Long lasting perfume – A review of synthetic musks in WWTPs

Abstract

Synthetic musks have been used for a long time in personal care and household products. In recent years, this continuous input has increased considerably, to the point that they were recognized as emerging pollutants by the scientific community, due to their persistence in the environment, and hazardous potential to ecosystems even at low concentrations. The number of studies in literature describing their worldwide presence in several environmental matrices is growing, and many of them indicate that the techniques employed for their safe removal tend to be ineffective. This is the case of conventional activated sludge treatment plants (WWTPs), where considerable loads of synthetic musks enter mainly through domestic sewage. This review paper compiles and discusses the occurrence of these compounds in the sewage, effluents and sludge, main concentration levels and phase distributions, as well as the efficiency of the different methodologies of removal applied in these treatment facilities. To the present day, it has been demonstrated that WWTPs lack the ability to remove musks completely. This shows a clear need to develop new effective and cost-efficient remediation approaches and foresees potential for further improvements in this field.

Occurrence and distribution of organophosphorus flame retardants/plasticizers and synthetic musks in sediments from source water in the Pearl River Delta, China

“…They have gradually been replaced by polycyclic musks and macrocylic musks [7]. Because of their hazardous effects on ecological systems and humans, MA has been banned in cosmetic products in Europe, and MK and MX have been restricted in personal products and cosmetic products.…”

“…The obvious discrepancies in the HHCB to AHTN ratio were not related to their mode of usage and might be affected by their different environmental behaviors (such as volatilization, biotic/abiotic degradation, and sorption) during transportation after their introduction into the Pearl River. The chlorinated OPs and MX are very persistent in the environment and are resistant to traditional drinking water treatment technologies [7,45], suggesting an exposure pathway to the human body via drinking water. Occurrence and distribution of synthetic musks in sediment in the Pearl River Delta.…”

“…In addition, because of their continuous discharge into the water bodies, synthetic musks are frequently detected at elevated levels in aquatic environments affected by domestic/industrial wastewater [9][10][11]. Nitro musks have already been gradually phased out of the world perfume market because of their phototoxic, carcinogenic, and neurotoxic properties [7]. Nitro musks have already been gradually phased out of the world perfume market because of their phototoxic, carcinogenic, and neurotoxic properties [7].…”

Scented traces – Dermal exposure of synthetic musk fragrances in personal care products and environmental input assessment

“…However, the wash-off products represent the greater emission source (97%). For instance, the shampoo contributes for 71% of the emissions (mean: 4.3 mg capita -1 day -1 ; maximum: 34.9 mg capita -1 day -1 ), followed by the shower gel (17%; (Homem et al, 2015;Clara et al, 2011;Lv et al, 2010;Zhang et al, 2008;Horii et al, 2007;Yang and Metcalf, 2006;Bester, 2004;Kupper et al, 2004).…”

“…According to their chemical structure, these compounds can be divided into four main classes: nitro-(NMs), polycyclic (PMs), macrocyclic (MMs) and alicyclic (AMs) musks (Homem et al, 2015;Arbulu et al, 2011). NMs were first produced commercially in 1900s as substitutes for the natural musks Schmeiser et al, 2001).…”