Assessment of airborne microorganism contamination in an industrial area characterized by an open composting facility and a wastewater treatment plant

Grisoli, Pietro; Rodolfi, Marinella; Villani, Simona; Grignani, Elena; Cottica, Danilo; Berri, Angelo; Picco, Anna Maria; Dacarro, Cesare

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2008.11.001

Cited by 95 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…It is interesting to note that the airborne microbes detected in this investigation shows higher concentrations, of 1-2 orders of magnitude, in comparison to previous studies in MSTP with similar biological process (Brandi et al, 2000;Sánchez-Monedero et al, 2008;Grisoli et al, 2009;Heinonen-tanski et al, 2009;Li et al, 2011b). This may be attributed mainly to the larger volume of treated water (2 × 10 5 m 3 /day), of 2-3 orders of magnitude, applied in the present study.…”

Section: Concentrations Of Airborne Viable Bacteria Fungi and Actinocontrasting

confidence: 48%

“…It is inevitable to lead to aerosolization of these microorganisms in many phases of the treatment process, particularly in those phases containing aeration and mechanical agitation operations (Fernando and Fedorak, 2005;Sánchez-Monedero et al, 2008). Consequently, microbial aerosols generated from MSTP may produce serious impact on human health and air quality (Brandi et al, 2000;Thorn and Kerekes, 2001;Grisoli et al, 2009). Therefore, it is significantly important to require knowledge of emission characteristics of microbial aerosols from MSTP in order to evaluate a potential risk to plant workers and surrounding residents.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Emission Characteristics of Microbial Aerosols in a Municipal Sewage Treatment Plant in Xi’an, China

Yang

Meng

et al. 2013

Aerosol Air Qual. Res.

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To characterize the emission of microbial aerosols from the widely used municipal sewage treatment plants (MSTP) in China, an Andersen six-stage impactor and the culture method were employed to determine the concentrations and size distributions of airborne viable bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes in a sewage treatment plant with an oxidation ditch process in Xi'an in summer. The results showed that the concentrations and size distributions of each of the airborne microorganisms varied greatly at different phases of sewage treatment process. The highest bacteria (7866 ± 970 CFU/m 3 ) and actinomycetes concentrations (2139 ± 229 CFU/m 3 ) were found in the sludge-dewatering house while the highest fungi concentration (2156 ± 119 CFU/m 3 ) at the oxidation ditch. The particle size distributions showed that similar singlepeak pattern for airborne actinomycetes, bacteria and fungi. Another important finding was that about 52% of airborne bacteria, 62% of airborne fungi and 65% of airborne actinomycetes were in respirable size range (less than 3.3 μm), indicating that most microbial aerosols from MSTP could easily penetrate into the human alveolus. Finally, the order of the count median diameters of different microbial aerosols was found to be similar at each phase, that is, airborne bacteria > airborne fungi > airborne actinomycetes. This implied that airborne actinomycetes emitted from MSTP might have a more significant effect on public health and urban air quality than bacteria and fungi.

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Section: Concentrations Of Airborne Viable Bacteria Fungi and Actinocontrasting

confidence: 48%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emission Characteristics of Microbial Aerosols in a Municipal Sewage Treatment Plant in Xi’an, China

Yang

Meng

et al. 2013

Aerosol Air Qual. Res.

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“…Previous research has investigated the concentrations, particle size distributions, and species diversity of airborne microorganisms at different stages in WWTPs (Fannin et al, 1985;Buttner et al, 2001;Pillai and Ricke, 2002;Grisoli et al, 2009), and their hazards have also been identified (Palmer et al, 1995;Carducci et al, 2000). However, little is known regarding the characteristics, e.g., particle size characteristics and microbial population structure, of airborne bioaerosols removed from the air by ventilation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduction and characterization of bioaerosols in a wastewater treatment station via ventilation

