PAHs content of sewage sludge in Europe and its use as soil fertilizer

The European Commission has been planning limits for organic pollutants in sewage sludge for 14years; however no legislation has been implemented. This is mainly due to lack of data on sewage sludge contamination by organic pollutants, and possible negative effects to the environment. However, waste management has become an acute problem in many countries. Management options require extensive waste characterization, since many of them may contain compounds which could be harmful to the ecosystem, such as heavy metals, organic pollutants. The present study aims to show the true European position, regarding the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) content of sewage sludge, by comparing the Italian PAHs content with European Union countries, and at assessing the suitability of sewage sludge as soil fertilizer. The FOCUS Pearl model was used to estimate the concentration of benzo [a] pyrene (B(a)Pyr), the most toxic PAH in soil, and its exposure to organisms was then evaluated. The simulated B(a)Pyr and PAHs, expressed as B(a)Pyr, concentrations in soil were much lower than the B(a)Pyr's most conservative lowest observable effect concentration (LOEC) for soil organisms. Furthermore, the results obtained indicate that it is more appropriate to apply 5tha(-1) sewage sludge annually than 15tha(-1) triennially. Results suggest, the EU maximum recommended limit of 6mgkg(-)(1) PAHs in sewage sludge, should be conservative enough to avoid groundwater contamination and negative effects on soil organisms.

Pesticide removal from waste spray-tank water by organoclay adsorption after field application: an approach for a formulation of cyprodinil containing antifoaming/defoaming agents

PURPOSE

Many reports on purification of water containing pesticides are based on studies using unformulated active ingredients. However, most commercial formulations contain additives/adjuvants or are manufactured using microencapsulation which may influence the purification process. Therefore, the main objective of this work was to develop and test a pilot scheme for decontaminating water containing pesticides formulated with antifoaming/defoaming agents.

METHODS

The Freundlich adsorption coefficients of formulation of cyprodinil, a new-generation fungicide, onto the organoclay Cloisite 20A have been determined in the laboratory in order to predict the efficiency of this organoclay in removing the fungicide from waste spray-tank water. Subsequently, the adsorption tests were repeated in the pilot system in order to test the practical operation of the purification scheme.

RESULTS

The laboratory adsorption tests successfully predicted the efficiency of the pilot purification system, which removed more than 96% cyprodinil over a few hours. The passing of the organoclay-cyprodinil suspension through a layer of biomass gave 100% recovery of the organoclay at the surface of the biomass after 1 week. The organoclay was composted after the treatment to try to break down the fungicide so as to allow safe disposal of the waste, but cyprodinil was not significantly dissipated after 90 days.

CONCLUSION

The purification scheme proved to be efficient for decontaminating water containing cyprodinil formulated with antifoaming/defoaming agents, but additional treatments for the adsorbed residues still appear to be necessary even for a moderately persistent pesticide such as cyprodinil. Furthermore, a significant conclusion of this study concerns the high influence of pesticide formulations on the process of purification of water containing these compounds, which should be taken into account when developing innovative decontamination schemes, especially for practical applications.

Pesticide removal from waste spray-tank water by organoclay adsorption after field application to vineyards

PURPOSE

The main objective of this work was to develop and test a pilot scheme for decontaminating pesticide-containing water derived from pesticide mixtures used to protect vineyards, in which the scheme comprises adsorption by an organoclay and includes a system where an enhanced or rapid microbial degradation of the adsorbed residues can occur.

METHODS

In laboratory experiments, the Freundlich adsorption coefficients of formulations of two fungicides, penconazole and cyazofamid, onto the organoclay Cloisite 20 A were measured in order to predict the efficiency of this organoclay in removing these fungicides from the waste spray-tank water. Subsequently, the adsorption tests were repeated in the pilot system in order to test the practical operation of the depuration scheme.

RESULTS

The adsorption tests with the pilot system show 96% removal of both fungicides over a few hours, similar to the efficiency of removal predicted from the laboratory adsorption tests. The formulation type may influence the efficiency of clay recovered after adsorption. Regarding the waste disposal, for instance, the organoclay composted after the treatment, cyazofamid showed significant dissipation after 90 days, whereas the dissipation of penconazole was negligible.

CONCLUSION

The depuration scheme developed showed to be efficient for decontaminating pesticide-containing water derived from vineyards, but additional treatments for the adsorbed residues still appear to be necessary for persistent pesticides. However, future decontamination research should be attempted for water contaminated with pesticides containing antifoaming agents in their formulations, in which case the present pilot system could not be applied.

Adsorption of chlorpyrifos, penconazole and metalaxyl from aqueous solution by modified clays

Sorption of three pesticides (chlorpyrifos, metalaxyl and penconazole) has been measured on a commercial clay montmorillonite and on the same mineral modified with either of two cationic-surfactant micelles. Both micelle-clay complexes, commercial names Cloisite 20A and Cloisite 30B, showed a good capacity to sorb all three pesticides from water, whereas their sorption on the natural montmorillonite was not described by an isotherm. Modelling sorption on both micelle-clay complexes showed that the Freundlich sorption constant (K(F)) was higher for chlorpyrifos on Cloisite 20A (K(F) = 7.76) than on Cloisite 30B (K(F) = 5.91), whereas the sorption of metalaxyl was stronger on Cloisite 30B (K(F) = 1.07) than on Cloisite 20A (K(F) = 0.57). Moreover the micelle-clay complex Cloisite 20A also showed a good affinity for penconazole, the maximum quantity adsorbed (q(m)) of 6.33 mg g(-1) being 45% more than that on Cloisite 30B. Single-batch adsorption of each pesticide onto both micelle-clay complexes was studied using the Freundlich isotherm for chlorpyrifos and metalaxyl and the Langmuir isotherm for penconazole. The Cloisite 20A micelle-clay complex was predicted to require 23% less adsorbent to treat certain volumes of wastewater containing 30 mg L(-1) chlorpyrifos, 43% more to treat metalaxyl similarly and 57% less to treat penconazole compared with Cloisite 30B.