Determination of Triclosan in Wastewater Using Solid Phase Extraction and High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Ultra-Violet Detection

As fungicides or preservatives in pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs), triclosan (TCS) is widespread in the environment. Under low concentration, the toxicity of triclosan is not obvious, but under certain conditions, it can be converted into other substances, whose toxicity has already caused concerns. A method for analysis of tricosan in water using solid phase extraction (SPE) and high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) with Ultra-Violet(UV) detection was developed. Conditions of gradient elution and HPLC separation of the toxicant were also optimized. Detection limit of the method was found to be 3.91 ng/L. Relative standard deviation(RSD) was around 2.02 ~ 4.69%. The average recovery of triclosan was around 93.68~97.42%. With this method, water samples of three wastewater treatment plants in Shanghai were detected. Results showed that the concentration of triclosan ranged from 533 ng/L to 774 ng/L in raw wastewater samples and from 80.14 ng/L to 249.72 ng/L in the effluent samples. The removal efficiencies of the entire processes ranged from 62.59% to 67.74%.