Determinação do estrógeno 17 β-estradiol (E2), em uma estação de tratamento de efluentes

Abstract

In this paper it was applied an analytical method in order to perform the verification of the efficiency of removal of the sex hormone 17β-estradiol (E2) in a wastewater treatment plant, evaluating the degradation of this compound by conventional treatment used at this station, located in the municipality of Curitiba-PR. First it was constructed a calibration curve - concentrations between 5 e 1000 µgL-1 - using E2 standards to assess the linearity of the response in this range. Then tests were performed on solid phase extraction (SPE) cartridges in ultra-pure water in order to check the recovery of these hormones for further pre-concentration. Sewage samples were taken both upstream and downstream of a sewage treatment plant, which were then filtered through glass-fiber membrane and divided into aliquots of 300 mL, which were divided into aliquots without and with addition of standard (50, 100 and 300 ngL-1), pre-concentrated using SPE, reconstituted, and finally analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with a fluorescence detector (HPLC-FD). Recoveries in water were higher than 95%, while the recoveries in sewage were between 40 and 70%. As a result of analyzes it was concluded that characteristic chromatographic peaks of E2 were not found and E2 concentration was below the limit of detection and quantitation established in this paper.