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This study examines occurrences of 11 perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in several wastewater treatment plants in Japan and Thailand. Surveys are conducted in eight wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Japan and central WWTPs of five industrial estates (IEs) in Thailand. Samples are collected from all major treatment processes in order to understand the behavior of PFCs in WWTPs. PFCs are detected in all WWTPs in Japan and Thailand. Concentrations of PFCs even exceed several thousands ng/L in some WWTPs. PFOS, PFOA, and PFNA are mainly detected in WWTPs in Japan, while PFBuS, PFOA, and PFHxA are mainly detected in WWTP of IEs in Thailand. Even though some of the investigated WWTPs utilize biological treatment processes coupled with chlorination, ozonation, or activated carbon adsorption, they are found ineffective to remove PFCs. During the treatment process, PFCs are found to accumulate at exceptionally high concentration levels in the activated sludge of an aeration tank and returned activated sludge. Overall, the estimated total daily mass of discharged PFCs is 124.95 g/d (PFASs: 49.81 g/d; PFCAs: 75.14 g/d) from eight WWTPs in Japan and 55.04 g/d (PFASs: 12 g/d; PFCAs: 43.04 g/d) from five WWTPs in Thailand. Although the presented data are from a single observation in each WWTP, the results indicate that certain industries using PFCs in manufacturing processes could be the principle point source, while domestic activities could be releasing PFCs at detectable levels causing environmental concern.

This study aimed to investigate the antibiotic concentration at each stage of treatment and to evaluate the removal efficiency of antibiotics in different types of secondary and advanced treatment, as well as the effects of the location of their discharge points on the occurrence of antibiotics in surface water. Eight target antibiotics and four hospital wastewater treatment plants in Bangkok with different conventional and advanced treatment options were investigated. Antibiotics were extracted by solid phase extraction and analysed by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). The antibiotic with the highest concentration at influent was cefazolin at 13,166 ng/L, while the antibiotic with the highest concentration at effluent was sulfamethoxazole at 1,499 ng/L. The removal efficiency of antibiotics from lowest to highest was sulfamethoxazole, piperacillin, clarithromycin, metronidazole, dicloxacillin, ciprofloxacin, cefazolin, and cefalexin. The adopted conventional treatment systems could not completely remove all antibiotics from wastewater. However, using advanced treatments or disinfection units such as chlorination and UV could increase the antibiotic removal efficiency. Chlorination was more effective than UV, ciprofloxacin and sulfamethoxazole concentration fluctuated during the treatment process, and sulfamethoxazole was the most difficult to remove. Both these antibiotics should be studied further regarding their contamination in sludge and suitable treatment options for their removal.

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The goals of this study were to determine the concentrations of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in textiles and to determine PFOS and PFOA contamination in textile washing water. Quantification analysis was performed by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. Analysis of 32 textile samples by methanol extraction revealed that the average concentrations of PFOS and PFOA were 0.18 µg m(-2) (0.02 to 0.61 µg m(-2)) and 2.74 µg m(-2) (0.31 to 14.14 µg m(-2)), respectively. Although the average concentration of PFOS found in textile samples was below European Union (EU) Commission regulations (<1 µg m(-2)), the average concentration of PFOA was 2.74 µg m(-2), and 68.75% of textile samples had PFOA concentrations exceeding 1 µg m(-2). Thus, based on these results, the concentration of PFOA in products should also be regulated. Experiments on PFOS and PFOA leaching into washing water were conducted. The maximum concentrations of PFOS and PFOA were measured after the first washing; the concentrations gradually decreased with each subsequent washing. PFOS and PFOA migrated from textiles and were released into the environment, with disappearance percentages of 29.8% for PFOS and 99% for PFOA. The data presented in this study showed that textiles could be a significant direct and indirect source of PFOS and PFOA exposure for both humans and the environment.

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Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is very persistent in the environment and resistant to typical degradation processes. PFOA has been widely used in surface-active agents and as an emulsifier in several products and can contaminate groundwater. Groundwater is considered as an important source of water; hence removal of PFOA contamination in groundwater is needed. This study aimed to examine the removal of PFOA in spiked deionized water and spiked groundwater samples by nanofiltration (NF) membrane. PFOA removal efficiency was performed by using NF membrane and all samples were analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). For groundwater concentration, solid phase extraction is needed before being analysed by HPLC-MS/MS. The results showed that at higher pressures and higher PFOA concentrations, the PFOA removal efficiencies were slightly higher. The PFOA removal efficiency of spiked deionized water and spiked groundwater sample were 99.78-99.87% and 99.49-99.54%, respectively, which were not significantly different.