Kalmar ECO-TECH '07 KALMAR, SWEDEN , No vember 26-28, 2007 REMOVAL OF STEROID HORMONES AND PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS IN WASTEWATER BY CHEMICAL PRECIPITATION Eva Eriksson Heidi Birch Henrik R. Andersen Mogens Henze Technical University of Denmark, Denmark ABSTRACT The presence of steroid hormones and endocrine disrupting compounds (EDC) in the environment has been connected with the drop in semen quality in men and the number of hem1aphrodite fish observed downstream wastewater treatment plants. EDC originating from down-the-drain chemicals can be reduced by mitigation options but the naturally occurring hormones must be removed though end-of-pipe treatment. In this study, coagulation and flocculation as well as these two techniques combined with sorption were applied to remove estrone, I 7P-estradiol and the synthetic hormone I7a-ethynylestradiol as well as the preservatives methyl paraben, ethyl paraben, propyl paraben, butyl paraben and isobutyl paraben from primary and secondary treated municipal wastewater. It was found that coagulation with both iron and aluminium together with an anionic flocculant successfully removed organic matter and dissolved phosphorous but not the hormones and only up to 30% of the parabens. This was seen both in the chemical analyses of the individual substances and we ll as in an assay of the oestrogenic effects. Applications of powdered activated carbon pre- and post the chemical coagulation-flocculation significantly increased the oestrogen removal, which is consistent with existing literature. The treatment processes in the studied wastewater treatment plant removed both the oestrogens and the parabens to below the limit of detection, though a detectable but small oestrogenicity in the effluent cannot be disregarded. KEYWORDS Coagulation; Estrogens; Flocculation; Oestrogens; Parabens; Powdered activated carbon; Sorption, Xenobiotic organic compounds; YES assay. I INTRODUCTION The presence of steroid hormones and endocrine disrupting compounds (EDC) in the environment has received a growing attention since the 1990 ·s. The connection between exposure to oestrogen honnones and other organic chemicals and the drop in semen quality seen in men has been put forward by Sharp and Skakkebxk [I]. Hormones and EDC does not only affect humans but also other organisms and oestrogenic effects have been observed, for example, in rainbow trout in wastewater affected recipients [2 ,3]. These effects are caused by the exposure from excreted natural hom1ones and synthetic oestrogens from contraceptive 793 https://doi.org/10.15626/Eco-Tech.2007.085