Gehring et al. (2002): Sources of Bisphenol A in Wastewater and Sewage Sludge. 1 Sources of Bisphenol A in Wastewater and Sewage Sludge

Bisphenol A is one of the most important and most extensively produced chemicals world-wide. It is mainly processed to polycarbonates and epoxy resins. The estrogen–like effects of bisphenol A have been well–known since 1936 but especially the low–dose effects are still controversially discussed. Possible sources for bisphenol A in wastewater are investigated because a strong increase of the solid–phase bound bisphenol A was observed in German municipal wastewater treatment plants during sludge digestion. First results of experiments focusing on hygiene and recycling paper show that these are distinctly loaded with bisphe-nol A. Only a small part of the BPA was desorbed during DEV S4 leaching tests. The chemi-cal disintegration of polycarbonate and epoxy resins possibly causes the formation of bisphenol A during sewage sludge digestion, i.e. because anaerobic degradation of bisphe-nol A is not described in the literature