SCNU Environmental Research Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution and Environmental Safety & MOE Key Laboratory of Environmental Theoretical Chemistry, South China Normal University, Guangzhou510006, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Culture Collection and Application State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Guangdong Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou510070, PR China.
Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center for Life and Health of River & Lake, Pearl River Hydraulic Research Institute, Pearl River Water Resources Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources, Guangzhou510611, China.
Water Res. 2021 Mar 15;192:116836. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2021.116836. Epub 2021 Jan 14.
Steroid hormones are endocrine-disrupting chemicals that can cause adverse effects even at trace levels. The information about steroid hormones in animal wastes is still very limited. Here we investigated the occurrence and fate of fourteen androgens, twenty-one progestogens, and five glucocorticoids in Farm Luo Cheng (LC) and Farm Shui Tai (ST) with integrated wastewater treatment systems (WTSs) in South China. These two integrated systems have four stages: primary treatment (primary sedimentation tank), secondary biological treatment (biogas digester and up-flow anaerobic sludge reaction bed (UASB)), third-stage disinfection process, and fourth-stage dilution and further biodegradation process (oxidation fish ponds/lagoons). A total of 31 target steroid hormones were detected in the wastewater of the two swine farms, with concentrations ranging from 0.12 ng/L (medroxyprogesterone acetate, MPA) to 11,200 ng/L (5α-dihydroprogesterone, 5α-DHP). A total of 22 target steroid hormones were detected in feces, of which 19 were detected in Farm LC and 17 in Farm ST. Some of these detected steroids were synthetic chemicals, which might be parent chemicals from exogenous addition or their metabolites, or transformation products from other natural steroids. The steroids excretion of sows in swine farms were estimated, with some steroids such as androstenedione (AED, 41.5 μg/d), epiandrosterone (EADR, 268 μg/d), progesterone (P, 661 μg/d), and 5α-DHP (982μg/d) having much higher values than those from human bodies. Both WTSs in the swine farms could effectively remove the target steroid hormones, with the removal rates of most targets exceeding 90%. In comparison, the anaerobic digester-A/O (anaerobic-anoxic-oxic)-lagoon system performed better in removing steroids than the up-flow anaerobic sludge reaction bed (UASB)-two-stage series (A/O)-oxidation fish ponds system. However, there were still 22 steroid hormones, including 14 synthetic ones detected in the effluent, with the risk quotients of most synthetic steroids exceeding 1, showing high risks to aquatic organisms. The findings from this study showed that there is a wide presence of steroid hormones, especially some synthetic steroids in animal wastes, posing potential ecological risks, and these steroids should be removed before discharge to the environment.
甾体激素是内分泌干扰化学物质，即使在痕量水平下也可能产生不良影响。关于动物废物中甾体激素的信息仍然非常有限。在这里，我们调查了华南罗城（LC）和水台（ST）两个具有综合废水处理系统（WTS）的农场中十四种雄激素、二十一种孕激素和五种糖皮质激素的发生和归宿。这两个综合系统有四个阶段：一级处理（一级沉淀池）、二级生物处理（沼气消化池和上流厌氧污泥反应床（UASB））、三级消毒过程和四级稀释和进一步生物降解过程（氧化鱼塘/泻湖）。在这两个养猪场的废水中共检测到 31 种目标甾体激素，浓度范围为 0.12ng/L（醋酸甲羟孕酮，MPA）至 11200ng/L（5α-二氢孕酮，5α-DHP）。在粪便中检测到 22 种目标甾体激素，其中 19 种在 LC 农场检测到，17 种在 ST 农场检测到。其中一些检测到的类固醇是合成化学品，可能是外源添加的母体化学品或其代谢物，或来自其他天然类固醇的转化产物。估计了养猪场母猪的类固醇排泄量，其中一些类固醇，如雄烯二酮（AED，41.5μg/d）、表雄酮（EADR，268μg/d）、孕酮（P，661μg/d）和 5α-DHP（982μg/d）的排泄量远高于人体。养猪场的两个 WTS 都能有效地去除目标甾体激素，大多数目标的去除率超过 90%。相比之下，厌氧消化池-A/O（厌氧-缺氧-好氧）-泻湖系统在去除类固醇方面的效果优于上流厌氧污泥反应床（UASB）-两级串联（A/O）-氧化鱼塘系统。然而，在废水中仍检测到 22 种甾体激素，其中包括 14 种合成甾体激素，大多数合成甾体激素的风险商数超过 1，对水生生物存在高风险。本研究结果表明，动物废物中存在广泛的甾体激素，尤其是一些合成甾体激素，存在潜在的生态风险，在排放到环境之前应予以去除。
