Purification of water body with low cost and high efficiency catalyst makes British male no longer "Denatured"

With the rapid development of modern pharmacy, a large number of efficient drugs have been brought to protect human health However, when more and more drugs that are not taken or are not fully absorbed into the human body are discharged into the sewage, a new problem arises: when these drugs enter the rivers, lakes and seas through the sewage, even if they exist in small quantities, they may have negative effects on organisms Denatured Cyprinids are becoming more and more common in the UK (source: International Business Times) recently, according to Martha Henriques, a reporter from international business times science channel, a 25 year study found that male fish in British rivers are affected by various chemicals, including female contraceptives, discharged into the river, and some grow ovarian tissue The study was led by Professor Charles Tyler of the University of Exeter in the UK, an environmental biologist whose main research direction is the impact of compounds on wildlife Studies have shown that more than 2000 compounds are considered to be estrogen like in the environment, which means that these estrogen like compounds in the environment will have the same effect on organisms as the estrogen secreted by human women Professor Charles Tyler said that British people emit 20000 to 30000 chemicals into nature every day, thousands of which will cause damage to animals A typical example is the synthetic estrogen 17 α - ethinylestradiol (EE2), which is commonly used as a contraceptive and for the treatment of breast and prostate cancer Today, it is found in 25% of rivers and lakes around the world Previous studies have found that these trace hormone drugs pose a threat to the health of wild animals Long term exposure to these estrogen environments can cause males to produce eggs in their sperms, thus disrupting their reproductive processes and reducing the number of fish Although the current sewage treatment facilities can eliminate the bacteria and most of the harmful chemicals in the water, but to completely remove the trace hormone pollutants, it needs to use ozone and activated carbon for treatment, and these methods need to consume a lot of energy, and the cost is too high TAML activators 1 and 2; y are usually water (source: scientific reports) Terrence J Collins, a chemist at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, has developed a method to remove such compounds in sewage safely and effectively The team developed a catalyst called TAMLs, a small molecule compound that mimics oxidase When it combines with hydrogen peroxide, TAMLs are activated to decompose harmful chemicals in water very effectively To test the effectiveness and safety of these catalysts, Collins conducted a series of experiments with Susan Jobling, an expert in aquatic toxicity and wastewater treatment at Brunel University in the UK In the experiment, they confirmed that TAMLs can degrade EE2 in urban sewage, and significantly reduce the male fish feminization caused by TAMLs, and the fish did not show adverse side effects in the environment containing trace TAMLs In addition, the cost of TAMLs is very low, which can treat tens of thousands of tons of wastewater per kilogram of catalyst Although the research is still in the laboratory stage, Collins firmly believes that it is a valuable exploration, and it will certainly be an environmentally friendly and multi-functional method to remove EE2 and other drug residues from urban wastewater in the future.