Estrogen removal from biological pre-treated wastewater within decentralised sanitation and re-use concepts

Two parallel researches were performed; one focused on the fate of estrogens in the biological treatment systems within Decentralised Sanitation and Re-use concepts (DeSaR), second related to the development of a suitable specific removal method. A new affinity membrane was developed using antibodies as specific binding sites for the hormone removal. It was found that especially in anaerobic treatment, the core technology in DeSaR, the removal is insufficient and therefore an additional separation method is required. The affinity membrane with antibodies was found to be a suitable additional method, though in the current system it only removes one selected compound. Future research will focus on making this method more feasible in practise.