TY - JOUR
T1 - Ecotoxicological response of Scenedesmus obliquus to pure energetic compounds and metal ions found in wastewater streams from munitions manufacturing
AU - Lin, Yanxia
AU - Abraham, Juliana
AU - RoyChowdhury, Abhishek
AU - Su, Tsan Liang
AU - Braida, Washington
AU - Christodoulatos, Christos
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2020/6
Y1 - 2020/6
N2 - The energetic compounds 1-methoxy-2,4-dinitrobenzene (DNAN), nitroguanidine (NQ), 3-nitro-1,2,4-triazole-5-one (NTO) and 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazinane (Research Department Explosive, RDX) are widely used for explosive formulations production. Wastewater streams from industrial munition facilities are rich in nitrogen and contain considerable amounts of residual energetic compounds and metals such as zinc, nickel and copper. As such, these wastewater streams require physicochemical and/or biological treatment to meet regulatory discharge limits. The high nitrogen content of these streams makes them an attractive nutrient source for growing biomass such as microalgae. In previous studies we have identified some wastewater streams suitable for microalgal growth with minimal or no prior treatment, while others have shown moderate to high growth inhibition. The current study aims to elucidate the toxicity response of microalgae by performing growth-inhibition assays using solutions of single compounds and mixtures of energetic compounds and heavy metals. Using the freshwater green microalga Scenedesmus obliquus (S. obliquus) (ATCC® 11477) as a model organism, a microwell-plate growth-inhibition test procedure was performed to assess potential growth inhibition effects by DNAN, NQ, NTO, RDX, Zn, Ni and Cu. For the three metals tested, the order of growth rate inhibition effect on S. obliquus was Ni > Cu > Zn. The EC50s of Ni, Cu and Zn for S. obliquus were 0.08 mg/L, 0.26 mg/L and 10.13 mg/L, respectively. The effective concentrations for 50% growth inhibition (EC50) were 4.86 mg/L for DNAN and 8,700 mg/L for NTO. Conversely, RDX exhibited no toxicity below its solubility limit, and NQ had a mild toxic effect on S. obliquus with an EC20 of 303.3 mg/L.
AB - The energetic compounds 1-methoxy-2,4-dinitrobenzene (DNAN), nitroguanidine (NQ), 3-nitro-1,2,4-triazole-5-one (NTO) and 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazinane (Research Department Explosive, RDX) are widely used for explosive formulations production. Wastewater streams from industrial munition facilities are rich in nitrogen and contain considerable amounts of residual energetic compounds and metals such as zinc, nickel and copper. As such, these wastewater streams require physicochemical and/or biological treatment to meet regulatory discharge limits. The high nitrogen content of these streams makes them an attractive nutrient source for growing biomass such as microalgae. In previous studies we have identified some wastewater streams suitable for microalgal growth with minimal or no prior treatment, while others have shown moderate to high growth inhibition. The current study aims to elucidate the toxicity response of microalgae by performing growth-inhibition assays using solutions of single compounds and mixtures of energetic compounds and heavy metals. Using the freshwater green microalga Scenedesmus obliquus (S. obliquus) (ATCC® 11477) as a model organism, a microwell-plate growth-inhibition test procedure was performed to assess potential growth inhibition effects by DNAN, NQ, NTO, RDX, Zn, Ni and Cu. For the three metals tested, the order of growth rate inhibition effect on S. obliquus was Ni > Cu > Zn. The EC50s of Ni, Cu and Zn for S. obliquus were 0.08 mg/L, 0.26 mg/L and 10.13 mg/L, respectively. The effective concentrations for 50% growth inhibition (EC50) were 4.86 mg/L for DNAN and 8,700 mg/L for NTO. Conversely, RDX exhibited no toxicity below its solubility limit, and NQ had a mild toxic effect on S. obliquus with an EC20 of 303.3 mg/L.
KW - A munitions-manufacture wastewater
KW - Ecotoxicology assays
KW - Energetic compounds
KW - Heavy metals
KW - Scenedesmus obliquus
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U2 - 10.1016/j.algal.2020.101927
DO - 10.1016/j.algal.2020.101927
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85083707181
SN - 2211-9264
VL - 48
JO - Algal Research
JF - Algal Research
M1 - 101927
ER -