Combined use of surfactant-induced coagulation of poly(allylamine hydrochloride) with peroxidase-mediated degradation for the rapid removal of estrogens and phenolic compounds from water

• Coagulation system of poly(allylamine hydrochloride) and sodium dodecyl sulfate was designed.
• Formed aggregates provided hydrophobic regions for collecting hydrophobic organic pollutants.
• Combined use of horseradish peroxidase allowed nearly complete collection of estrogens.
• Rapid removal of estrogens and phenolic compounds from wastewaters was achieved.

Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-induced coagulation of poly(allylamine hydrochloride) [PAH] was studied for the rapid removal of estrogens and phenolic compounds from water. When electrically equivalent amount (62 mg L−1) of SDS was added into the aqueous solution of 20 mg L−1 PAH with vigorous mixing, PAH was quantitatively (>99%) recovered from water as condensed aggregates of PAH–SDS complexes. According to the fluorescence spectrum of a molecular probe, the complexes provided hydrophobic regions suitable for incorporating hydrophobic organic pollutants. However, rather polar estrone, β-estradiol, estriol, and ethynylestradiol were insufficiently removed. Combined use of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and hydrogen peroxide significantly increased the collection yields of these estrogens, because of their HRP-induced oxidation of and spontaneous binding to PAH. With the HRP activity of 100 U L−1 and the hydrogen peroxide concentration of 10 mg L−1, nearly complete (>98%) removal of four estrogens was achieved within 10 min at 30 °C in the pH region from 6 to 7.5. The method was also useful for the rapid removal of different phenolic compounds and selected pharmaceuticals. The applicability to wastewater treatment was successfully demonstrated by using secondary effluents.

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