Toxicity-directed fractionation of effluents using the bioluminescence ofVibrio fischeri and gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy identification of the toxic components
✍ Scribed by Svenson, Anders ;Norin, Harald ;Hynning, Per-�ke
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1996
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 571 KB
- Volume
- 11
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1053-4725
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✦ Synopsis
A procedure is presented for fractionating and identifying the dominant acute toxicants in effluents using the Microtox test to evaluate toxicity. Initial characterization of chemical and physical properties of the major toxicants was performed, and showed that the dominant toxicants were lipophilic. Samples containing lipophilic components were then fractionated by column chromatography. the fractions tested for toxicity, and toxic components identified. These toxicants were quantified in the effluent and a toxicity evaluation was performed as a material balance in toxicity.
Three effluents were studied and found to contain only a few (2-4) toxicants or groups of related compounds. An effluent from a pharmaceutical industry contained a drug precursor and a drug constituent as dominant toxicants, and the combined toxicity of the two compounds, accounted for 87% of that of the effluent. A contribution from the interaction of the two compounds was observed. An effluent from a forest product industry contained two unsaturated fatty acids and an unsaturated fatty acid amide as dominant toxicants, and almost the total toxicity of the sample (97%) was accounted for by the three compounds with a contribution from the interaction of the three. The acute toxicity of a textile industry effluent was dominated by two unsaturated fatty acids and two tridecanols, and these compounds accounted for 84% of the toxicity of the original effluent. A mixture of aliphatic hydrocarbons was found in a toxic fraction, but was not further characterized, although the hydrocarbons may have contributed to the toxicity of the sample.