Hong, J.-H.; Lee, J.-Y.; Ha, H.-J.; Lee, J.-H.; Oh, S.-R.; Lee, Y.-M.; Lee, M.-Y.; Zoh, K.-D. Occurrence and Sources of Synthetic Musk Fragrances in the Sewage Treatment Plants and the Han River, Korea. Water2021, 13, 392.
Hong, J.-H.; Lee, J.-Y.; Ha, H.-J.; Lee, J.-H.; Oh, S.-R.; Lee, Y.-M.; Lee, M.-Y.; Zoh, K.-D. Occurrence and Sources of Synthetic Musk Fragrances in the Sewage Treatment Plants and the Han River, Korea. Water 2021, 13, 392.
Hong, J.-H.; Lee, J.-Y.; Ha, H.-J.; Lee, J.-H.; Oh, S.-R.; Lee, Y.-M.; Lee, M.-Y.; Zoh, K.-D. Occurrence and Sources of Synthetic Musk Fragrances in the Sewage Treatment Plants and the Han River, Korea. Water2021, 13, 392.
Hong, J.-H.; Lee, J.-Y.; Ha, H.-J.; Lee, J.-H.; Oh, S.-R.; Lee, Y.-M.; Lee, M.-Y.; Zoh, K.-D. Occurrence and Sources of Synthetic Musk Fragrances in the Sewage Treatment Plants and the Han River, Korea. Water 2021, 13, 392.
Abstract
Levels of synthetic musk fragrances (SMFs) and various personal care products (PCPs) were measured in the Han River and its tributaries in Seoul, Korea. The most abundant SMF in all river and PCP samples was 4,6,6,7,8,8-hexamethyl-1,3,4,7-tetrahydrocyclopenta[g]isochromene (HHCB), followed by 1-(3,5,5,6,8,8-hexamethyl-6,7-dihydronaphthalen-2-yl)ethanone (AHTN), musk ketone (MK), and 1,1,2,3,3-pentamethyl-2,5,6,7-tetrahydroinden-4-one (DPMI). There was a significant correlation between the SMF concentration in the PCPs and the Han River samples. Moving from upstream to downstream in the Han River, the median SMF concentration was 6.756, 2.945, 0.304, and 0.141 μg/L in the sewage treatment plant (STP) influent, effluent, tributaries, and mainstream, respectively, implying that effective SMF removal was achieved during the sewage treatment process, followed by dilution in the receiving water. Four STPs using advanced biological treatment processes had removal efficiencies of 55.8%, 50.6%, 43.3% for HHCB, AHTN, and MK, respectively. The highest SMF concentrations in the tributaries were observed at locations close to the STPs. Our study confirmed that the main source of SMFs in the receiving water were sewage effluent containing untreated SMFs, which are largely originated from household PCPs, especially hair care products (e.g., shampoo) and perfumes.
Keywords
AHTN; HHCB; musk ketone; personal care product; sewage treatment plant; synthetic musk fragrance.
Subject
Chemistry and Materials Science, Analytical Chemistry
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
