Intira Pookpoosa. Occurrence and fate of bisphenol A in some municipal wastewater treatment plants in Bangkok, Thailand. Master's Degree(Environmental and Water Resources Engineering). Mahidol University. Mahidol University Library and Knowledge Center. : Mahidol University, 2014.
Occurrence and fate of bisphenol A in some municipal wastewater treatment plants in Bangkok, Thailand
Abstract:
Bisphenol A (BPA), implicated in endocrine disruption, is used in the primary production of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins, which are used in the plastics industry. Because of its large scale production and widespread usage, BPA is released into the environment through air, land, and water during manufacturing, processing, and leaching from end-of-life treatment. The concern over BPA has grown over the last few years; however, there is still much debate over the potential harmful effects of BPA. Because most of the current WWTPs are not designed to treat emerging contaminants such as BPA, they can escape into the aquatic environments. This study aimed at investigating the occurrence and fate of BPA in the selected municipal wastewater treatment plants (MWWTPs) in the Bangkok region. Based on the results of three sampling events, The WWTPs influent and effluents BPA concentrations ranged between 128.5 ng/L and 606.0 ng/L; and 38.7 ng/L and 270.5 ng/L, respectively. Even though these WWTPs are not designed to remove BPA from wastewater, the effluent BPA concentrations of most of the five WWTPs in three sampling events were lower than the influent levels. TK had the highest removal efficiency in October 2013 (80.4%) and December 2013 (90.7%) and the second highest in February 2014 (69.2%). DD had the highest removal efficiency in February 2014. The treatment process employed at TK and DD were vertical loop reactor activated sludge process and activated sludge with nutrients removal, respectively. Thus, these processes seem to be good for BPA degradation. Many of the adverse effects that BPA has on human health were studied over the past several decades. Arguments exist regarding what concentrations of BPA are dangerous to humans or wildlife, but it is clear that BPA poses potential risks and several countries have considered regulating it. However, there is no environmental policy in Thailand to control the levels of BPA residues in aquatic environments at present. Currently, the only regulation is to control BPA content used in food packaging (the maximum allowed level of BPA, including phenol and p-t-butylphenol, is 500 mg/kg in polycarbonate plastic containers and 2.5 mg/dm3 for the BPA leached from various types of polycarbonate food containers). Also, BPA has been banned in the production of cosmetics. Until now, there are no standards for endocrine disrupting compounds residues including BPA in WWTPs effluents and surface water in Thailand. Hence, there is a critical need for regulations for emerging endocrine disrupting compounds residues in aquatic environments Thailand.
Mahidol University. Mahidol University Library and Knowledge Center