Removal of steroid oestrogens in wastewater treatment

Intersex in river fish has been associated with unbiodegraded oestrogens in sewage treatment works (STW) effluents, leading to the proposal that they be regulated by Environmental Quality Standard. Previous literature indicated trickling filters (TF) were not as good as the activated sludge process (ASP) at removing steroid oestrogens. TF were more sustainable than ASP and there are more of them in the UK. One aim of this project was to investigate the performance of TF at removing these oestrogens. The removals of oestrone (E1), 17-β-oestradiol (E2) and 17-α-ethinyl oestradiol (EE2) by a well-controlled pilot-scale trickling filter were 41%–59% for once-through filtration. [Continues.]