Abstract
Synthetic household chemical products (HCP) are used in various household activities. An average urban household was estimated to consume ~ 3 kg HCP per month while discarding 212–387 mg/L HCP in sewage comprising > 265 different chemical compounds. The high sorption properties of HCP and their antimicrobial resistance lead to their long-term persistence in the environment. The intrusion of HCPs and their breakdown products into food chain causes detrimental effects on health and ecology. HCPs comprise mostly of a mixture of xenobiotics, organic and inorganic compounds resulting in an impaired biodegradation. Yet, the biodegradability of HCPs is seldom assessed. Therefore, this research proposes a modified Gompertz model approach to analyze BMP data in order to classify commercially available HCPs into seven groups based on the observed levels of recalcitrance and is in turn coined “Anaerobic Biodegradability Index” (ABI, beginning from ABI-VI to ABI-0 wherein ABI-VI represents the highest degradability and ABI-0 the least). This approach emulates “Energy-Star” ratings of electrical appliances classified based on electrical efficiency. Results of such a classification indicated that HCPs containing ≥ 10% anionic surfactants such as laundry detergents, handwash gel, dishwasher chemicals, and creosote surface cleaner, exhibit lowered anaerobic degradability and were therefore categorized between ABI-0 and ABI-II. Whereas the highly degradable HCP such as toothpaste, shower gel, and hair shampoo were categorized in ABI-V and ABI-VI categories. We perceive that the weightages and concentrations can be used in the future to define the capability of various wastewater treatment systems and their tolerance to various ABI classes.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
APHA. (2006). American Public Health Association. Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. 20oed, (1), 1085.
Bendt, T., & Willing, A. (2012). A new method to determine the anaerobic degradability of surfactants: The AnBUSDiC test. Environmental Sciences Europe, 24(1), 38. https://doi.org/10.1186/2190-4715-24-38.
Bound, J. P., Kitsou, K., & Voulvoulis, N. (2006). Household disposal of pharmaceuticals and perception of risk to the environment. Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology, 21(3), 301–307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.etap.2005.09.006.
Chanakya, H. N., Khuntia, H. K. u., Mukherjee, N., Aniruddha, R., Mudakavi, J. R., & Thimmaraju, P. (2015). The physicochemical characteristics and anaerobic degradability of desiccated coconut industry waste water. Environmental monitoring and assessment, 187(12), 772. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-4991-7.
Davis, M. L., Mounteer, L. C., Stevens, L. K., & Miller, C. D. (2012). Phases using video microscopy, 111(5), 605–611. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiosc.2011.01.007.2D
Drangert, J. O., & Sharatchandra, H. C. (2017). Addressing urban water scarcity: Reduce, treat and reuse - the third generation of management to avoid local resources boundaries. Water Policy, 19(5), 978–996. https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2017.152.
Eriksson, E., Auffarth, K., Eilersen, A. M., Henze, M., & Ledin, A. (2003). Household chemicals and personal care products as sources for xenobiotic organic compounds in grey wastewater. Water SA, 29(2), 135–146. https://doi.org/10.4314/wsa.v29i2.4848.
Glegg, G. A., & Richards, J. P. (2007). Chemicals in household products: Problems with solutions. Environmental Management, 40(6), 889–901. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-007-9022-1.
Habagil, M., Keucken, A., & Horváth, I. S. (2020). Biogas production from food residues—the role of trace metals and co-digestion with primary sludge. Environments - MDPI, 7(6), 8–10. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments7060042.
Hagos, K., Zong, J., Li, D., Liu, C., & Lu, X. (2017). Anaerobic co-digestion process for biogas production: Progress, challenges and perspectives. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 76(March 2016), 1485–1496. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.11.184.
Harley, K., Kogut, K., Madrigal, D. S., Cardenas, M., Vera, I. A., Meza-Alfaro, G., et al. (2016). Reducing exposure from personal care products. Environmental Health Perspectives, 124(10), 1600–1607. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1510514.
Heidler, J., & Halden, R. U. (2007). Mass balance assessment of triclosan removal during conventional sewage treatment. Chemosphere, 66(2), 362–369. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2006.04.066.
