The removal of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) by a laboratory-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) fed with synthetic sewage was evaluated and moreover, compared with that by a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) operated under same conditions in parallel. Eight kinds of typical EDCs, including 17β-estradiol (E2), estrone (E1), estriol (E3), 17α-ethynilestradiol (EE2), 4-octylphenol (4-OP), 4-nonylphenol (4-NP), bisphenol A (BPA) and nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPnEO), were spiked into the feed. Their concentrations in influent, effluent and supernatant were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method. The overall estrogenecity was evaluated as 17β-estradiol equivalent quantity (EEQ), determined via yeast estrogen screen (YES) assay. E2, E3, BPA and 4-OP were well removed by both MBR and SBR, with removal rates more than 95% and no significant differences between the two reactors. However, with regard to the other four EDCs, of which the removal rates were lower, MBR performed better. Comparison between supernatant and effluent of the two reactors indicated that membrane separation of sludge and effluent, compared with sedimentation, can relatively improve elimination of target EDCs and total estrogenecity. By applying different solids retention times (SRTs) (5, 10, 20 and 40 d) to the MBR, 10 and 5 d were found to be the lower critical SRTs for efficient target EDCs and EEQ removal, respectively.
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Research Article|
November 01 2011
Removal of typical endocrine disrupting chemicals by membrane bioreactor: in comparison with sequencing batch reactor
Yingjun Zhou;
Yingjun Zhou
1State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
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Xia Huang;
1State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
E-mail: [email protected]
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Haidong Zhou;
Haidong Zhou
1State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
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Jianhua Chen;
Jianhua Chen
1State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
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Wenchao Xue
Wenchao Xue
1State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
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Water Sci Technol (2011) 64 (10): 2096–2102.
Article history
Received:
September 03 2009
Accepted:
January 22 2010
Citation
Yingjun Zhou, Xia Huang, Haidong Zhou, Jianhua Chen, Wenchao Xue; Removal of typical endocrine disrupting chemicals by membrane bioreactor: in comparison with sequencing batch reactor. Water Sci Technol 1 November 2011; 64 (10): 2096–2102. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2011.426
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