title: A review of organic UV-filters in wastewater treatment plants.
abstract: UV-filters are a group of compounds which have been massively used in the past years due to the recent concerns with sunburns, premature skin ageing and the risk of developing skin cancer, related to sun exposure. At the moment, these compounds have been identified by the scientific community as emerging pollutants, due to their persistence in the environment, potential to accumulate in biota and potential threat as endocrine disruptors. At some point, the majority of sunscreens will find their way into wastewater (due to bathing and washing activities) and because wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are not able to remove and/or degrade them, consequently they find their way into rivers, lakes and ocean, so it is not surprising that UV-filters are found in the environment. Therefore, wastewater treatment plants should be the focus of the scientific community aiming to better understand the fate of the UV-filters and develop new technologies to remove them from wastewater and sludge. This review, aims to provide the current state of the art in the occurrence and fate of UV-filters in wastewater treatment plants and how the technologies that are being used are successfully removing these compounds from both wastewater and sludge.
authors.affiliation: LEPABE - Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ramos
authors.affiliation: LEPABE - Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: vhomem@fe.up.pt.
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Homem
authors.affiliation: LEPABE - Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Arminda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alves
authors.affiliation: LEPABE - Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Lúcia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Santos
mesh_terms: D058448:Biota / Q000187:drug effects; D052244:Endocrine Disruptors / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D006801:Humans; D012722:Sewage / Q000032:analysis; D013473:Sunscreening Agents / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D052244:Endocrine Disruptors; D012722:Sewage; D013473:Sunscreening Agents; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Fate; Occurrence; UV-filters; Wastewater treatment plants