TY - JOUR
T1 - Seasonal occurrence, removal efficiencies and preliminary risk assessment of multiple classes of organic UV filters in wastewater treatment plants
AU - Tsui, Mirabelle M.P.
AU - Leung, H. W.
AU - Lam, Paul K.S.
AU - Murphy, Margaret B.
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the chemists and technical staff of the Drainage Services Department of HKSAR for their arrangement of and assistance in wastewater sampling and the assistance provided by Miss Emily Y.Y. Lam, Mr. Billy K.Y. Kwan and Mr. Ben Y.P. Mak. Support for this work was provided by a Strategic Research Grant (# 7008085 ) from City University of Hong Kong and the State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution (SKLMP) Internal Research Seed Fund .
PY - 2014/4/15
Y1 - 2014/4/15
N2 - Organic ultraviolet (UV) filters are applied widely in personal care products (PCPs), but the distribution and risks of these compounds in the marine environment are not well known. In this study, the occurrence and removal efficiencies of 12 organic UV filters in five wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) equipped with different treatment levels in Hong Kong, South China, were investigated during one year and a preliminary environmental risk assessment was carried out. Using a newly developed simultaneous multiclass quantification liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method, butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane (BMDM), 2,4-dihydroxybenzophenone (BP-1), benzophenone-3 (BP-3), benzophenone-4 (BP-4) and 2-ethyl-hexyl-4-trimethoxycinnamate (EHMC) were frequently (®80%) detected in both influent and effluent with mean concentrations ranging from 23 to 1290ng/L and 18-1018ng/L, respectively; less than 2% of samples contained levels greater than 1000ng/L. Higher concentrations of these frequently detected compounds were found during the wet/summer season, except for BP-4, which was the most abundant compound detected in all samples in terms of total mass. The target compounds behaved differently depending on the treatment level in WWTPs; overall, removal efficiencies were greater after secondary treatment when compared to primary treatment with >55% and <20% of compounds showing high removal (defined as >70% removal), respectively. Reverse osmosis was found to effectively eliminate UV filters from effluent (>99% removal). A preliminary risk assessment indicated that BP-3 and EHMC discharged from WWTPs may pose high risk to fishes in the local environment.
AB - Organic ultraviolet (UV) filters are applied widely in personal care products (PCPs), but the distribution and risks of these compounds in the marine environment are not well known. In this study, the occurrence and removal efficiencies of 12 organic UV filters in five wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) equipped with different treatment levels in Hong Kong, South China, were investigated during one year and a preliminary environmental risk assessment was carried out. Using a newly developed simultaneous multiclass quantification liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method, butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane (BMDM), 2,4-dihydroxybenzophenone (BP-1), benzophenone-3 (BP-3), benzophenone-4 (BP-4) and 2-ethyl-hexyl-4-trimethoxycinnamate (EHMC) were frequently (®80%) detected in both influent and effluent with mean concentrations ranging from 23 to 1290ng/L and 18-1018ng/L, respectively; less than 2% of samples contained levels greater than 1000ng/L. Higher concentrations of these frequently detected compounds were found during the wet/summer season, except for BP-4, which was the most abundant compound detected in all samples in terms of total mass. The target compounds behaved differently depending on the treatment level in WWTPs; overall, removal efficiencies were greater after secondary treatment when compared to primary treatment with >55% and <20% of compounds showing high removal (defined as >70% removal), respectively. Reverse osmosis was found to effectively eliminate UV filters from effluent (>99% removal). A preliminary risk assessment indicated that BP-3 and EHMC discharged from WWTPs may pose high risk to fishes in the local environment.
KW - China
KW - Organic ultraviolet filters
KW - Personal care products
KW - Removal efficiency
KW - Risk assessment
KW - Wastewater treatment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84893372901&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.watres.2014.01.014
DO - 10.1016/j.watres.2014.01.014
M3 - Article
C2 - 24503280
AN - SCOPUS:84893372901
SN - 0043-1354
VL - 53
SP - 58
EP - 67
JO - Water Research
JF - Water Research
ER -
