The presence of contaminants of emergent concern or CECs has been affecting the water quality over recent years. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S EPA) defines CECs as toxic chemicals without regulatory status and with adversely impact on the wildlife and people. Nonylphenols (NPs) are CECs categorized as endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) and they have been frequently found in all water systems.  The main sources of discharge and distribution of NPs into the environment are wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) which are not designed to remove them. As the market production of NPs is expected to increase within these coming years, it is needed to develop methods to effectively remove NPs from wastewater. This study proposed the use of an ecofriendly absorbent beads made from alginate and activated carbon (AlgC) aimed to remove NPs from water. A solventless extraction technique, called stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) was used for NPs analysis by thermal desorption gas chromatography with mass spectrometer (TD/GC/MS). The results show the ability of the AlgC beads to successfully remove 100% NPs from aqueous solution within 1 hour. Further studies will focus to optimize the absorption capacity of AlgC and the removal of NPs from wastewater samples.

Removal of nonylphenols from water using alginate-activated carbon beads

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