Stability, biological treatment and UV photolysis of 18 bisphenols under laboratory conditions

Abstract The limited knowledge on the stability, removal, and the fate of bisphenol A analogues in the aqueous environment led us to assesses the removal by hydrolysis, adsorption, biological treatment and UV photolysis of eighteen common bisphenol compounds (BPs). Hydrolysis of BPs does not occur. The main factor affecting their stability in wastewater samples is storage time, and safe storage conditions were found to be −20 °C or 4 °C for up to four weeks. The results also revealed no significant reduction in the levels of BPs standards when stored in either methanol or ultrapure water. BPE was found to be the most stable, followed by BPF isomers, BPS and BPF, while BP26DM was the least stable and BPM, BPPH, BPP, BPBP and BPFL were quickly adsorbed. For most BPs, the removal efficiency of biological treatment was >85%, and there was no difference between the suspended activated sludge and moving bed bioreactors. Different adsorption affinities of the BPs to biomass were observed and reflect the differences in their Kow. In terms of degradability, direct UV photolysis in water produced three groups of BPs: (A) highly removable (RE > 94%), (B) moderately removable (RE 50–80%) and (C) poorly removable (RE 25–45%). In nearly all cases degradation followed pseudo-first-order kinetics.