An Investigation of the Biological Risk of Ozone Treatment of EDCs Contaminated Water

Title: An investigation of the biological risk of ozone treatment of EDCs contaminated water

Authors: Hyun Kyung KIM¹, Liping Li², King Lun YEUNG ^2,3

Institutions:

¹ Department of Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China.

² Division of Environment, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China.

³ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China.

 

Abstract Body:

            The growing number of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) found in aquatic environment is a growing environmental and health concern. EDCs interfere with normal hormonal function of endocrine system affecting normal growth, reproduction and behaviour with long-term health implication. Many studies suggest the use of ozone for treating this minute but potent pollutant, being among the more efficient advanced oxidation process. However, the reaction can be complex with formation of many products and by-products of varying reactivity and toxicity. Therefore, the present study aims to evaluate the performance of ozone in treating three EDCs, namely, triclosan, N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (DEET) and chlorpropham that find uses in personal care products and food preservation. Mass measurement techniques based on UPLC-UV, HPLC-MS, GC-MS and TOC were used to identify and quantify the EDCs and degradates, while their biological potencies including (anti-) estrogenic effect, genotoxicity and actute toxicity were measured using Yeast Estrogenic Screen (YES), SOS/umu genotoxicity assay and microtox assay. An attempt was made to link major degradates with the measured biological potency to uncover the complex interaction among the pollutants and their degradates following ozone treatment.