Removal of endocrine disrupting compounds in municipal wastewater by membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems

Abstract

Environmental pollution with persistent chemicals becomes an increasingly important issue worldwide. In this study, the fate and removal mechanisms of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) and the effect of opertaion parameters on EDCs and their conjugates removal efficiency during wastewater treatment were investigated. The detailed study includes the comparison of removal performance of estrone (E1), 17C -estradiol (E2), 17N1-ethinylestradiol (EE2), Bisphenol A (BPA), 4-Nonylphenol (NP) and overall estrogenicity from municipal wastewater in MBRs and STPs; examination of fate of EDCs in anoxic-aerobic pilot MBRs; study of the elimination kinetics of EDCs under different initial concentration and MLSS concentration; study of the adsorption kinetics for EDCs and conjugates under different pH, and study of the influence of SRT, HRT and anoxic zone on the elimination capacity of EDCs. This study obtained a more in-depth understanding of EDCs removal in MBRs. With the in-depth understanding, MBRs can be operated with best EDCs removal performance.