Free Synthetic and Natural Estrogen Hormones in Influent and Effluent of Three Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants

• Published in: Water environment research 2007-09, Vol.79 (9), p.969-974
• Main Authors: Chimchirian, Robert F., Suri, Rominder P. S., Fu, Hongxiang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activated sludge; Applied sciences; Biological and medical sciences; Biotechnology; Chemical engineering; E coli; Equilin - analogs & derivatives; Equilin - analysis; Estrogens; Estrogens - analysis; Ethinyl Estradiol - analysis; Exact sciences and technology; Fish; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; gas chromatograph–mass spectrometry; General purification processes; hormone; Hormones; Industrial Waste; Mass spectrometry; Methods. Procedures. Technologies; natural estrogens; Others; Pennsylvania; Plants; Pollution; Reactors; Research Papers; Sewage - analysis; Sewage - chemistry; Sewerage works: sewers, sewage treatment plants, outfalls; Sludge; Solid Phase Extraction; Solubility; Surface water; Suspended solids; synthetic estrogens; Various methods and equipments; Waste Disposal, Fluid - methods; Wastewater; Wastewater treatment; wastewater treatment plant; Wastewaters; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water treatment; Water treatment and pollution; Water treatment plants
• ISSN: 1061-4303; 1554-7531
• DOI: 10.2175/106143007x175843

Three municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in southeastern Pennsylvania were sampled to determine the presence and concentrations of 12 natural and synthetic estrogen hormones in the wastewater influent and effluent. The target estrogens were 17α-estradiol, estrone, estriol, equilin, 17α-dihydroequilin, 17β-estradiol, 17α-ethinyl estradiol, gestodene, norgestrel, levonorgestrel, medrogestone, and trimegestone. One WWTP uses a biofilm reactor (packed-bed trickling filter), and the other two use suspended-growth media (continuously stirred activated sludge reactor and sequential batch reactor). Estrone was detected in all the three plants; estriol and estradiol were detected at two WWTPs; and 17 α-dihydroequilin and 17 α-ethinyl estradiol were detected at one WWTP. The concentration of estrogens in the influent and effluent of the three treatment plants ranged from 1.2 to 259 ng/L and 0.5 to 49 ng/L, respectively. The percentage removal of estrogens from the aqueous phase ranged from 41 to 99%, except in the case of 17α-dihydroequilin; the removal of 17α-dihydroequilin was negligible. The suspended-growth media systems showed higher removal efficiencies for estrogens than the biofilm system. The analytical method uses a Varian C-18 solid-phase extraction (Varian Inc., Palo Alto, California), followed by a derivatization with bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide. The detection limits for the estrogen compounds ranged from 0.1 to 10 ng/L using a sample size of 1 L. The method recoveries ranged from 71 to 120%, and the relative standard deviation ranged from 6 to 14% for all the hormones.