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.