The accumulation of potentially hazardous industrial additives in sewage sludge

The project aimed at developing new methods for the determination of organic compounds such as potentially hazardous industrial additives from sewage sludge by LC-MS / MS. In this project, two LC-MS / MS methods were developed, one for the separation, identification and quantification of flame retardants such as α-, β- and γ- Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) diastereoisomers and the second for the determination of plasticizers (Bisphenol A) and antioxidants (Butylhydroxyanisole) from sewage sludge samples. The interest analites were isolated from the complex matrices using the ultrasonic assisted extraction method. Detection limits were between 0.07-0.14 ng/g for α-, β- and γ-HBCD diastereoisomers and 0.41 ng/g for BPA and 0.59 ng/g for BHA respectively.