Not only biocidal products: Washing and cleaning agents and personal care products can act as further sources of biocidal active substances in wastewater

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

The emission sources of biocidal active substances in households have been under discussion since these substances have been detected frequently in municipal wastewater and receiving surface water bodies. Therefore, the goal of this study was to investigate the products responsible for the emission of these substances to wastewater.
We analysed the wastewater of two streets for a set of biocidal active substances. Time-proportional sampling was conducted for one week of each season during one year in each street. The 14 substances analysed with liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry were 1,2-benzisothiazol-3(2H)-one (BIT), C12-benzalkonium chloride, carbendazim, 5-chloro-2-methyl-2H-isothiazol-3-one (CMIT), dichlorooctylisothiazolinone (DCOIT), N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET), diuron, icaridine, 2-octyl-2H-isothiazol-3-one (OIT), piperonyl butoxide (PBO), triclosan, tebuconazole, terbutryn and tetramethrin. Using data available from household product inventories of the two streets, we searched the lists of ingredients for the products possibly being responsible for the emissions.
Except for four substances, all substances have been detected in at least 10% of the samples. Highest concentrations were measured for C12-benzalkonium chloride with an average concentration in the daily samples of 7.7 μg/L in one of the streets. Next to C12-benzalkonium chloride, BIT, DEET and icaridine were detected in all samples in average concentrations above 1 μg/L in at least one street. The results show that washing and cleaning agents were important sources for preservatives such as BIT and OIT, while triclosan was apparently mainly emitted through personal care products. The mosquito repelling substances DEET and icaridine were found throughout the year, with highest emissions in summer and autumn.
In conclusion, the results demonstrate that the sources of biocidal active substances in municipal wastewater are complex and that measures for the prevention of the emission of biocidal active substances into the aquatic environment have to be carried out under different legislations. This has to be taken into account discussing emission reduction at the source.
Original languageEnglish
JournalEnvironmental international
Volume115
Pages (from-to)247-256
Number of pages10
ISSN0160-4120
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 06.2018

    Research areas

  • Chemistry - Biocide, Wasterwater, Source, Washing and cleaning agent, Personal care product, Micropollutant

Recently viewed

Researchers

  1. Isabelle Fincke

Publications

  1. The role of the situation model in mathematical modelling
  2. Effects of grassland management, endophytic fungi and predators on aphid abundance in two distinct regions
  3. Microeconometric Studies on Firm Behavior and Performance
  4. Generalizing Trust
  5. Iconography on Scientific Instruments. Introduction
  6. Technology Implementation in Pre-Service Science Teacher Education Based on the Transformative View of TPACK: Effects on Pre-Service Teachers' TPACK, Behavioral Orientations and Actions in Practice
  7. Algorithmic Catastrophe - the Revenge of Contingency
  8. A duty-block network approach for an integrated driver rostering problem in public bus transport
  9. Towards a New Aesthetic
  10. The social dynamics of knowledge hiding
  11. Export entry, export exit, and productivity in German manufacturing industries
  12. A panel cointegrating rank test with structural breaks and cross-sectional dependence
  13. Creating a space for cooperation
  14. Active First Movers vs. Late Free-Riders? An Empirical Analysis of UN PRI Signatories' Commitment
  15. "It´s All in the Game"
  16. Usage pattern-based exposure screening as a simple tool for the regional priority-setting in environmental risk assessment of veterinary antibiotics
  17. Identifying core habitat before it's too late
  18. Creating Value from in-Vehicle Data
  19. Activity-based working
  20. Adjust for windows
  21. 'KNOW WHY' thinking as a new approach to systems thinking
  22. The Role of Network Size for the Robustness of Centrality Measures
  23. The case survey method and applications in political science
  24. Guest editorial
  25. Managing Global Production Networks
  26. Complexity Measures of Traffic Scenarios
  27. How problem-based or direct instructional case-based learning environments influence pre-service teachers’ cognitive load, motivation and emotions
  28. Does symbolic representation through class signalling appeal to voters? Evidence from a conjoint experiment
  29. Conditions of One-Way and Two-Way Approaches in Strategic Start-Up Communication
  30. Comparative study of resonant circuit for power transmission via inductive link
  31. Applying Necessity and Proportionality to Anti-Terrorist Self-Defence
  32. A Bayesian EAP-Based Nonlinear Extension of Croon and Van Veldhoven’s Model for Analyzing Data from Micro–Macro Multilevel Designs
  33. Editorial