Removal of Androgens and Estrogens from Water by Reactive Materials

Nowadays, endocrine disruptor compounds in the water system have become a concern due to the risk of contamination to wild life and humans even at the nanogram level. Excess estrogens and androgens are a major contributor group of endocrine compounds. Statistical surveys have shown that dairy farms contribute to over 90% of the total estrogens in the UK and US. An analytical system is being developed to assess the efficiency of reactive materials to remove target hormonal contaminants from dairy farm effluent. This can be achieved using reporter gene assays (RGAs) to detect low level steroid hormones. A preliminary study comparing the efficiency of granular activated carbon, zero-valent iron, and organoclay was carried out using bench-scale evaluations in negative control HPLC water. Their potential ability to remove testosterone and 17-β-estradiol spiked at reported environmental levels was measured by androgenic and estrogenic luminescent reporter assay respectively.