Analysis of Phthalate and Priority Phenols from a Wastewater Treatment Plant in Cape Town, South Africa

Abstract

Continuous disposal of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) into the environment can lead to serious human health problems and can affect aquatic organisms. A number of investigations suggested that final effluents of wastewater treatment plants are the main source of EDCs into the aquatic environment. A developed analytical method was used for the analysis of priority phenols as tert-butyl derivatives and phthalates in wastewater. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed by gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC–MS) using DB-5MS column. These compounds were evaluated using solid-phase extraction for raw and treated wastewater from a wastewater treatment plant. Concentrations of analytes ranged from below limit of detection to 570μgL-1 for phenols and below limit of quantification to 796μgL-1 for phthalates. Diethyl phthalate was the most prominent phthalate ester with pentachlorophenol for the corresponding phenol. The average percent removal varied from 52.63 to 100%. The result clearly shows that environmental endocrine disrupting chemicals are not completely removed from treated wastewater.