This paper describes the derivation of an Environmental Emissions Index (EEI) intended to quantify the environmental performance of Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) installations and sectors. Characterisation and normalisation methods used in lifecycle analyses were applied to 20 routinely reported emissions parameters, pertaining to six environmental impact categories. Distance to policy targets for relevant emissions were used to weight impact categories, and link the EEI to policy priorities. Ireland and the EU15 were considered as scales of context. The European Pollutant Emission Register was a convenient source of normalisation data, but restricted the context of the EEI to industrial emissions, and distorted outputs. Using national and EU15 total loading estimates for normalisation resulted in an EEI that better reflected the relative contribution of reported emissions towards overall environmental pressures. Using Ireland's pharmaceutical sector as a case study indicated that weighting factors, and the toxicity range of NMVOC emissions, were the largest sources of EEI uncertainty. Through the integration of inventory data, scientific characterisation, and policy targets, the EEI translates reported emissions data from IPPC installations and sectors into a benchmark of environmental performance. It may be regarded as an evolving tool of potential utility to regulators and policy makers.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a statutory role to support and coordinate environmental research in Ireland. Over the last ten years the EPA has supported research activities in a range of environmental areas. The objectives of this paper are to assess the achievements and impacts of a selected subset of EPA-funded projects on Ireland meeting its requirements in relation to Water Framework Directive (WFD) implementation (specifically targeted projects), and to assess how the EPA Water Research Programme contributes towards meeting the overall aims and targets of the EPA's STRIVE (Science, Technology, Research and Innovation for the Environment) Programme. The EPA Water Research Programme has been a key vehicle for funding areas of vital research in support of WFD implementation. It has supported environmental policy with the significant contribution made by EPA-funded researchers into the development of novel methodologies. The research has provided essential outputs, which have kept Ireland fully compliant with WFD deliverables. A 2007 communication from the European Commission on WFD-reporting performance placed Ireland first out of the 27 EU member states. The overall EPA Water Research Programme has also greatly contributed towards meeting the STRIVE Programme objectives and overall EPA vision of protected water resources.

N-Substituted aromatic compounds are environmental contaminants associated with the production and use of dyes, explosives, pesticides and pharmaceuticals. In this article, we examine the potential of anaerobic granular sludge from anaerobic treatment systems towards the detoxification, transformation, and mineralization of nitroaromatic and azo compounds. Nitroaromatics and azo dyes with strong electron withdrawing are highly inhibitory to acetoclastic methanogenic bacteria. However, nitro and azo substituted aromatics are readily reductively detoxified in methanogenic consortia to their respective aromatic amines, which are several orders of magnitude less toxic. This reductive detoxification has allowed the successful operation of anaerobic reactors for the treatment of highly toxic aromatic compounds. In the course of the experiments it was discovered that some aromatic amines were mineralized. These results indicate that some N-substituted aromatic compounds can be completely mineralized and serve as a carbon and energy source for anaerobic bacteria.

Biological treatment of wastewaters discharged by the textile industry could potentially be problematic due to the high toxicity and recalcitrance of the commonly-used azo dye compounds. In the present report, the fate of two azo dyes under methanogenic conditions was studied. Mordant Orange 1 (MO1) and Azodisalicylate (ADS) were completely reduced and decolorised in continuous UASB reactors in the presence of cosubstrates. In the MO1 reactor, both 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) and 1,4-phenylenediamine were identified as products of azo cleavage. After long adaptation periods, 5-ASA was detected at trace levels, indicating further mineralization. ADS, a pharmaceutical azo dye constructed from two 5-ASA units, was completely mineralized even in the absence of cosubstrate, indicating that the metabolism of 5-ASA could provide the reducing equivalents needed for the azo reduction. Batch experiments confirmed the ADS mineralization. These results demonstrate that some azo dyes could serve as a carbon, energy, and nitrogen source for anaerobic bacteria.

In batch toxicity assays, azo dye compounds were found to be many times more toxic than their cleavage products (aromatic amines) towards methanogenic activity in anaerobic granular sludge. Considering the ability of anaerobic microorganisms to reduce azo groups, detoxification of azo compounds towards methanogens can be expected to occur during anaerobic wastewater treatment. In order to test this hypothesis, the anaerobic degradation of one azo dye compound, Mordant orange 1 (MO1), by granular sludge was investigated in three separate continuous upflow anaerobic sludge-blanket reactors. One reactor, receiving no cosubstrate, failed after 50 days presumably because of a lack of reducing equivalents. However, the two reactors receiving either glucose or a volatile fatty acids (acetate, propionate, butyrate) mixture, could eliminate the dye during operation for 217 days. The azo dye was reductively cleaved to less toxic aromatic amines (1,4-phenylenediamine and 5-aminosalicylic acid) making the treatment of MO1 feasible at influent concentrations that were over 25 times higher than their 50% inhibitory concentrations. In the reactor receiving glucose as cosubstrate, 5-aminosalicylic acid could only be detected at trace levels in the effluent after day 189 of operation. Batch biodegradability assays with the sludge sampled from this reactor confirmed the mineralization of 5-aminosalicylic acid to methane.

The ability of bacteria from five different granular sludge sources to anaerobically biodegrade aromatic compounds was evaluated. The biodegradabilities of phenol, 4-cresol, 2-aminobenzoate (2-AB) and 5-aminosalicylate (5-ASA) were determined by measuring compound conversion to methane in batch serum bottles at 30°C under agitated conditions over a period of at least 100 days. Phenol and 4-cresol were completely mineralized by all the granular sludges tested. This observation indicates a universal capacity of granular sludge to degrade phenol and 4-cresol; which would be expected since these compounds are intermediates in the anaerobic degradation of the commonly occurring amino acid tyrosine. In contrast, 5-ASA and 2-AB were degraded by only one or two granular sludges. Previous acclimation to an N-substituted aromatic was a prerequisite for 5-ASA degradation.

The biodegradability of seventeen N-substituted aromatic and six alkylphenol compounds were evaluated under methanogenic conditions. Biodegradation was assessed in batch assays inoculated with unacclimated and predigested anaerobic granular sludge at 30°C under agitated conditions over a 150 day period. The compounds were supplied at sub-toxic concentrations in the assays in order to prevent inhibition to the methanogens. The biodegradability test was performed by the measurement of the methane composition in the headspace of the serum flasks. The methanogenic consortia completely mineralized 2-, 3-aminobenzoate, 2-aminophenol and 4-cresol; whereas, 4-aminobenzoate was only partially degraded. The other N-substituted compounds and the alkylphenols tested were not biodegradable under the experimental conditions employed. An additional biodegradability assay was conducted with sludge from an upward-flow anaerobic sludge bed reactor adapted to the degradation of 2-nitrophenol. This sludge mineralized 2-aminophenol without any lag phase while the unadapted sludge required 110 days of acclimation. The three aminobenzoate isomers were fully mineralized by the adapted sludge after similar lag periods observed in the unadapted sludge. The 2-nitrophenol adapted sludge cross-acclimatized to the mineralization of 5-aminosalicylate and 4-aminophenol. This constitutes the first report demonstrating the anaerobic mineralization of 5-aminosalicylate, which indicates that at least some azo dye cleavage products can be degraded in methanogenic consortia.

Seven anaerobic sludges were screened in order to obtain the most suitable methanogenic inoculum for the anaerobic treatment of wastewaters containing long-chain fatty acids (LCFA). The selection was made on the basis of the toxicity of a model compound, oleate, to acetoclastic methanogens in different sludges. The effects of three biological factors, sludge origin, specific acetoclastic methanogenic activity and sludge adaptation to lipids, and a physical factor, specific surface area of sludge, on the degree of toxicity were investigated and compared. Values of the fifty percent inhibition concentration (IC50) of oleate obtained from 40°C batch toxicity tests ranged from 0.26 to 3.34 mM for the various sludges examined. It was found that the toxicity of oleate to anaerobic sludges was not dependent upon the three biological factors. Instead, it was closely correlated to the specific surface area of sludge. Suspended and flocculent sludges, which have higher specific surface area, suffered much greater inhibition than did granular sludges. This paper suggests the use of granular sludges as appropriate inocula for reactors treating lipids (fats, oils and greases) wastewaters, to decrease the toxic impact from their hydrolysis products-LCFA.

The hydrophobicity of anaerobic acetogenic bacteria was determined using variuos methods (bacterial adherence to hydrocarbons, hydrophobic interaction chromatography and the salt aggregation test) under a wide range of growth conditions. To compare the results of the different test methods, linear and rank correlation coefficients were calculated. Good agreement was obtained between the salt aggregation method and the bacterial adherence to hydrocarbon method (r ⩾ 0.9, p ⩽ 0.005). A weak correlation was obtained between the hydrophobic interaction method and other tests methods (r ⩽ 0.29, p ⩾ 0.52). No clear trend was found under different cultivation conditions although bacteria adherence single carbon compounds appeared more hydrophobic as determined by the bacterial adherence to hydrocarbon technique. Of the acetogenic bacteria tested, the two Acetobacterium and Peptostreptococcus productus were found to be the most hydrophobic according to the test assay methods.

Conference Article| February 01 1991 Adhesion of 1-carbon utilizing bacteria to polymeric surfaces BRIAN DONLON; BRIAN DONLON 1Department of Microbiology, University College Galway, Galway, Ireland Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar PATRICIA O'GARA; PATRICIA O'GARA 1Department of Microbiology, University College Galway, Galway, Ireland Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar EMER COLLERAN EMER COLLERAN 1Department of Microbiology, University College Galway, Galway, Ireland Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Author and article information Publisher: Portland Press Ltd Online ISSN: 1470-8752 Print ISSN: 0300-5127 © 1991 Biochemical Society1991 Biochem Soc Trans (1991) 19 (1): 69S. https://doi.org/10.1042/bst019069s Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Cite Icon Cite Get Permissions Citation BRIAN DONLON, PATRICIA O'GARA, EMER COLLERAN; Adhesion of 1-carbon utilizing bacteria to polymeric surfaces. Biochem Soc Trans 1 February 1991; 19 (1): 69S. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/bst019069s Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll JournalsBiochemical Society Transactions Search Advanced Search This content is only available as a PDF. © 1991 Biochemical Society1991 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Pressure transducer assay methods are widely used to determine the methanogenic activity of anaerobic sludges and to evaluate the anaerobic biodegradability of organic chemicals. The application of this methodology to pure cultures of eubacterial and yeast species was investigated and the results obtained were in good agreement with conventional methods for assaying microbial growth and for determining the specific activity of resting cells. Because of its simplicity and amenability to computer control, the pressure transducer assay method represents a useful adjunct to the variety of methods in routine use for characterisation of anaerobic species.