Effects of selected chemicals to photoluminescent bacteria and their correlations with acute and sublethal effects on other organisms

Microtox^R1 test toxicity values for twenty chlorophenols, twelve chlorobenzenes and thirteen para-substituted phenols have been determined and correlated with the acute and sublethal effects of these chemicals on several species of fish, bacteria and shrimp. The results indicate that the Microtox^R test provides good estimates of the toxicities to the various biota, as shown by the linear correlation equations presented, and that it is useful for the calculation of structure-activity correlations with physico-chemical parameters, such as the octanol/water partition coefficient.     

Pig slurry concentration by vacuum evaporation: influence of previous mesophilic anaerobic digestion process

Water can be removed from pig slurry by evaporation, through the application of wasted heat from a power plant or from other processes. Apart from obtaining a concentrate with an obviously higher nutrient concentration than the original slurry, another objective of water removal is to obtain water as condensate, which could be reused. The objective of this work was to study the vacuum evaporation of pig slurry liquid fraction and to evaluate condensate composition as a function of both pH (4, 5, and 6) and pig slurry type (fresh slurry and anaerobically digested slurry). Batch experiments showed that condensate characteristics, total ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), volatile fatty acids (VFA), and chemical oxygen demand were strongly dependent on initial slurry pH. In addition to producing part of the required thermal energy, previous anaerobic digestion presented several other clear advantages. The consumption of VFA and other volatile organic compounds during anaerobic digestion reduced the volatilization of organic matter in the evaporation treatment and, consequently, provided a higher quality condensate.