Guo

Ding

et al. 2014

Journal of Environmental Sciences

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Bioaerosols from wastewater treatment processes are a significant subgroup of atmospheric aerosols. In the present study, airborne microorganisms generated from a wastewater treatment station (WWTS) that uses an oxidation ditch process were diminished by ventilation.Conventional sampling and detection methods combined with cloning/sequencing techniques were applied to determine the groups, concentrations, size distributions, and species diversity of airborne microorganisms before and after ventilation. There were 3021 ± 537 CFU/m 3 of airborne bacteria and 926 ± 132 CFU/m 3 of airborne fungi present in the WWTS bioaerosol.Results showed that the ventilation reduced airborne microorganisms significantly compared to the air in the WWTS. Over 60% of airborne bacteria and airborne fungi could be reduced after 4 hr of air exchange. The highest removal (92.1% for airborne bacteria and 89.1% for fungi) was achieved for 0.65-1.1 μm sized particles. The bioaerosol particles over 4.7 μm were also reduced effectively. Large particles tended to be lost by gravitational settling and small particles were generally carried away, which led to the relatively easy reduction of bioaerosol particles 0.65-1.1 μm and over 4.7 μm in size. An obvious variation occurred in the structure of the bacterial communities when ventilation was applied to control the airborne microorganisms in enclosed spaces.

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“…Measurements in the vicinity of several outdoor sources suggest release from specific sources such as composting (Lavoie et al, 2006;Taha et al, 2006;Coccia et al, 2010), municipal solid waste processing (Wouters et al, 2006;Park et al, 2011;Vilavert et al, 2012), and wastewater treatment facilities (Karra and Katsivela, 2007;Grisoli et al, 2009). Some of the dominant microbial species observed in ambient air have been Penicillium spp., Aspergillus spp.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Passive Release of Fungal Spores from Synthetic Solid Waste Surfaces

Gopalakrishnan

Devassikutty

Mathew

et al. 2016

Aerosol Air Qual. Res.

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Passive release of fungal spores can occur from various natural and anthropogenic sources leading to significant concentrations in ambient air with potential effect on health and climate. The estimation of fungal spore release is a critical parameter necessary for the realistic assessment of health risk using dispersion models and in global climate modeling. This paper presents results from experiments conducted to seek a better understanding of the process of passive fungal spore due to wind. Laboratory studies were conducted to measure emission fluxes of a test fungal species (Penicillium chrysogenum) grown on two test surfaces (aluminum foil and cardboard) in a flux chamber in response to air flow. Spore growth on the aluminum foil correlated with the amount of nutrient, while for cardboard, fungal growth was observed just with the presence of water without any external nutrients. The released spores were collected using a commercially available impinger (Biosampler ® ) and quantified using fluorescence microscopy. Spore flux correlated positively with the number of spores on the surface and with air velocity above a threshold velocity. Fungal spore flux decreased on continuous exposure to air. Microscopic inspection of the surface revealed that the normally upright hyphae bearing the fungal spores collapsed after exposure to air thus suggesting that the decrease in flux was due to a decrease in the aerodynamic drag on the spores. Fungal hyphae also collapsed when there was depletion of nutrients for spore growth leading to reduction in flux. A preliminary mathematical model that estimates spore flux based on the energy transfer between the air and the fungal spores and the energy required to remove the spores is presented. A characteristic energy parameter for aerosolisation was obtained from the model fit. Using this parameter, the model predicted experimental fluxes under various conditions reasonably well.

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Assessment of airborne microorganism contamination in an industrial area characterized by an open composting facility and a wastewater treatment plant

Cited by 95 publications

References 18 publications

Emission Characteristics of Microbial Aerosols in a Municipal Sewage Treatment Plant in Xi’an, China

Emission Characteristics of Microbial Aerosols in a Municipal Sewage Treatment Plant in Xi’an, China

Reduction and characterization of bioaerosols in a wastewater treatment station via ventilation

Passive Release of Fungal Spores from Synthetic Solid Waste Surfaces

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