Micropollutants contaminate the water worldwide. Among them are steroid hormones that cannot be eliminated efficiently by conventional processes. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have now developed an innovative filtration system that combines a polymer membrane with activated carbon. As the size of the carbon particles is very small, it is possible to reach the reference value of 1 nanogram estradiol—the physiologically most effective estrogen—per liter drinking water proposed by the European Commission. The improved method is reported in Water Research.
Often, drinking water is contaminated with micropollutants. Among them are steroid hormones that are used as medical substances and contraceptives. Their concentration in one liter water, into which treated wastewater is fed, may be a few nanograms only, but this small amount may already damage human health and affect the environment. Due to the low concentration and small size of the molecules, steroid hormones not only are difficult to detect, but also difficult to remove. Conventional sewage treatment technologies are not sufficient.
Professor Andrea Iris Schäfer, head of KIT’s Institute for Advanced Membrane Technology (IAMT) and her team have now developed an innovative method for the quick and energy-efficient elimination of steroid hormones from wastewater. Their technology combines a polymer membrane with activated carbon. ”First, water is pressed through a semipermeable membrane that eliminates larger impurities and microorganisms,” Schäfer explains. ”Then, water flows through the layer of carbon particles behind, which bind the hormone molecules.”
Source: Phys.org
Finnish site 
Global site