Effect of pyrolysis temperature on removal of organic pollutants present in anaerobically stabilized sewage sludge.

Sewage sludge was excluded from the list of component materials for the production of EU fertilizing products and it was banned as feedstock to produce pyrolysis & gasification materials in European Commission's technical proposals for selected new fertilizing materials under the Regulation 2019/1009 (STRUBIAS report). This exclusion of pyrolysis as a viable way to treat sewage sludge was mainly due to the lack of data on the fate of organic pollutants at pyrolysis conditions. In this work, we are addressing this knowledge gap.

Screening for 32 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) including GenX in sludges from 43 WWTPs located in the Czech Republic - Evaluation of potential accumulation in vegetables after application of biosolids.

Highly persistent, toxic and bioaccumulative per - and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) represents a serious problem for the environment and their concentrations and fate remain largely unknown. The present study consists of a PFAS screening in sludges originating from 43 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the Czech Republic. To analyze an extended group of PFAS consisting of 32 PFAS, including GenX and other new replacements of older and restricted PFAS in sludge, a new method was optimized and validated using pressurized solvent extraction, followed by the SPE clean-up step to eliminate the observed matrix effects and LC-MS/MS.

Anaerobic in situ biodegradation of TNT using whey as an electron donor: a case study.

Contamination by 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), an explosive extensively used by the military, represents a serious environmental problem. In this study, whey has been selected as the most technologically and economically suitable primary substrate for anaerobic in situ biodegradation of TNT. Under laboratory conditions, various additions of whey, molasses, acetate and activated sludge as an inoculant were tested and the process was monitored using numerous chemical analyses including phospholipid fatty acid analysis.