Analysis and occurrence of typical endocrine-disrupting chemicals in three sewage treatment plants

摘要

Seven typical endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), including bisphenol A (BPA),n4-tert-octylphenol (OP), estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), 17a-estradiol (17a-E2), estriol (E3)nand 17a-ethinylestradiol (EE2) in wastewater, were simultaneously determined with gasnchromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Samples, including influents, effluents andnwastewater of different unit processes, were taken seasonally from three different sewagentreatment plants. The result showed that BPA and EE2 were the two main types of EDCs innall the samples. The average concentration of BPA were in the range of 268.1–2,588.5 ng l21nin influents and 34.0–3,099.6 ng l21 in effluents, while EE2 ranging from 133.1 to 403.2 ng l21nand from 35.3 to 269.1 ng l21, respectively. Seasonal change of EDCs levels in effluents wasnobvious between wet season and dry season. Besides, BPA and E3 could be effectivelynremoved by the biological treatment processes (oxidation ditch and A2/O) with the unit removalnof 64–91% and 63–100% for each compound, while other five EDCs had moderate or lownremoval rates. The study also proved that physical treatment processes, including screening,nprimary sedimentation and pure aeration, had no or little effect on EDCs removal.