Occurrence of estrogenic endocrine disrupting chemicals concern in sewage plant effluent

The purpose of this study was to give a worldwide overview of the concentrations of typical estrogenic endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in the effluent of sewage plants and then compare the concentration distribution of the estrogenic EDCs in ten countries based on the survey data of the estrogenic EDCs research. The concentrations of three main categories (totally eight kinds) of estrogenic EDCs including steroidal estrogens (estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), estriol (E3) and 17 alpha-ethynylestradiol (EE2)), phenolic compounds (nonylphenol (NP) and bisphenol A (BPA)) and phthalate esters (dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and dibutyl phthalate (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP)) in the effluents of sewage plants reported in major international journals over the past decade were collected. The statistics showed that the concentration distributions of eight kinds of EDCs were in the range of ng center dot L-1 to mu g center dot L-1. The concentrations of steroidal estrogens mainly ranged within 50.00 ng center dot L-1, and the median concentrations of E1, E2, E3 and EE2 were 11.00, 3.68, 4.90 and 1.00 ng center dot L-1, respectively. Phenolic compounds and phthalate esters were found at mu g center dot L-1 level (some individual values were at the high level of 40.00 mu g center dot L-1). The median concentrations of BPA, NP, DBP and DEHP were 0.06, 0.55, 0.07 and 0.88 mu g center dot L-1, respectively. The concentrations of phenolic compounds and phthalate esters in the effluents were higher than that of steroids estrogens. The analysis of the concentration in various ten countries showed that steroids estrogens, phenolic compounds and phthalate esters in sewage plant effluents were detected with high concentration in Canada, Spain and China, respectively.