Abstract

Biosolids are nutrient-rich solids produced during the wastewater treatment process. There has been increased interest in using biosolids as a sustainable alternative to commercial fertilizers, however, consumer product chemicals such as fragrances and antibacterials found in everyday products such as soaps, detergents, and perfumes can sometimes be present. Questions remain about whether these chemicals could be taken up by plants grown in soil amended with biosolids, resulting in negative impacts on humans and the environment. To conduct reliable experiments that analyze the uptake of consumer product chemicals by plants grown with biosolid fertilizer, an effective method is required. Our lab has previously analyzed solid samples using a sonication extraction followed by a silica column cleanup. This study aimed to adapt this method to be suitable for plant analyses while minimizing the extra time and equipment required. Lettuce samples were spiked with a known amount of six consumer product chemicals and underwent several versions of the extraction method using different sample preparation processes to determine which version of the process was most effective. Our final method resulted in percent recoveries ranging from 87%-100%. These results suggest that this method is effective in extracting the chemicals of interest and can be used to support future work relating to organic chemical extraction from plants grown in biosolids.