Priority and emerging pollutants in the Moscow rain

Phthalate ester levels in agricultural soils of greenhouses, their potential sources, the role of plastic cover material, and dietary exposure calculated from modeled concentrations in tomato

Soil samples collected from 50 greenhouses (GHs) cultivated with tomatoes (plastic-covered:24, glass-covered:26), 5 open-area tomato growing farmlands, and 5 non-agricultural areas were analyzed in summer and winter seasons for 13 PAEs. The total concentrations (Σ13PAEs) in the GHs ranged from 212 to 2484 ng/g, wheeas the concentrations in open-area farm soils were between 240 and 1248 ng/g. Σ13PAE in non-agricultural areas was lower (35.0 - 585 ng/g). PAE exposure through the ingestion of tomatoes cultivated in GH soils and associated risks were estimated with Monte Carlo simulations after calculating the PAE concentrations in tomatoes using a partition-limited model. DEHP was estimated to have the highest concentrations in the tomatoes grown in both types of GHs. The mean carcinogenic risk caused by DEHP for tomato grown in plastic-covered GHs, glass-covered GHs, and open-area soils were 2.4 × 10-5, 1.7 × 10-5 and 1.1 × 10-5, respectively. Based on Positive Matrix Factorization results, plastic material usage in GHs (including plastic cover material source for plastic-GHs) was found to be the highest contributing source in both types of GHs. Microplastic analysis indicated that the ropes and irrigation pipes inside the GHs are important sources of PAE pollution. Pesticide application is the second highest contributing source.

Benzo[a]pyrene in Moscow road dust: pollution levels and health risks

Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) is one of the priority pollutants in the urban environment. For the first time, the accumulation of BaP in road dust on different types of Moscow roads has been determined. The average BaP content in road dust is 0.26 mg/kg, which is 53 times higher than the BaP content in the background topsoils (Umbric Albeluvisols) of the Moscow Meshchera lowland, 50 km east of the city. The most polluted territories are large roads (0.29 mg/kg, excess of the maximum permissible concentration (MPC) in soils by 14 times) and parking lots in the courtyards (0.37 mg/kg, MPC excess by 19 times). In the city center, the BaP content in the dust of courtyards reaches 1.02 mg/kg (MPC excess by 51 times). The accumulation of BaP depends on the parameters of street canyons formed by buildings along the roads: in short canyons (< 500 m), the content of BaP reaches maximum. Relatively wide canyons accumulate BaP 1.6 times more actively than narrow canyons. The BaP accumulation in road dust significantly increases on the Third Ring Road (TRR), highways, medium and small roads with an average height of the canyon > 20 m. Public health risks from exposure to BaP-contaminated road dust particles were assessed using the US EPA methodology. The main BaP exposure pathway is oral via ingestion (> 90% of the total BaP intake). The carcinogenic risk for adults is the highest in courtyard areas in the south, southwest, northwest, and center of Moscow. The minimum carcinogenic risk is characteristic of the highways and TRR with predominance of nonstop traffic.

Insights into the geographical distribution, bioaccumulation characteristics, and ecological risks of organophosphate esters

Organophosphate esters (OPEs), as flame retardants and plasticizers, have been numerously explored regarding the occurrence and ecotoxicology. Given their toxicity, persistency and bio-accumulative potential, however, they may pose negative effects on ecosystems, regarding which is a growing global concern. Accordingly, the present review systematically analyses the recent literature to (1) elucidate their worldwide distribution, bioaccumulation, and biomagnification potential, (2) determine their interim water quality criteria (i.e., effect thresholds), and (3) preliminarily assess the ecological risks for 32 OPEs in aquatic ecosystems. The results showed that the spatiotemporal distribution of OPEs was geographically specific and closely related to human activities (i.e., megacities), especially halogenated-OPEs. We also found that precipitation of airborne particulates could affect the concentrations of OPEs in soil, and there was a positive correlation between the bioaccumulation and hydrophobicity of OPEs. Tris(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate may exhibit high bioaccumulation in aquatic organisms. A substantial difference was found among interim water quality criteria for OPEs, partly attributable to the variation of their available toxicity data. Tris(phenyl) phosphate (TPHP) and tris(1,3-dichloroisopropyl) phosphate with the lowest predicted no-effect concentration showed the strongest toxicity of growth and reproduction. Through the application of the risk quotient and joint probability curve, TPHP and tris(chloroethyl) phosphate tended to pose moderate risks, which should receive more attention for risk management. Future research should focus on knowledge gaps in the mechanism of biomagnification, derivation of water quality criteria, and more precise assessment of ecological risks for OPEs.

