Toxicologia Ambiental e Analítica

Determination of Estrogens in Raw and Treated Wastewater by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Ultraviolet Detection

Abstract

Ana Paula Fonseca, Massano Cardoso and Valdemar Esteves

Determination of natural and synthetic estrogens in Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTP) is fundamental for risk assessment regarding the endocrine disrupting effects in the aquatic environment. A methodology of analysis based on HPLC procedure with UV detection and a C18 analytical column has been developed for the simultaneous determination of estrogens in water samples in less than 9 minutes. The estrogens analysed were estrone, 17 β-estradiol, 17 α-ethinylestradiol and estriol. A pre-concentration of the analytes in water samples, was achieved using a SPE procedure with polymeric Strata-X cartridges. Average recoveries of the hormones ranged between 85-120% of concentrations tested. The use of SPE-HPLC method allows limits of detection of 0.089 μg L-1 for estrone, 0.25 μg L-1 for estradiol, 0.45 μg L-1 for estriol and 0.11 μg L-1 for ethinylestradiol. Samples collected from nine WWTP´s raw wastewaters and treated wastewaters located at the Portugal Central Region, were analyzed and the concentrations obtained were in the range of 0.15-0.72 μg L-1 for estrone, 0.10-0.51 μg L-1 for estradiol, and 0.11-0.23 μg L-1 for ethinylestradiol.