In-Situ Measurement of Local Biodegradation during Secondary Treatment:  Application to Bleached Pulp Mill Chloroorganics

A procedure has been developed for tracing the biodegradation of effluent constituents in the water column of secondary treatment systems and applied to chlorinated bleach plant components. Pulp is bleached with radioactive [36Cl] Cl2 or ClO2 to give labeled AOX. Next, samples are drawn from various...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental science & technology 1997-03, Vol.31 (3), p.710-716
Main Authors: Williams, Chris L., Banerjee, Sujit, Kemeny, Thomas E., Sackellares, Robert, Juszynski, Michael D., Degyansky, Milan E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biodegradation
Biological and medical sciences
Biological treatment of waters
Biotechnology
Chemistry
Effluents
Environment and pollution
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Industrial applications and implications. Economical aspects
Waste materials
Water treatment
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Summary:A procedure has been developed for tracing the biodegradation of effluent constituents in the water column of secondary treatment systems and applied to chlorinated bleach plant components. Pulp is bleached with radioactive [36Cl] Cl2 or ClO2 to give labeled AOX. Next, samples are drawn from various locations and depths in the treatment system, and the labeled AOX is added to each sample. The amended samples are transferred to vials capped at both ends with semi-permeable membranes. These hold the microorganisms and prevent most of the tagged AOX from diffusing out, but allow the flow of dissolved oxygen and nutrients. The vials are then inserted into a sampler at 1-ft depth intervals, which is placed in the treatment system for a period equal to the hydraulic retention time of the lagoon. Thus, the radioactive AOX experiences the conditions prevalent in the lagoon while being held captive inside the vial. After retrieval of the sampler, the radioactivity remaining in each vial is determined, and the removal efficiency is calculated. Only 15% of the radioactive AOX biodegraded in the water column in the aerated stabilization basin (ASB) of the Georgia-Pacific bleached Kraft facility at Brunswick, GA. This value was independently confirmed in a study where samples from the inlet and outfall of the treatment system were filtered through a 1000-Da filter, and both the unfiltered and filtered samples were analyzed for AOX. Removal of the
ISSN:0013-936X
1520-5851
DOI:10.1021/es960273n