Determination of ketorolac in the effluent from a hospital treating plant and kinetics study of its physiolic degradation

Abstract

In this work, two specific, sensitive and rapid analytical methods were developed. One of them for the determination of ketorolac in a hospital wastewater treatment plant where there is no interference with other organic substances; the other one for the determination of the degradation kinetics in aqueous medium. Ketorolac was extracted from wastewater samples through solid phase extraction cartridges (SPE), then it was identified and quantified by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Ketorolac was detected in concentrations between 0.1376 and 0.2667 µg/L. Photolytic degradation was performed on aqueous solutions of ketorolac tromethamine, reference substance, at a concentration of 50 µg/mL. Samples were in direct contact with ultraviolet light in a dark chamber, equipped with two mercury lamps (254 nm) at a radiation source of 15W. The results of the photolytic degradation were adjusted to a first-order model, obtaining a half-life of 4.8 hrs.