Removal of bisphenol A and diethyl phthalate from aqueous phases by ultrasonic atomization

An ultrasonic atomization technique was applied to remove endocrine disruptor chemicals (EDCs) from an aqueous environment. Bisphenol-A (BPA) and diethyl phthalate (DEP) were used as model EDCs. BPA or DEP could be transferred from the bulk liquid to the collected droplet liquid using this technique. Removal experiments were conducted, and the results showed that the removal efficiency was dependent on the initial concentration of EDCs. This technique was potentially effective to remove EDCs in the lower-concentration region (less than ca. 5.0 x 10(-5) M). On the other hand, from the viewpoint of enrichment, the both plateau level and the increase region of the enrichment ratio could be observed experimentally, which was expected in our previous study [Suzuki et al., Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2006, 45, 830]. This fact suggests that our proposed enrichment mechanism via this technique is valid.