Department of Environmental Sciences has, in collaboration with the National Institute of Biology, successfully modified the estrogenicity assay ER-Calux® to be able to test raw waste water samples without the need for sample extraction. This method has been compared to the ER-Calux® assay and estrogenicity derived from analysis of four known estrogens by GC-MSD. Our results show no statistical difference between the results obtained by NE-ER-Calux and the other two methods. In addition the new method significantly reduces analysis time and material consumption. On the basis of these results we expect high applicability of the modified ER-CALUX® assay as a screening test, where demanding chemical analysis can be performed only on critical samples.
COBISS.SI-ID: 2813007
Paper evaluates biological treatment, hydrodynamic cavitation and UV treatment as a method for wastewater treatment. In collaboration with Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Faculty for Civil Engineering, University of Ljubljana we evaluated the efficiency of single processes as well as their sequences for removing micropollutants, e.g. pharmaceutical residues, from wastewaters.
COBISS.SI-ID: 27217959
Fluorouracil is a fluorinated pyrimidine analogue important in the treatment of cancer whose fate in the environment is yet to be fully addressed. Due to its high polarity the compound requires challenging sample preparation and therefore we thoroughly investigated different solid phase extraction mechanisms (ion pair, ion exchange, reversed phase), sorbents and derivatisation agents to enable tracelevel analysis of fluorouracil. The achieved limits of quantification (LOQ) for waste and surface waters were 1.6 ng/L and 0.54 ng/L, respectively. The method was used to analyse samples of hospital, wastewater treatment plant influent and effluent and surface waters. Fluorouracil was quantified in four samples of oncological ward wastewaters and municipal wastewater treatment plant influents in concentrations from 4.7 ng/L to 92 ng/L. This work is also the first to study the environmental transformation of fluorouracil and its prodrug capecitabine. Their removal and transformation was simulated using a series of biodegradation and photodegradation experiments, where fluorouracil proved more degradable in comparison to capecitabine. Transformation of fluorouracil and capecitabine was studied by high resolution and tandem mass spectrometry. Overall, six transformation products for fluorouracil and ten for capecitabine are proposed; 13 of these are to our knowledge published for the first time.
COBISS.SI-ID: 26628903