Labatut, R. A., Angenent, L. T., & Scott, N. R. (2011). Biochemical methane potential and biodegradability of complex organic substrates. Bioresource Technology, 102(3), 2255–2264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2010.10.035.
Mackay, D., & Barnthouse, L. (2010). Integrated risk assessment of household chemicals and consumer products: Addressing concerns about triclosan. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, 6(3), 390–392. https://doi.org/10.1002/ieam.73.
Martin, T. J., Goodhead, A. K., Acharya, K., Head, I. M., Snape, J. R., & Davenport, R. J. (2017). High throughput biodegradation-screening test to prioritize and evaluate chemical biodegradability. Environmental Science and Technology, 51(12), 7236–7244. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b00806.
Merrettig-Bruns, U., & Jelen, E. (2009). Anaerobic biodegradation of detergent surfactants. Materials, 2(1), 181–206. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma2010181.
Nestler, F. H. M. (1974). The characterization of wood preserving creosote by physical and chemical methods of analysis. US Department of Agriculture, 1–33.
Nielsen, G. D., Larsen, S. T., Olsen, O., Løvik, M., Poulsen, L. K., Glue, C., & Wolkoff, P. (2007). Do indoor chemicals promote development of airway allergy? Indoor Air, 17(3), 236–255. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0668.2006.00468.x.
Pan, S. Y., Du, M. A., Te Huang, I., Liu, I. H., Chang, E. E., & Chiang, P. C. (2015). Strategies on implementation of waste-to-energy (WTE) supply chain for circular economy system: a review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 108, 409–421. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.06.124.
Petrović, M., & Barceló, D. (2000). Determination of anionic and nonionic surfactants, their degradation products, and endocrine-disrupting compounds in sewage sludge by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. Analytical chemistry, 72(19), 4560–4567. https://doi.org/10.1021/ac000306o.
Rabii, A., Aldin, S., Dahman, Y., & Elbeshbishy, E. (2019). A review on anaerobic co-digestion with a focus on the microbial populations and the effect of multi-stage digester configuration. Energies, 12(6). https://doi.org/10.3390/en12061106.
Raposo, F., Fernández-Cegrí, V., de la Rubia, M. A., Borja, R., Béline, F., Cavinato, C., et al. (2011). Biochemical methane potential (BMP) of solid organic substrates: Evaluation of anaerobic biodegradability using data from an international interlaboratory study. Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, 86(8), 1088–1098. https://doi.org/10.1002/jctb.2622.
Scott, M. J., & Jones, M. N. (2000). The biodegradation of surfactants in the environment. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Biomembranes, 1508(1–2), 235–251. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-4157(00)00013-7.
Seghezzo, L., Zeeman, G., Van Lier, J. B., Hamelers, H. V. M., & Lettinga, G. (1998). A review: The anaerobic treatment of sewage in UASB and EGSB reactors. Bioresource Technology, 65(3), 175–190. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0960-8524(98)00046-7.
Soto, M., Mendez, R., & Lema, J. M. (1993). Methanogenic and non-methanogenic activity tests. Thoretical basis and experimental set up. Wat. Res, 27(8), 1361–1376.
Tôei, K., Motomizu, S., & Umano, T. (1982). Extractive spectrophotometric determination of non-ionic surfactants in water. Talanta, 29(2), 103–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/0039-9140(82)80028-3.
Vecino, X., Barbosa-Pereira, L., Devesa-Rey, R., Cruz, J. M., & Moldes, A. B. (2014). Study of the surfactant properties of aqueous stream from the corn milling industry. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 62(24), 5451–5457. https://doi.org/10.1021/jf501386h.
Zwietering, M. H., Jongenburger, I., Rombouts, F. M., & Van’t Riet, K. (1990). Modeling of the bacterial growth curve. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 56(6), 1875–1881. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1472-765X.2008.02537.x.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Granthika Chatterjee, Shivani Kedia, and Rajita Shukla for their help in conducting the survey.
Funding
This research received funding from IMPRINT 5670 (Department of Science and Technology (DST) & Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs) and also the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), New Delhi, India.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
ESM 1
(DOCX 18.2 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Khuntia, H.K., Janardhana, N. & Chanakya, H.N. Household discharge of chemical products and its classification based on anaerobic biodegradability. Environ Monit Assess 193, 39 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08835-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08835-9