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Removal of bisphenol A from wastewater by physical, chemical and biological remediation techniques. A review

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Abstract

Bisphenol A is a well-known endocrine-disrupting compound that is commonly detected in industrial effluents and wastewater treatment plants. It is extensively used in the production of polycarbonate and epoxy resins. It is linked to serious environmental pollution and negative effects in humans and living microorganisms, i.e., malfunction of the endocrine system through imitating or blocking natural hormones. Several bisphenol A remediation techniques have been investigated over the last decades, with many of them gradually emerging as effective ones. This article summarizes the most recent findings and progress of the highly effective and widely accepted bisphenol A elimination/degradation techniques, such as membrane separation, adsorption, advanced oxidation processes, and biodegradation, based on their beneficial and optimistic aspects, namely, ease of operation, excellent bisphenol A removal performance, and cost-effectiveness. The operational specifications affecting the elimination efficiency and concerning mechanisms of the processes are summarized. The prominent remarks from this article are as follows. (i) Reverse osmosis, membrane distillation, and nanofiltration-based membrane separation processes particularly eliminated ~100% of bisphenol A from the contaminated aqueous solutions; however, the durability and force resistance frame integrity of the membranes need to be increased. Combining the membrane separation techniques with other oxidation/biodegradation techniques can lower the major issues of each technique; i.e., integrating the membrane separation and electrochemical oxidation can reduce the fouling and mass transfer limitation issues of both the techniques, respectively. (ii) Numerous conventional and nonconventional adsorbents can effectively eliminate bisphenol A from effluents; however, the higher adsorbability and rapid adsorption rates need to be addressed. (iii) Mono/bimetal ion-loaded catalysts could significantly degrade bisphenol A via photocatalysis; however, variation in reaction rates, catalyst deactivation owing to fouling, complex structures, intricate fabrication methods, and uncontrollable morphology of metal-based nanocatalysts remain the core issues. (iv) Numerous bacterial species/fungi/fungal enzymes and microalgae can effectively biodegrade bisphenol A with comparatively higher efficiencies. Finally, prominent remarks and perspectives from this paper provide perception and future investigation directions to address existing problems of bisphenol A-contaminated wastewater treatment.

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Reproduced from reference (Mpatani et al. 2020) with permission from the Elsevier. B Synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymer microspheres. Polyvinyl alcohol solution (20 wt%), and mixture of toluene (20 g), azobisisobutyronitrile, polyurethane, methacrylic acid, and bisphenol A were mixed and heated at 85 °C for 5 h followed by drying and sieving, obtaining the rosin-based molecularly imprinted polymer microspheres. Reproduced from reference (Yu et al. 2020a) with permission from the Elsevier. C Illustrative bisphenol A binding mechanism on the aluminum-metal–organic framework/sodium alginate-chitosan composite beads. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis inferred that the π–π stacking, cation–π interactions and hydrogen-bond formation phenomena dominated the adsorption process. Reproduced from reference (Luo et al. 2019) with permission from the Elsevier. D Depictive diagram of the synthetic route of porous aromatic frameworks/cellulose nanofibril composite aerogels composite aerogel. The process involved the mixing of suspensions of porous aromatic frameworks and cellulose nanofibril followed by crosslinking using epichlorohydrin, leading to the formation of porous aromatic frameworks/cellulose nanofibril composite gel; E scanning electron microscopic pictures of crosslinked pure cellulose nanofibril aerogel, twofold crosslinked cellulose nanofibril and porous aromatic frameworks/cellulose nanofibril aerogels, and optical images of porous aromatic frameworks/cellulose nanofibril, MIL/cellulose nanofibril and PIM/cellulose nanofibril, activated carbon/cellulose nanofibril and zeolite/cellulose nanofibril aerogels. The aerogel possessed random porous structures, i.e., the porous aromatic frameworks particles loaded on the interspace of the cellulose nanofibril aerogel were visible in the images. Reproduced from reference (Zhao et al. 2019) with permission from the Royal Society of Chemistry. F Schematic diagram of the biosorption of bisphenol A and sulfamethoxazole onto sulfonated-coffee waste. The pretreated coffee waste was reacted with sulfuric acid to obtain sulfonated-coffee waste. On the basis of pH-dependent adsorption experiments, it was concluded that electrostatic repulsion between the anionic adsorbent and bisphenolate molecules played a key role in the bisphenol A binding mechanism. Reproduced from reference (Ahsan et al. 2018b) with permission from the Elsevier. BPA: bisphenol A; MB: methylene blue; NR: neutral red; MAA: methacrylic acid; PU: polyurethane; AIBN: azobisisobutyronitrile; PVA: polyvinyl alcohol; B-MIP: bisphenol A-molecular imprinted polymer PMIP: molecular imprinted polymer; MIL-68(Al): Aluminum-based metal–organic framework; PAF-1: porous aromatic frameworks; CNF: cellulose nanofibril; ECH: epichlorohydrin; H2SO4: sulfuric acid; CW-SO3H: sulfonated-coffee waste: SMX: sulfamethoxazole

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Reproduced from reference (Tong et al. 2021) with permission from the Elsevier. B Anticipated bisphenol A biodegradation route for the microorganisms isolated from the river sediment. On the basis of LC–MS spectrometric analysis, six bisphenol A degradation intermediates, i.e., 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-l- propanol, 1,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-propanol, carbocationic isopropylphenol, 4-isopropenylphenol, 4,4-dihydroxy-α-methylstilbene and 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) propanoic acid were identified. Reproduced from reference (Peng et al. 2015) with permission from the Elsevier. C Biodegradation pathways and mechanistic investigation at the transcriptome level of bisphenol A by the green microalga Desmodesmus sp.WR1 which involves, first the hydroxylation and hydroxymethylation of bisphenol A to form (i) monohydroxybisphenol A and (ii) 2-hydroxy-3-hydroxymethybisphenol A, respectively. Second, conjugation of (i), (ii), and bisphenol A with glucose formed corresponding glycosides, as well as C–C bond splitting between (i), (ii), and bisphenol A formed monophenols for further mineralization. Reproduced from Reference (Wang et al. 2017b) with permission from the Elsevier. BPA: bisphenol A; LC–MS: liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry; HPLC: high-performance liquid chromatography; 2,2-BHP: 2,2-Bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-1-propanol; 2,2-BHPA: 2,2-Bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-propanoic acid; 4-HBZ: 4-hydroxybenzoate, 4-HBD: 1,2-Bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-propanol (4-HBD); 4,4-DM: 1,2-Bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-propanol (4,4-DM); 4-HA: 4-hydroxyacetophenone

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Abbreviations

FTIR:

Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy

HPLC:

High-performance liquid chromatography

LC–MS:

Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

MS:

Mass spectrometry

LC-QTOF-MS:

Liquid chromatography quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry

GC–MS:

Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

HPLC–QTOF-MS:

High-performance liquid chromatography–quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry

LC-HRMS:

Liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Brazilian Federal Foundation for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education – CAPES (Project number: 88887.468372/2019-00). This work was also supported from the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea, No. NRF- 2021R1A5A6002853 and NRF- 2020R1A2B5B01001949.

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Chirag Batukbhai Godiya was involved in conceptualization, methodology, software, data curation, writing—original draft preparation, visualization, investigation; Bum Jun Park contributed to supervision, validation, writing—reviewing and editing.

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Correspondence to Chirag Batukbhai Godiya or Bum Jun Park.

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Godiya, C.B., Park, B.J. Removal of bisphenol A from wastewater by physical, chemical and biological remediation techniques. A review. Environ Chem Lett 20, 1801–1837 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-021-01378-6

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