Detection of anthropogenic gadolinium in the Brisbane River plume in Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia

Wastewater effluent is known to contain macro and micropollutants, which may be deleterious to environmental health. One such class of micropollutants is chelated gadolinium, which are used as MRI contrast agents. As these MRI contrast agents can be assumed to behave conservatively during estuarine mixing, it is possible to calculate how much wastewater is represented in any particular sample. In this study, the percentage contribution of wastewater at specific locations in Moreton Bay, Qld, were determined by calculating the additional anthropogenic gadolinium contribution to the total rare earth element concentrations. Wastewater contributions were measured at concentrations as low as 0.2%, demonstrating the applicability of this technique for wastewater effluent plume mapping.     

Identifizierung von Stickstoffverbindungen niederer molarer Masse in Abläufen einer kommunalen Kläranlage mit biologischer Reinigungsstufe

Identification of Nitrogen-containing Compounds of Low Molecular Weight in Effluents of Biologically Treated Municipal Wastewater Enriching methods based on reversed phases were developed for the investigation of low-molecular compounds containing nitrogen in municipal wastewater effluent. The enriched mixtures were treated gas chromatographically without derivatization under different conditions. By application of the PBM-algorithm to the GC/MS spectra of the enriched samples (concentration factor 1000...20000), 133 nitrogen-containing compounds could be identified with a probability of occurence of at least 30% put out. Seventeen of these compounds were identified with > 90% probability and another ten with 80...90% probability. 9-Methylacridine was found in nine of ten processed samples investigated. The nitrogen content of the 133 identified compounds was estimated at about 20% of the low-molecular fraction of DON (dissolved organic nitrogen).     

Analysis of Pulp Mill EOP Bleaching Process Effluent by Thin-layer Chromatography with Automated Multiple Development (AMD-HPTLC)

High-performance thin-layer chromatography with automated multiple development (AMD-HPTLC) was applied for the examination of pulp mill bleachery effluents from an alkali-oxygen-peroxide (EOP) bleaching stage of a sulfite pulp. A gradient based on methanol and dichloro-methane was developed for the separation of the effluent compounds over a wide range of migration distances. A series of reference substances such as lignin phenols and other aromatic acids, aldehydes, and alcohols as well as two resin acids were investigated in parallel using the AMD-HPTLC method. Characterization of the effluent compounds was possible using the migration distances and the recorded spectra. The composition of different samples of effluent were found to be very similar. The application of the AMD-HPTLC to effluent fractions from acidic liquid-liquid extraction using diethyl ether and from RP C18 solid-phase extraction allowed us to follow the behaviour of the effluent compounds in the extraction procedure.     

The development of a rapid screening technique to measure antibiotic activity in effluents and surface water samples

Use of antibiotics in medicine, farming and aquaculture results in a continual supply of these pharmaceuticals and their breakdown products reaching the environment. A method has been developed to use for screening environmental samples to establish whether they contain antibiotics. The assay is based on a commercially available test kit and uses some modifications of the test procedure and SPE techniques to deliver a fast, semi-quantifiable result. Development of the assay and results from spiked and environmental samples are discussed.