Effect of toxicants from non-domestic wastewater on the growth of aerobic, anaerobic, and algal biomass

Pereira, Andressa Rezende; Santos, Grazielle Rocha dos; Souza, Claudio Leite; Chernicharo, Carlos Augusto de Lemos; Aquino, Sergio Francisco

doi:10.1590/S1413-415220250036

Tabla de contenido Anterior Actual Siguiente

Tabla de contenido

Scientific Paper • Eng. Sanit. Ambient. 31 • 2026 • https://doi.org/10.1590/S1413-415220250036 linkcopy

Effect of toxicants from non-domestic wastewater on the growth of aerobic, anaerobic, and algal biomass

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

The present study used toxicity tests to investigate the effects of several toxicants on the growth of aerobic (activated sludge), anaerobic (sludge) (Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB)), and algal (Chlorella vulgaris cultivation) biomasses. The toxicants analyzed are included in Brazilian water authorities’ regulations for the discharge of non-domestic wastewater (NDW) into sanitary sewage networks. First, the concentration ranges commonly reported as inhibitory for the three types of biomass were surveyed in the literature. Based on this survey and considering the limits established by the NDW discharge regulations in Brazil, three doses were defined for each substance, to be used in aerobic (dissolved oxygen consumption rate), anaerobic (methane production rate), and algal (cell growth rate) toxicity tests. The tests revealed that the biomasses exhibited quite variable minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC); aerobic biomass appeared to be more tolerant (MIC in greater magnitude) than anaerobic and algal biomass, with the latter being the most sensitive. Aerobic sludge was particularly sensitive (toxicity observed at 1 mg.L^-1) to lead, cobalt, total chromium, iron, zinc, and sulfide. In comparison, anaerobic sludge was more sensitive to tin and mercury (0.1 and 0.5 mg.L^-1, respectively). Algal biomass was more sensitive to vanadium, cobalt, and sulfide (0.2, 0.5, and 0.5 mg.L^-1, respectively). Arsenic, copper, total chromium, iron, phenols, and sulfate had minimum inhibitory doses (for all three biomasses) lower than the values proposed by some Brazilian water authorities, indicating the need for more in-depth studies on these substances to encourage future reviews of the currently established limits.

Keywords:
industrial wastewater; metals; toxic compounds; toxicity; inhibition; activated sludge; anaerobic digestion; facultative ponds

Substance	Reagent used	Doses tested in the aerobic test (mg.L^-1)	Doses tested in the anaerobic test (mg.L^-1)	Doses tested in the algal test (mg.L^-1)
Al	AlCl₃.6H₂O	1; 3; 10; 100	3; 100; 1,500	1.5; 3; 6
As	Na₂HAsO₄.7H₂O	1; 3; 10	3; 15; 150	1.5; 3; 7
Ba	BaCl₂.2H₂O	5; 50; 100; 1,000	5; 500; 2,000	1; 5; 7
B	H₃BO₃	5; 50; 100	5; 100; 1,000	2; 5; 50
Cd	CdCl₂.H₂O	0.5; 5; 50	1; 5; 200	2.5; 5; 7.5
Pb	Pb(NO₃)₂	1; 10; 50	0.5; 10; 100	0.25; 1; 10
Co	CoCl₂.6H₂O	1; 10; 50	0.5; 1; 10	0.5; 1; 2
Cu	CuCl₂.2H₂O	1; 10; 50	10; 50; 100	5; 10; 15
Cr (VI)	K₂Cr₂O₇	1.5; 15; 150	0.5; 1.5; 15	1.5; 30; 75
Total Cr	Equimolar mixture CrCl₃.6H₂O and K₂Cr₂O₇	1; 10; 100	5; 10; 60	1; 10; 100
Sn	SnCl₂.2H₂O	1; 5; 10; 100	0.1; 5; 10	1; 5; 10
Fe	FeSO₄.7H₂O	1; 5; 50	15; 500; 2,000	5; 15; 50
Hg	HgCl₂	1.5; 10; 100	0.5; 1.5; 10	0.5; 1.5; 3
Ni	NiCl₂.6H₂O	1; 5; 100	5; 50; 1,500	0.5; 5; 50
Ag	Ag₂SO₄	1; 5; 50	5; 50; 100	2.5; 5; 7.5
Se	Se powder	1; 5; 100	1; 5; 10	5; 25; 50
V	V₂(SO₄)₃	4; 40; 400	4; 40; 400	0.2; 2; 4
Zn	Zn powder	1; 5; 50	5; 50; 100	2.5; 5; 10
Ammonium-N	NH₄Cl	60; 100; 500; 1,000; 1,500	500; 1,500; 5,000	200; 500; 670
Surface-active substances	NaC₁₂H₂₅SO₄	5; 100; 1,000	5; 25; 900	1; 5; 10
Total Phenols	C₆H₅OH	5; 50; 100	5; 700; 2,000	2; 5; 50
Sulfide	Na₂S.9H₂O	1; 10; 100	1; 5; 500	0.5; 1; 5
Cyanide	KCN	1; 2.5; 5	1; 5; 8.5	0.5; 2.5; 5
Total Sulfate	Na₂SO₄	5; 100; 1,000	500; 1,000; 5,000	1; 10; 1,000
Total Fluoride	NaF	10; 100; 520	5; 10; 50	10; 100; 200

