Nonylphenol polyethoxylate in hospital wastewater: A study of the subproducts of electrocoagulation

Abstract

Chromatographic procedures such as solid phase extraction and high performance liquid chromatography coupled with a fluorescence detector (SPE-HPLC-FLD), were carried out to determine the concentrations of the surfactant nonylphenol ethoxylate (9 ethylene oxide units, NP9EO) and its biodegradation product, 4-nonylphenol (NP), in samples collected from the wastewater treatment system at the University Hospital (HUSM) of the Federal University of Santa Maria. The results showed a high concentration of NP9EO in all the collected samples (0.075 - 4.12 mg L(-1)) and an almost complete absence of NP. In addition, electrocoagulation (EC) of NP9EO was carried out in aqueous solution and in the HUSM effluent. A NP9EO removal rate of 95 % was achieved from the aqueous solution, following a pseudo-first-order kinetics. Through LC-MS measurements in aqueous solutions, it was possible to determine the formation of short-chain nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPEO), such as nonyl-phenoxy acetic acid (NP1EC), after 30 min of EC. In the case of the HUSM wastewater, the NP9EO removal was 89 %, and the chemical oxygen demand (COD) abatement was 26 %. A respirometric test was conducted to measure the increase of biodegradability during the EC and the aqueous samples were found to be less readily biodegradable before the 30-min period of electrocoagulation than after it had been completed.

An assessment of hospital wastewater and biomedical waste generation, existing legislations, risk assessment, treatment processes, and scenario during COVID-19

“…Apart from PhACs and contrast media, hospital effluents also carry numerous chemical contaminants like surfactants and disinfectants that can pose high toxicity to biotic components ( Henriques et al, 2012 ; Prayitno et al, 2012 ; Torres Trajano et al, 2021 ). Surfactants, such as nonylphenol, didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride, chlorhexidine digluconate, and others have been detected in HWW of different countries, with nonylphenol being the most frequently detected ( Foster, 2007 ; Torres Trajano et al, 2021 ).…”

Electrocoagulation treatment of industrial wastewater including textile dying effluent – a review

“…Operational parameters responsible for influencing the efficiency of electrocoagulation process are applied current density, electrode material used, treatment time, initial pH of the wastewater, composition of the waste water, electrode gap, passivation of anode and water flow rate. As reported by Prajapati and Chaudhari [6][7][8], Henriques et al [9] and Yang et al [10], efficiency of electrocoagulation process depends strongly on different operational parameters.…”

“…Advanced wastewater treatment goes beyond the level of conventional secondary treatment to remove significant amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, heavy metals, biodegradable organics, bacteria and viruses [7]. Electrocoagulation is a technique used for wastewater treatment, industrial processed water [8] and medical treatment [9]. Electrocoagulation process removes contaminants that are generally more difficult to remove by filtration or for chemical treatment systems such as emulsified oil [10], petroleum hydrocarbons [11], refractory organics [12], suspended solids [13] and heavy metals [14].…”

A novel pathway by which the environmental toxin 4-Nonylphenol may promote an inflammatory response in inflammatory bowel disease

“…4-NP is the biodegradation product of Nonylphenol Ethoxylate, which is commonly used in the manufacturing of paints, liquid detergents, cosmetics, pesticides and other industrial products [12,13]. 4-NP flows into the environment via sewage effluents and may significantly contaminate drinking water, soil, food, and airborne sources [4,14–17].…”

“…IBD expression is dependent on autoimmune processes driving chronic inflammation of the tissue linings of the gastrointestinal tract [12,16]. Accordingly, we have chosen to model IBD as a severely dysregulated innate immune response directed towards intestinal tissues via dual employment of a human U937 histiocytic cell line as a source of activated pro-macrophages and the human COLO320DM cell line as an in vitro intestinal tissue source.…”