Literature Review on Chemical Safety in the Fourth Treatment Stage

Literature review for assessing the impacts of the oxidative fourth treatment stage (KARL) on chemical safety and for deriving potential courses of action. The research covers the following aspects: oxidative processes currently in use and expected in the 4th treatment stage; formation of transformation products (TPs) from plant protection products, biocides, pharmaceutical active ingredients, and REACH chemicals by oxidative 4th treatment stage and relevant influencing factors; suitability of conventional biological post-treatment methods for TP retention; particularly concerning TPs and their formation mechanisms; research status on PFAS degradation in oxidative 4th treatment stage; established methods for investigating chemical transformation under oxidative conditions and their potential development into OECD test guidelines or integration into existing guidelines, including suitability for high-throughput screening; methods for investigating potential toxicity increases due to oxidative 4th treatment stage, especially rapid and animal-free procedures (New Approach Methodologies, NAMs); methodological approaches for investigating a potential increase in persistence or mobility of TPs, particularly rapid screening methods for complex substance mixtures without prior individual substance identification; Insilico methods (e.g., QSAR models) for predicting oxidative TPs and their degradation pathways, their suitability for predicting or excluding problematic TPs, and further research needs; promising options for minimizing the formation of potentially problematic TPs or their retention in drinking water treatment and water reuse. The first two aspects should preferably be based on reviews, incorporating results from the UBA REFOPLAN project 'Spurenstoffsurvey'. The goal is to publish the results as a scientific publication (review). A report in English will serve as the final document and basis for the review, but will not be published separately. Co-authorship with UBA staff is desired.

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