Seasonal occurrence and removal of polycyclic and nitro musks from wastewater treatment plants in Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Polycyclic and nitro musk (PNM) fragrances in personal care products persist and bioaccumulate in the environment following wastewater discharges and land application of biosolids. Influent and effluent concentrations, seasonal variations, and process removal efficiencies of 11 PNMs were investigated at six wastewater treatment plants representing four typical Canadian treatment processes: lagoon, oxidation ditch, extended aeration, and conventional activated sludge. Influent concentrations were as high as 40 000 ng/L for polycyclic musks and 400 ng/L for nitro musks, and showed some seasonal fluctuation. Effluent concentrations were as high as 4000 ng/L and 150 ng/L for polycyclic and nitro musks, respectively. Lagoon treatment produced the highest percent removal (>95%) and the lowest effluent concentrations of PNMs, with process temperature exerting some influence on removal. Results indicate that simple hydraulic or solids retention time are not strong predictors of PNM removals from wastewater. Effluent PNM concentrations were extrapolated to all treatment plants in the watershed to estimate concentrations along the Grand River and its tributaries.

Concentrations and distribution of synthetic musks and siloxanes in sewage sludge of wastewater treatment plants in China

“…Concerns over the toxicity and bioaccumulation of NMs lead to restrictions on their appliance in cosmetics. However, they were still added in many cheap consumer products, leading to their presence in environmental samples and biota (Raab et al, 2008;Smyth et al, 2008). Compared with one previous study, which reported that the mean concentrations of MX (DF: 80%) and MK (DF: 90%) were 10.4 and 46.3 ng/g in sludge from Guangdong Province of China , while these two compounds in our study had lower DFs (14% for MX and 29% for MK) but higher mean concentrations exceeding LOQ (382 for MX and 359 ng/g dw for MK).…”

Chromatographic, Polarographic and Ion-Selective Electrodes Methods for Chemical Analysis of Groundwater Samples in Hydrogeological Studies

“…Low LOD and LOQ are obtained for the non-polar organic compounds such as musks for Ternes and Salgado in [9,19], when analysed by GC-MS as well as the recoveries were very high as presented in Table 1 for Smyth and Salgado in [9,39].…”

Dangerous Pollutants (Xenobiotics) in Urban Water Cycle

“…In general it is agreed that most synthetic musks have minimal direct effects on human and environmental health, but concerns are raised by their bioaccumulation and possible effects at those higher levels (Ternes and Joss 2006). In WWTPs, musks will generally adsorb to sludge (Lishman et al 2007;Moffat et al 2004).…”

“…Specific studies of surface waters and wastewater treatment plants were conducted in several provinces, including BC, Alberta (Sosiak and Hebben 2005), Ontario (Metcalfe et al 2003a;Metcalfe et al 2003b;Ternes et al 1999), Quebec and Atlantic provinces. Typical treatment technologies addressed included conventional activated sludge, extended aeration activated sludge, lagoons, oxidation ditches, ultrafiltration and nanofiltration membranes, ozonation, and various stages of aerobic digestion of municipal wastewater sludge (e.g., Lishman et al 2007;Smyth et al 2007;Citulski and Farahbakhsh 2007). Thus, a general assessment of principal sources of common PPCPs and approximate levels of removal by various treatment processes is available.…”

“…Studies indicate advantages of extended sludge digestion for PPCPs removals (Lishman et al 2007;Smyth et al 2007). …”