Research On The Distribution Of Hormones In Songhua River And Drinking Water Treatment Processes

Estrogens and progestational hormones are important kinds of endocrine disruptingchemicals (EDCs). Their occurrence in the aquatic environments, although in very lowconcentration levels, may have potentially adverse impacts on ecosystems and humanhealth. Studying their distrubitions in Harbin section of Songhua River basin can assistthe comprehensive understantding of the water quality of Songhua River, as well asprovide data support for related researches and decision making.This thesis employed an online SPE-UPLC-MS/MS system to build up a rapid andeffective method for the determination of estrogens and progestational hormones inriver water. Method determin limits were at the range of0.1~1.0ng/L and low enough tomeet the demand of trace analysis.In Harbin section of Songhua River, the concentration ranges of E1, E2, E3andEE2were ND~25.5ng/L, ND~9ng/L, ND~19.5ng/L and ND~8.7ng/L respectively, andthe concentration ranges of CPA and LNG were ND~12.7ng/L and ND~3.4ng/Lrespectively. GES was not detected in any water samples. Generally, the overallconcentration of all target compounds was higher in the north of the river than in thesouth of the river. The concentration also increased in lower reaches of the river andpopulation centers. In the snowmelt period and the wet season of2014, theconcentrations of all target compounds were higher than that in the dry season of2013.By studying the ratio of E1to E2, the author inferred that the occurrence of thesecontaminants in Songhua River was affected by human activities.The result of the ecological risk assessment showed that the occurrence of naturalestrogens and LNG might have adverse effect on the ecosystem. The outcome of theestrogenic activity analysis also showed that the EEQ values of each sampling site werehigher than the predicted no effet concentration. Therefore, some measures may beneeded to control the contamination.This paper also studied the removal effects of estrogens and progestationalhormones by traditional drinking water treatment processes and advanced treatmentprocesses. The result showed that traditional drinking water processes cannot removetarget compounds completely. The removal rate of coagulation sedimentation processwas less than40%, and the removal rate of sandfiltration process was less than20%. Insome cases, the concentration of effluents were higher than that of influents.Ozonation can effectively remove target compounds from water. The removal ratewas effected by the ozone dose and the initial concentration of target compounds. Whenthe ozone doses ranged from1.5~3.0mg/L, the removal rates ranged from90%~97%.The removal rates decreased slightly when the initial concentrations of targetcompounds were low. The ozonation products of E1was studied in the laboratory. The result indicated that E1was degraded to smaller molecules.The removal effects of the biological activated carbon (BAC) unit and theultrafiltration unit were not as good as the ozonation unit. BAC unit could remove about70%of E2and E3, but the removal rates of E1and EE2were less than20%. Theremoval rates of ultrafiltration ranges from65%~85%. The combination of ozonationunit, BAC unit and ultrafiltration unit had excellent removal effects. Almost all targetcompounds could be removed in the combined process.