Multi-year inter-laboratory exercises for the analysis of illicit drugs and metabolites in wastewater: Development of a quality control system

DOI
Publisher DOI
Abstract
Thirty-seven laboratories from 25 countries present the development of an inter-laboratory testing scheme for the analysis of seven illicit drug residues in standard solutions, tap- and wastewater. Almost 10 000 concentration values were evaluated: triplicates of up to five samples and 26 laboratories per year. The setup was substantially improved with experiences gained across the six repetitions (e.g. matrix type, sample conditions, spiking levels). From this, (pre-)analytical issues (e.g. pH adjustment, filtration) were revealed for specific analytes which resulted in formulation of best-practice protocols for inter-laboratory setup and analytical procedures. The results illustrate the effectiveness of the inter-laboratory setup to assess laboratory performance in the framework of wastewater-based epidemiology. The exercise proved that measurements of laboratories were of high quality (>80 satisfactory results for six out of seven analytes) and that analytical follow-up is important to assist laboratories in improving robustness of wastewater-based epidemiology results.
Date Issued
2018-06
Publication Type
Article
Subject(s)
Subjects
Epidemiology; Filtration; Laboratories; Quality assurance; Wastewater
•
Analytical procedure; Concentration values; Illicit drug; Inter-laboratory testing; Laboratory exercise; Laboratory performance; Laboratory set-up; Standard solutions
•
Quality control
Language(s)
en
Author(s)
van Nuijs, A.L.N.
Lai, F.Y.
Been, F.
Andres-Costa, M.J.
Barron, L.
Baz-Lomba, J.A.
Benaglia, L.
Bijlsma, L.
Burgard, D.
Castiglioni, S.
Christophoridis, C.
Covaci, A.
de Voogt, P.
Emke, E.
Fatta-Kassinos, D.
Fick, J.
Hernandez, F.
Gerber, C.
González-Mariño, I.
Grabic, R.
Gunnar, T.
Kannan, K.
Karolak, S.
Kasprzyk-Hordern, B.
Kokot, Z.
Krizman-Matasic, I.
Li, A.
Li, X.
Löve, A.S.C.
Lopez de Alda, M.
McCall, A.-K.
Meyer, M.R.
Oberacher, H.
O'Brien, J.
Quintana, J.B.
Reid, M.
Schneider, S.
Simoes, S.S.
Thomaidis, N.S.
Thomas, K.
Yargeau, V.
Ort, C.
Additional Credits
Journal
Trends in analytical chemistry
Publisher
Elsevier
ISSN
0165-9936
Access(Rights)
restricted
Show full item