Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University...

In this study experiments were performed to assess the significance of dissolved organic matter DOM on the leachability of four common EDCs i e bisphenol A BPA 17 -ethinylestradiol EE2 progesterone PGT and testosterone TST in municipal sewage sludge MSS under landfill conditions The DOM was derived from two sources MSS MDOM and natural soil represented by organic matter obtained from the Suwannee River NDOM Fluorescence excitation-emission matrix quenching combined with parallel factor analysis was adopted to characterize the interaction properties between the EDCs and DOM The accumulative leachability of the target EDCs ranged from 0 09 PGT to 3 8 TST In particular the leaching of BPA EE2 and TST followed S-shaped curves while PGT exhibited continuous leaching potential in untreated MSS With the introduction of DOM i the leachability of BPA and EE2 increased to 13 4 and 61 6 respectively whereas those of PGT and TST declined by 61 3 and 45 8 respectively and ii BPA EE2 and PGT no longer reached leaching equilibrium but the S-shaped leaching property of TST persisted The differential effects of MDOM and NDOM at identical concentrations on the EDCs leachability increased with curing time BPA EE2 and PGT quenched the MDOM fluorophores attributed to aromatic protein-like components The fluorescence quenching of NDOM by BPA EE2 and PGT was centered on soluble microbial by-product-like and humic-like substances Compared with PGT EE2 and BPA had greater capability for binding with DOM components largely via hydrophobic interactions whereas PGT preferentially interacted with the DOM hydrophilic functionalities through specific interactions TST had no binding capability but displayed potentials competing for sorption sites with DOM moieties Our findings suggested that the management of MSS increased the risk of environmental contamination by EDCs for a long duration and that DOM was a useful indicator to predict the migration and transport properties of EDCs Copyright 2020 Elsevier B V All rights reserved

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Auckland, Private Bag, 92019, New Zealand.

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Leachability of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in municipal sewage sludge: Effects of EDCs interaction with disso...