Abstract

Synthetic musk chemicals are commonly used as a fragrance chemicals and are found in shampoos, detergents and other personal care products (PCPs). However, they have also been found in the aquatic environment. One major source of pollution of these chemicals has been found to be wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) discharge.  The four chemicals of interest in this study are galaxolide (HHCB), tonalide (AHTN), musk ketone (MK) and musk xylene (MX).  There chemicals have been found to have negative ecological and human health effects which has led to further research regarding toxicity and abundance of synthetic musk chemicals. In order to study abundance of synthetic musk chemicals in the southeastern Wisconsin area, samples of sludge and water effluent were taken from local WWTPs. Samples were collected, extracted, cleaned and prepared for GC/MS analysis based on EPA methods. We expect to find higher concentrations in the WWTP discharge than the environment and we also expect that the solid samples will have a higher concentration due to the high organic content.