Application of clusterization algorithms for analysis of semivolatile pollutants in Arkhangelsk snow

The best way to understand the environmental status of a certain region involves thorough non-target analysis, which will result in a list of pollutants under concern. Arkhangelsk (64° 32' N 40° 32' E, pop. ~ 344,000) is the largest city in the world to the north of the 60^th parallel. Several industrial enterprises and the "cold finger" effect represent the major sources of air contamination in the city. Analysis of snow with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry allows detecting and quantifying the most hazardous volatile and semivolatile anthropogenic pollutants and estimating long-term air pollution. Target analysis, suspect screening, and non-target analysis of snow samples collected from ten sites within the city revealed the presence of several hundreds of organic compounds including 18 species from the US EPA list of priority pollutants. Fortunately, the levels of these compounds appeared to be much lower than the safe levels established in Russia. Phenol and dioctylphthalate could be considered as the pollutants of concern because their levels were about 20% of the safe thresholds. ChromaTOF® Tile, MetaboAnalyst software platform, and open-source software protocols were applied to process the obtained data. The obtained clusterization results of the samples were generally similar for various tools; however, each of them had certain peculiarities. Bis(2-ethylhexyl) hexanedioate, benzyl alcohol, phthalates, aniline, dinitrotoluenes, and fluoranthene showed the strongest influence on the clusterization of the studied samples. Possible sources of the major pollutants were proposed: car traffic and pulp and paper mills.

Associations of prepubertal urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations with pubertal onset among a longitudinal cohort of boys

BACKGROUND

Although phthalate exposures have been associated with adverse effects on male reproductive health, few studies have explored longitudinal associations with male pubertal development.

OBJECTIVES

We examined the association of prepubertal urinary concentrations of phthalate metabolites with age at pubertal onset in a prospective cohort of Russian boys.

METHODS

At enrollment at ages 8-9 years, medical history, dietary, and demographic information was collected. At entry and annually, physical examinations and pubertal staging [Genitalia (G), Pubarche (P), and testicular volume (TV, in ml)] were conducted and spot urines were collected. Prepubertal urine samples (defined as either TV = 1, 2 and G = 1, 2 or TV = 3 and G = 1) were pooled for each boy and phthalate metabolite concentrations were quantified using isotope dilution LC-MS/MS at Moscow State University. We measured 15 metabolites including those from anti-androgenic parent phthalates (AAPs) such as di (2-ethylhexyl) (DEHP) and di-isononyl (DiNP) phthalates as well as monobenzyl (MBzP), mono-n-butyl (MnBP), and mono-isobutyl (MiBP) metabolites. We calculated the molar sums of DEHP (∑DEHP), DiNP (∑DiNP), and AAP (∑AAP) metabolites. Separate interval-censored models were used to assess associations of quartiles of prepubertal phthalate metabolites with each pubertal onset indicator, G2+, P2+ and TV > 3 mL, adjusted for covariates and urine specific gravity.

RESULTS

304 boys had 752 prepubertal urine samples (median 2, range: 1-6) for pooling. In adjusted models, higher urinary AAPs were consistently associated with later pubertal onset (P2) with mean shifts ranging from 8.4 to 14.2 months for the highest versus lowest quartiles. Significantly later onset for G2 and TV > 3 mL was observed for higher versus lower quartiles of MiBP, MBzP, ∑DEHP and ∑DiNP.

CONCLUSIONS

On average, boys with higher concentrations of prepubertal urinary AAPs had later pubertal onset by six months to over a year. The impact of AAPs on timing of male puberty may be attributable to disruption of androgen-dependent biological pathways.

