Cargando…

Identification of the Chemical Forms of Heavy Metals in Municipal Sewage Sludge as a Critical Element of Ecological Risk Assessment in Terms of Its Agricultural or Natural Use

The present study aimed to demonstrate that identification of the chemical forms of heavy metals in sewage sludge produced in municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) is a critical element of ecological risk assessment, especially in terms of its agricultural or natural use. The concentrations...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Tytła, Malwina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7369910/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32605165
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17134640
_version_ 1783560877931233280
author Tytła, Malwina
author_facet Tytła, Malwina
author_sort Tytła, Malwina
collection PubMed
description The present study aimed to demonstrate that identification of the chemical forms of heavy metals in sewage sludge produced in municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) is a critical element of ecological risk assessment, especially in terms of its agricultural or natural use. The concentrations of seven heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn and Hg) were determined using inductively coupled plasma optical spectrometry (ICP-OES) and cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (CV-AAS). The chemical forms of heavy metals were analyzed in accordance with the sequential extraction method proposed by the Community Bureau of Reference (BCR). Sludge samples were collected at the five municipal WWTPs located in the largest industrial area in the country, i.e., the Upper Silesian Industrial Region (southern Poland, central Europe). The ecological risk was assessed by calculating the Potential Ecological Risk Factor (ER), Risk Index (RI), Risk Assessment Code (RAC), Individual Contamination Factor (ICF), Global Risk Index (GRI) as well as the author’s indices, i.e., Individual Ecological Risk (IER) and Global Ecological Risk (GER). To demonstrate the differences between the level of ecological risk posed by the different heavy metals, sludge samples were collected at two specific points of the processing line. Considering the chemical forms of heavy metals, the highest ecological risk was posed by Zn, Cd and Ni, while in the case of their total concentrations, by Cd and Hg. The obtained results confirm that quantitative determination of the total content of heavy metals in sewage sludge is not a sufficient criterion in assessment of the ecological risk that these elements pose to the natural environment and living organisms. Moreover, multivariate statistical analysis revealed a significant correlation between the concentrations of heavy metals, which indicates that they plausibly originate from the same source of pollution.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7369910
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-73699102020-07-21 Identification of the Chemical Forms of Heavy Metals in Municipal Sewage Sludge as a Critical Element of Ecological Risk Assessment in Terms of Its Agricultural or Natural Use Tytła, Malwina Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The present study aimed to demonstrate that identification of the chemical forms of heavy metals in sewage sludge produced in municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) is a critical element of ecological risk assessment, especially in terms of its agricultural or natural use. The concentrations of seven heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn and Hg) were determined using inductively coupled plasma optical spectrometry (ICP-OES) and cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (CV-AAS). The chemical forms of heavy metals were analyzed in accordance with the sequential extraction method proposed by the Community Bureau of Reference (BCR). Sludge samples were collected at the five municipal WWTPs located in the largest industrial area in the country, i.e., the Upper Silesian Industrial Region (southern Poland, central Europe). The ecological risk was assessed by calculating the Potential Ecological Risk Factor (ER), Risk Index (RI), Risk Assessment Code (RAC), Individual Contamination Factor (ICF), Global Risk Index (GRI) as well as the author’s indices, i.e., Individual Ecological Risk (IER) and Global Ecological Risk (GER). To demonstrate the differences between the level of ecological risk posed by the different heavy metals, sludge samples were collected at two specific points of the processing line. Considering the chemical forms of heavy metals, the highest ecological risk was posed by Zn, Cd and Ni, while in the case of their total concentrations, by Cd and Hg. The obtained results confirm that quantitative determination of the total content of heavy metals in sewage sludge is not a sufficient criterion in assessment of the ecological risk that these elements pose to the natural environment and living organisms. Moreover, multivariate statistical analysis revealed a significant correlation between the concentrations of heavy metals, which indicates that they plausibly originate from the same source of pollution. MDPI 2020-06-28 2020-07 /pmc/articles/PMC7369910/ /pubmed/32605165 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17134640 Text en © 2020 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Tytła, Malwina
Identification of the Chemical Forms of Heavy Metals in Municipal Sewage Sludge as a Critical Element of Ecological Risk Assessment in Terms of Its Agricultural or Natural Use
title Identification of the Chemical Forms of Heavy Metals in Municipal Sewage Sludge as a Critical Element of Ecological Risk Assessment in Terms of Its Agricultural or Natural Use
title_full Identification of the Chemical Forms of Heavy Metals in Municipal Sewage Sludge as a Critical Element of Ecological Risk Assessment in Terms of Its Agricultural or Natural Use
title_fullStr Identification of the Chemical Forms of Heavy Metals in Municipal Sewage Sludge as a Critical Element of Ecological Risk Assessment in Terms of Its Agricultural or Natural Use
title_full_unstemmed Identification of the Chemical Forms of Heavy Metals in Municipal Sewage Sludge as a Critical Element of Ecological Risk Assessment in Terms of Its Agricultural or Natural Use
title_short Identification of the Chemical Forms of Heavy Metals in Municipal Sewage Sludge as a Critical Element of Ecological Risk Assessment in Terms of Its Agricultural or Natural Use
title_sort identification of the chemical forms of heavy metals in municipal sewage sludge as a critical element of ecological risk assessment in terms of its agricultural or natural use
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7369910/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32605165
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17134640
work_keys_str_mv AT tytłamalwina identificationofthechemicalformsofheavymetalsinmunicipalsewagesludgeasacriticalelementofecologicalriskassessmentintermsofitsagriculturalornaturaluse