Application of Membrane Science to Remove Endocrine Disrupting Compounds (EDCs) and Pharmaceutically Active Compounds (PhACs): A Review

To date, membrane technology is of great concern while conventional processes are not able to fulfill prosperous separation. The presence of EDCs in the environment indicates that conventional treatment plants (CTPs) may have limited capability to remove these compounds. Membrane process such as membrane bioreactors (MBRs), nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) can produce high quality effluents suitable for reuse applications. Membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology is a promising method for water and wastewater treatment because of its ability to produce high-quality effluent that meets water quality regulations. This paper aimed to provide a review of recent research on feasibility of membrane technology such as MBR, NF and RO and also their application to remove EDCs and PhACs from aqueous solution which are highly harmful and toxic. The major factors which exert influence on the separation of these organic micropollutants have been also studied.

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Nanofiltration of endocrine disrupting compounds

Water Science & Technology Water Supply ◽

10.2166/ws.2003.0184 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 3 (5-6) ◽

pp. 321-327 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

M. Gallenkemper ◽

T. Wintgens ◽

T. Melin

Keyword(s):

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Municipal Wastewater ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽

Endocrine Disrupting Compounds ◽

Municipal Wastewater Treatment ◽

Water And Wastewater Treatment ◽

Wide Range ◽

Endocrine Disrupting ◽

Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽

Set Up

Endocrine disrupting compounds can affect the hormone system in organisms. A wide range of endocrine disrupters were found in sewage and effluents of municipal wastewater treatment plants. Toxicological evaluations indicate that conventional wastewater treatment plants are not able to remove these substances sufficiently before disposing effluent into the environment. Membrane technology, which is proving to be an effective barrier to these substances, is the subject of this research. Nanofiltration provides high quality permeates in water and wastewater treatment. Eleven different nanofiltration membranes were tested in the laboratory set-up. The observed retention for nonylphenol (NP) and bisphenol A (BPA) ranged between 70% and 100%. The contact angle is an indicator for the hydrophobicity of a membrane, whose influence on the permeability and retention of NP was evident. The retention of BPA was found to be inversely proportional to the membrane permeability.

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Ionic Liquids as Green Solvents for the Treatment of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds Using Liquid Membranes

South Asian Journal of Experimental Biology ◽

10.38150/sajeb.5(6).p258-270 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 5 (6) ◽

pp. 258-270

Author(s):

Santhi Raju Pilli ◽

Tamal Banerjee ◽

Kaustubha Mohanty

Keyword(s):

Endocrine Disruptors ◽

Liquid Membrane ◽

Endocrine Disrupting Compounds ◽

Membrane Technology ◽

Liquid Membranes ◽

Green Solvents ◽

Endocrine Disrupting ◽

Water And Wastewater ◽

Living Organisms ◽

Supported Ionic Liquid Membranes

Presence of endocrine disruptors in water and wastewater pose a serious threat to all living organisms. The removal of such disruptors is a major challenge especially most of the time they are present in trace amounts. Several technologies were tested to see if 100% removal can be achieved. Most of the existing technologies failed to achieve the target and have their own limitations. Membrane technology and especially liquid membrane technology has of late generated extreme interest among the researchers working with pollutants in trace amounts. In this work, experiments on three endocrine disruptors such as BPA, PCP and ES are carried out using supported ionic liquid membranes to see their removal efficiencies. The effects of various process parameters were studied to optimize them.

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Removal of endocrine disrupting chemicals and microbial indicators by a decentralised membrane bioreactor for water reuse

Journal of Water Reuse and Desalination ◽

10.2166/wrd.2012.010 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 67-73 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

T. Trinh ◽

B. van den Akker ◽

H. M. Coleman ◽

R. M. Stuetz ◽

P. Le-Clech ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Reuse ◽

Membrane Bioreactor ◽

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals ◽

Membrane Bioreactors ◽

Log10 Reduction ◽

High Quality ◽

Comprehensive Overview ◽

Microbial Indicators ◽

Endocrine Disrupting ◽

Small Footprint

Submerged membrane bioreactors (MBRs) have attracted a significant amount of interest for decentralised treatment systems due to their small footprint and ability to produce high quality effluent, which is favourable for water reuse applications. This study provides a comprehensive overview of the capacity of a full-scale decentralised MBR to eliminate 17 endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and five indigenous microbial indicators. The results show that the MBR consistently achieved high removal of EDCs (>86.5%). Only 2 of the 17 EDCs were detected in the MBR permeate, namely two-phenylphenol and 4-tert-octylphenol. Measured log10 reduction values of vegetative bacterial indicators were in the range of 5–5.3 log10 units, and for clostridia, they were marginally lower at 4.6 log10 units. Removal of bacteriophage was in excess of 4.9 log10 units. This research shows that MBRs are a promising technology for decentralised water reuse applications.

