BACKGROUND: Endocrine disruptors (EDs) contribute to the endocrine disrupting potential of urban wastewater because most wastewater treatment plants only partially remove these compounds. Many EDs are present at very low concentrations in wastewater, which explains why most wastewater treatment plants can only partially remove them. The development of a two-phase partitioning bioreactor (TPPB) could represent an alternative for the extraction of these compounds from water prior to their biodegradation. This study assesses the potential of using the polymer Hytrel used in TPPBs, to extract and concentrate estrone, estradiol, estriol, ethynylestradiol, nonylphenol and bisphenol A from aqueous solutions. RESULTS: Hytrel demonstrated high capacity absorption for all these EDs. The Hytrel/water partition coefficient for the six EDs was determined. Finally, the capacity of Hytrel to extract a high proportion of these EDs from ED-spiked, treated wastewater was demonstrated. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that Hytrel has the potential to be used as an effective water-immiscible phase in the development of a TPPB for the extraction and biodegradation of EDs. (C) 2012 Society of Chemical Industry