Biotransformation of nonylphenol ethoxylates during sewage treatment under anaerobic and aerobic conditions

Biotransformation of nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEOs) during continuous anaerobic sewage treatment was compared with the aerobic treatment of sewage spiked with 23 micromol/L technical NPEOs over a period of 90 d. Immediate degradation of NPEOs was observed under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions, indicating that the enzymes and bacteria required for NPEO degradation existed abundantly in both aerobic and anaerobic sludge. Both treatments achieved high removal (> 92%) of the spiked NPEO9 mixture. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis showed that short-chain NPEOs (NPEO1-NPEO3) accumulated in anaerobic (2.01-2.56 micromol/L) and aerobic (1.62-2.03 micromol/L) effluents, with nonylphenol (NP) (0.24-0.31 micromol/L) as another group of metabolites in the anaerobic effluent, and nonylphenoxy carboxylates (NPECs) (2.79-3.30 micromol/L) in the aerobic effluent. Significant accumulation of NP in the anaerobic sludge and NPEO1-3 in the sludge of two reactors was observed. These results indicated that it was difficult to control these harmful metabolites in the conventional treatment processes. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis profiles of sludge samples support the speculation that the NPEO degradation bacteria might be the dominant indigenous species.