Levels of nonylphenol and bisphenol a in wastewater treatment plant effluent, sewage sludge and leachates around Cape Town, South Africa

We herein report for the first time the levels of bisphenol A (BPA) and nonylphenol (NP) in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) using combined activated sludge process with constructed wetlands in the Republic of South Africa. The UPLC separation was performed on a Acquity UPLCTM BEH C18 column (2.1×100 mm, 1.7 μm) with a mobile phases of A and B being 0.1% NH4OH and mixture of Methanol: Acetonitrile:Isopropanol (49:49:2), respectively. Triple quadrupole mass spectrometry analyzer was used for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the UPLC/MS system. The recovery mean of the fortified water, leachate, combine and digested sludge samples were 95.5, 92, 86.4 and 84 % for BPA, while the recovery was 95, 87, 100.8 and 94 % for NP, respectively. The concentration of analytes ranged from not detected (ND) to 384.3 ± 131. 69 μg/L and 0.52 ± 0.15 to 9.83 ± 3.47 mg/L for BPA and NP, respectively, in the water samples from the WWTP. In leachate samples, BPA concentration ranged from 0.022 ± 0.002to 9.59 ± 1.48 mg/L, while NP ranged from 1.04 ± 0.43 to 137.41 ± 4.37. Values of BPA and NP in sewage sludge ranged from 0.17 ± 0.01 to 2.28 ± 0.13 and 0.42 ± 0.02 to 8.76 ± 0.72 μg/g, respectively.