The Possible Role of Reduced Sulfur Compounds in the Toxic Properties of Pulp and Paper Mill Effluents

✍ Scribed by Shtamm, Elena V. ;Frog, Boris N. ;Skurlatov, Yurii I. ;Kozlova, Natalia B. ;Alexandrova, Evgenia V. ;Shishkina, Ludmila N.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 101 KB
• Volume: 30
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0323-4320
• DOI: 10.1002/aheh.200390007

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

A comparative analysis of different bioassays was carried out using as an example black liquor solutions, simulating wastewaters of the Kraft process for the digestion of cellulose. Alongside the analysis of products of lipid peroxidation (LPO) in blood plasma and the liver of mice in vivo, the most sensitive assays were based on the analysis of Ceriodaphnia reproduction, the analysis of LPO intensity in vitro, the mixed function oxygenase (MFO) assay in fish liver, and the population growth test of Tetrahymena pyriformis. The toxicological analysis of pulp and paper mill effluents at different stages of their formation and treatment has demonstrated two relationships, as follows:

(i) a correlation between toxicity and the presence of reductive substances (as titrated by hydrogen peroxide in the presence of a catalyst), and

(ii) a correlation between the content of these reductive substances in wastewater and the reduced sulfur compounds formed during cellulose digestion.

Using the MFO induction assay and the LPO intensity assay in the model test system has demonstrated that the addition of hydrogen peroxide into solutions of black liquor results in their detoxification. It is concluded that the reduced sulfur compounds play a significant role in the toxicity of pulp and paper mill effluents.