling locations. The analysis was performed using high-resolution LC-ESI-QToF-MS with RP chromatography followed by data processing using R and custom-built functions. Features were prioritized when they were detected in a tributary a) exclusively at a sampling point (not upstream) and b) not in the receiving river upstream of the confluence. The filtering of ubiquitously detected features common to domestic wastewater was carried out by comparing the sample data to the NTS data of 16 investigated WWTP-effluents and removing features found in both data sets.  The prioritization procedure led to a considerable reduction of data by 78%. Finally, three tributaries of the river basin were identified as a source of a comparatively high number of potentially industrial-originating contaminants. In total, nine of the compounds specifically discharged by these three tributaries into the river could be identified. Six of them most likely originate from industrial processes. Among them were the UV stabilizer Nylostab S-EED and the vulcanization accelerator 1-(o-tolyl)-biguanide which are mainly applied in textile industry.

Development of a non-target workflow for the identification of industrial chemical contaminants

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.