Occurrence of Benzotriazoles, Benzothiazoles and Benzenesulfonamides in the Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluents in Nakdong River Basin

Abstract

In this study, the detection characteristics of benzotriazoles (BTRs), benzothiazoles (BTs), and benzenesulfonamides (BSAs) were investigated in the effluent from the sewage treatment plant (STP) discharging effluent to the Nakdong River basin and major tributaries of Nakdong River. Detection frequency and detection concentration were the highest in BTR, and regarding the BTs and BSAs, very low detection frequency and detection concentration were presented. In case of STP effluent samples and tributaries of Nakdong River, 1-H-Benzotriazole (BTR) and 4-methyl-1-H-benzotriazole (4TTR) were frequently detected at a relatively high concentration than other BTRs. The concentration of BTR and 4TTR in the STP effluent samples ranged from 19 to 1190 ng/L and 13 to 735 ng/L, respectively. And the concentration of BTR and 4TTR in the tributary samples ranged from 11 to 563 ng/L and 10 to 162 ng/L, respectively. Among the BTs, 2-(methylthio)benzothiazole (MeSBT) was detected with the highest detection frequency and concentration in effluent (10~61 ng/L) and tributary samples (11~53 ng/L). Regarding the BSAs, N-ethyl-para-toluenesulfonamide (Et-p-BSA) showed the highest concentration and detection frequency in effluent (10~46 ng/L) and tributary samples (10~19 ng/L). The concentration levels in this study were relatively lower than other previous studies on wastewater and river water samples, and occurrence trend was similar to other previous studies as BTR, 4TTR, MeSBT and Et-p-BSA were dominant in our samples. Key words: Benzotriazoles, Benzothiazoles, Benzenesulfonamides, Nakdong River Basin, Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) Effluents, Occurrence