Toxicity-based criteria for the evaluation of textile wastewater treatment efficiency

• Published in: Environmental toxicology and chemistry 2001-04, Vol.20 (4), p.839-845
• Main Authors: Rosa, Edson V. Cordova, Simionatto, Edesio Luiz, de Souza Sierra, Maria Marta, Bertoli, Savio Leandro, Radetski, Claudemir Marcos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Applied ecology; Bioassays; Biological and medical sciences; Biological Assay; Brazil; Chlorophyta - drug effects; Daphnia - drug effects; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Environmental Monitoring - standards; Fabaceae - drug effects; Fabaceae - genetics; Fresh water environment; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genotoxicity; Glycine max - drug effects; Guidelines; Industrial Waste - analysis; International; Micronucleus Tests; Organization for Standardization; Oryza - drug effects; Ozonation; Ozone; Plants - drug effects; Plants, Medicinal; Poecilia - physiology; Textile effluent; Textile Industry - standards; Triticum - drug effects; Vibrio - drug effects; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water Pollutants, Chemical - toxicity; Water Purification - methods
• ISSN: 0730-7268; 1552-8618
• DOI: 10.1002/etc.5620200420

Brazilian textile mills import wastewater treatment technologies, performances of which are generally evaluated only on a physicochemical basis. Thus, a battery of bioassays was used to evaluate the performance of an ozonation system to treat textile effluents. Comparative toxicological profiles for bacteria (Vibriofischeri), algae (Scenedesmus subspicatus), daphnia(Daphnia magna), fish (Poecilia reticulata), and plants (soybean—Glycine max, rice—Oryza sativa, and wheat—Triticum aestivum), as well as genotoxic effects (Viciafaba micronucleus assay), are presented for both raw and ozonated textile effluents. The relative sensitivity of bioassays (or end points) to textile effluents found in this study in decreasing order was plant enzymes > bacteria > algae ≈ daphnids ≈ plant biomass ≈ germination rate > fish. No significant genotoxic effect was found. We have concluded that ozonation was relatively effective in reducing toxicity of textile effluents. Bioassays used in this study proved to be sensitive and reliable tools for determining the toxicity of industrial effluents, and thus they can be used to evaluate emerging technology efficiency.