Retinoic acid receptor (RAR) is a nuclear receptor involved in vertebrate morphogenesis, growth, cellular differentiation, and tissue homeostasis. Excess expression of the retinoid signaling can cause various developmental toxicities in animals and humans. We previously found that influents from sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Japan had a RAR agonistic activity and the activity cannot be removed completely by conventional biological treatments. In this study, we assessed the performance of chemical and physical sewage treatment technologies—ozonation, ultraviolet treatment, chlorination, coagulation using polyaluminium chloride (PAC) and ferric sulfate, and filtration with ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF), and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes—in removal of RAR agonistic activity of STP effluent. All water treatment experiments were conducted in laboratory-scale reactors. The RAR agonistic activity of samples was measured using a yeast two-hybrid assay. Results showed that the effectiveness of tested technologies on the removal of RAR agonistic activity can be ranked as RO or NF > chlorination > ozonation > MF > UV > coagulation with ferric sulfate>>coagulation with PAC. Furthermore, the effectiveness of chlorination might rank lower because excess reaction might bring a side effect by producing some RAR agonistic by-product(s).
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Research Article|
June 01 2009
Evaluation of effectiveness of chemical and physical sewage treatment technologies for removal of retinoic acid receptor agonistic activity detected in sewage effluent
D. Inoue;
1Division of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita Osaka 565-0871, Japan E-mail: inoue@wb.see.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp; Matsui.Hisae@ap.MitsubishiElectric.co.jp; sei@see.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp; ike@see.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp
E-mail: inoue@wb.see.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp
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H. Matsui;
H. Matsui
1Division of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita Osaka 565-0871, Japan E-mail: inoue@wb.see.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp; Matsui.Hisae@ap.MitsubishiElectric.co.jp; sei@see.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp; ike@see.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp
2Advanced Technology R&D Center, Mitsubishi Electric, 8-1-1 Tsukaguchi-Honmachi, Amagasaki Hyogo 661-8661, Japan E-mail: jun.aragane@cao.go.jp; hirotsuji@china.meap.com
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K. Sei;
K. Sei
1Division of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita Osaka 565-0871, Japan E-mail: inoue@wb.see.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp; Matsui.Hisae@ap.MitsubishiElectric.co.jp; sei@see.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp; ike@see.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp
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J. Hu;
J. Hu
3College of Environmental Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China E-mail: hujy@urban.pku.edu.cn
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M. Yang;
M. Yang
4State Key Lab of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China E-mail: yangmin@rcees.ac.cn
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J. Aragane;
J. Aragane
2Advanced Technology R&D Center, Mitsubishi Electric, 8-1-1 Tsukaguchi-Honmachi, Amagasaki Hyogo 661-8661, Japan E-mail: jun.aragane@cao.go.jp; hirotsuji@china.meap.com
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J. Hirotsuji;
J. Hirotsuji
2Advanced Technology R&D Center, Mitsubishi Electric, 8-1-1 Tsukaguchi-Honmachi, Amagasaki Hyogo 661-8661, Japan E-mail: jun.aragane@cao.go.jp; hirotsuji@china.meap.com
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M. Ike
M. Ike
1Division of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita Osaka 565-0871, Japan E-mail: inoue@wb.see.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp; Matsui.Hisae@ap.MitsubishiElectric.co.jp; sei@see.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp; ike@see.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp
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Water Sci Technol (2009) 59 (12): 2447–2453.
Citation
D. Inoue, H. Matsui, K. Sei, J. Hu, M. Yang, J. Aragane, J. Hirotsuji, M. Ike; Evaluation of effectiveness of chemical and physical sewage treatment technologies for removal of retinoic acid receptor agonistic activity detected in sewage effluent. Water Sci Technol 1 June 2009; 59 (12): 2447–2453. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2009.249
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