The 2-phenylbenzimidazole sulphonic acid (PBS) is a widely used UV absorber in a variety of cosmetics, e.g., lotions, creams and sprays, to protect human body from the chronic or acute contact with sun rays. Numerous studies have reported the presence of PBS in wastewater bodies, especially those coming from households and swimming pools. This kind of persistent and non-biodegradable pollutant has been reported to be acting as Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) in the environment affecting directly the aquatic organisms, animals and humans. The growing efforts towards the production of better quality water and the need to reuse water has led to the development of water treatment schemes that include modern and efficient unit operations such as advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). In the current study, we investigated the utilization of UV/H2O2 AOP for the degradation of the above mentioned model sunscreen agent PBS, with a specific focus on its mineralization. Though mono- and di-hydroxylation products were mostly identified in LC/MS analysis, SO4-2were readily formed and became saturated at 1280 mJ/cm2 of UV fluence at initially 4 mM of H2O2, while the elimination of nitrogen was much slower at about 50%. The effect of halogen ions e.g., Br� and Cl� was also studied, showing a dramatic decrease in the PBS degradation and mineralization in the presence of 5 mM of Br� while only a negligible effect was observed in the presence of Cl�.

Degradation and mineralization of 2-phenylbenzimidazole sulphonic acid (sunscreen agent) using UV-254 nm/H2O?2

247th National Meeting (2014)

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