We investigated the occurrence and removal of four benzotriazoles (BTs) (benzotriazole: BT; 5-methyl-benzotriazole: 5-TTri; 5-chloro-benzotriazole: CBT; 5,6-dimethyl-benzotriazole: XTri) and six UV filters (benzophenone-3: BP-3; 3-(4-methylbenzylidene)camphor: 4-MBC; octyl 4-methoxycinnamate: OMC; 2-(3-t-butyl-2-hydroxy-5-methylphenyl)-5-chloro benzotriazole: UV-326; 2-(2′-Hydroxy-5′-octylphenyl)-benzotriazole: UV-329; octocrylene: OC) in a full scale municipal wastewater treatment in South Australia. BT, 5-TTri and BP-3 were found as the dominant compounds detected in the wastewater samples with average concentrations up to 5706 ± 928 ng/L, 6758 ± 1438 ng/L and 2086 ± 1027 ng/L in influent, and up to 2439 ± 233 ng/L, 610 ± 237 ng/L and 153 ± 121 ng/L in effluent, respectively. In the biosolid, 4-MBC and OC were found with the highest concentrations of 962 ± 135 ng/g and 465 ± 65 ng/g, respectively. Sorption onto sludge played a dominant role in the removal for UV filters, especially for 4-MBC, UV-326 and OC, which accounted for 54%–92% of influent loads, while biological degradation played a significant role for the other compounds.

Foliar δ³⁴S values of three soil-growing plant species (Platanus Orientalis L., Osmanthus fragrans L. and Cinnamomum camphora) have been analyzed to indicate atmospheric sulfur. The foliar δ³⁴S values of the three plant species averaged −3.11±1.94‰, similar to those of both soil sulfur (−3.73±1.04‰) and rainwater sulfate (−3.07±2.74‰). This may indicate that little isotopic fractionation had taken place in the process of sulfur uptake by root or leaves. The δ³⁴S values changed little in the transition from mature leaves to old/senescing leaves for both the plane tree and the osmanthus tree, suggestive of little isotope effect during sulfur redistribution in plant tissues. Significantly linear correlation between δ³⁴S values of leaves and rainwater sulfate for the plane and osmanthus trees allowed the tracing of temporal variations of atmospheric sulfur by means of foliar sulfur isotope, while foliage δ³⁴S values of the camphor is not an effective indicator of atmospheric sulfur.