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Photodegradation of estrone and 17beta-estradiol in water

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 07:02 authored by Y Zhang, J L Zhou, B Ning
The TiO2-assisted photodegradation of two natural female hormones, estrone (E1) and 17beta-estradiol (E2), was investigated in two UV-photo-reactors, followed by solid-phase extraction and analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The degradation of E1 and E2 in both reactors followed the pseudo-first-order kinetics. In reactor 1 (150 W), 97% of compounds were degraded within 4 h of irradiation. Even more rapid degradation was observed in reactor 2 (15 W) where 98% of both compounds disappeared within 1 h, due to the shorter wavelength of UV-light in reactor 2 (fixed at 253 nm) than reactor 1 (238-579 nm). The influences of different initial chemical concentrations, pH value, the presence of dissolved organic matter and hydrogen dioxide, and the catalyst concentration on the degradation rate of E1 and E2 in aqueous solutions were investigated. The results show that the extent of photo-induced degradation of E1 and E2 strongly depends on the water constituents in solution. The degradation rate was increased when pH value increased from 2 to 7.6, beyond which the degradation rate started to decrease. The presence of humic acid enhanced the degradation of E1 and E2 in both reactors as a result of photosensitisation effect of humic acid chromophore. The degradation rate increased with increase of H2O2 concentration. The degradation rate was also enhanced by increasing catalyst concentration up to 2 g/l. The findings therefore suggest that photocatalysis can be a very effective method of rapidly removing certain EDCs from water.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Water Research

ISSN

0043-1354

Issue

1

Volume

41

Page range

19-26

Department affiliated with

  • Biology and Environmental Science Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

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