Xenobiotics and products of their transformation in wastewater (literature review)

Abstract

Many different chemical pollutants get into the hydrosphere with wastewater. An essential source of xenobiotic transfer into the aquatic environment is wastewater treatments plants. The widespread use of drugs, personal care products, cosmetic products, household chemicals, disinfectants and insecticides is directly reflected in their presence in the aquatic environment. It is the reason for the appearance of these chemical components and products of their transformation in surface waters, groundwater, and drinking water. Besides, various industries lead to the formation of a large amount of wastewater contaminated with textile dyes, oil products, silicones, phenols and their derivatives, phthalate ethers, bisphenol A and other substances capable of causing harm to water bodies, harming aquatic biota or even inflicting damage to ecosystems. Substances that have entered wastewater can be transformed into many other compounds during water purification and afterwards under environmental factors. The transformation products can be more toxic than the parent compounds, and some can convert back to the parent compounds under various factors. The search of sources describing researches dedicated to pollutants and their transformation in aqueous systems was carried out in the English-speaking text databases: PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, Web of Science, Research Gate, Springer Link and scientific electronic library - eLIBRARY.ru.