Substance	Aerobic biomass		Anaerobic biomass		Algal biomass
Substance	Inhibitory concentration reported in the literature (mg.L^-1)	Reference	Inhibitory concentration reported in the literature (mg.L^-1)	Reference	Inhibitory concentration reported in the literature (mg.L^-1)	Reference
Al	10–60	Zhang et al. (2019); Li et al. (2022)	> 1,500	Oleszkiewicz and Sharma (1990); Novak and Park (2010)	0.050–0.100	Pakrashi et al. (2013)
As	3 (AsVI and AsIII)	Brunskill et al. (1980)	12–120	Wang et al. (2014); He et al. (2018); Tang et al. (2019)	0.048–30	Vocke et al. (1980); Levy et al. (2005)
Ba	-	-	200–2,000	Wyman et al. (2019); Da Silva et al. (2021)	1.5 (stimulating)	Polonini et al. (2015)
B	1,000–2,500	Dinçer (2004); Güneş (2013)	-	-	2.6–22	Chen et al. (2019); Saxena et al. (2023)
Cd	1–48	Çeçen et al. (2010); El Bestawy et al. (2013); Hernandez-Martinez et al. (2018)	20–107	Yu and Fang (2001); Xu et al. (2017)	0.4–7.5	Magdaleno et al. (2014); Hussain et al. (2021)
Pb	10	Malamis et al. (2012)	2–8,000	Li and Chen (1999); Sharma and Melkania (2018)	0.027–0.364	De Schamphelaere et al. (2014)
Co	1–180	El Bestawy et al. (2013); Hernandez-Martinez et al. (2018)	0.05–1,768	Oleszkiewicz and Sharma (1990); Paulo et al. (2017)	0.014–0.038	Stubblefield et al. (2020)
Cu	0.5–32	El Bestawy et al. (2013); Esquivel-Rios et al. (2014); Hao et al. (2016); Buaisha et al. (2021)	100–500	Sharma and Melkania (2018); Cao et al. (2023)	0.5–3.2	Magdaleno et al. (2014); Hussain et al. (2021)
Cr VI	0.5–115	Alkan et al. (2008); Tekerlekopoulou et al. (2010); Fang et al. (2015)	1–250	Li and Chen (1999); Sharma and Melkania (2018)	66	Hussain et al. (2021)
Cr III/Total	0.5–160	Gikas and Romanos (2006); Çeçen et al. (2010); El Bestawy et al. (2013)	0.52–3,000	Li and Fang (2007); Alrawashdeh et al. (2020)	-	-
Sn	0.005	Argaman et al. (1984)	-	-	1.0–10	Pawlik-Skowrońska et al. (1997)
Fe	5–32	Hao et al. (2016); Yazdanbakhsh et al. (2019)	21–2,900	Zhang et al. (2009); Wang et al. (2024)	2.0–5.0	Subramaniyam et al. (2016)
Hg	1–183	Stasinakis et al. (2003); Çeçen et al. (2010)	0.006–100	Abdel-Shafy and Mansour (2014); Sharma and Melkania (2018)	0.5–2.6	Matson et al. (1972); Kelly et al. (2007)
Ni	1–240	Li et al. (2011); Hernandez-Martinez et al. (2018)	35–1,600	Li and Chen (1999); Altas (2009)	1	Gong et al. (2019)
Ag	0.33–311	Çeçen et al. (2010); Matyja et al. (2021)	2,730	Ünşar et al. (2016)	0.5–2.5	Hussain et al. (2021)
Se	0.5 (stimulating)	Chakrabarti and Jones (1983)	72–80	Cai et al. (2018); Logan et al. (2023)	-	-
V	90–120	Kamika e Momba (2014)	-	-	3.24–4.12	Schiffer and Liber (2017)
Zn	10–120	Alkan et al. (2008); Malamis et al. (2012); Esquivel-Rios et al. (2014)	7.5–293	Altas (2009); Kumar et al. (2023)	0.2–0.4	Magdaleno et al. (2014)
Ammonium-N	60	Paśmionka et al. (2021)	1,500–19,000	De Souza (1984); Poirier et al. (2020)	670	Lin et al. (2007)
Surface-active substances	5	Yang et al. (2015)	25–900	Da Silva et al. (2019)	-	-
Total Phenols	4–4,000	Contreras et al. (2008); Eleren and Alkan (2009); He et al. (2021)	700–2,100	De Souza (1984); Blum and Speece (1991)	400	Scragg (2006)
Sulfide	2.5–150	Seuntjens et al. (2018); Noriega-Hevia et al. (2020)	50–160	Yamaguchi et al. (1999); Chen et al. (2014)	200	González-Sánchez and Posten (2017)
Cyanide	1–30	Kim et al. (2011); Inglezakis et al. (2017)	8.5–1,300	Pirc et al. (2010); Novak et al. (2013)	0.5–2.5	Hussain et al. (2021)
Total Sulfate	5–7.5	Noriega-Hevia et al. (2020)	2,000	Moset et al. (2012)	192	Mera et al. (2016)
Total Fluoride	520	Carrera et al. (2003)	18	Ochoa-Herrera et al. (2009)	118–170	Li et al. (2013)