Aqueous Chlorination of D-Limonene

Limonene (1-methyl-4-(1-methylethenyl)-cyclohexene) is one of the most widespread monocyclic terpenes, being both a natural and industrial compound. It is widely present in the environment, including in water supplies. Therefore, it may be subjected to aqueous chlorination at water treatment stations during drinking water preparation. Besides, being a component of numerous body care and cosmetic products, it may present at high levels in swimming pool waters and could also be subjected to aqueous chlorination. Laboratory experiments with aqueous chlorination of D-limonene demonstrated the prevalence of the conjugated electrophilic addition of HOCl molecule to the double bonds of the parent molecule as the primary reaction. The reaction obeys the Markovnikov rule, as the levels of the corresponding products were higher than those of the alternative ones. Fragmentation pattern in conditions of electron ionization enabled the assigning of the structures for four primary products. The major products of the chlorination are formed by the addition of two HOCl molecules to limonene. The reactions of electrophilic addition are usually accompanied by the reactions of elimination. Thus, the loss of water molecules from the products of various generations results in the reproduction of the double bond, which immediately reacts further. Thus, a cascade of addition-elimination reactions brings the most various isomeric polychlorinated species. At a ratio of limonene/active chlorine higher than 1:10, the final products of aqueous chlorination (haloforms) start forming, while brominated haloforms represent a notable portion of these products due to the presence of bromine impurities in the used NaOCl. It is worth mentioning that the bulk products of aqueous chlorination are less toxic in the bioluminescence test on V. fischeri than the parent limonene.

Halogen substitution reactions of halobenzenes during water disinfection

Although being successfully applied all over the world for more than 100 years water disinfection by means of chlorination possesses certain drawbacks, first of all formation of hazardous disinfection by-products (DBP). Aromatic halogenated DBPs significantly contribute to the total organic halogen and developmental toxicity of chlorinated water. The present study deals with investigation of possible substitution of one halogen for another in aromatic substrates in conditions of aqueous chlorination/bromination. The reaction showed high yields especially in case of substrates with proper position of an activating group in the aromatic ring. Thus, ipso-substitution of iodine by chlorine is the main process of aqueous chlorination of para-iodoanisole. Oxidation of the eliminating I⁺ ions into non-reactive IO₃^- species facilitates the substitution. Oxidation of eliminating Br⁺ is not so easy while being highly reactive it attacks initial substrates forming polybrominated products. Substitution of iodine and bromine by chlorine may also involve migration of electrophilic species inside the aromatic ring resulting in larger number of isomeric DBPs. Substitution of chlorine by bromine in aromatic substrates during aqueous bromination is not so pronounced as substitution of bromine by chlorine in aqueous chlorination due to higher electronegativity of chlorine atom. However, formation of some chlorine-free polybrominated products proves possibility of that process.

Oxidation of small aromatic compounds in rainwater by UV/H2O2: Optimization by response surface methodology

The presence of aromatic compounds in rainwater is a matter of concern, mainly when the use of rainwater in buildings is intended. The present work aimed to assess the oxidation of a mixture of small aromatic compounds (benzoic, 3,5-dihydroxybenzoic and syringic acids) in rainwater by the UV/H₂O₂ process, and the possibility of its optimization by the response surface methodology. The extent of oxidation was assessed by ultraviolet-visible and molecular fluorescence spectroscopies. During the oxidation of the mixture new chromophoric compounds were formed at an initial stage, but they were then degraded at a later stage. The increase of the H₂O₂ concentration, resulted in a higher extent of oxidation, while the initial pH value showed no influence in the oxidation of the mixture. The optimization of the oxidation was performed using the uniform design with the factors: initial H₂O₂ concentration, initial pH, and reaction time. The response surface model found, through the best subsets regression, described the extent of oxidation as function of the following variables: initial H₂O₂ concentration and reaction time, interaction between them, and also their respective quadratic forms. The optimal conditions, the lowest H₂O₂ concentration (3.1 mM) for a selected maximum reaction time (4 h), were applied to rainwater samples spiked with the mixture of contaminants and resulted in an extent of oxidation higher than 99.5%, validating the application of the model to real samples. Therefore, the UV/H₂O₂ process coupled to its optimization via response surface methodology may be an alternative for rainwater treatment in buildings.

