Natural and Synthetic Hormone Degradation using Horseradish Peroxidase Enzyme: Temperature and pH Effects

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Water Research

Volume

40

Issue

15

Publisher

Elsevier

Publication Date

8-2006

First Page

2847

Last Page

2856

Abstract

The primary objective of our research was to establish the technical feasibility of using the horseradish peroxidase (HRP) enzyme for natural and synthetic estrogens–estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol (E2), estriol (E3), and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2)–removal. The effects of temperature and pH on enzymatic treatment kinetics were investigated. Residual estrogen concentrations were quantified by liquid chromatography, coupled with mass spectrometry analysis. In a synthetic solution at pH 7 and 25±1 °C, the HRP enzyme-catalyzed process was capable of achieving 92–100% removal of E1, E2, E3, and EE2 within 1 h of treatment with an HRP activity of 0.017 U/ml. The influence of the pH (5–9) and temperature (5–35 °C) on estrogen removal was observed to be significant, with the optimum pH near neutral conditions. The results also showed that wastewater constituents significantly impact the HRP-catalyzed estrogen removal. The experimental research proved that the HRP-catalyzed system is technically feasible for the removal of the main estrogens present in the environment at low concentrations.

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS