Health risk assessment for the land application of biosolids in Ankara, Turkey : ingestion pathway

Download
2013
Kendir, Ece
Biosolids are valuable products which can be beneficially used in land application. However, the possibility of serious health effects on humans due to several pollutants in biosolids creates a big concern. To address this issue, risk-based methodologies are commonly used to evaluate health effects associated with the land application of biosolids. This study aims to investigate the health risks associated with ingestion of biosolids or soil mixed with biosolids by a child. This study is the first health risk assessment study in Turkey for land application of biosolids. Monthly sludge samples taken from Ankara Central Wastewater Treatment Plant (ACWWTP) in 2012 were analyzed for seven heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn), and two organic contaminants (PCB and NPE) concentrations. To calculate health risks, methodologies developed by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and French National Institute for Industrial Environment and Risks (INERIS) were used. With both methods, cancer and non-cancer risks for the ingestion by a child pathway were determined and found to be below the acceptable cancer and non-cancer risk levels suggested by U.S. EPA and INERIS. Additionally, same health risk calculations were conducted for sludge and soil limit values provided in Turkish Regulation for the Use of Sewage Sludge in Agriculture (2010) to determine what the maximum health risk would be for the worst case scenario in Turkey. According to the results, even if the concentrations are at the maximum possible regulatory levels, the health risks are still low.

Suggestions

Fate and degradation kinetics of nonylphenol compounds in aerobic batch digesters
Omeroglu, Seçil; Sanin, Faika Dilek (2014-11-01)
Nonylphenol (NP) compounds are toxic and persistent chemicals that are not fully degraded either in natural or engineered systems. Current knowledge indicates that these compounds concentrate in sewage sludge. Therefore, investigating the degradation patterns and types of metabolites formed during sludge treatment are important for land application of sewage sludge. Unfortunately, the information on the fate of nonylphenol compounds in sludge treatment is very limited. This study aims to investigate the bio...
Attenuation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) under anaerobic conditions
Kaya, Devrim; Sanin, Faika Dilek; İmamoğlu, İpek; Department of Environmental Engineering (2012)
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are toxic and persistent anthropogenic contaminants. Concern on their adverse health effects has led to their regulation in air, water and/or soil in addition to sludge. Hence, removal of PCBs in various matrices, including transformer oils (TO) is a priority. This study aims to investigate PCB-118 and Aroclor 1254 toxicity and dechlorination by varying certain critical experimental components including electron donor (sludge or fatty acids), inocula (unacclimated or acclima...
Selective sulfate sorption from boric acid factory process liquor: Chitosan-bentonite biocomposite film synthesis as sorbent
Kaya, Fatih; Ozer, Ahmet (2022-09-01)
Chitosan is a natural polymer that is renewable, biocompatible, and biodegradable. Bentonite is a natural mineral with low environmental effects. For this reason, chitosan- bentonite biocomposite film was synthesized as a sorbent and its characterized by FT-IR, SEM, EDX, CHNS elemental analysis and thermal analysis techniques. The sorbent was utilized for selective sulfate (SO42  ) sorption from boric acid factory process liquor, because one of the most important problems in the boric acid productio...
Evaluation of solar sludge drying alternatives on costs and area requirements
Kurt, Mayıs; Aksoy, Ayşegül; Sanin, Faika Dilek; Department of Environmental Engineering (2014)
There are basically two common sludge drying methods, thermal drying and solar drying. While thermal drying requires high amount of energy, solar drying cannot typically attain the 90 % DS requirement. The literature studies emphasize the benefits of solar drying used as GSD (greenhouse solar dryer) to reduce energy requirement but these dryers cannot achieve 90 % DSC without any auxiliary heat. Therefore, use of solar panels as auxiliary heat source was evaluated in this study. To calculate how much energy...
Versatility of biodegradable biopolymers: degradability and an in vivo application
Hasırcı, Vasıf Nejat; Gresser, JD; Wise, DL; Trantolo, DJ (2001-03-30)
Biodegradable materials have various important applications in the biomedical field. There are basically two groups of polyesters which have significant importance in this field. These are polylactides and polyhydroxybutyrates. Both groups degrade via hydrolysis with the rates of degradation depending on medium properties such as pH, temperature, solvent and presence of biocatalysts, as well as on chemical compositions. In order for these biomaterials to be suitable for use in load bearing applications with...
Citation Formats
E. Kendir, “Health risk assessment for the land application of biosolids in Ankara, Turkey : ingestion pathway,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2013.