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Fate of Volatile Methylsiloxanes in Wastewater Treatment Plants

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Volatile Methylsiloxanes in the Environment

Part of the book series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry ((HEC,volume 89))

Abstract

Concentration, distribution, fate, removal efficiencies, daily and seasonal variations of volatile methylsiloxanes (VMS) in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) were reviewed in this chapter. Purge-and-trap, headspace, liquid-liquid extraction, liquid-solid extraction, membrane-assisted solvent extraction, and modified QuEChERS methods have been developed to analyze of VMS in samples from WWTPs. The different consumption quantities of commercial products containing siloxanes result in the difference of concentrations and proportion of VMS in the world. Daily fluctuations of VMS concentrations in water usage induce in flow variation to WWTP and VMS show seasonal variation in the WWTPs with different types of processes. In cold seasons, VMS prefer to stay in water phase rather than air or sludge because the air/water and organic carbon/water partition coefficients decrease with temperature. Although most WWTP remove siloxanes efficiently, long-term environmental monitoring of VMS is necessary in certain environments, considering the potential of VMS to bioaccumulate in biota and its toxicity to sensitive aquatic organisms.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, P. R. China

    De-Gao Wang

  2. Water Science and Technology Directorate, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, ON, Canada

    Mehran Alaee

Authors
  1. De-Gao Wang
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  2. Mehran Alaee
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Correspondence to Mehran Alaee .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. LEPABE – Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Vera Homem

  2. LEPABE – Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Nuno Ratola

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Wang, DG., Alaee, M. (2018). Fate of Volatile Methylsiloxanes in Wastewater Treatment Plants. In: Homem, V., Ratola, N. (eds) Volatile Methylsiloxanes in the Environment. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol 89. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2018_365

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