Removal of steroid estrogens in advanced wastewater treatment plant

• 1、Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
• 2、School of Civil Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009 China
• 3、China Machinery International Engineering Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd., Changsha 410007, China
• 4、Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China

Abstract：The removal effect and regularity of steroid estrogens in a wastewater treatment plant with advanced treatment process was studied by the methods of solid phase extraction, gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. The results showed that five steroid estrogens were detected in the influent with mean concentration from 52.1 to 450.8 ng/L, which were higher than those in the United States and other European countries. The average removal rate of steroid estrogens in the advanced wastewater treatment system was 67.4%~97.9%. Among them, the removal rate of estrogens in the secondary biological treatment stage was higher than that in the primary treatment stage and the third treatment stage. Furthermore, the concentrations of estrogens in the effluent of the wastewater treatment plant and excess sludge were 6.5~137.0 ng/L and 12.8~54.5 ng/g, respectively. We should pay more attention to their harm.

Keywords： steroid estrogens advanced wastewater treatment process methods of solid phase extraction, gas chromatography and mass spectrometry removal