Gas chromatographic determination of organic micropollutants in samples of sewage sludge and compost: Behaviour of PCB and PAH during composting

Polychlorinated biphenyl concentration changes in sewage sludge and organic municipal waste mixtures during composting and anaerobic digestion

“…The decrease in the PCB concentrations caused by composting ranged from approximately 7% to approximately 16% (Table 1). Lazzari et al (1999) found a 37% increase in the total PCB concentration during their composting study, and found the increase occurred especially strongly during the biooxidation stage. This increase in the PCB concentration was caused by a concentration process, which was a consequence of the organic matter being converted into carbon dioxide.…”

“…Baker, Phillipsburg, NJ, USA) containing silica gel, and the PCBs were eluted with hexane. The eluate was concentrated to 0.5 cm 3 under a gentle stream of nitrogen (Lazzari et al, 1999).…”

Bioremediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)-contaminated sewage sludge by different composting processes

“…A process that can achieve the above requirements is composting, an ex situ biotreatment technology [13,14] that leads to the formation of mineralization products CO 2 and H 2 O and the stabilization of organic matter in the form of humic substances containing competitive microbial biomass [15]. Numerous studies have shown that composting has an enormous potential for bioremediation through sustaining microbial populations of a wide range of microorganisms, which are able to degrade a variety of organic contaminants at the laboratory and/or field scales [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Composting has been proven to degrade PAHs, in rates that exceed 80% in some cases and require treatment time shorter than landfarming [16].…”

Biodegradation of Emerging Organic Contaminants by Composting

“…Most organic matter can be biodegraded more rapidly in the thermophilic stage caused by the high activity of microorganisms during the composting process. This stage can last for several weeks or months depending on the size of the system and the composition of the ingredients [51,56]. DEHP is resistant to being fully biodegraded during the conventional sludge digestion process [57]; however, the biodegradation of DEHP can be stimulated by thermophilic aerobic sludge digestion (TAD) at the temperatures of approximately [60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70] C [58].…”