Biological Wastewater Treatment and Estrogenic Endocrine Disrupting Compounds: Importance of Colloid Organic Carbon
Publication: Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Management
Volume 7, Issue 4
Abstract
Understanding the behavior of estrogenic endocrine disrupting compounds (EEDCs) during biological wastewater treatment is a critical aspect of protecting aquatic ecosystems and drinking water supplies. Binding coefficients of 17β-estradiol (E2), and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) to colloidal organic carbon (COC) derived from several biological wastewater unit processes was quantified by fluorescence quenching. The magnitude of for E2 and EE2 was independent of the sorbate’s hydrophobicity but was strongly correlated to the molar extinction coefficient at 280 nm This suggests that the interactions between the π-electrons of E2 and EE2 and the COC are important in determining binding behavior. The coefficients are related to the aerobic sludge age and colloid capture efficiency of the wastewater treatment process. Treatment processes that utilize a physical barrier for liquid-solid separation, such as membrane bioreactors, appear to offer some important advantages in reducing effluent E2 and EE2 concentrations. These results indicate that the colloid phase plays an important role in E2 and EE2 behavior during biological wastewater treatment and colloid transport of these, and possibly other estrogenic compounds, should be considered in any water reuse scenario or environmental modeling application.
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Published In
Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Management
Volume 7 • Issue 4 • October 2003
Pages: 289 - 296
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 9, 2003
Accepted: Jun 9, 2003
Published online: Sep 15, 2003
Published in print: Oct 2003
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