Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Adsorptive Removal of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals from Aqueous Solutions: a Review

  • Published:
Water, Air, & Soil Pollution Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are pollutants with adverse effects even at very low concentrations; they remain a major concern for water quality. There is a strong link between environmental matrices such as water, soil, and human health. This implies that releasing these pollutants into the environment gets to the human system through contaminated air, water, and food. EDCs pose adverse effects on the endocrine systems of humans and wildlife and act as agents that interrupt metabolism, transport, synthesis, secretion, or elimination of natural blood-borne hormones present in the human body, which are responsible for the development, reproduction, and homeostasis process. The molecular group known as an endocrine disruptor is extremely heterogeneous, including the usage of synthetic chemicals in industrial solvents, lubricants and their by-products (such as 1,2-dichloroethane, 17α-ethinylestradiol, 17β-estradiol, 2,4-dichlorophenol, acetaminophen, amoxicillin, antiretroviral, benzotriazole, bisphenol A, carbamazepine, ciprofloxacin, diclofenac, ibuprofen, ketoprofen, naproxen, paracetamol, phenol, tetracycline, metformin, etc. discussed in this work). Natural chemicals in food can also act as endocrine disruptors and some of these chemicals are toxic. Contaminants in water influence all living beings; therefore, to prevent health complications, improve water quality and make it safer in the ecosystem, water must be purified. The complex nature of EDCs has necessitated the development of suitable, robust, and more versatile removal techniques capable of producing the desired result in a very cost-effective manner. The first part of this review addresses source and occurrence of EDCs, available EDC treatment technologies and their drawbacks, and followed by the recent advances in sequestrating EDCs using natural, synthetic (metal–organic frameworks, nanoparticle/nanomaterials), and agricultural waste adsorbents. Influence of different operational parameters on the adsorptive removal of EDCs, mechanism of EDCs sequestration and thermodynamic studies were also discussed. We concluded by providing some useful insights, challenges, and future prospects to foster better efficiency of these adsorbents for EDCs removal to meet various industrial applications.

Graphical abstract

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

Abbreviations

AC:

Activated carbon

AEC:

Anion exchange capacity

AIPMt:

Alumina pillared montmorillonite

Al2O3 :

Alumina

AMBA:

Alkyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride

Aps:

Alkylphenols

ARV:

Antiretroviral

BET:

Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller

BPA:

Bisphenol A

BPAF:

Bisphenol-AF

CA:

Clofibric acid

CBZ:

Carbamazepine

CEC:

Cation exchange capacity

CHT:

Chitosan

CHTA:

Modification of chitosan with 2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde

CHTAC:

Modification of CHTA with copper chloride

CIP:

Ciprofloxacin

CNM:

Carbon-nanomaterial

CNT:

Carbon nanotubes

Cu-BTC@cotton:

Tricopper; benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate

DCF:

Diclofenac

DCPs:

Dichlorophenols

DDT:

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane

DDTMA:

Dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide

DS:

Diclofenac sodium

Ea:

Arrhenius energy of activation

EDCs:

Endocrine disrupting compounds

Fe3O4@COFS:

Core–shell structured magnetic covalent organic framework nanocomposites

FTIR:

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

Go-Cs, Ac-Cs:

Graphene oxide chitosan, activated carbon-chitosan

HDTMA:

Hexadecyltrimethylammonium

HTAB:

Hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide

IBP:

Ibuprofen

IL@ZIF-67:

Ionic liquid (IL)–incorporated metal–organic frameworks (zeolitic imidazolate framework-67)

IOCs:

Inorganic–organic clays

IZA:

International Zeolite Association

K 2 :

Rate constant for pseudo-second order

q max :

Maximum adsorption capacity

MAF(Co):

Co-based metal-azolate frameworks

MDC:

Metal azolate framework-6 (MAF-6))–derived porous carbons

Mesostructured MIL-53(Al):

MIL-53(Al)-F127{Al(OH)[O2C–C6H4–CO2]}

MET:

Metformin

Microporous MIL-53(Al):

Matériaux de l′Institut Lavoisier (MIL) metal–organic framework MIL-53(Al){Al(OH)[O2C–C6H4–CO2]}

MIL-101:

Chromium terephthalate metal–organic framework

MMIPS:

Magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers

MNIPS:

Magnetic non-template imprinted polymers

MOFs:

Metal–organic frameworks

MW:

Mondiawhitei

MWCNTs:

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes

NPs:

Nanoparticles

ODTMA:

Octadecyltrimethyalmmonium bromide

OMMT:

Organophilic montmorillonite

PAHs:

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

PC:

Partition coefficient

PCBs:

Polychlorinated biphenyls

PCDDs:

Polychlorinated dibenzo-dioxins

PCDFs:

Polychlorinated dibenzo-furans

PCH:

Porous clay heterostructure

PCM:

Paracetamol

PCP:

Pentachlorophenol

PDDA:

Poly(diallyldimethyl ammonium chloride

PES:

Polyethersulfone

PFO:

Pseudo- first order

pHpzc :

pH point of zero charge

PO1 and PO2:

Particles without organophilic montmorillonite

POPs:

Persistent organic pollutants

PP-g-DMAEMA/PM:

Grafted dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate with self-assembled modification of porous microspheres (PMs) on the surface of polypropylene (PP) fiber

PSO:

Pseudo-second order

PVA:

Polyvinyl alcohol

R :

Gas constant

rGOs:

Reduced graphene oxides

RPM:

Rate per minutes

RT:

Room temperature

SBA-15:

Santa Barbara Amorphous-15

SDH:

Social determinant of health

SEM:

Scanning electron microscope

SPESPE:

Sulfonated polyethersulfonephenylethane

T :

Temperature

TGA:

Thermal gravimetric analysis

UiO-66(Zr):

Zirconium 1,4icarboxybenzene metal–organic framework

UiO-66-NH2 (90):

Zr(IV) terephthalate metal–organic framework

UiO-67(Zr)/GO:

Metal–organic framework/grapheme oxide hybrid nanocomposite

UV:

Ultraviolet

WHO:

World Health Organization

WWTPs:

Wastewater treatment plants

XRD:

X-ray diffraction

ZIF:

Zeolitic imidazole frameworks

ZIF-67/Mg:

Self-assembled magnetic graphene supported zeolitic imidazolate framework-8

ZIF-8:

Zeolitic imidazolate framework-8

ΔH°:

Enthalpy change

ΔS°:

Entropy change

References

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge their respective Universities for the platform to carry out this study. K. A. Adegoke acknowledges the Global Excellence Stature (GES) 4.0 Postdoctoral Fellowships Fourth Industrial Revolution-University of Johannesburg, South Africa. O. S. Bello acknowledges the supports obtained from LAUTECH 2016 TET Fund Institution Based Research Intervention (TETFUND/DESS/UNI/OGBOMOSO/RP/VOL. IX).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Kayode Adesina Adegoke or Olugbenga Solomon Bello.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Adegoke, K.A., Olagunju, A.O., Alagbada, T.C. et al. Adsorptive Removal of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals from Aqueous Solutions: a Review. Water Air Soil Pollut 233, 38 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-021-05405-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-021-05405-8

Keywords

Navigation