Detection, occurrence and fate of 22 psychiatric pharmaceuticals in psychiatric hospital and municipal wastewater treatment plants in Beijing, China

► We developed LC–MS/MS analysis of 22 common psychiatric pharmaceuticals in wastewater. ► Higher influent pharmaceutical concentrations were observed in P-WWTPs than M-WWTPs. ► Higher effluent pharmaceutical concentrations in P-WWTPs with higher removals. ► Pharmaceutical removals mainly happened in the secondary treatment of these WWTPs. The liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometer (LC–MS/MS) method coupled with an automated solid-phase extraction procedure has been developed to identify 22 psychiatric pharmaceuticals, including seven anxiolytic-sedative-hypnotics, six antidepressants, and nine anti-schizophrenia drugs, in wastewater samples from two psychiatric hospital wastewater treatment plants (P-WWTPs) and three municipal wastewater treatment plants (M-WWTPs) in Beijing, China. Analyte recoveries from spiking experiments in the WWTP influent and effluent at three concentrations ranged from 70% to 110%, excluding sulpiride, ziprasidone, and olanzapine. Method detection limits for five, eight, and nine analytes in the WWTP influent and effluent were 20–80, 1–16, and