Illicit drugs constitute a class of contaminants whose emissions to the environment has drawn attention due their potent pharmacological and biological activities. The monitoring of illicit drugs in wastewater and surface waters provides a powerful tool to investigate the presence, trends and to estimate the consumption of these psychoactive substances at the community level. The main aim of this thesis was to develop a solid-phase extraction (SPE) and ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method for analysis (UHPLC-MS/MS) of illicit drugs in influent wastewater samples collected from four separate locations at different timepoints in Sweden and to assess differences in concentrations of illicit drugs among the four sites. The analysis of illicit drugs in wastewater is known to be challenging with regard to sample preparation, analyte recovery, ionization efficiency, as well as matrix effects. To overcome these challenges, an SPE UHPLC-MS/MS analytical method for the quantification of more than 30 illicit drugs was developed. Several parameters were optimized in order to improve the extraction, detection, and subsequent quantification of illicit drugs in wastewater samples. The results from the spike-tests show that SPE-UPLC-MS/MS method provided satisfactory recovery (69-133%), selectivity and linearity (R2= 0.997 ± 0.003). Three mobile phases were tested on the spike-tests whereof 5 mM ammonium formate gave the highest response for the majority of analytes and was thus selected. Finally, the method was applied to authentic influent wastewater samples collected at the municipal wastewater treatment plant from Umeå and Örebro as well as from wastewater samples collected from private wells from Örebro University and Örebro University Hospital. In total, 31 illicit drugs and their metabolites were targeted, among these 23 could be detected, out of which 12 could be accurately quantified and compared to other studies that monitored illicit drugs in major European cities. For the remaining 11 analytes, semi-quantitation was performed. Umeå had the most excessive use of amphetamine (386 ± 265 mg/1000p/day), cannabis (32 ± 16 mg/1000p/day) and benzodiazepines. Örebro on the other hand had higher abuse of cocaine (124 ± 60 mg/1000p/day), MDMA (25 ± 14 mg/1000p/day) and methamphetamine (2 ± 0.9 mg/1000p/day). Örebro University Hospital (USÖ) had the highest concentrations of opioids and ketamine, justified by their use as pain killers or anesthetics. Örebro University had detectable quantities of illicit drugs but in lower concentrations in comparison to the other sites. In conclusion, this thesis has successfully developed an analytical method for analysis of >30 illicit drugs in influent wastewater samples from four different sites in Sweden.

This study evaluated the use of common dyes as model pollutants for adsorption on biochar. Pollutant removal efficiency of five dyes and three CECs on three different biochars (SWP-550, SWP-700, NDG-SW) was evaluated, using both UV-VIS spectrophotometry and LC-MS/MS, to examine similarities and differences in adsorption performance. In a parallel study, the impact of matrix effects on the adsorption of dyes and CECs was investigated by using both ultrapure water and effluent from wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). The analytes used in the study were malachite green (MG), methylene blue (MB), crystal violet, allura red, tartrazine, trimethoprim, diclofenac (DCF), and carbamazepine (CMP). MG, MB, CMP and DCF followed the same relative pattern in removal efficiency of different biochar products. This indicates that the dyes might be useful for comparing the efficiency of removal of CMP and DCF using biochar products.However, MG and MB did not prove useful in the quantification of CMP and DCF removal efficiency. NDG-SW had the highest pollutant removal efficiency. All biochar products were efficient in removing dyes at ng/mL concentrations. The matrix effect of the effluent water was considerable, with effects resulting in both the reduction and promotion of removal efficiency. Further studies, including PCA, would be useful to map out the correlations between specific dye and CEC adsorption to biochar.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Transferring analytical methods is crucial in chemical laboratories. The need for the transfer may arise for different reasons such as sharing data between different laboratories, replacement or upgrade of analytical instrument, or limited instruments available etc. The performance and sensitivity of different instruments may vary. Three LC-MS instruments of two different manufacturers were used to identify critical parameters that might affect signal intensity. The instruments included in this study were two tandem mass spectrometers (Waters Acquity® TQD MS and Waters Xevo® TQSμ MS) and an orbitrap mass spectrometer (Thermo Scientific Q Exactive Focus). The capillary and cone voltages of selected model compounds were optimized prior to linearity study. The linearity study was performed in order to examine the dynamic range of the instruments. Limits of detection and quantitation were also evaluated. Different instrument settings were tested in order to evaluate and compare the impact of different MS parameters on the signal intensity of the selected model compounds. Thermo Scientific Q Exactive Focus was observed to be less sensitive to different settings. An existing analytical method for fluoxetine (ESI+) and bisphenol A (ESI-) was transferred from Waters Xevo® TQSμ MS to Thermo Scientific Q Exactive Focus; the performance of Waters Xevo® TQSμ MS and Waters Acquity® TQD MS was compared by using the same analytical method on both instruments. The results showed that LOD and LOQ were higher for Waters Acquity® TQD MS than for Waters Xevo® TQSμ MS. Additionally, the method transfer resulted in similar LOD and LOQ values for fluoxetine and bisphenol A on Waters Xevo® TQS micro MS and Thermo Scientific Q Exactive Focus. In case high sensitivity is not a requirement of an analysis, a set of standard settings as the ones used in this study may be sufficient during a method transfer between Waters Acquity® TQD MS and Thermo Scientific Q Exactive Focus.

Enzymes converting CO2 can be helpful with battling today’s environmental problems with global warming due to greenhouse gases. It can also contribute to make industrial processes cheaper and cleaner. During this project, enzymes have been studied to understand the process better. Two types of enzymes have been studied, formate dehydrogenases and carbonic anhydrases. Amongst these, formate dehydrogenase was chosen to continue working with, using the crystal structure PDB ID 2NAD. The protein was studied with YASARA, and molecular docking was performed, with 2NAD as the target and hydrogen carbonate as the ligand. Both automatic and manual docking was used, with manual docking being the only that yielded favorable results. The protein was mutated to enhance affinity for the hydrogen carbonate, which proved successful. It was concluded that the hydrogen carbonate was too small to yield a successful automatic docking, but that manual docking worked. It was also shown that the interactions between the hydrogen carbonate and 2NAD was affected by pH, and that the affinity was improved by mutating the protein, making the configuration more stable.

No description available.