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Detection and removal of estrogencity in membrane biological reactors

Water Science & Technology Water Supply ◽

10.2166/ws.2006.955 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 6 (6) ◽

pp. 19-26 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

J.Y. Hu ◽

X. Chen

Keyword(s):

Estrogenic Activity ◽

Solid Phase ◽

Treatment Plant ◽

Endocrine Disrupting Compounds ◽

Pilot Scale ◽

Membrane Bioreactors ◽

Yeast Cells ◽

Endocrine Disrupting ◽

And Behavior ◽

Fate And Behavior

Three pilot-scale submerged membrane bioreactors (MBRs) in a local wastewater treatment plant (K, M and Z) were studied with the objective to compare the performance of pre-denitrification MBR systems in eliminating the estrogenic activity of the effluent of primary clarifier. A total of 5 batches of samples, which included influent, effluent, supernatant and sludge from the respective aerobic and anoxic tanks were collected over the span. They were investigated by using the developed solid-phase extraction (SPE) protocol coupled with a modified yeast-based estrogen screen (YES) assay. From the results, it could be seen that M MBR demonstrated the best endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) removal efficiency. The fate and behavior of EDCs in MBR systems were fairly understood with estrogenic activity formation dominating in the anoxic tank and removal dominating in the aerobic tank. It is believed that the sorption of EDCs onto the sludge as well as biodegradation of EDCs might be the key mechanisms for the EDCs removal. The low response of YES when dealing with influent samples was mainly due to the inhibition and antagonist effects induced by the influent samples on yeast cells.

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Rejection of organic micropollutants (disinfection by-products, endocrine disrupting compounds, and pharmaceutically active compounds) by NF/RO membranes

Journal of Membrane Science ◽

10.1016/j.memsci.2003.09.005 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 227 (1-2) ◽

pp. 113-121 ◽

Cited By ~ 257

Author(s):

Katsuki Kimura ◽

Gary Amy ◽

Jörg E. Drewes ◽

Thomas Heberer ◽

Tae-Uk Kim ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Endocrine Disrupting Compounds ◽

Organic Micropollutants ◽

Pharmaceutically Active Compounds ◽

Active Compounds ◽

Endocrine Disrupting ◽

By Products

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Practical overview of analytical methods for endocrine-disrupting compounds, pharmaceuticals and personal care products in water and wastewater

Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences ◽

10.1098/rsta.2009.0111 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 367 (1904) ◽

pp. 3923-3939 ◽

Cited By ~ 45

Author(s):

Anna M. Comerton ◽

Robert C. Andrews ◽

David M. Bagley

Keyword(s):

Analytical Methods ◽

Human Impacts ◽

Personal Care Products ◽

Endocrine Disrupting Compounds ◽

Specific Class ◽

Personal Care ◽

Organic Micropollutants ◽

Water And Wastewater Treatment ◽

Endocrine Disrupting ◽

Water And Wastewater

The detection of organic micropollutants, such as endocrine-disrupting compounds, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, in wastewater and the aquatic environment has brought increasing concern over their potential adverse ecological and human impacts. These compounds are generally present at trace levels (ng l −1 ) and in complex water matrices, such as wastewaters and surface waters, making their analysis difficult. Currently, no standardized analytical methods are available for the analysis of organic micropollutants in environmental waters. Owing to the diversity of physico-chemical properties exhibited by the various classes of organic micropollutants, the majority of established analytical methods described in the literature focus on a specific class of compounds, with few methods applicable to multi-class compound analysis. As such, analytical challenges and limitations contribute to the lack of understanding of the effectiveness of drinking water and wastewater treatment processes to remove organic micropollutants. This paper provides a practical overview of current analytical methods that have been developed for the analysis of multiple classes of organic micropollutants from various water matrices and describes the challenges and limitations associated with the development of these methods.

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