Abstract
The high levels of parabens (including methyl-, ethyl- and propyl congeners), triclocarban (TCC) and triclosan (TCS) used every year in China might be a problem to the typical wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). This study addresses measurements of parabens, TCC and TCS Northern China WWTP and a modelling assessment on the occurrence, fate and removal pathways in WWTP. Per-capita emissions of the three parabens, TCC and TCS to the WWTP were estimated as 0.41, 0.11 and 0.07 mg/d. After the wastewater treatment processes, 94, 92 and 87% of parabens, TCC and TCS were removed. The major removal pathway of parabens was biodegradation while that of TCC and TCS were sorption to sludge. Computer simulations on the fate processes of parabens, TCC and TCS in the WWTP using the SimpleTreat 4.0 model suggested the model could generally reproduce the measurements with root mean squared errors (RMSEs) of less than 10 ng/L. However, the model underestimated the removal of TCC and TCS from water to sludge in the primary tank. These discrepancies were attributed to the uncertainty of the predicted organic carbon-water partition coefficients (Koc) to which the modelling results are highly sensitive. The model predictions using updated Koc became more accurate and RMSEs of TCC and TCS were reduced by 40 and 80%, respectively. The modelling assessment suggests that the SimpleTreat, as a generic model to simulate chemical fate processes in WWTPs, has the potential to be applied to other similar WWTPs in China for estimating environmental releases of parabens, TCC and TCS at a larger spatial scale.
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This study was supported by Open Project of State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology (No. QA201923) and Open Project of Heilongjiang Cold Region Wetland Ecology and Environment Research Key Laboratory, Harbin University (No. 201912). This study was also partially supported by the Assisted Project by National Scientific Research Innovation Foundation in Harbin Institute of Technology (No. HIT.NSRIF.2020030).
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Study conception and design: Zi-Feng Zhang and Yi-Fan Li; Acquisition of data: Lu Wang, Xue Zhang and Wen-Long Li; Analysis and interpretation of data: Zi-Feng Zhang, Lu Wang, Xue Zhang, Wen-Long Li and Xianming Zhang; Drafting of manuscript: Lu Wang, Xue Zhang and Wen-Long Li; Critical revision of manuscript: Zi-Feng Zhang, Xianming Zhang and Anatoly Nikolaev. All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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Zhang, ZF., Wang, L., Zhang, X. et al. Fate processes of Parabens, Triclocarban and Triclosan during wastewater treatment: assessment via field measurements and model simulations. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 50602–50610 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14141-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14141-9