Respirometric Study of Optical Brighteners in Textile Wastewater
1
Institute of Textile Research and Industrial Cooperation of Terrassa (INTEXTER), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya—BarcelonaTech, Colom 15, 08222 Terrassa, Spain
2
Department of Project and Construction Engineering, Terrassa School of Industrial, Aerospace and Audiovisual Engineering (ESEIAAT), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya—BarcelonaTech, Colom 11, 08222 Terrassa, Spain
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Materials 2019, 12(5), 785; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12050785
Received: 31 January 2019 / Revised: 26 February 2019 / Accepted: 4 March 2019 / Published: 7 March 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmentally Friendly Renewable Materials)
Optical brighteners (OBs) are colorless fluorescent dyes, widely used in industry to improve whiteness in materials. Nearly 80% of all OBs in the market are derivatives of stilbene. They absorb the near-ultraviolet light and re-emit most of it in the blue range as visible fluorescence. OBs are commonly applied on textiles, detergents, paper and plastic products, among others. OBs have a low degradation ratio. In biological plants, they can only be partially removed by adsorption into the sludge and a tertiary treatment could be required to fully remove them. Part of them may persist and can be found in river and lake waters. The current work aims to evaluate the effect of the OBs in the bacterial activity of biological wastewater treatment plants. The influence of two commercial OBs (Goldblanc BHA and Leucophor PC) on respiration rate was monitored by means of a semi-continuous electrolytic respirometer, in order to obtain information related to the growth of the biomass and the degradation of the substrate. Their acute toxicity was also determined. It was concluded that the OB effect on bacteria population is variable depending on its chemical structure. Unlike the former, the Leucophor-PC brightener had an impact on the respirometric rate.
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Keywords:
optical brighteners; bacterial activity; respirometry; biodegradability; textile wastewater
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MDPI and ACS Style
Salas, H.; Gutiérrez-Bouzán, C.; López-Grimau, V.; Vilaseca, M. Respirometric Study of Optical Brighteners in Textile Wastewater. Materials 2019, 12, 785. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12050785
AMA Style
Salas H, Gutiérrez-Bouzán C, López-Grimau V, Vilaseca M. Respirometric Study of Optical Brighteners in Textile Wastewater. Materials. 2019; 12(5):785. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12050785
Chicago/Turabian StyleSalas, Héctor; Gutiérrez-Bouzán, Carmen; López-Grimau, Víctor; Vilaseca, Mercedes. 2019. "Respirometric Study of Optical Brighteners in Textile Wastewater" Materials 12, no. 5: 785. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12050785
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