Phthalates as Emerging Pollutants in Water Environment: Control & Treatment Strategies

Emerging pollutants (EPs) refer compounds that have not previously have been detected in water or sewage or their concentrations aren’tdetectable. Nonetheless, today they are detected in water and sewage. The EPs include pharmaceuticals compounds such as antibioticsand hormone, plasticizers such as phthalates, surfactants, some herbicides, and flame retardants worldwide 1, 2. Developing in industry,agriculture, and medicine, as well as increasing human needs for survival, has increased production and consumption of these materials.The excessive use of these compounds has led to the release of these pollutants into the drinking water and aquatic ecosystems 3.An important class of emerging pollutants is phthalates. Phthalates are extensively used in plastic industries in order to increase theflexibility and quality of products. They are also used in cosmetics products, shampoo, soap, toys, and etc. Approximately 60 types of phthalates are produced in the universe. Phthalate diethylhexyl (PDE), phthalate dibutyl (PDB), and phthalate dimethyl (PDM) are the mostimportant compounds that are used in industries. 4, 5. Since most phthalate compounds have hydrophobic interaction, low solubilityproperties, and also chemical reactions phthalate are very weak with other components, therefore they are easily released into the aqueousenvironment. Phthalates have been detected in the air, soil, surface water, and groundwater. It was reported the maximum amount of Phthalates are in the range of ng to μg per liter, and ng.g-1 in the water, and sediments, respectively 6, 7. Although phthalates have the low range of concentrations in the environment, they have hazardous effects on animal and human health.Furthermore, some phthalate compounds can cause adverse effects in particular on the gastrointestinal tract, circulation system,respiratory system, genital system, kidney and urinary tract. Therefore, great attempts have been made lately for phthalates efficientremoval from the wastewater before discharging them within the environment. So far, low comprehensive studies have been conducted fordetermination and removal of phthalates from the aqueous environment, including adsorption by graphene oxide 8, Activated sludge use extended aeration 9, 10, chlorination 11,12 have been used to removal of phthalates