The occurrence and source identification of bisphenol compounds in wastewaters

Abstract

This study reports the occurrence of eight bisphenols (BPs): bisphenol AF (BPAF), bisphenol AP (BPAP), bisphenol B (BPB), bisphenol C (BPC), bisphenol E (BPE), bisphenol F (BPF), bisphenol S (BPS) and bisphenol Z (BPZ) in wastewaters (WWs). Sample preparation involved pre-concentration with SPE cartridges (Oasis HLB), followed by derivatization using N-(tert-butyldimethylsilyl)-N-methyltrifluoroacetamide with 1% tert-butyldimethylchlorosilane. Chemical analysis was based on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. A validated method with limits of detection (LODs) at ngL range was applied to WWs collected at five Slovene wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and WW inflows from industrial, commercial and residential sources entering the sewerage systems of two catchments (Domžale-Kamnik (DK) and Ljubljana (LJ)). The presence of all BPs was confirmed in three inflows in DK and two inflows in the LJ catchments. High cumulative concentrations of all BPs were determined in WW from food processing facilities (LJ: 3030ngL and DK: 599ngL). A high detection frequency was observed in the WW from two textile cleaning companies (6 BPs for LJ and 8 BPs for DK). The analysis of WW from WWTPs revealed that only BPF (36.7ngL) and BPS (40.6ngL) were >LODs in the influents, whereas other BPs were detected also in the effluents. BPZ was found in the highest concentration (403ngL at WWTP-DK). WW collected at this WWTP also contained the highest amount of BPE (238ngL). Although BPs removal could not be directly compared between the WWTPs, with the exception of BPAP and BPB in the case of two smaller WWTPs (6.39%-43.2%) bisphenols were in general highly removed (≥96.2%). Finally, levels of BPC>LOD are reported for first time (WWTP in the DK catchment: 1.01ngL-11.8ngL; LJ inflow from food processing plant up to 2560ngL).

The quantification of bisphenols and their analogues in wastewaters and surface water by an improved solid-phase extraction gas chromatography/mass spectrometry method

“…In the study performed in Ljubljana (Česen et al 2018 ), from the eight tested BPs (without BPA measurement), the only one found in treated WW was BPS (40 ng/L), similar to our work. In the review from 2018, it was presented that BPA and BPS are the BPs with the highest concentrations worldwide, while the other ones (BPAF, BPAP, BPB, BPP, BPF, BPZ) are sporadic (Noszczyńska and Piotrowska-Seget 2018 ).…”

“…The main route of BPs into the environment is wastewater (WW), both residential and industrial. The detection frequency and concentration level are generally known for BPA (up to 84,000 ng/L in raw WW) (Gercken et al 2018 ; Wang et al 2019 ), while for BPA-like compounds, only a few reports have been presented, which found concentrations were much lower (dozens to hundreds ng/L) (Sun et al 2017 ; Česen et al 2018 ; Wang et al 2019 ; Xue and Kannan 2019 ). This limitation can be caused by problems in application of one technique for the problematic analysis of several BPs in one run.…”

Differential activity of BPA, BPAF and BPC on zebrafish estrogen receptors in vitro and in vivo

“…BPAF has been detected in wastewater from water treatment plants and was also shown to be resistant to biodegradation (Sun et al, 2017). BPC is used in the preparation of flame-resistant polycarbonates, and it has also been detected in wastewater (Cesen et al, 2018).…”

A Novel Action of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals on Wildlife; DDT and Its Derivatives Have Remained in the Environment

“…One of BPA the derivatives, BPC, was first reported in a patent in 1964 [ 65 ] and a brief paper regarding BPC was published in 1968 [ 66 ] as a monomer for polycarbonates, and the physical properties of the BPC homopolymer have been summarized focusing on its highly flame-resistant properties [ 4 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 ]. Recent research indicated that BPC is definitely released into the environment, for example, as wastewater in lakes, and is also found non-human milk samples [ 72 , 73 , 74 ]. BPC has been reported to possess the ability to influence the transcriptional activity of ERα and ERβ [ 75 , 76 ]; some computer simulation studies were applied to afford the structural basis of these biochemical observations [ 77 , 78 ].…”