Transformation of Organic Compounds during Water Chlorination/Bromination: Formation Pathways for Disinfection By-Products (A Review)

The purity of drinking water is an important issue of the human life quality. Water disinfection has saved millions people from the diseases spread with water. However, that procedure has a certain drawback due to formation of toxic organic disinfection products. Establishing the structures of these products and the mechanisms of their formation and diminishing their levels in drinking water represent an important task for chemistry and medicine, while mass spectrometry is the most efficient tool for the corresponding studies. The current review throws light upon natural and anthropogenic sources of the formation of disinfection by-products (DBPs) and the mechanisms of their formation related to the structural peculiarities and the presence of functional groups. In addition to chlorination, bromination is discussed since it is used quite often as an alternative method of disinfection, particularly, for the purification of swimming pool water. The benefits of the contemporary GC/MS and LC/MS methods for the elucidation of DBP structures and study of the mechanisms of their formation are discussed. The reactions characteristic for various functional groups and directions of transformation of certain classes of organic compounds in conditions of aqueous chlorination/bromination are also covered in the review.

Occurrence of Volatile and Semi-Volatile Organic Pollutants in the Russian Arctic Atmosphere: The International Siberian Shelf Study Expedition (ISSS-2020)

Environmental issues in the Arctic region are of primary importance due to the fragility of the Arctic ecosystem. Mainly persistent organic compounds are monitored in the region by nine stationary laboratories. Information on the volatile (VOC) and semi volatile (SVOC) organic priority pollutants is very limited, especially for the Russian Arctic. Air samples from 16 sites along the Russian Arctic coast from the White Sea to the East Siberian Sea were collected on sorption tubes packed with Tenax, Carbograph, and Carboxen sorbents with different selectivity for a wide range of VOCs and SVOCs in 2020 within the framework of the International Siberian Shelf Study Expedition on the research vessel Akademik Keldysh. Thermal desorption gas chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry with Orbitrap was used for the analysis. Eighty-six VOCs and SVOCs were detected in the air samples at ng/m3 levels. The number of quantified compounds varied from 26 to 66 per sample. Benzoic acid was the major constituent, followed by BTEX, phenol, chloroform, bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, and carbon tetrachloride. The study allowed for obtaining the first ever data on the presence of 138 priority pollutants in the air of Russian Arctic, whereas the thorough assessment of their possible sources will be the aim of a next investigation.

Estimating temporal and spatial levels of PAHs in air using rain samples and SPME analysis: Feasibility evaluation in an urban scenario

There is a growing interest in evaluating the role of concentration changes of contaminants in temporal and spatial gradients. This is often relevant for fast moving environmental phases such as air and water. In this paper, small volumes of rainwater were sampled as proxy for air concentrations of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs): rain was collected in three sampling sites (high traffic, restricted traffic and a low traffic zone) in Como. Solid phase micro extraction (SPME) was used for the extraction to reduce required sample volumes, allowing the acquisition of more samples in time. Rain samples highlighted a spatial and temporal variability along a traffic gradient in the Como city, especially for the most abundant PAH, e.g. phenanthrene. Air concentrations were then estimated from rain concentrations. The results show that this is a cheap and promising method, although requiring rainfall/snowfall conditions, that can be used to perform monitoring campaign of air concentrations at a higher temporal and spatial resolution than the adopted standard methods (e.g. high-volume air samplers). The results could be employed for evaluation of the exposure, emission profiles and calibration of fate models.

GC-HRMS with Complementary Ionization Techniques for Target and Non-target Screening for Chemical Exposure: Expanding the Insights of the Air Pollution Markers in Moscow Snow

Environmental exposure assessment is an important step in establishing a list of local priority pollutants and finding the sources of the threats for proposing appropriate protection measures. Exposome targeted and non-targeted analysis as well as suspect screening may be applied to reveal these pollutants. The non-targeted screening is a challenging task and requires the application of the most powerful analytical tools available, assuring wide analytical coverage, sensitivity, identification reliability, and quantitation. Moscow, Russia, is the largest and most rapidly growing European city. That rapid growth is causing changes in the environment which require periodic clarification of the real environmental situation regarding the presence of the classic pollutants and possible new contaminants. Gas chromatography - high resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-HR-TOFMS) with electron ionization (EI), positive chemical ionization (PCI), and electron capture negative ionization (ECNI) ion sources were used for the analysis of Moscow snow samples collected in the early spring of 2018 in nine different locations. Collection of snow samples represents an efficient approach for the estimation of long-term air pollution, due to accumulation and preservation of environmental contaminants by snow during winter period. The high separation power of GC, complementary ionization methods, high mass accuracy, and wide mass range of TOFMS allowed for the identification of several hundred organic compounds belonging to the various classes of pollutants, exposure to which could represent a danger to the health of the population. Although quantitative analysis was not a primary aim of the study, targeted analysis revealed that some priority pollutants exceeded the established safe levels. Thus, dibutylphthalate concentration was over 10-fold higher than its safe level (0.001 mg/L), while benz[a]pyrene concentration exceeded Russian maximal permissible concentration value of 5 ng/L in three samples. The large amount of information generated during the combination of targeted and non-targeted analysis and screening samples for suspects makes it feasible to apply the big data analysis to observe the trends and tendencies in the pollution exposome across the city.

