Treatment of Bisphenol A (BPA) in water using UV/H2O2 and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes: assessment of estrogenic activity and membrane adsorption.

Abstract

Removal of an endocrine disrupting compound, Bisphenol A (BPA), from water was investigated using two treatment processes, UV/H2O2 advanced oxidation (AOP) and reverse osmosis (membrane separation). Furthermore, changes in estrogenic activity using in vitro yeast estrogen screen assay as well as the adsorption of BPA by the membrane surface were evaluated. The best UV/H2O2 performance was obtained using the highest established values of all parameters, reaching 48% BPA removal. Within the investigated conditions of the AOP, when lower doses of UV were used, a higher removal efficiency was achieved at a higher initial concentration of BPA. However, the same behavior was not observed for the highest UV dose, in which the removal efficiency was not dependent on BPA initial concentration. In both cases, removal efficiency increased as H2O2 concentration increased. The formation of estrogenic by-products was observed in UV/H2O2. The membrane rejection efficiency varied from 60% to 84% and all experiments showed adsorption of BPA by the membrane surface. The RO membrane showed a greater BPA removal efficiency for samples containing 10 μg·L-1 than UV/H2O2 at the evaluated treatment conditions.