Removal and fate of endocrine disruptors chemicals under lab-scale postreatment stage. Removal assessment using light, oxygen and microalgae

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of light, oxygen and microalgae on micropollutants removal. The studied micropollutants were 4-(1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl)phenol (OP), technical-nonylphenol (t-NP), 4-n-nonylphenol (4-NP), Bisphenol-A (BPA). In order to study the effect of the three variables on the micropollutants removal, a factorial design was developed. The experiments were carried out in four batch reactors which treated the effluent of an anaerobic membrane bioreactor. The gas chromatography mass spectrometry was used for the measurement of the micropollutants. The results showed that light, oxygen and microalgae affected differently to the degradation ratios of each micropollutant. The results showed that under aerated conditions removal ratios higher than 91% were achieved, whereas for non-aerated conditions the removal ratios were between 50% and 80%, except for 4-NP which achieved removal ratios close to 100%. Besides, mass balance showed that the degradation processes were more important than the sorption processes. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.