Quality assessment of environmental water by a simple and fast non-ionic hydrophobic natural deep eutectic solvent-based extraction procedure combined with liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry for the determination of plastic migrants

A non-ionic hydrophobic natural deep eutectic solvent (HNADES) based on thymol and menthol was proposed for the liquid-liquid microextraction of fourteen phthalates and one adipate from environmental water samples. Separation, identification, and quantification were achieved by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. The main factors affecting the extraction efficiency were thoroughly studied. Sample pH of 8 and 100 μL of thymol:menthol at molar ratio 2:1 were selected as the best conditions, while ionic strength and type of dispersant solvent were not relevant for the extraction of the target compounds. The whole methodology was validated for treated wastewater, runoff, and pond water matrices, using di-n-butyl phthalate-3,4,5,6-d₄ and dihexyl phthalate-3,4,5,6-d₄ as surrogates. Recovery ranged from 70 to 127% with relative standard deviation values lower than 14%. Limits of quantification of the method were in the range 0.042-0.425 μg/L for treated wastewater, 0.015-0.386 μg/L for runoff, and 0.013-0.376 μg/L for pond water. The methodology was applied for the analysis of real treated wastewater, runoff, and pond water samples from different places of Tenerife and Gran Canaria (Canary Islands) finding the presence of diethyl phthalate, diallyl phthalate, dipropyl phthalate, benzylbutyl phthalate, di-n-butyl phthalate, bis-(2-n-butoxyethyl) phthalate, di-n-pentyl phthalate, dicyclohexyl phthalate, and bis-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate at concentrations between 105.2 and 3414 ng/L.

Polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) in the Canadian environment: A review of sampling techniques, strategies and instrumentation

A wide variety of sampling techniques and strategies are needed to analyze polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) and interpret their distributions in various environmental media (i.e., air, water, snow, soils, sediments, peat and biological material). In this review, we provide a summary of commonly employed sampling methods and strategies, as well as a discussion of routine and innovative approaches used to quantify and characterize PACs in frequently targeted environmental samples, with specific examples and applications in Canadian investigations. The pros and cons of different analytical techniques, including gas chromatography - flame ionization detection (GC-FID), GC low-resolution mass spectrometry (GC-LRMS), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with ultraviolet, fluorescence or MS detection, GC high-resolution MS (GC-HRMS) and compound-specific stable (δ¹³C, δ²H) and radiocarbon (Δ¹⁴C) isotope analysis are considered. Using as an example research carried out in Canada's Athabasca oil sands region (AOSR), where alkylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and sulfur-containing dibenzothiophenes are frequently targeted, the need to move beyond the standard list of sixteen EPA priority PAHs and for adoption of an AOSR bitumen PAC reference standard are highlighted.

