Long lasting perfume - A review of synthetic musks in WWTPs

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2015

Authors

Vera Homem (Author) FEUP; José Avelino Silva (Author) FEUP; Nuno Ratola (Author) FEUP; Lúcia Santos (Author) FEUP; Arminda Alves (Author) FEUP

Journal

Title: Journal of Environmental Management

Vol. 149

Pages: 168-192

ISSN: 0301-4797

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 37 Citations

Scopus - 56 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Engineering and technology > Environmental engineering

Associated Projects

UI0511 - PROJECTO ESTRATÉGICO - UI 511 - 2013-2014

SAFEPINE - SAFEPINE - Avaliação da contaminação de pinheiros por poluentes emergentes

LEPAE/CEFT - RL2 - (Bio) Chemical Engineering: Multi-Scale Approaches for Sustainable Environment and Health

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00A-2KC

DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2014.10.008

Abstract (EN): Synthetic musks have been used for a long time in personal care and household products. In recent years, this continuous input has increased considerably, to the point that they were recognized as emerging pollutants by the scientific community, due to their persistence in the environment, and hazardous potential to ecosystems even at low concentrations. The number of studies in literature describing their worldwide presence in several environmental matrices is growing, and many of them indicate that the techniques employed for their safe removal tend to be ineffective. This is the case of conventional activated sludge treatment plants (WWTPs), where considerable loads of synthetic musks enter mainly through domestic sewage. This review paper compiles and discusses the occurrence of these compounds in the sewage, effluents and sludge, main concentration levels and phase distributions, as well as the efficiency of the different methodologies of removal applied in these treatment facilities. To the present day, it has been demonstrated that WWTPs lack the ability to remove musks completely. This shows a clear need to develop new effective and cost-efficient remediation approaches and foresees potential for further improvements in this field.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 25