Sewage effluents characterization

Sewage effluents have also been characterized by (GC)2. The chromatograms in Figure 2 compare the primary and secondary aliphatic... 

Flaherty, S., Wark, S., Street, G., Farley, J.W., and Brumley, W.C. (2002). Investigation of CE/LIF as a tool in the characterization of sewage effluent for flnorescent acidics Determination of salicylic acid. Electrophoresis, 23,2327-2332. 

The environmental burden of waterways with polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD) has been at the forefront of public and regulatory concern, because of the toxicity associated with particularly the 2,3,7,8-(laterally) substituted congeners, which have a tendency to bioaccumulate throughout the trophic food chain. Contamination of aquatic sediments by dioxins includes both non-point (e.g., atmospheric deposition) and point sources (e.g., industrial effluents, combined sewage overflows), and is generally characterized by a dominance of hepta- and octa-CDD, with minor contributions of hexa- to tetra-CDD [429]. Elevated concentrations of the 2,3,7,8-TCDD isomer tend to be associated with direct discharge from sources such as 2,4,5-trichlorophenol production [54,430]. 

Wang, C. Wang, Y. Kiefer, F Yediler, A. Wang, Z. Kettrup, A. 2003, Ecotoxicological and chemical characterization of selected treatment process effluents of municipal sewage treatment plant. Ecotox. Environ. Safe. 56 211-217. 

Municipal waste effluents are characterized by high concentrations of sterols, fatty acids, and fatty acid esters (24). These compounds (no. 4-11) were found at high levels in most of the samples from the Delaware River. For example, cholesterol was usually one of the most abundant compounds in the water. The concentration profile for cholesterol in the August water samples showed a maximum at river mile 93 which is consistent with the location of municipal sewage plants in the Philadelphia-Camden area. Fatty acids were not quantitated due to their poor chromatographic resolution, but they were present at very high levels in all samples. 

Input pathways of the detected compounds were traced back by sampling various input sources of organic matter like discharge of wastewater and Lippe river tributaries. The major proportion of contaminants were ubiquitous in Lippe river water and also occurred in effluent from a municipial sewage treatment plant and in samples from the tributaries characterizing a dominant contribution of typical sewage derived pollutants. 

Analytical measurement of sewage is required to establish the appropriate treatments as well as to provide a measure of treated effluent quality and for optimization of the treatment processes. Apart from sewage itself, solid residues originated in treatment plants require analytical characterization regardless their final purpose (i.e., use as a resource or discharged). 

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