Preliminary Study On The Estrone-3-Sulphate Presence And Arylsulphatase Activity In Sewage Treatment And The Receiving Waterbody

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) in water was a widely concern. It is ableto activate or inhibit the aquatic biological endocrine system function, leading to theaquatic sex ratio imbalance, affecting the population density, and threateningecological system and human health through the food chain. Oestrone (E1),17β-oestradiol (E2) and17α-ethinyloestradiol (EE2) have the highest oestrogenicpotential. They cause the gonadal dysfunction at the ng/L level, thus are known asendocrine disruptors which should be given priority emission control in sewagetreatment plants. Free estrogens transform to conjugated estrogens with no oestrogenicactivity by the catabolism of liver, and excreted with urine. The sulfuric acid conjugatedestrogen from the sewage effluent or in the sewage treatment process do not have theoestrogenic activity, and it can be hydrolyzed by arylsulfatase, releasing free estrogenswith endocrine disrupting activity in certain conditions. The concentration of sulfuricacid conjugated estrogen discharged into water is about more than1/2than freeestrogens, thus the environmental risks can not be ignored.E1-3-S, the most stable and the highest level of residue in conjugated estrogens, isthe target chemical. Sampling and analysis of arylsulfatase activity and the value of thetypical environmental factors that have effects on arylsulfatase activity in ChongqingSewage Treatment Plant and receiving waterbody, and the characteration of E1,E2,EE2and E1-3-S concentrations.The spectrophotometric method is used for the detection of arylsulfatase activity insediments in combined system overflow interception of Sewage Treatment Plant, thereceiving waterbody, activated sludge in anaerobic tank, anoxic and aerobic stage ofoxidation ditch. The results were:22.77,40.35,600.26,592.44and586.25μgp-nitrophenol/(g· h). The measured levels of the typical environmental factorsaffecting arylsulfatase activity, such as: pH, temperature, the content of organicsubstance and inorganic sulfate, were also obtained. The variation of arylsulfataseactivity among sampling points should be caused by the different organic substancecontents. Arylsulfatase activity and organic substance content is significantly positivecorrelation（P<0.05）by linear correlation analysis.The controlled laboratory experiment is used for the analysis of correlationbetween arylsulfatase activity and pH, temperature, organic and inorganic sulfate content. pH values have a significant effect on arylsulfatase activity (P<0.05), and whenthe pH value is6.2, arylsulfatase activity is the highest, when pH is less than6.2, theactivity of arylsulfatase increase with the increase of pH, when pH is greater than6.2,the activity of arylsulfatase decrease with the increase of pH. Temperatures have asignificant effect on arylsulfatase activity (P<0.05), the optimum temperature is30℃,and the activity of arylsulfatase decrease when lower or higher than30℃. The increaseof inorganic sulfate concentration significantly reduced arylsulfatase activity, and thereis a significant negative relationship between arylsulfatase activity and the content ofinorganic sulfate (P<0.05) by regression analysis. In the non soil environment,arylsulfatase activity decrease with the increasing glucose, methanol, humic acid andorganic matter content, and decrease with increasing days of culture, indicating thatorganic substance have inhibition activity on arylsulfatase activity. In the soilenvironment, arylsulfatase activity increases with the increase content of glucose andhumic acid, and increase with increasing days of culture, indicating that glucose andhumic acid can promote the arylsulfatase activity in the soil.The concentrations of E1, E2, EE2and E1-3-S in influent, anaerobic tank,oxidation ditch, the effluent of Sewage Treatment Plant and receiving waterbody areobtained by HPLC-MS-MS. The removal rate of E1, E2, EE2and E1-3-S is81.2%,86.9%,78.3%and72.8%respectively for Sewage Treatment Plant. The total estrogenconcentration of receiving waterbody is6.5ng/L, which is higher than the interferencethreshold1.0ng/L, and the concentration of E1-3-S (4.3ng/L) in receiving waterbody is45.3%of the E1’s concentration. E1-3-S can be hydrolyzed by arylsulfatase, releasingE1with endocrine disrupting activity in certain environmental conditions.