Nonylphenol (NP) is an ultimate degradation product of nonylphenol polyethoxylates (NPE) that is primarily used in cleaning and industrial processes. Its widespread use has led to the wide existence of NP in various environmental matrices, such as water, sediment, air and soil. NP can be decreased by biodegradation through the action of microorganisms under aerobic or anaerobic conditions. Half-lives of biodegradation ranged from a few days to almost one hundred days. The degradation rate for NP was influenced by temperature, pH and additions of yeast extracts, surfactants, aluminum sulfate, acetate, pyruvate, lactate, manganese dioxide, ferric chloride, sodium chloride, hydrogen peroxide, heavy metals, and phthalic acid esters. Although NP is present at low concentrations in the environment, as an endocrine disruptor the risks of long-term exposure to low concentrations remain largely unknown. This paper reviews the occurrence of NP in the environment and its aerobic and anaerobic biodegradation in natural environments and sewage treatment plants, which is essential for assessing the potential risk associated with low level exposure to NP and other endocrine disruptors.

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With the advantages of its fast speed, effective and moderate controllable conditions, desulfurization of coal by microwave has become research focus in the field of clean coal technology. Coal is a homogeneous mixture which consists of various components with different dielectric properties, so their abilities to absorb microwaves are different, and the sulfur-containing components are better absorbers of microwave, which makes them can be selectively heated and reacted under microwave irradiation. There still remain controversies on the principle of microwave desulfurization at present, thermal effects or non-thermal effects. The point of thermal effects of microwave is mainly base on its characters of rapidly and selectly heating. While, in view of non-thermal effect, direct interactions between the microwave electromagnetic field and sulfur containing components are proposed. It is a fundamental problem to determine the dielectric properties of coal and the sulfur-containing components to reveal the interaction of microwave and sulfur-containing compounds. However, the test of dielectric property of coal is affected by many factors, which makes it difficult to measure dielectric properties accurately. In order to achieve better desulfurization effect, the researchers employ methods of adding chemical additives such as acid, alkali, oxidant, reductant, or changing the reaction atmosphere, or combining with other methods such as magnetic separation, ultrasonic and microorganism. Researchers in this field have also put forward several processes, and have obtained a number of patents. Obscurity of microwave desulfurization mechanism, uncertainties in qualitative and quantitative analysis of sulfur-containing functional groups in coal, and the lack of special microwave equipment have limited further development of microwave desulfurization technology.

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