| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 環境工程學系 === 104 === The issues of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) have raised concerns in recent years since various kinds of EDCs may cause adverse effects on organisms. To understand the removal of EDCs in the wastewater treatment processes, wastewater samples from 6 domestic wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and 1 swine WWTP in Taiwan were analyzed in this study. Recombinant yeast reporter gene assays were used to detect whether WWTPs samples showed aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and progesterone receptor (PR) disrupting activities. In addition, 12 target EDCs were selected and analyzed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, and the contributions of known and unknown EDCs to the bioassay-derived endocrine disrupting activities were evaluated.
Results of recombinant yeast reporter gene assays showed that AhR agonist and PR antagonist activities could be detected in water (W) and suspended solids (SS) of WWTP samples, whereas no samples showed PR agonist activities. AhR agonist and PR antagonist activities were more often found in SS samples than in W samples, and receptor disrupting activities in influents and effluents of swine WWTP were usually higher than those in domestic WWTPs. β-Naphthoflavone and nonylphenol equivalent concentrations showed a downward tendency after treatment of WWTPs. Also, removal efficiencies of primary WWTPs were lower than those of secondary WWTPs and swine WWTP.
Results of liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry showed that bisphenol A, indirubin, methyl paraben, nonylphenol, progesterone, propyl paraben, triclocarban and triclosan could be found in samples from Taiwanese WWTPs. Amount of target compounds detected in W samples varied; however, triclosan concentrations were usually the highest in SS samples. The estimated AhR agonist and PR antagonist activities calculated from liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry results were usually lower than the bioassay-derived AhR agonist and PR antagonist activities, which may be due to unknown EDCs showing AhR agonist and PR antagonist activities.
In conclusion, various kinds of EDCs were detected in the treated effluents of domestic and swine WWTPs in Taiwan. Therefore, effluents of WWTPs may be one of the main sources of EDCs in Taiwanese aquatic environment, thus more attention should be paid to the impacts on receiving waters.
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