Emerging pollutants in environmental samples of Gran Canaria Island

Abstract

Benzotriazole UV stabilizers (BUVSs) are emerging contaminants used in different personal care products such as sunscreens and cosmetics to absorb ultraviolet light. These compounds have been described as bioaccumulative, pseudo-persistent and mutagenic, so it is of great interest to investigate them and know their presence and distribution in the environment. Since their concentrations are very low in complex matrices, it is necessary to employ extraction and preconcentration procedures besides sensible methods to determine them. In this work, we carried out a one-year monitoring study to determine six BUVSs compounds (UV-P, UV-326, UV-327, UV-328, UV-329 and UV-360) in different environmental compartments from Gran Canaria island (Canary Islands, Spain): input and output samples from five wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) as well as seawater and sediments from three areas influenced by discharges of marine outfalls. Two treatment methods based on microwave assisted extraction (MAE) and on-line solid phase extraction coupled to ultra high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) were applied for solid and liquid samples, respectively. Target BUVSs were measured in wastewater, coastal seawater and sediment samples in concentrations in the ranges 13.42-1932.80 ng·L-1, 67.01-2418.50 ng·L-1 and 347.24- 2162.19 ng·g-1, respectively. The target compounds shown different trends of accumulation in aqueous or solid samples, probably due to their coefficient of hydrophobicity. The majority of the positive samples belonged to the southernmost sampling point, which is in the most touristic location of the island. The continuity of the monitoring will allow us to establish the trends regarding the spatial and temporal distribution of the target compounds in the environment.