Removal and environmental exposure of alcohol ethoxylates in US sewage treatment

Morrall, Stephen W.; Dunphy, Jocelyn C.; Cano, Manuel L.; Evans, A. B.; McAvoy, Drew C.; Price, Barry; Eckhoff, William S.

doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2005.07.014

Cited by 57 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Having the full AE distribution in the inlet and outlet it was possible to calculate the resulting AE removals through the plant for each ethoxymer as shown in Table 9, they were in the range 99-100% and no difference was observed between high or low mole ethoxymers and between AE with odd or even carbon chain lengths. These results are in agreement with the removals in European and Canadian WWTPs reported by Morrall et al [15] .…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 95%

Determination of Alcohol Ethoxylates derivatized with Naphthoyl Chloride, in Waste Water Treatment Plant Influent, Effluent and Sludge Samples by Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry

Cassani

Tibaldi

Donato

et al. 2010

J Surfact & Detergents

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A new analytical procedure for the determination of alcohol ethoxylates (AE) in environmental samples such as influents, effluents and sludge from waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) was developed. Although some work had been previously published on the detection of AE in water samples, this is the first paper that deals with AE in sludge. Alcohol ethoxylates were removed from water samples by sorption on polymeric discs followed by extraction with methanol. The methanol extracts were cleaned up with two alumina solid-phase extractions (SPE) at different conditions of solvent polarity, one before and the other after derivatization with naphthoyl chloride. A final polishing step was carried out on a Florisil SPE column. Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization was used to quantify AE as naphthoyl derivatives. The detection limits for AE ethoxymers range from 0.07 to 0.005 lg/L in water samples. The method was applied to an Italian WWTP in order to follow the fate of AE during treatment, AE concentrations of 839 lg/L, 0.46 lg/L and 10.6 mg/kg were respectively found in the inlet, outlet and sludge samples. AE removals of each ethoxymer in the plant were in the range 99.6-100% and no difference was observed between high or low-mole ethoxymers and between AE with odd or even carbon chain lengths. An overall 99.7% removal was also determined on the mass balance of AE in the inlet, the outlet, and sludge of the plant.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 95%

Determination of Alcohol Ethoxylates derivatized with Naphthoyl Chloride, in Waste Water Treatment Plant Influent, Effluent and Sludge Samples by Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry

Cassani

Tibaldi

Donato

et al. 2010

J Surfact & Detergents

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“…In spite of the efficiency of WWTP removing surfactants from wastewater, significant concentrations of these compounds can be measured in many surface water, sediment and suspended solid samples (Prats et al, 1997;Di Corcia, 1998;Matthijs et al, 1999;Morrall et al, 2006). So far, most of the effort has been put into understanding the distribution and environmental behavior of two surfactants: linear alkylbenzene sulfonates (LAS) and nonylphenol polyethoxylates (NPEO).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Determination and occurrence of secondary alkane sulfonates (SAS) in aquatic environments

Baena-Nogueras

González-Mazo

Lara-Martín

2013

Environmental Pollution

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a b s t r a c tA new methodology has been developed for the determination of secondary alkane sulfonates (SAS), an anionic surfactant, in environmental matrices. Sediment and sludge samples were extracted using pressurized liquid extraction and sonication, whereas wastewater and surface water samples were processed using solid-phase extraction. Extraction recoveries were acceptable for both aqueous (78e120%) and solid samples (83e100%). Determination of SAS was carried out by high or ultra performance liquid chromatography e mass spectrometry using ion trap and time-of-flight detectors. The methodology was applied to samples from Guadalete River (SW Spain), where SAS concentrations below 1 mg L À1 were measured in surface water, and from 72 to 9737 mg kg À1 in sediments. Differential partitioning was observed for SAS homologues as those having a longer hydrocarbon chain which preferentially sorbed onto particulate matter. A preliminary environmental risk assessment also showed that SAS measured levels were not harmful to the aquatic community in the sampling area.

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“…The mechanism of their biodegradation and removal from wastewater in batch as well as in continuous systems has been widely investigated [1,6,7]. In a continuous flow system the degree of AE removal is usually above 99%, whereas in a batch system it is between 75 and 98% [4,[8][9][10][11]. Zhang et al investigated the removal of two AEs at sub-and supra-critical micellar concentrations in a batch system [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Selected Nonionic Surfactants on the Activated Sludge Morphology and Activity in a Batch System

Liwarska-Bizukojć

Drews

Kraume

2008

J Surfact & Detergents

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In this study, two nonionic surfactants, one alcohol ethoxylate (AE) and one alkylphenol ethoxylate (APE) were investigated with regard to their influence on the morphology of activated sludge flocs, microbial activity and wastewater treatment efficiency in a laboratory batch system. The experiments were carried out for a range of nonionic surfactants concentrations in wastewater from 5 to 500 mg L -1 . Additionally, these results were compared to the data obtained in previous experiments on anionics and performed under the same conditions. Both nonionics tested caused a decrease in the size of activated sludge flocs but they did not affect the shape of the flocs. The circularity index and convexity of flocs remained similar to the control run, containing no surfactant. The presence of nonionic surfactants within the tested concentrations range caused a decrease in biomass activity. In spite of morphological changes of activated sludge flocs and a decrease in microbial activity, only higher concentrations of nonionics in wastewater starting with the level of 50 mg L -1 can induce pinpoint flocs and decrease wastewater treatment efficiency. APE showed a stronger impact on the decrease in floc size and microbial activity than alcohol ethoxylate did. APE was also more difficult to biodegrade than AE. Comparing the efficiency of wastewater treatment (in terms of COD removal) in the presence of nonionic and anionic surfactants at the same concentration of 50 mg L -1 , the degree of organic pollutant removal was found to be higher by about 10% for anionics than for nonionics.

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Removal and environmental exposure of alcohol ethoxylates in US sewage treatment

Cited by 57 publications

References 10 publications

Determination of Alcohol Ethoxylates derivatized with Naphthoyl Chloride, in Waste Water Treatment Plant Influent, Effluent and Sludge Samples by Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry

Determination of Alcohol Ethoxylates derivatized with Naphthoyl Chloride, in Waste Water Treatment Plant Influent, Effluent and Sludge Samples by Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry

Determination and occurrence of secondary alkane sulfonates (SAS) in aquatic environments

Effect of Selected Nonionic Surfactants on the Activated Sludge Morphology and Activity in a Batch System

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