Treatment of Wastewaters Containing Bisphenol A: State of the Science Review

Abstract

The presence of microconstituents in effluents from municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and their receiving waters has attracted considerable recent attention. This review summarizes the state of the science on the removal of bisphenol A (BPA) by WWTPs and presents evidence that the compound should be effectively removed in well-operated activated sludge systems. The biological treatment of BPA has been extensively studied in laboratory, pilot, and full-scale municipal WWTPs. Although removal efficiencies varied, the average of the reported removal efficiencies for BPA in full-scale facilities was 84%. Mass balance studies conducted in the laboratory with '"C-labeled BPA and studies of full-scale facilities show that biodégradation is the dominant removal process, consistent with the fact that BPA is readily degradable and able to support microbial growth. Many of the plants were able to reduce BPA concentrations in the wastewater effluent to significantly less than 1 |ig/L. This review examines operating parameters important for optimizing and sustaining the perfonnance of wastewater treatment systems including solids residence time (SRT), which proved to be the most critical. The weight of evidence suggests the optimum SRT needs to be approximately 10 days to ensure high treatment efficiencies. Other optimum operating conditions include maintaining dissolved oxygen concentrations of greater than or equal to 2.0 mg/L, elevating the SRT during periods of low temperature, and implementing step-feed control during storm-induced high flow conditions to avoid the washout of biomass. Water Environ. Res., 83, 650 (2011).

Bacteria-mediated bisphenol A degradation

“…More and more BPA-degrading bacteria were isolated, identified, characterized, and used to treat BPA in WWTPs (Kang et al 2006a;Melcer and Klecka 2011). BPAdegrading bacterial strains were isolated from soils, sludge, river, seawater, and even food sample (Table 1).…”

Modeling Bioaugmentation Potential for Enhanced Bisphenol A Removal During Wastewater Treatment

“…Other compounds including, carbamazepine (Jelic 2012;Leclercq 2009) and diclofenac (Jelic 2012;Bell 2013) are removed poorly. However, removal efficiencies of most ETC have been reported to vary among different WWTPs, including BPA (Melcer 2011) and E1 (Servos 2005 (Federle 2002), ibuprofen (Quintana 2005), and E2 (Layton 2000) provides further evidence for biological degradation. Thus, it is probable that reported between-plant variations may be attributed to the presence of differing active-degrading bacterial populations.…”

“…Bester, 2005;Heidler and Halden, 2007;Melcer and Klecka 2011). However, testing of bioaugmentation for PPCP removal has been very limited.…”

Trace Contaminants: Implications for Water Quality Sustainability

“…A consequence of AOP is that total dissolved solids (TDSs), which can increase with AOP, have to be removed before reuse (Melcer and Klecka, 2011). However, concentrate discharge issues, chemical costs, and energy requirements hinder these options.…”