Removal of Perfluorochemicals, Pharmaceuticals, and Personal Care Products from Drinking Water Treatment Processes
Date Issued
2012
Date
2012
Author(s)
Tsai, Ying-Min
Abstract
Emerging contaminants are defined as newly identified or unrecognized pollutants. These substances may cause adverse effects on human health and the ecosystem, and their environment fate has become more concerned, especially on the issue of reused water. In Taiwan, most drinking water treatments utilize conventional processes and the information of elimination of these emerging contaminants is still limited. This study focused on the removal efficiency of the processes on perfluocochemicals and personal care products.
Raw water from the upstream (Chin-Tan Weir) of Hsin-Dian Creek was used as the matrix and was spiked two levels of eught perfluocochemicals and 23 personal care products into raw water. Four processes were simulated at laboratory scale to evaluate the removal efficiencies：pre-chlorination, coagulation/sedimentation, rapid filtration, and post-chlorination. Some personal care products contain aromatic structures that may be photolyzed; thus this study also investigated the effect of the UV degradation. Water samples were adjusted to pH 3.0 by formic acid then underwent solid-phase extraction with Atlantic HLB disk. The eluents were concentrated to 1 mL by a SpeedVac concentrator and were analyzed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/ tandem mass spectrometry. The removal rate of analgesics, hormones and parabens in the pre-chlorination unit are over 50 %; 20-40% of perfluocochemicals were removed in the pre-chlorination unit and PFHxA (perfluorohexanoic acid) was not removed. The coagulation/sedimentation procedure removed less than 30% of the personal care products, and only had better removal on acetaminophen、acetylsalicylic acid、meclofenamic acid and huperzine A (60-80%). The coagulation/sedimentation procedure took out 20-80% of perfluocochemicals expect for PFHxA and PFDA (perfluorodecanoic acid) (not removed). The rapid filtration step took out over 70% of personal care products; the removal rates on perfluocochemicals ranged from 70 to 98% but was not good on removing of PFHxA ( < 23%). The removal rate in post-chlorination process for aminopyrine, phenazone, EE2, E2, E3, oxybenzone, huperzine A, ethyl paraben and propyl paraben were over 70% but other personal care products had removal rates lower than 70% during the post-chlorination process; most of the perfluocochemicals were removed in 20-40% expect for PFHxA (not removed). The whole procedure removed most of the personal care products (>90%) excluding NP (<30%); perfluocochemicals have removals over 90% expect for PFHxA (< 20%). Analgesics, hormones, parabens and huperzine A can be easily photolyzed in 60 minutes by UV radiation (100%). 20-60% of finasteride, suntan lotions, DEET, caffeine and NP were still left after 60-min UV radiation; perfluocochemicals cannot be effectively photolyzed by UV radiation. The rapid filtration step has the best removals in both personal care products and perfluocochemicals (removals > 90%) and the conventional drinking water treatment can remove most of the personal care products and perfluocochemicals.
Raw water from the upstream (Chin-Tan Weir) of Hsin-Dian Creek was used as the matrix and was spiked two levels of eught perfluocochemicals and 23 personal care products into raw water. Four processes were simulated at laboratory scale to evaluate the removal efficiencies：pre-chlorination, coagulation/sedimentation, rapid filtration, and post-chlorination. Some personal care products contain aromatic structures that may be photolyzed; thus this study also investigated the effect of the UV degradation. Water samples were adjusted to pH 3.0 by formic acid then underwent solid-phase extraction with Atlantic HLB disk. The eluents were concentrated to 1 mL by a SpeedVac concentrator and were analyzed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/ tandem mass spectrometry. The removal rate of analgesics, hormones and parabens in the pre-chlorination unit are over 50 %; 20-40% of perfluocochemicals were removed in the pre-chlorination unit and PFHxA (perfluorohexanoic acid) was not removed. The coagulation/sedimentation procedure removed less than 30% of the personal care products, and only had better removal on acetaminophen、acetylsalicylic acid、meclofenamic acid and huperzine A (60-80%). The coagulation/sedimentation procedure took out 20-80% of perfluocochemicals expect for PFHxA and PFDA (perfluorodecanoic acid) (not removed). The rapid filtration step took out over 70% of personal care products; the removal rates on perfluocochemicals ranged from 70 to 98% but was not good on removing of PFHxA ( < 23%). The removal rate in post-chlorination process for aminopyrine, phenazone, EE2, E2, E3, oxybenzone, huperzine A, ethyl paraben and propyl paraben were over 70% but other personal care products had removal rates lower than 70% during the post-chlorination process; most of the perfluocochemicals were removed in 20-40% expect for PFHxA (not removed). The whole procedure removed most of the personal care products (>90%) excluding NP (<30%); perfluocochemicals have removals over 90% expect for PFHxA (< 20%). Analgesics, hormones, parabens and huperzine A can be easily photolyzed in 60 minutes by UV radiation (100%). 20-60% of finasteride, suntan lotions, DEET, caffeine and NP were still left after 60-min UV radiation; perfluocochemicals cannot be effectively photolyzed by UV radiation. The rapid filtration step has the best removals in both personal care products and perfluocochemicals (removals > 90%) and the conventional drinking water treatment can remove most of the personal care products and perfluocochemicals.
Subjects
removal efficiency
solid-phase extraction
LC/MS/MS
pre-chlorination
coagulation/sedimentation
rapid filtration
post-chlorination
SDGs
Type
thesis
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Loading...
Name
ntu-101-R99844013-1.pdf
Size
23.32 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum
(MD5):29c6b539c6160a64956a0ae22227cc8e