State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, No. 163 Xianlin Avenue, Qixia District, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023, China.
School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Anning West Road No. 88, Lanzhou 730070, China.
Water Res. 2022 Mar 1;211:118038. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2022.118038. Epub 2022 Jan 3.
This study investigated the overall occurrence and spatiotemporal variation of 19 progestogens in 608 samples collected from 17 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) distributed across China during four seasons. The aqueous removal efficiencies of progestogens were calculated and the efficacies of process segments, secondary and advanced processes, and process units in the removal of progestogens were explored. The results indicated that progestogens were widely detected in investigating WWTPs, with the progesterone, dydrogesterone, dienogest, ethisterone, and norethindrone were always dominant in the influent, secondary effluent, final effluent, and excess sludge. Seasonally, the influent exhibited more variability than the other matrices, that 10 progestogens concentrations varied significantly during the four seasons. Spatially, the influent concentrations of progestogens were generally higher in northern WWTPs than that in southern WWTPs during spring and summer. Eight progestogens were stably removed by the WWTPs across seasons, and most progestogens varied considerably in removal in different WWTPs. The conventional process segment was the dominant contributor to progestogen removal. The anaerobic-anoxic-oxic process and a combined process consisting of densadeg and cloth media filter and ultraviolet disinfection showed the highest removal of progestogens among various secondary and advanced treatment processes, respectively. Mass balance analysis showed that most progestogens were effectively eliminated in the aerobic unit, with biodegradation being the primary removal pathway. This study presents the first picture of the spatiotemporal dynamics of the distribution of progestogens in WWTPs of China and provides valuable information for better understanding of the occurrence and removal of progestogens in WWTPs.
本研究调查了 17 个分布在中国各地的污水处理厂（WWTP）在四个季节共 608 个样本中 19 种孕激素的总体出现情况和时空变化。计算了孕激素的水相去除效率，并探讨了工艺段、二级和高级工艺以及去除孕激素的工艺单元的效率。结果表明，孕激素在调查的 WWTP 中广泛检出，在进水、二级出水、最终出水和剩余污泥中，孕酮、地屈孕酮、孕二烯酮、乙炔雌二醇和诺孕酮总是占主导地位。季节性方面，进水的变化比其他基质更大，10 种孕激素浓度在四个季节均有显著差异。空间上，春夏季北方 WWTP 的进水孕激素浓度普遍高于南方 WWTP。有 8 种孕激素在整个季节均稳定地被 WWTP 去除，而且大多数孕激素在不同 WWTP 的去除率变化很大。常规工艺段是孕激素去除的主要贡献者。厌氧-缺氧-好氧工艺和由 densadeg 和布质滤料过滤器以及紫外线消毒组成的组合工艺分别是各种二级和高级处理工艺中孕激素去除率最高的。质量平衡分析表明，大多数孕激素在好氧单元中被有效消除，生物降解是主要的去除途径。本研究首次描绘了中国 WWTP 中孕激素分布的时空动态，为更好地了解 WWTP 中孕激素的出现和去除提供了有价值的信息。
