Removal Efficiency and Fate of Chlorinated Paraffins (CPs) in a Municipal Sewage Treatment Plant near a Typical Petrochemical Park

Abstract

Water resources play an important role in industrial, agricultural, and public activities. Chlorinated paraffins (CPs) in wastewater generated by these activities provide an important source of CP contamination. In this study, the occurrences of short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) and medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (MCCPs) were simultaneously studied in a typical sewage treatment plant (STP) near China’s second-largest oil production base over a 1-year period. High levels of SCCPs and MCCPs (3809 ± 670 and 4803 ± 478 ng/L) were found in the influent due to receiving 75% of industrial wastewater. C14-CPs was the predominant congener group, accounting for 37% of the total CP concentrations. The dissolved removal efficiency of CPs was 83.5%. Mass balance results demonstrated that 3.2% of the initial CPs was found in the final effluent, and 66.3% of the initial CPs was found in the dehydrated sludge, while 30.4% of the initial CPs was lost due to the biodegradation and volatilization. This indicated that sorption onto sludge was the main fate of CPs in wastewater treatment. High mass fractions of CPs were found in the final effluent and dewatered sludge in the winter season due to the low biodegradation, biotransformation, and volatilization.