Occurrence, fate and ecological risks of 90 typical emerging contaminants in full-scale textile wastewater treatment plants from a large industrial park in Guangxi, Southwest China

Abstract

Recent industrial relocation in China causes lots of environment concerns including risks of emerging contaminants (ECs). Herein, the occurrence, fate, removal and ecological risks of 34 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), 17 endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), 16 phthalate esters (PAEs), and 23 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were investigated in two textile WWTPs (conventional and Fenton-modified) from a large textile industrial park in Southwest China. Totally 50 ECs were identified and the levels followed the order of PAEs > EDCs > PFAS ≈ PAHs. The EDCs predominated in textile washing and rinsing wastewater whereas the PAEs did in desizing wastewater. Biphasic correlations of log Kd and log P, molecular weight, and numbers of rings (r2 = 0.63–0.66, p < 0.01) were observed for PAHs, suggesting that hydrophobicity might not facilitate adsorption of super-hydrophobic PAHs onto activated sludge. 63–69% of detected ECs were effectively removed by two textile WWTPs with removal efficiencies ≥ 80%, which were much higher than previous reports. Fenton processing enhanced the removal efficiencies for long-chain PFAS rather than short-chain PFAS. The PAEs and EDCs posed a medium-to-high risk to aquatic organisms and were screened as the priority ECs. To date, such a comprehensive investigation for ECs has not been previously conducted in textile WWTPs and this study provides basic information about regional chemical emission inventory of ECs.