Featured article: Hormones removal from municipal wastewater using ultrasound

Estrogens are one of the micro-pollutants in wastewater which have detrimental effects on water-living organisms. In this study Roudbari and Rezakazemi investigate the potential efficacy of using ultrasound to reduce the levels of estrogen (E1) and 17 beta-estradiol (E2) from municipal wastewater. Through the utlization of a cylindrical batch reactor, the effects of ultrasound power, frequency, exposure time and pH on reduction efficiency were investigated. Results indicate that the targeted application of ultrasound can be a safe and effective method for wastewater treatment, removing 85–96% of both E1 and E2 hormones from water samples after 45 minutes.

Editor's quote

The recent achievement of the high-quality journal "AMB Express," namely its being indexed by ISI, has made this fully open access journal even more attractive for authors. In the few years since its launch the journal has published several excellent and highly cited papers. Therefore, we can expect that the first impact factor published in the Thomas Reuters Science Citation Index will be reasonably high. The editors of "AMB Express" will ensure that the journal's performance and the quality of the published papers will continue to improve. Papers devoted to 'Industrial Microbiology' and in particular interest in 'White and Red Biotechnology' are highly welcome; this also includes short papers in which important achievements are communicated.

Alexander Steinbüchel, Editor-in-Chief
University of Münster