Hormones are bioactive, ubiquitous, and persistent organic molecules that demand effective treatment when released in the environment. However, most conventional treatments are inefficient or not suitable for large-scale applications. This study describes the use of supercritical water (SCW) technology in the degradation of hormones in wastewater from the pharmaceutical industry. Initially, the treatment was developed with synthetic wastewater (SW) containing hormone prepared from commercial desogestrel pills and, later, with real industrial wastewater (IW). All the experimental tests were conducted in a continuous flow reactor in the absence of catalysts. Both liquid and gas phases generated during the process were analyzed by instrumental techniques. The liquid phase was characterized by total organic carbon (TOC), chemical oxygen demand (COD), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and phytotoxicity assays. The gas phase was characterized by gas chromatography (GC). TOC reductions of SW and IW samples, both treated at 700 °C and feed flow rate of 10 mL min^-1 were 87.2 and 88.4%, respectively. Phytotoxicity assays indicated a significant reduction in the toxicity of the IW treated at 700 °C. Thus, considering the gas production, especially hydrogen, and the high toxicity mitigation, the IW treatment via SCW is quite promising.

激素是具有生物活性、无处不在且持久的有机分子，当它们释放到环境中时需要进行有效的治疗。然而，大多数常规处理效率低下或不适合大规模应用。本研究描述了超临界水 (SCW) 技术在制药行业废水中激素降解中的应用。最初，该处理是使用含有激素的合成废水 (SW) 开发的，这些废水由商业去氧孕烯丸制备，然后是真正的工业废水 (IW)。所有的实验测试都是在没有催化剂的连续流动反应器中进行的。在该过程中产生的液相和气相均通过仪器技术进行分析。液相用总有机碳 (TOC)、化学需氧量 (COD)、高效液相色谱 (HPLC) 和植物毒性测定。气相通过气相色谱法(GC)表征。SW 和 IW 样品的 TOC 降低，均在 700 °C 和进料流速为 10 mL  min ^-1分别为 87.2% 和 88.4%。植物毒性试验表明，在 700 °C 下处理的 IW 的毒性显着降低。因此，考虑到气体产量，尤其是氢气，以及高毒性的缓解，通过 SCW 的 IW 处理是非常有前途的。