Using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Fluorescence to Determine the Effectiveness of Wastewater Treatment Plants in the Removal of Natural and Synthetic Estrogens

The presence of hormones in the environment is becoming an increasingly popular topic in environmental and analytical chemistry. This research aims to develop a method to quantify the amount of two types of hormones in wastewater treatment plant effluents. The two hormones analyzed are 17β-estradiol (E2), a naturally produced hormone, and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2), a synthetic hormone commonly found in oral contraceptives. It has been hypothesized that synthetic hormones are significantly harder for wastewater treatment plants to remove, and the final goal of this research is to be able to test samples to determine the effectiveness of the wastewater treatment plants. The research thus far has focused on method development using high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence and standard E2 and EE2 solutions. This report shows the work completed when trouble-shooting the fluorimeter and developing the method