Professional Documents
Culture Documents
C.Sereres (Environmental Engineering), Dr. W. Keeler (Physics), and Dr.P.Lee (Biology) Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, ON, CAN
Introduction
The traditional monitoring of industrial effluent quality has relied heavily on two laboratory-based components. First of which is physical-chemical measurements to determine the total concentration of a particular analyte in the effluent. The second is gathering biological data in the form of a static non-renewable acute bioassay. With industrial effluents increasing in frequency, intensity and severity, increased research in new technologies has revealed that traditional effluent monitoring has the following limitations: (1) complicated, expensive and time consuming; (2) cannot measure chemical compounds below analytical detection limits; (3) does not present data regarding additive, subtractive, or synergistic toxic effects; (4) mainly use a grab sample, which neglects to provide a representative picture of the extent of contamination; (5) early detection of poor effluent conditions (e.g. result of accidental spill) is minimal; (6) use mortality as a test endpoint and disregard the concept of ecological death. Lakehead University has developed a new biomonitoring system that utilizes rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) bevahiour to rapidly detect acute levels of toxicity in industrial effluent: The Toxicity Early Warning System (TEWS). With full implication and success of the TEWS, the tools will be available to conserve and protect our water resources from the byproducts of industrial activities.
In Situ Design
Located at final outfall pipe Complete flow through system
Fish are acclimatized on site Physical-chemical & biological parameters assessed in real-time Line conditioner prevents unwanted electrical noise System components cleaned
regularly after each test
Cough Frequency has wide potential application as a bioassay tool because : a wide array of chemical substances generate behavioral responses the behavioral responses are rapid and sensitive the level of behavioral response occurs in proportion to the toxicant concentration The cough is predictive of long-term adverse effects at levels near the maximum acceptable toxicant concentration (MATC) Coughing below displayed at 2548 gl-1 zinc
Chilling tank volume is 200 L Chamber flow rate is 200ml/m System is kept at 15 oC +/- 2oC
Figure 4: TEWS In Situ Flowchart Figure 5: TEWS pulp mill operations
.0400 sec/div
Behavioural Response
Whole Body Movement Fin Movement Breathing
In Lab Results
Complex Effluents
Aerated 4419.454545 8.403363636 1254.504545 7.669090909 n/a 2.001363636 0.201454545 24.70181818 786.8727273 0.107313667 0.0025 0.071660101 0.00025 42.9626777 0.000833437 0.007047344 0.003916354 0.008024767 0.28426816 191.7544001 122.3398569 0.037211335 0.025 783.2704801 0.053722559 0.015 11.81642515 0.025 0.71862321 n/a 0.00556428 0.007651625 0.865547121 38.27819513 Non-Aerated 5873.416667 7.766416667 1911.810833 26.23076923 n/a 0.0025 0.005 25.38256154 879.3923077 0.067384615 0.0025 3.5 0.324123077 0.00025 86.43 0.000976923 0.005423077 0.008769231 0.009930769 5.306846154 222.5384615 131.8846154 0.217961538 0.025 631.3076923 0.066023077 0.0549 13.54307692 0.025 1.334538462 n/a 0.004825 0.009333333 0.616307692 62.34162879 Lake Superior 115.39 7.36 41.55 Ontario Guidelines 8.5
Real-time Monitoring
In Situ Results
Note : From peak to peak is one breath Which is the sh opening and closing its gills!
Table 2. Values for all parameters in both landfill leachate lagoons have reference data from Lake Superior and the Ontario Water Quality Guidelines. All parameters except conductivity and pH are in units of mg l-1
Analysis Conductivity mS/cm pH Alkalinity mg/L Br NO2-N NO3-N PO4-P SO4 Cl Al As B Ba Be Ca Cd Co Cr Cu Fe K Mg Mn Mo Na Ni Pb S Se Sr Ti V Zn T Phosphorus T Nitrogen
Quantify fish behavioral responses to reference toxicants and know complex effluents Implement TEWS in situ to monitor industrial effluent quality in real-time
3.44 1.4 0.031 0.005 0.011 0.002 13.66 0.001 0.01 0.002 0.002 0.051 0.52 2.88
Figure 8
0.01
0.1
Employs fish behaviour sensors to detects the presence of acute toxic substances Fish are confined in flow-through test chamber which are exposed first to dechlorinated water (6 hour baseline), then are exposed to effluent (6 hour) Significant changes in ventilatory behavior and locomotion activities are detected through noninvasive electrodes in each tank Types of responses include: changes in fish whole body movement, fin movement, increased ventilatory frequency, and increased cough frequency, all of which help indicate signs of stress Fish Signals are amplified, filtered, compared to reference chamber and interfaced to a computer where WinDaqXL software is used to analyze waveforms. Computer based algorithms continuously monitor and assess each fishs reaction to the effluent
Power Source Floating Switch Bridge Circuit Testing Cell
X-Axis: Hz
Degradation of Breath
Control 6.25
Moderate movement
12.5 25 50
I n c r e a s i n g T o x i c i t y
Figure 9: Windowed Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) showing how we can calculate breaths per second for Figure 4.
Analyzing Waveforms
Functional Generator
Figure 10: A compressed one hour fish test in baseline water showing how we can calculate overall movement
100
Figure 15: Display of how the aerated lagoon effluent degrades fish breath Table 3. Showing breath parameters
Figure 17: Shows that both biological and physical-chemical measurements are needed to produce valid real-time warning
In Lab Design
Stainless Steel Electrodes
Note: Rainbow Trout survived less than an hour in both 100% lagoon effluents
Biological
Table 4
Physical-Chemical
4/7/08 4/11/08 6/2/08 O.mykiss 96 hr
LC50
DataQ Instrument
0.713
0.407
frequency, breath rate, and/or decrease in amplitude. Indicates lethal (acute) effects
Figure 16: Shows how fish recover after being taken out of 100 aerated lagoon effluent and put back into dechlorinated water
Based on the following results, a TEWS Level Three toxic fish response occurred in early spring .Management was notified directly and corrective action followed.
In Lab Results
Single Toxicants
Response Type
Cough Rate, Ventilatory Rate Cough Rate, Ventilation Ra t e Cough Rate NR NR
Rainbow Trout used are between 2-5 g System Temperature is 15 oC +/- 2oC Flow rate of the system is 200ml/m Acclimatized for 24 hour before test Toxicant is recirculated by a pump
Dechlorinated water parameters Temperature (oC): 14.3- 16.8 pH: 7.15- 7.90 Dissolved oxygen (mg l-1): 9.0- 10.5 Conductivity (S): 109-118 Harness (mg l-1 as CaCO3): 47-52
Percent Change
Increase 420% Increase 24 % Increase 340% Increase 21 % Increase 26 0 % NR NR
Allows for real-time response to potentially toxic events year round Prevents industry from failing monthly government regulated effluent tests Economical viable system to set-up and run Data acquisition system and user interface is easy to collect and analyze data The TEWS system is a portable self-contained chamber
North-western Ontario needs TEWS technology in order to protect its pristine environment