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

Publications

  1. Homogenization for a non-local coupling model
  2. Compression behavior of typical silicone rubbers for soft robotics applications at elevated temperatures
  3. The promise and Pitfalls of a blended, video- and coaching-based professional development program in Germany
  4. Communication under the microscope: The theory and practice of microanalysis
  5. Investigation of the sulfur speciation in petroleum products by capillary gas chromatography with ICP-collision cell-MS detection
  6. Fluorometer controlled apparatus designed for long-duration algal-feeding experiments and environmental effect studies with mussels
  7. Software and Web-Based Tools for Sustainability Management in Micro-, Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises
  8. Collisions in space
  9. Probabilistic movement models and zones of control
  10. Depoliticising EU migration policies
  11. A panel cointegrating rank test with structural breaks and cross-sectional dependence
  12. Sensorimotor Control and Proprioception in Neurorehabilitation
  13. Creating regional futures
  14. The Lotka-Volterra Model for Competition Controlled by a Sliding Mode Approach
  15. Impacts beyond experimentation - Conceptualising emergent impacts from long-term real-world laboratory processes
  16. Social identity and place-based dynamics in community resilience building for natural disasters
  17. Analysing the gender wage gap (GWG) using personnel records
  18. Anisotropic wavelet bases and thresholding
  19. On the impact of network size and average degree on the robustness of centrality measures
  20. Understanding and managing post-acquisition integration as change process
  21. How problem-based or direct instructional case-based learning environments influence pre-service teachers’ cognitive load, motivation and emotions
  22. From estimation results to stylized facts
  23. The common European framework of reference for languages
  24. Effects of tree diversity on canopy space occupation vary with tree size and canopy space definition in a mature broad-leaved forest
  25. Reiseanalyse 2013:
  26. Operationalising the leverage points perspective for empirical research