Nonylphenol sediment concentrations

Ferguson et al. [18] reported on the application of a mixed-mode HPLC separation, coupled with ESI-MS for the comprehensive analysis of NPEOs and nonylphenol (NP) concentrations and distributions in sediment and sewage samples. The mixed-mode separation, which operates with both size-exclusion and reversed-phase mechanisms, allows the resolution of NPEO ethoxymers prior to introduction to... 

You are interested in the well-being of Ampelisca abdita, living in a harbor whose sediments are contaminated with 4-nonylphenol. You remember that the lethal volume fraction of narcotic chemicals in membranes is about 0.01 L compound L I lipid. If the sediment contains 2% organic carbon by weight, and the amphipod is assumed to accumulate body burdens up to equilibrium with the sediments on which it lives, what sediment concentration of 4-nonylphenol should be deemed acceptable with respect to baseline toxicity Assume a log ,lipsw = 5.5 for 4-nonylphenol. Use Eq. 9-26c (alkylated and chlorinated benzenes ) for estimating Kioc. Compare your result with the findings of Fay et al. (2000), who observed a die-off of half the amphipods when they were exposed to about 0.16 g 4-nonylphenol - kg-1 sediment. 

Since the beginning of the 1980s, the presence of surfactants in solid matrices has slowly received more attention. The publication by Giger and coworkers in 1984 [2] on the anaerobic formation in sewage sludge of nonylphenol (NP) out of alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEOs) particularly stressed the importance of this environmental compartment. However, environmental data of surfactants in sediments and sludges remains scarcer than data on aqueous concentrations, undoubtedly because sediment samples are more difficult to handle. 

Ferguson et al. [40] reported the analysis of APEO metabolites in estuarine water and sediments. Compounds like nonylphenols, octylphenols, their mono-, di-, and triethoxylates, halogenated nonylphenols, and NPEC were found in water samples after SPE. Individual APEO metabolite concentrations of 1-320 ng/1 in water and 5-2000 ng/g in sediment were found. 

Phenol, because of its biodegradability, is seldom detected in sediments. The same may be generally said about a number of other compounds such as the cresols, phenylphenol, and nonylphenol. By contrast, some of the alkylphenols occur at remarkably high concentrations, particularly near waste discharge sites. For example, Jungclaus et al. (1978) reported that two isomers of dibutylphenol reached 100-150 mg kg in the Pawtuxet River, whereas the corresponding maximum values for tributylphenol and dibutyl-methyl phenol were 25 and 60 mg kg respectively. Although comparable residues probably occur in the sediments of other industrial zone rivers, the environmental implications of such levels are not known at this time. 

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