Abstract
The photochemical degradation and estrogenicity removal of 17α-ethinylestradiol in aqueous solutions was investigated via ultraviolet (UV) photolysis and UV/H 2O 2 process with a low-pressure UV lamp. The results indicated that the kinetics of both oxidation processes well fitted the pseudo-first-order kinetics. EE 2 can be partially removed by UV radiation alone with kinetic constants increasing from 0.0054 to 0.2753 min −1 with the UV intensity increase. The EE 2 degradation rate enhanced from 0.0364 to 0.0684 min −1 when H 2O 2 was combined with the photolysis process (UV/H 2O 2), even though EE 2 was not oxidized when same amounts of H 2O 2 existed in the aqueous solutions. The kinetic parameters of pseudo-first-order kinetics showed positive correlation to UV intensity and also H 2O 2 concentration, however negative to the initial EE 2 concentration. A regression model was developed for pseudo-first-order rate constant as a function of the UV intensity, H 2O 2 concentration and initial EE 2 concentration, which could be used to estimate the EE 2 degradation rate at various operational conditions. The yeast estrogen screen (YES) was employed to evaluate the estrogenicity of photolytic water samples. Results showed that more than 95% of the estrogenicity was removed after 40 min irradiation and the parent compound EE 2 was mainly responsible for the observed estrogenicity.
Published Version
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