1. Presented By: Natasha Sinha
Nonylphenol Degradation During Wastewater Treatment - Importance of Nitrifying Bacteria
Presented By: Natasha Sinha

2. Motivation:  USGS Surface Water Reconnaissance (Kolpin et al., 2002)
Comparison of 4 Compounds:
Compound (Use and Effect) CMAX (µg/L) Days to Med Dose
Caffeine (stimulant) x 103 (Excedrin Migraine)
Ibuprofen (anti-inflammatory) (Motrin)
17α-ethinyl estradiol (oral contraceptive) (Alesse-21)
17β-estradiol (vertebrate hormone) (Phoenix) 5.3 x 103 (Activella)
4-nonylphenol (surfactant metabolite) (Tucson) 4.6 x 10-4 as estrogenic E2, EE2
Sampling regions for the USGS Reconnaissance of US surface water

3. Secondary Effluent Chromotograph

5. Further Motivation: Intersex Characteristics in Fish Populations
These data represent the frequency of intersex characteristics of fish taken above and below wastewater treatment discharges

7. Relative Estrogenic Activity
Known Estrogenic Compounds in Wastewater
Chemical
Structure
Molecular Weight
Log Kow
Relative Estrogenic Activity
(YES bioassay)
17-estradiol (E2)
272.39
3.94(9)
1.0
17-ethinyl estradiol (EE2)
296.40
4.15(9)
1.32
Estrone (E1)
270.37
3.43(9)
0.20
Estriol (E3)
288.39
2.81(9)
0.01
Nonylphenol (NP)
220.35
4.48(10)
2×10-4
Octylphenol (OP)
206.33
4.12(10)
3×10-4
Bisphenol A (BPA)
228.29
3.40(11)
8 x 10-5

8. Conventional Wastewater Treatment Processes

9. Removal of Estrogens in Arizona Plants
Total Estrogenic Activity (M as EE2)
Facility
Influent
Effluent
Fraction Removal
Avra Valley
1 x 10-9
2 x 10-12
0.998
Roger Road
3 x 10-10
2 x 10-10
0.33
Ina Road
4 x 10-11
5 x 10-12
0.88
Randolph Park
< 2 x 10-12
> 0.99
Wildcat
1 x 10-10
4 x 10-12
0.96
Rio de Flag
1.5 x 10-10
< 6 x 10-13
> 0.996

10. Background on Ammonia Oxidizing Bacteria
NH NH2OH NO2
O AMO (ammonia monoxygenase)
AMO is a non-selective monoxygenase
Central Hypothesis: Estrogen removal is due to AMO activity in culture.

11. Lab Setup Synthetic Wastewater Control Unit Clarified Effluent Reactor
Variable: Sludge Age

12. Experimental Procedure Part 1
Step 1: Look for NH4+ stimulation of O2 use
Determine whether ammonia oxidizing bacteria are present.

13. Result (1) OUR: Oxygen Utilization Rate OUR: 0.00054 OUR: 0.00059

14. Was Nonylphenol Degraded?
Measurements of nonylphenol degradation were taken after 24 hours and 48 hours using a C-18 procedure and Gas Chromatography
No NP
+ NP
No ATU
+ ATU

15. Removal of Nonylphenol + Data

16. To Come Repeat with longer sludge retention time
Compare to previous results
Supplement with effluent NH4+ data

17. Dustin Brown & Arthur Ho
Acknowledgements
Dr. Robert Arnold
Dave Newman
Bingfeng Dong
Dustin Brown & Arthur Ho