Efficacy of the Toxicity Control during the Degradation of TBBPA by Ozonation

Abstract

This study has focused on the evaluation of the biotoxicity controlling effects during the TBBPA degradation by ozonation, including the acute, chronic and genetic toxicity under different [O3]/[TBBPA] (1:1–11:1), initial solution pH (5.0–9.0) and temperatures (10–40 °C). In addition, the comprehensive biotoxicity of the treated water sample was evaluated by the method of potential ecotoxic effects probe (PEEP). The results showed that TBBPA could be completely degraded with an initial solution pH of 7.0, temperature of 25 °C and an [O3]/[TBBPA] ratio of 9:1. The chronic toxicity of the untreated sample was as high as 41.7 TU, which represented the main toxicity of TBBPA itself. In contrast, the TBBPA showed a much lower acute and genetic toxicity in this study. During the process of TBBPA degradation, the ozonation could effectively control the toxicity of wastewater and showed strong adaptability. When the ratio of [O3]/[TBBPA] was 11:1, the acute and chronic toxicity were reduced to 0.02 TU and 0.76 TU, respectively, with the controlling rates being as high as 96% and 98.2% and meeting the emission standards. The mutagenicity ratio of the water sample was less than 2.0, indicating no genotoxicity risk. The evaluation of the comprehensive biological toxicity showed that ozonation could control the PEEP value below 2.0 in ranges of low [O3]/[TBBPA] ratio (3:1), wide pH (5–9) and temperatures (10–40 °C).