Removal of bisphenol A at full-scale wastewater treatment plants and antagonistic effects of chlorogenic acid on it

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a ubiquitous emerging organic contaminant with potential endocrine-disrupting effects. Inefficient removal of BPA from WWTPs are the main routes for it to enter the environment. This study evaluated efficiency of BPA in two full-scale wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) employing anaerobic/anoxic/oxic-membrane bioreactor with hollow fiber ultrafiltration (AAO-MBR/UF) and multi-level anoxic/oxic activated sludge process (M-AO) with coagulation-flocculation (CF) process. According to the results, both processes achieved effective BPA removal, with AAO-MBR/UF demonstrating higher biodegradation efficiency. The CF process made further removal of BPA after M-AO process. Additionally, we investigated the antagonistic effect of chlorogenic acid (CGA) on BPA cardiotoxicity in zebrafish. CGA significantly mitigated BPA-induced developmental and cardiac toxicity, likely through competitive binding to myosin. These findings highlight the potential removal and the protective role of CGA against BPA cardiotoxicity, offering valuable insights for environmental risk management and potential therapeutic applications.