Little is known about the occurrence and fate of synthetic phenolic antioxidants (SPAs) and their metabolites in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). In this study, inventory, source, mass loading, and discharge of five SPAs, including 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxytoluene (BHT) and four of its metabolites were examined, based on the concentrations determined in wastewater influent, primary effluent, final effluent, suspended particulate matter (SPM), and sludge collected from two WWTPs (denoted as WWTP_A and WWTP_B) in the Albany area of New York State. The respective median concentrations of sum of SPAs (ΣSPAs = 6 compounds including metabolites) and SPA-metabolites (Σmetabolites = 4 metabolites) were 2455–3330 and 290–465 ng/L in influents, and 1580–1604 and 511–822 ng/L in final effluents. Adsorption to sludge (ΣSPAs ranged as 2420–4680 ng/g dry wt) accounted for ∼1% of the SPA removal. The removal efficiency (RE) for BHT in WWTPs ranged between 62.3% and 76.2%, whereas negative REs were found for SPA-metabolites ([-3020%]-[−65.6%]). WWTP-based mass loading of BHT accounted for ∼4%–10% of the total production volume reported in the USA, whereas ∼1.0% of the annual production of BHT was discharged from WWTP through effluents. BHT present in personal care products was estimated to explain for >91% of the mass loading source into WWTPs.

对于废水处理厂（WWTP）中的合成酚类抗氧化剂（SPA）及其代谢产物的发生和去向，人们知之甚少。在这项研究中，根据废水进水中确定的浓度，检查了5种SPA的库存，来源，质量负荷和排放，包括2,6-二叔丁基-4-羟基甲苯（BHT）及其4种代谢产物。 ，从两个污水处理厂（分别称为污水处理厂_A和污水处理厂_B）收集的主要废水，最终废水，悬浮颗粒物（SPM）和污泥）在纽约州的奥尔巴尼地区。进水中SPAs（ΣSPAs= 6种化合物，包括代谢物）和SPA代谢物（Σmetabolites= 4种代谢物）总和的中位数浓度分别为2455–3330和290–465 ng / L，以及1580–1604和511–822 ng / L最终废水中的L。污泥的吸附（ΣSPA的干重为2420–4680 ng / g干重）约占SPA去除量的1％。污水处理厂中BHT的去除效率（RE）在62.3％至76.2％之间，而SPA代谢物的去除率（[-3020％]-[-65.6％]）。基于污水处理厂的BHT的大量装载量占美国报告的总生产量的约4％–10％，而每年污水处理厂的BHT的约1.0％是通过废水排放的。据估计，个人护理产品中存在的BHT可解释超过91％的污水处理厂负荷量来源。