Occurrence and removal of endocrine disrupting chemicals in wastewater

This paper discusses the occurrence and removal of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in Horsham sewage treatment plant (STP), West Sussex, UK. Photodegradation aided by a catalyst (TiO₂) was studied for its efficiency of removing EDCs from wastewater. The degradation of estrone and 17β-estradiol under natural sunlight followed a pseudo-first-order kinetics, with a rate constant of 0.01 h^-1. The degradation by sunlight is also independent of initial chemical concentration, suggesting some potential of using this environmentally friendly method for waste minimisation. In comparison, more efficient degradation was observed with UV irradiation (253 nm), with the rate constants being increased to 2.7 and 2.5 h^-1 for the two compounds. Subsequent application of the photocatalysis method to real effluent treatment at Horsham STP was successful, as demonstrated by the non-detection of the target compounds following treatment.