Toxicity of Quaternary Ammonium Compounds (QACs) as single compounds and mixtures to aquatic non-target microorganisms: Experimental data and predictive models

Nica, Valeria Di; Gallet, Jean-Charles; Villa, Sara; Mezzanotte, Valeria

doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2017.04.028

Cited by 64 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 98 publications

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“…According to the current knowledge, ILs with ammonium cation provide lower toxicity compared to the commonly used imidazolium and phosphonium‐based ILs . Nevertheless, Nica and co‐authors have shown that some quaternary ammonium surfactants present an EC 50 towards Aliivibrio fischeri below 1 mg L −1 …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Synthesis and Characterization of Surface‐Active Ionic Liquids Used in the Disruption of Escherichia Coli Cells

et al. 2019

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Twelve surface‐active ionic liquids (SAILs) and surface‐active derivatives, based on imidazolium, ammonium, and phosphonium cations and containing one, or more, long alkyl chains in the cation and/or the anion, were synthetized and characterized. The aggregation behavior of these SAILs in water, as well as their adsorption at solution/air interface, were studied by assessing surface tension and conductivity. The CMC values obtained (0.03–6.0 mM) show a high propensity of these compounds to self‐aggregate in aqueous media. Their thermal properties were also characterized, namely the melting point and decomposition temperature by using DSC and TGA, respectively. Furthermore, the toxicity of these SAILs was evaluated using the marine bacteria Aliivibrio fischeri (Gram‐negative). According to the EC50 values obtained (0.3–2.7 mg L−1), the surface‐active compounds tested should be considered “toxic” or “highly toxic”. Their ability to induce cell disruption of Escherichia coli cells (also Gram‐negative), releasing the intracellular green fluorescent protein (GFP) produced, was investigated. The results clearly evidence the capability of these SAILs to act as cell disruption agents.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several authors studied the acute toxic effects of these compounds on different aquatic organisms . In general, SAILs showed moderate to high toxicity, depending on the model system used for toxicity evaluation .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synthesis and Characterization of Surface‐Active Ionic Liquids Used in the Disruption of Escherichia Coli Cells

et al. 2019

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“…Results in this study clearly demonstrate that the transient shock loads of QACs would result in adverse impacts on the activity of the MBR sludge and, consequently, deteriorate the process performance. With regard to the understanding on the interaction of QACs with the microorganisms (Chen et al 2014 ; Christen et al 2017 ; Di Nica et al 2017 ), a schematic representation describing the acute toxicity of different kinds of QACs is given in Fig. 5 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) are a group of cationic surfactants widely used in fabric softening, disinfection, preservation and destaticization (Lara-Martín et al 2010 ; Ruan et al 2014 ), and their toxicity to a variety of model organisms has been documented in numerous studies (e.g., EC 50 of Chlorella vulgais : 0.203 mg/L; EC 50 of zebrafish liver cells: 850 μg/L and EC 50 of Aliivibrio fischeri : 1.0 mg/L) (Christen et al 2017 ; Di Nica et al 2017 ; Zhu et al 2010 ). It is estimated that about 75% of the QACs consumed annually are released into wastewater treatment systems (Ismail et al 2010 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial responses to transient shock loads of quaternary ammonium compounds with different length of alkyl chain in a membrane bioreactor

Zhang

Chen

et al. 2018

AMB Expr

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Extensive applications of quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) in household and industrial products inevitably lead to their release into wastewaters; however, little attention has been paid to the acute effects on activated sludge. In this work, we investigated the responses of microorganisms in a membrane bioreactor (MBR) to transient shock loads of QACs with different alkyl chain length and their impacts on MBR performance. Results showed that QACs affected microbial viability and caused damage to key enzymes (e.g., ammonium monooxygenase and nitrite oxidoreductase), inhibiting organic matter degradation and nitrogen removal. The presence of QACs also caused negative influences on dehydrogenase activity, catalase and superoxide dismutase, thus increasing the production of reactive oxygen species. Moreover, QACs with longer alkyl chains and/or benzyl groups bonded to the nitrogen atom could induce a more severe damage to cell integrity and microbial viability. The interaction with QACs also induced the release of organic matters and the changes of adhesion properties of microbial products, resulting in aggravated membrane fouling in MBRs. Our results demonstrate the acute negative effects of QACs on activated sludge, and special attention should be paid to the performance of biological wastewater treatment processes subject to the shock loads of QAC-bearing industrial streams.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13568-018-0649-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Quaternary ammonium salts such as benzalkonium chloride (BAC) are the major and most abundant contributing cationic surfactant constituents. BAC is commonly used as biocide, preservative, pesticide, antifungal agent due to its destructive action versus cells [3]. Due to the diversity of surfactants and their physico-chemical properties it is difficult to develop a single and an effective treatment method of surfactant-contaminated wastewater.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Removal of quaternary ammonium compounds in ion exchange process

Klimonda

Kowalska

2019

E3S Web Conf.

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The study attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of ion exchange process in cationic surfactant (benzalkonium chloride, BAC) removal from model solutions. Four commercial cation-exchange resins were chosen for the batch tests in four doses (2.5–20 mL L-1). The experiments included evaluation of the following parameters on ion exchange efficiency: resin characteristics and dose, presence of inorganic salt and pH of treated solution. The ion exchange process was found to be very effective in cationic surfactant removal – two of tested resins allowed to remove up to 80% of contaminant after contact time of 40 minutes, the last two – after 60 minutes of mixing in all range of doses. The presence of electrolyte neither pH change has no essential effect on surfactant removal efficiency. The analysis of the ion exchange isotherms showed that the strongly-acidic macroporous resin C150 H was characterized by the highest BAC ion exchange capacity (153.8 mg mL-1), while the weakly-acidic gel resin C104 showed the best affinity of the exchanged ions to the resin matrix.

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Toxicity of Quaternary Ammonium Compounds (QACs) as single compounds and mixtures to aquatic non-target microorganisms: Experimental data and predictive models

Cited by 64 publications

References 98 publications

Synthesis and Characterization of Surface‐Active Ionic Liquids Used in the Disruption of Escherichia Coli Cells

Synthesis and Characterization of Surface‐Active Ionic Liquids Used in the Disruption of Escherichia Coli Cells

Microbial responses to transient shock loads of quaternary ammonium compounds with different length of alkyl chain in a membrane bioreactor

Removal of quaternary ammonium compounds in ion exchange process

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