Substance	Lowest dose tested that presented adverse effects — aerobic biomass (mg.L^-1)	Lowest dose tested that presented adverse effects — anaerobic biomass (mg.L^-1)	Lowest dose tested that presented adverse effects — algal biomass (mg.L^-1)
Al	100	3	1.5
As	3	3	1.5
Ba	1,000	5	7
B	50	1,000	10
Cd	50	1	2.5
Pb	1	No apparent effect	No apparent effect
Co	1	10	0.5
Cu	10	10	5
Cr (VI)	1.5	15	1.5
Total Cr	1	5	1
Sn	100	0.1	1
Fe	1	15	15
Hg	100	0.5	1.5
Ni	100	5	0.5
Ag	50	5	2.5
Se	100	No apparent effect	50
V	40	40	0.2
Zn	1	100	2.5
Ammonium-N	1,500	500	500
Surface-active substances	1,000	25	No apparent effect
Total Phenols	5	5	2
Sulfide	1	500	0.5
Cyanide	No apparent effect	5	5
Total Sulfate	100	500	1
Total Fluoride	No apparent effect	10	100

location_on

Associação Brasileira de Engenharia Sanitária e Ambiental - ABES Av. Beira Mar, 216 - 13º Andar - Castelo, 20021-060 Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brasil - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brazil
E-mail: esa@abes-dn.org.br

rss_feed Acompañe los números de esta revista en su lector de RSS