Prioritization of chemicals in personal care products based on persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) potential: An Indian perspective.

Numerous organic ingredients present in Personal care products (PCPs) are being detected in sewage which has a high potential to impact the environment. These compounds are called as Emerging contaminants (ECs) or Contaminants of emerging concern. However, the information on the source and occurrence of ECs present in PCPs is very minimal. Specifically, information on the persistence (P), bioaccumulation (B) and toxicity (T) is very scarce. The determination of PBT properties is a complex task given the magnitude of chemicals, thus it is necessary to have a tool to quickly screen and prioritize the most important compounds. Estimation Program Interface (EPI) Suite™ is one such tool authorized by United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) for screening purposes. In the present study, several organic compounds present in the PCPs viz. body lotion, sunscreens, moisturizers, hair dyes, and some hair care products were identified and their PBT property was estimated. The results from the study indicate that the order of increasing occurrence of PBT chemicals is sunscreens > moisturizers > body lotion > hair care products > hair dyes. The prioritized compounds were given rank 1 (maximum concern) to rank 4 (minimum concern). From the results, the compounds octocrylene in sunscreens and butylphenyl methylpropional in body lotions were prioritized as Rank 1.

Assessment on biodegradability prediction of tannery wastewater using EPI Suite BIOWIN model.

Biodegradation of organic compounds would reveal important information on the final fate of a chemical in the environment. However, establishing biodegradability and fate of a chemical is cumbersome. In this scenario, the use of multimedia models help in predicting the fate and half-life of any compound to establish biodegradability. The study commenced with collection of wastewater samples, after primary and secondary treatment, from a Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) treating tannery wastewater. The samples were subjected to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. The GC-MS analysis identified that polyphenolic compounds were detected after biological treatment. The identified compounds emanated from tanning, dyeing, and fatliquoring process of leather making. Estimation Program Interface (EPI) Suite BIOWIN 3 and BIOWIN 4 model prediction revealed that while the primary biodegradation time-frame ranged from days to weeks, the ultimate biodegradation took weeks in the case of all the detected compounds. This study established that BIOWIN model could be used as a screening tool to determine biodegradability of complex chemicals used in tanneries and help to design better treatment facility with enhanced efficiency for removal of polyphenolic compounds. This methodology can also be applied to other industrial wastewaters containing recalcitrant chemicals, and with the help of BIOWIN model, information on biodegradability of chemicals present in the wastewater can be obtained.