Environmental hazard assessment by the Ecoscore system to discriminate PAH-polluted soils

Abstract

A bioassay battery-integrated index was applied to different soils sampled from a former coke factory, with the aim to evaluate the discriminating capacity of the Ecoscore system (ES) to assess the environmental hazard of PAH-polluted soils. Two soils from a former coke factory, polluted with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), were evaluated for their ecotoxicity to terrestrial and aquatic organisms and their genotoxicity. These soils have been already presented in a previous paper but data have been reanalyzed for the present article in an endeavor to standardize the ES. One soil was sampled in the untreated site and the second underwent a windrow treatment. While these soils had a similar total concentrations of US-EPA 16PAHs (around 3000 mg kg), different ecoscores were obtained when subjected to a set of solid- and liquid-phase bioassays measuring acute, chronic, and genotoxic effects. The total PAH content of the soil is not a pertinent parameter to assess soil pollution hazards contrary to the ES. ES is a robust method to classify soils according to their toxicity level. Four levels of toxicity have been defined: no (ecoscore = 0), weak (0 < ecoscore ≤33), moderate (33 < ecoscore ≤67), and strong toxicity (67 < ecoscore ≤ 100). The combination of chemical and toxicological data highlights the relationship between three-ring PAHs and acute ecotoxicity. Conversely, chronic effects of water extracts on algal growth could be explained by high molecular weight PAHs, such as five- and six-ring PAHs.

Microscopy in addition to chemical analyses and ecotoxicological assays for the environmental hazard assessment of coal tar-polluted soils

“…1). However, soil S2 was much less ecotoxic than soil S3 despite its higher amount of PAHs (Lors et al 2017).…”

“…Ecotoxicity was evaluated with the help of ecoscores, based on a restricted array of biological endpoints. The calculation of ecoscores has been detailed in Lors et al (2010Lors et al ( , 2011Lors et al ( , 2017. The set of bioassays was selected by Lors et al (2011) from nine bioassays tested on the basis of their best sensitivity to PAH pollution.…”

Integrated Ecological Risk Assessment of the Agricultural Area under a High Anthropopressure Based on Chemical, Ecotoxicological and Ecological Indicators

“…The battery of bioassays with various organisms was utilised to assess the toxicity of soils and soil elutriates (Tables 2 and S1). Liquid-phase tests with soil elutriates were applied to obtain information about the fraction of contaminants potentially reaching the groundwater by the water path (retention function of soils), whereas solid-phase tests were used to assess the soil habitat function [4,14]. The response of the test organisms varied significantly according to the type of samples tested and the type of test species (Table 2, Figure 2).…”

“…A lot of studies on ecological risk assessment are focused on the prediction of potential risk based on the chemical analysis of the total pollutants concentrations and chemical risk indexes derived from such data [3][4][5][6][7]. Various indexes were used, e.g., the hazard quotient and hazard index [6,7], contamination factor and pollution load index [7], toxic units for individual PAHs and PAHs mixtures [6,7] and toxic equivalent concentration [5][6][7].…”

TPH and PAHs in an oil-rich metropolis in SW Iran: Implication for source apportionment and human health

“…So, deterioration in urban environment is an expected consequence (Ashraf et al 2014;Xie et al 2018) which causes many environmental issues including soil, water and air pollution (Yang et al 2010). The contaminants of greatest concern in these environments are TPHs and PAHs due to their negative effects on flora and fauna (Kim et al 2018;Lors et al 2018). These pollutants comprise a cluster of chemical compounds which during the process of manufacturing and/or their use are released into the environment.…”