Degradação de microcontaminantes emergentes e inativação de E. coli resistentes a antibióticos por processos oxidativos avançados

Abstract

Some micropollutants have been causing concern to health authorities with regard how they can be toxic to humans and if the conventional water treatment plants are effective for their removal. Among micropollutants currently present in the environment stand out microcystin-LR, organophosphorus pesticides (profenofos), veterinary drugs (Ivermectin) and antibiotic resistant bacteria. The low concentration of these micropollutants found in the environment requires efficient treatment and development of analytical techniques for the quantification and identification these compounds. This work was divided in two phase. In the first phase the Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs), namely H2O2/UV, TiO2 /UV and N-TiO2 /UV, have been compared with chlorination in the inactivation of an AR Escherichia coli (E. coli) strain in surface water.. Under the investigated conditions, chlorination (1.0 mg/L) was the faster process (2.5 min) to achieve total inactivation (6 Log). Among POA, H2O2/UV resulted in the best inactivation rate. Moreover, H2O2/UV and chlorination processes were evaluated in terms of cytotoxicity potential by means of MTT colorimetric test on a human-derived cell line and they similarly affected HepG2 cells viability. In the second phase, three fundamental aspects were evaluated: (1) degradation of micropollutants, profenofós (PFF), microcystin-LR (MC-LR) and ivermectin (IV) by H2O2/UV, H2O2 e UV; (2) validate the method for LC-MS/MS; (3) identification of oxidation by-products (OBPs) in finished water. The LC-MS/MS method for quantification of MC-LR and PFF showed good linearity with fitness coefficient (r) >0.99 and (r) >0.98, respectively. The precision, obtained was considered satisfactory. The limits of detection (LD) and quantification (LQ) were lower the Brazilian drinking water standard, suggesting the applicability of the method for the drinking water quality control .Among POA, H2O2/UV resulted in the best degradation of the micropollutants.