Speciation of Particle-Associated Resin Acids and Chromophoric Compounds in Water Samples from the Biological Treatment System of Two New Zealand Pulp Mills

Studies of Transformation and Particle-Binding of Resin Acids During Oxidative Treatment of Effluent from Two New Zealand Pulp Mills

“…Abietan-18-oic acid levels do not increase under these conditions but the percentage of particle bound resin acid, the majority of which is abiet-13-enoic acid, increases to about 50% of the total after 4-10 days. Related results for sediments recovered from treatment ponds and river sediments, including core samples (Wilkins et al 1996;Judd et al 1996) support the view that, at least for the biological regimes active in the New Zealand environment, the conversion of abiet-13-enoic acid to abietan-18-oic acid (Ali- Kanber et al 2006) is promoted by the anaerobic conditions (Tavendale et al 1997), such as those encountered in pond sediments. Apparently the conditions (aerobic) in our experiments were not conducive to the formation of abietan-18-oic acid.…”

“…During treatment, conversion of abietic acid to abietan-13-enoic acid and abietan-18-oic acid occurs. A major component of the resin acid that survives aerobic treatment is particle bound abietan-18-oic acid (Kanber et al 2006) consistent with earlier detection of saturated resin acids and resin hydrocarbons in the Tarawera River (Wilkins and Panadam 1987).…”

“…Water samples in screw capped 2.5 L glass winchesters or 20 L plastic containers were collected from the outflow of treatment ponds 1 and 4 of the combined treatment system for two pulp mills located on the banks of the Tarawera River, North Island, New Zealand (Ali- Kanber et al 2006).…”

“…In previous studies we have found that more than 90% of the resin acid content of primary clarifier effluent water generated by a kraft pulp and paper mill was either soluble or passed through a 0.05 lm membrane filter (Kanber et al 2006). On the other hand, [70% of the extractable resin acids discharged from the biological treatment system and found in the Tarawera River, were bound to 0.05-15 micron particles (Ali- Kanber et al 2000).…”