Peat burning - An important source of pyridines in the earth atmosphere

Studies of the chemical composition of atmospheric aerosols, rain water and snow in various regions of the globe quite often show the presence of pyridine and a number of its low mass derivatives. Nevertheless, the sources of those compounds in the environment have not yet been established and definitely require elucidation, supported by reliable experimental results. In the present work the chemical composition of peat combustion products as one of the important sources of atmospheric aerosol emission is studied by two-dimensional gas chromatography - high-resolution mass spectrometry with a focus on the detection of pyridine derivatives. Twenty-five compounds of this class were reliably identified and quantified in laboratory experiments on peat burning. Among them 3-hydroxypyridine predominates, while the rest analytes are mostly represented by alkyl derivatives: pyridine, 2-methylpyridine, 3-methylpyridine, 2,5-dimethylpyridine, 2,6-dimethylpyridine, 2-ethylpyridine, lutidines (in order of decreasing concentration). The distribution of these combustion products coincides with that obtained earlier in environmental studies carried out in Arctic, Central Russia and France. The experiments on peat thermal decomposition by pyrolysis GC-MS demonstrated that the maximum concentrations as well as the number of detected analytes were found under conditions of oxygen lack and a temperature of about 500 °C, i.e. characteristic conditions of peat wildfires. The observed levels of pyridines' emission recalculated on the peat dry weight exceeded 200 mg kg^-1. Considering hundreds of millions tons of peat burning in megafires over 20,000 tons of pyridines penetrate the Earth atmosphere annually. The obtained results allow concluding that peat burning may be the major and still underestimated source of pyridine and lower alkylpyridines in the Earth atmosphere.

Photolytic and photocatalytic degradation of doxazosin in aqueous solution

Doxazosin (DOX), a selective alpha blocker, is widely used in medical therapy as an effective antihypertensive agent. It is a frequently prescribed drug and for this reason, environmental and ecotoxicological research is of great importance in terms of exposure and risk for both aquatic species and humans. In this study we focused on photolytic and TiO₂ photocatalytic degradation processes of doxazosin under different simulated conditions, with the emphasis on identification of degradation products. Photolytic (without TiO₂) experiments were performed in the presence and absence of oxygen, while photocatalytic degradation of doxazosin aqueous solution has been carried out under constant oxygen flow. DOX degradation was more efficient in the TiO₂/UVA photocatalytic experiment than during photolytic processes (UVA and UVC, UVC-N₂). LC-HRMS analyses with electrospray ionization allowed observing the formation of several major degradation products depending on the reaction conditions (presence or absence of oxygen, photocatalysis). The transformation products were identified based on exact mass measurements, isotopic distribution, and fragmentation pattern. Among them, dominated C₁₇H₂₁N₅O₃ and C₁₇H₂₃N₅O₄ (cleavage of the dioxane cycle), and C₂₃H₂₅N₅O₇ (hydroxylation). The detailed degradation pathway has been proposed. Toxicity testing with V. fischeri luminescent bacteria revealed higher toxicity of samples in photolytic rather than photocatalytic experiments which might be attributed to the formation of different products.

Arctic snow pollution: A GC-HRMS case study of Franz Joseph Land archipelago

Anthropogenic pollution of the Arctic atmosphere is of great interest due to the vulnerability of the Arctic ecosystems, as well as the processes of global transport and accumulation of atmospheric aerosols at high latitudes under conditions of cold climate. The present work throws light upon chemical composition of Arctic snow as a natural deposition matrix for atmospheric semi-volatile pollutants taken from the northernmost Arctic archipelago - Franz Josef Land, which is least affected by local sources of pollution and being a unique unstudied environmental object. The used methodology involved the liquid-liquid extraction of snow samples with dichloromethane and combination of targeted and non-targeted analyses of semi-volatile organic compounds with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography - high-resolution mass spectrometry. While almost none of the known priority pollutants (except three dialkylphthalates) were identified in the studied samples, non-targeted screening revealed a specific class of biomass burning biomarkers - fatty amides with oleamide being the major component among them. Some peculiar organic pollutants (N,N-dimethylcyclohexylamine and N,N-dimethylbenzylamine) were identified in few samples. First results on the semi volatile pollutants in Franz Joseph Land snow were obtained using the most reliable GC × GC-HRMS non-target analysis.

Emerging pollutants in water environment: Occurrence, monitoring, fate, and risk assessment

The occurrence of emerging pollutants (EPs) is continuously reported worldwide. Nevertheless, only few of these compounds are toxicologically evaluated due to their vast numbers. Reliable analytical methods and toxicity assessment methods are the basis of either the management or the elimination of EPs. In this paper, literature published in 2018 on EPs were reviewed with special regard to their occurrence, detection methods, fate in the environment, and ecological toxicity assessment. Particular focus was placed on practical considerations, novel processes, and new solution strategies. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Literature published in 2018 on emerging pollutants were reviewed. This review article is with special regard to the occurrence, detection methods, fate and toxicity assessment of emerging pollutants. Particular focus was placed on practical considerations, novel processes and new solution strategies.