Biotransformation of nonylphenol ethoxylates during sewage treatment under anaerobic and aerobic conditions

Biotransformation of nonylphenol ethoxylates （NPEOs） during continuous anaerobic sewage treatment was compared with the aerobic treatment of sewage spiked with 23 μmol/L technical NPEOs over a period of 90 d. Immediate degradation of NPEOs was observed under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions, indicating that the enzymes and bacteria required for NPEO degradation existed abundantly in both aerobic and anaerobic sludge. Both treatments achieved high removal （〉 92%） of the spiked NPEO9 mixture. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry （LC-MS） analysis showed that short-chain NPEOs （NPEO1-NPEO3） accumulated in anaerobic （2.01-2.56 μmol/L） and aerobic （1.62-2.03 μmol/L） effluents, with nonylphenol （NP） （0.24-0.31 μmol/L） as another group of metabolites in the anaerobic effluent, and nonylphenoxy carboxylates （NPECs） （2.79-3.30 μmol/L） in the aerobic effluent. Significant accumulation of NP in the anaerobic sludge and NPEO1-3 in the sludge of two reactors was observed. These results indicated that it was difficult to control these harmful metabolites in the conventional treatment processes. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis profiles of sludge samples support the speculation that the NPEO degradation bacteria might be the dominant indigenous species.

Mechanism study on UV-induced photodegradation of nonylphenol ethoxylates by intermediate products analysis

Photodegradation of nonylphenol ethoxylates （NPloEO） was investigated in laboratory scale under UV irradiation. The intermediate photodegradation products were analyzed by LC-ESI-MS. Three kinds of intermediate products including aldehydic compounds, carboxylic compounds and cyclohexanyl compounds were identified. Five main degradation routes involving the oxidation of the alkyl chain and ethoxylate unit, shortening of the alkyl chain and ethoxylate unit, hydrogenation of the benzene ring were proposed.

Vertical distribution of nonylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxylates in sedimentary core from the Beipaiming Channel, North China

The vertical profiles of nonylphenol （NP） and nonylphenol ethoxylates （NPEOs） were investigated in a sediment core from the Beipaiming Channel, North China using high sensitive LC-MS and GC-MS metthods In this core, relatively high concentrations of NP and NPEOs occurred in the surface sediment （≤40 cm）, with the maximum value of NP and NPEOs reaching 3539 and 12735 mg/g, respectively, whereas, no NP or NPEOs were detected in deeper sediments （〉40 cm）. The high concentrations of NP and NPEOs in the surface layers suggested recent inputs in this area. NPEOs with short ethoxy chains （NPnEO, n=0-3） were dominant in the NPEO mixture with percentages from 54% to 78%, which were similar to the distribution of homolog NPEO in effluents from nearby sewage treatment plants （STPs）, indicating that the channel received the effluents from these STPs. The sewage treatment ratio was quite similar to that found in North America before the 1980s. Finally, the concentrations of NP and NPEOs were related to the total organic carbon （TOC） （p〈0.001）, suggesting that TOC was an important factor for vertical distribution of NPEOs and NP from the Beipaiming Channel.

Degradation behaviors of nonylphenol ethoxylates by isolated bacteria using improved isolation method

Nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPEO)-degrading bacteria were isolated from activated sludge using an improved isolation method, and the corresponding degradation behaviours were investigated. Eight NPEO-degrading strains distributed in genera Pseudomonas, Sphingomonas, Sphingobium, Cupriavidus, Ralstonia, Achromobacter, and Staphylococcus were acquired. The latter five genera have never been reported for the degradation of NPEOs. Four degradation patterns were observed for the eight pure strains. In pattern A, NPE...

Biodegradation of Nonylphenol Ethoxylates in the Continuous Flow Activated Sludge Simulation Test

Biodegradation of representative nonylphenol ethoxylates, NP10EO, was investigated in the continuous flow activated sludge simulation test; the effect of hydraulic retention time （HRT） on its biodegradation was examined. The primary biodegradation degree of NP10EO was 96.5% at 3 hours hydraulic retention time and 96.2% at 6 hours hydraulic retention time; the ultimate biodegradation degree, which was 84.8% and 87.3%, respectively, indicated that the primary biodegradation of NP10EO was very easy and most NP10EO can be biodegraded ultimately, the prolonging of HRT had no infuence on the primary biodegradation and little infuence on the ultimate biodegradation. The possible biodegradation pathways of NPnEO, especially the biodegradation pathways of benzene ring in NPnEO, were proposed through Electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry analysis.

Seasonal variations in the concentration and removal of nonylphenol ethoxylates from the wastewater of a sewage treatment plant

In this study, we investigated the occurrence and fate of nonylphenol（NP）, nonylphenol monoethoxylate（NP1EO） and nonylphenol diethoxylate（NP2EO） in a full scale sewage treatment plant, which applied an Anaerobic/Oxic process. Concentrations of NP, NP1 EO and NP2 EO in the wastewater were measured during the period spanning a whole year.The results showed remarkable seasonal variation in the concentrations of the compounds.The NPn EO compounds were most abundant in winter, with the total concentrations of influent NP, NP1 EO and NP2 EO ranging from 3900 to 7000 ng/L, 4000 to 4800 ng/L and 5200 to 7200 ng/L, respectively. Regarding the total removal efficiencies of the three types of short-chain NPn EO compounds, different trends were exhibited according to different seasons. The average removal efficiency of NP for the different seasons ranked as follows：winter 〉 summer 〉 autumn 〉 spring; NP2 EO concentrations decreased as follows： summer 〉autumn 〉 winter 〉 spring, while NP1 EO concentrations reduced according to： spring 〉summer 〉 autumn 〉 winter. We also investigated the contribution ratio of individual treatment units in the A/O process, with the findings suggesting that the anaerobic treatment unit plays an important role in the elimination of short-chain NPn EOs from the wastewater.