Phenolic Compounds in Water: Sources, Reactivity, Toxicity and Treatment Methods

Abstract

Phenolic compounds exist in water bodies due to the discharge of polluted wastewater from industrial, agricultural and domestic activities into water bodies. They also occur as a result of natural phenomena. These compounds are known to be toxic and inflict both severe and long-lasting effects on both humans and animals. They act as carcinogens and cause damage to the red blood cells and the liver, even at low concentrations. Interaction of these compounds with microorganisms, inorganic and other organic compounds in water can produce substituted compounds or other moieties, which may be as toxic as the original phenolic compounds. This chapter dwells on the sources and reactivity of phenolic compounds in water, their toxic effects on humans, and methods of their removal from water. Specific emphasis is placed on the techniques of their removal from water with attention on both conventional and advanced methods. Among these methods are ozonation, adsorption, extraction, photocatalytic degradation, biological, electro-Fenton, adsorption and ion exchange and membrane-based separation.

Comparative mechanism based study on disinfectants against multidrug‐resistant Acinetobacter baumannii

“…48 It can severely destroy the microbial structure causing the release of intracellular components, which are then oxidized. 65 These disadvantages commonly suggest the use of lower concentration of disinfectants to produces less toxic effects; hence optimization of disinfectants concentration for hospital setup is essential and need of current time. In NaClO 2 treatment, hypochlorite ion is a crucial factor determining the cleaning efficiency.…”

Phytotoxicity, cytotoxicity and genotoxicity evaluation of organic and inorganic pollutants rich tannery wastewater from a Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) in Unnao district, India using Vigna radiata and Allium cepa

“…Oliveira (2012) reported that the inhibition of seed germination percentage was associated with high TDS and Cr ion in wastewater causing the osmotic stress and toxicity in plants (Kasoobi, 2017). Phenolics content in wastewater alters the homeostatic of plants through the over production of reactive oxygen species as reported earlier (William et al, 2017;Lyu et al, 2018).…”

Palm oil industry effect on water quality status of Pawan and Jelai Rivers in Ketapang Regency in 2012-2016

“…Phenol compounds are chemicals listed as pollutants with a priority interest by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and European Union (EU) (Anku et al, 2017). Consequently, high phenol concentrations in the aquatic environment should be a concern because of the toxicity and long-term accumulations.…”