Degradation of Estrogenic Hormones in a Silt Loam Soil

Abstract

Estrogenic hormones are endocrine-disrupting compounds, which disrupt the endocrine system function of animals and humans by mimicking and/or antagonizing endogenous hormones. With the application of sludge biosolid and animal manure as alternative fertilizers in agricultural lands, estrogens enter the soil and become an environmental concern. The degradation kinetics of 17beta-estradiol, an estrogenic hormone of major concern, in a silt loam soil were investigated in this study. It was found that 17beta-estradiol degraded rapidly in nonsterilized soil with a half-life of 0.17 day. The degradation rate constant was proportional to the percentage of nonsterilized soil, indicating that microorganisms are directly responsible for the rapid degradation of 17beta-estradiol in soil. The half-life of 17beta-estradiol in 20% nonsterilized soil was slightly shortened from 1.3 to 0.69 day with the increase of soil moisture from 10 to 20% and was greatly decreased from 4.9 to 0.92 day with the increase of temperature from 15 to 25 degrees C. The coexistence of 40 micromol kg (-1) sulfadimethoxine, a veterinary antibiotic, decreased the degradation rate constant of 17beta-estradiol from 0.750 +/- 0.038 to 0.492 +/- 0.016 day (-1). The degradation kinetics of another three estrogenic hormones, including 17alpha-estradiol, estrone, and estriol, were also investigated and compared. Estrone was identified as a degradation product of 17beta-estradiol and the most persistent hormone among the four investigated estrogens. Estriol was observed in the degradation of estrone and 17alpha-estradiol.

Safety and Effectiveness of Struvite from Black Water and Urine as a Phosphorus Fertilizer

“…In contrast to the persistent organic pollutants in Table 3, estrogenic hormones are degradable in aerobic soil with a half life of days (Scherr et al, 2008;Xuan et al, 2008). However, as the investigation of hormone mimicking compounds in wastewater is still a new area of research, there are entire classes of similar compounds which are virtually uninvestigated (Streck, 2009).…”

Accumulation of steroid hormones in soil and its adjacent aquatic environment from a typical intensive vegetable cultivation of North China

“…The fate of manure-borne hormones in soil has been studied extensively. In laboratory experiments, hormones disappeared within timeframes ranging from several hours to several days under simulated agricultural conditions (Colucci et al, 2001;Xuan et al, 2008). Under actual field conditions, our study shows that these steroids can exist for several months in greenhouse soil.…”

“…This might explain the low content of 17α-E2 in greenhouse soil in this study. Mimic experiments indicated that estrogens such as 17β-E2 degraded within a few days in various soils (Colucci et al, 2001;Lee et al, 2003;Xuan et al, 2008). Despite this, 17β-E2 was frequently detected in surface soil applied animal manure (Jenkins et al, 2009;Mostofa Amin et al, 2014).…”

“…The temperature is also maintained higher than that of the outside environment to enhance vegetable growth. Although high temperatures should accelerate the degradation rate of hormones (Xuan et al, 2008), there were several hormone residues detected in greenhouse soils. Therefore, prior to application to greenhouse soils, heavy manure should be treated, i.e., by composting, to reduce the hormone content (Hakk and Sikora, 2011).…”

Quality of Human Urine Used as Fertilizer: Case of an Ecological Sanitation System in Ouagadougou Peri-Urban Areas-Burkina Faso

“…In the absence of regulation on the occurrence of steroid hormones in effluents, it is difficult to compare our results to others. However, the rapid degradation of hormones in soils has been demonstrated [26]- [28]. To this end, the ecotoxicological risk due to hormones in the urine-based fertilizers would be negligible.…”