Advanced mass spectrometric methods applied to the study of fate and removal of pharmaceuticals in wastewater treatment

13 pages, 3 figures, 1 table.-- Printed version published Dec 2007.-- Issue title: Emerging contaminants in wastewaters.This overview is of analytical methodologies based on gas chromatographymass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, applied in environmental monitoring of pharmaceutical residues and their known degradation products. We also consider the ability of time-of-flight (TOF) and quadrupole-TOF instruments to provide sufficiently accurate-mass measurements and full-scan spectra for unequivocal confirmation of target compounds and investigation of their degradation products, which are either known or unknown.We focus attention on the fate and the behavior of pharmaceutical residues during conventional and advanced wastewater treatments. Wastewater-treatment plants are designed to remove conventional pollutants (e.g., suspended solids and biodegradable organic compounds), but not low concentrations of synthetic pollutants (e.g., pharmaceutically active compounds).Membrane bioreactor systems represent a new generation of processes that have proved to outperform conventional activated sludge treatment in terms of sludge production and effluent quality. In the past few years, there has been much attention paid to their capability for removing trace organic contaminants from sewage. This review highlights their improved performance in removing pharmaceutical residues from wastewater compared to conventional treatment.The work was financially supported by the European Union EMCO Project [INCO-CT-2004-509188] and by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (Projects EVITA (CTM2005-24254-E) and CEMAGUA (CGL2007-64551/HID)). J.R. gratefully acknowledges the I3P Program (Itinerario integrado de inserción profesional), co-financed by CSIC (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas) and European Social Funds, for a pre-doctoral grant.Peer reviewe