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Fate and Occurrence of Surfactants-Derived Alkylphenolic Compounds in Conventional and Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) Wastewater Treatment Plants

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Xenobiotics in the Urban Water Cycle

Part of the book series: Environmental Pollution ((EPOL,volume 16))

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Abstract

Alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEOs) are produced in huge amounts and used in industrial cleansing processes. After use they are usually discharged into municipal sewer systems and afterward treated in wastewater treatment plants. Their environmental acceptability is strongly disputed because of potentially estrogenic metabolic products (two short ethoxy chain APEO oligomers [APE1O and APE2O] and fully de-ethoxylated alkylphenols [APs]) generated during wastewater treatment.

In this chapter the occurrence of APEOs and their metabolites in wastewaters and sludges is reviewed and their removal during wastewater treatment applying conventional activated sludge treatment and membrane bioreactors (MBR) is discussed. Biodegradation of APEO and formation of persistent metabolites is also discussed as a key phenomenon, as well as their removal by sorption onto sewage sludge.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Chemistry, IDAEA-CSIC, Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034, Barcelona, Spain

    Mira Petrovi`c & Damià Barceló

  2. ICREA – Catalan Institution for Research and Advance Studies, Passeig Lluis Companys, 23, 08010, Barcelona, Spain

    Mira Petrovi`c

  3. Catalan Institute for Water Studies, (ICRA), Pic de Peguera, 15, 17003, Girona, Spain

    Damià Barceló

Authors
  1. Mira Petrovi`c
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  2. Damià Barceló
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Correspondence to Mira Petrovi`c .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Cyprus, Kallipoleos 75, Nicosia, 1678, Cyprus

    Despo Fatta-Kassinos

  2. Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Aalborg University, Sohngaardsholmsvej 57, Aalborg, 9000, Denmark

    Kai Bester

  3. Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University Medical Center Freiburg, Bresisacher Straße 115b, Freiburg, D 79106, Germany

    Klaus Kümmerer

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Petrovi`c, M., Barceló, D. (2010). Fate and Occurrence of Surfactants-Derived Alkylphenolic Compounds in Conventional and Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) Wastewater Treatment Plants. In: Fatta-Kassinos, D., Bester, K., Kümmerer, K. (eds) Xenobiotics in the Urban Water Cycle. Environmental Pollution, vol 16. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3509-7_20

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