Separation and Concentration of Endocrine Disruptors in Aqueous and Saline Solution by Pervaporation

Abstract

Endocrine disruptors, such as dioxin and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), are affecting the development and reproduction of humans and animals, and are, therefore, of major concern to the environment. In this work, separation from aqueous solutions of several endocrine disruptors such as dibenzo-P-dioxin, diethvlphthalate (DEP) and co-planar PCB (3, 3', 4, 4' -tetrachlorobiphenyl, TCB) has been investigated by pervaporation. The relationship between the separation factor of endocrine disruptors and their physical properties, i.e. saturated vapor pressure (P_vap) and hydrophobicity (log P_ow, octanol-water partition coefficient) was discussed.
Pervaporation experiments through polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membranes were performed using aqueous feed solutions of several endocrine disruptors. The theoretical relationship between α (separation factor) and physical parameters (i.e., P_vap and log P_ow) has been developed in this study as follows
α^∞logP_ow·p_vap(ED)
The relationship between the separation factor of endocrine disruptors and log P_ow·P_vap (ED) based on the above theoretical equation showed a relative good relationship (r=0.883) as theoretically predicted.
We also succeeded to remove endocrine disruptors by pervaporation of sea water at Enoshima island. In summary, hydrophobic endocrine disruptors, such as polychlorinated dioxin and PCBs, can be removed very effectively from an aqueous feed solution and aqueous salt solution using hydrophobic PDMS membranes by pervaporation.