Occurrence and fate of steroid estrogens in the largest wastewater treatment plant in Beijing, China

Abstract

Concern over steroid estrogens has increased rapidly in recent years due to their adverse health effects. Effluent discharge from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is the main pollutant source for environmental water. To understand the pollutant level and fate of steroid estrogens in WWTPs, the occurrence of estrone (E1), 17-β-estradiol (E2), estriol (E3), and 17-β-ethinylestradiol (EE2) was investigated in the Gaobeidian WWTP in Beijing, China. Water samples from influent as well as effluent from second sedimentation tanks and advanced treatment processes were taken monthly during 2006 to 2007. In influent, steroid estrogen concentrations varied from 11.6 to 1.1× 10 2 ng/l, 3.7 to 1.4×10 2 ng/l, no detection (nd) to 7.6×10 2 ng/l and nd to 3.3×10 2 ng/l for E1, E2, E3, and EE2, respectively. Compared with documented values, the higher steroid estrogen concentrations in the WWTP influent may be due to higher population density, higher birthrate, less dilution, and different sampling time. Results revealed that a municipal WWTP with an activated sludge system incorporating anaerobic, anoxic, and aerobic processes could eliminate natural and synthetic estrogens effectively. The mean elimination efficiencies were 83.2%, 96.4%, 98.8%, and 93.0% for E1, E2, E3, and EE2, respectively. The major removal mechanism for natural estrogens and synthetic estrogen EE2 were biodegradation and sorption on the basis of mass balance in water, suspension particles, and sludge. In the WWTP effluent, however, the highest concentrations of E1, E2, E3, and EE2 attained were 74.2, 3.9, 5.1, and 4.6 ng/l, respectively. This is concerning as residual steroid estrogens in WWTP effluent could lead to pollution of the receiving water. Advanced flocculation treatment was applied in the WWTP and transformed the residual estrogen conjugates to free species, which were reduced further by filtration with removal shifting from 32% to 57% for natural estrogen, although no EE2 was removed.

Pyruvate carboxylase as a sensitive protein biomarker for exogenous steroid chemicals

“…Exogenous steroid chemicals are widely detected in a number of water systems, ranging from several to hundreds ng/L (Backe et al, 2011;Chang et al, 2011;Jiang et al, 2012;Zhou et al, 2012). These compounds produce detrimental biological effects even at low ng/L levels (Filby et al, 2007;Leet et al, 2011).…”

“…Estrogenic chemicals, such as estrone (E1), 17b-estradiol (E2), estriol (E3) and 17a-ethinylestradiol (EE2) and androgenic chemicals, such as methyltestosterone, testosterone, and androstenedione have been detected in a number of water systems at concentration levels between 1 and 100 ng/L (Backe et al, 2011;Chang et al, 2011;Jiang et al, 2012;Zhou et al, 2012). Even at low ng/L, these exogenous steroid chemicals have the potential to produce detrimental biological effects.…”

Identification of Thyroid-Receptor Antagonists in Water from the Guanting Reservoir, Beijing, China

“…Due to the widespread application of PAEs, they are the most abundant compounds in aquatic environmental matrices in China (Cai et al 2007). High levels of DBP and other PAEs have been reported in water samples (ng/L to mg/L range) in recent years (Li et al 2010b;Shi et al 2012;Zhou & Liu 2013). Zheng et al (2014) reported that PAEs in Guanting Reservoir might come from municipal sewage and domestic waste and might be influenced by anthropogenic daily activities.…”

Photocatalytic oxidation of 17 -Ethinylestradiol by UV-activated TiO2 in batch and continuous-flow reactor

“…17α-Ethinylestradiol (EE2), a synthetic estrogen that is commonly used as a contraceptive and hormone replacement (Zhou et al, 2012), and other medicinal compounds reach water bodies via urine, feces or manure (Halling-Sorensen et al, 1998). King et al (2016) reported that the concentration of EE2 in Australian wastewater was 0.1 to 0.5 ngL -1 .…”