Spatial distribution of fecal pollution indicators in sewage sludge flocs and their removal and inactivation as revealed by qPCR/viability-qPCR during potassium ferrate treatment

Yuhang Wang; Wenhao Fang; Xinxin Wang; Lixiang Zhou; Guanyu Zheng

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.130262

Spatial distribution of fecal pollution indicators in sewage sludge flocs and their removal and inactivation as revealed by qPCR/viability-qPCR during potassium ferrate treatment

J Hazard Mater. 2023 Feb 5;443(Pt B):130262. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.130262. Epub 2022 Oct 26.

Authors

Yuhang Wang¹, Wenhao Fang², Xinxin Wang², Lixiang Zhou³, Guanyu Zheng⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Engineering, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China; College of Materials and Chemical Engineering, Pingxiang University, Pingxiang 337055, China.
² Department of Environmental Engineering, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
³ Department of Environmental Engineering, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Resource Utilization, Nanjing 210095, China.
⁴ Department of Environmental Engineering, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Resource Utilization, Nanjing 210095, China. Electronic address: gyzheng@njau.edu.cn.

PMID: 36327846
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.130262

Abstract

Sludge reuse and utilization is one of important routines of disseminating fecal pollution to surface water and groundwater. However, it remains unclear the spatial distribution of fecal pollution indicators in sludge flocs and their reductions during sludge treatment processes. In this study, the abundances of fecal pollution indicators including cross-assembly phage (crAssphage), JC and BK polyomavirus (JCPyV, BKPyV), human adenovirus (HAdV), the human-specific HF183 Bacteroides (HF183) and Escherichia coli (EC) in soluble extracellular polymeric substances (S-EPS), loosely-bound EPS (LB-EPS), tightly-bound EPS (TB-EPS), and pellets of sludge flocs were determined, and the effect of potassium ferrate (PF) treatment on their removal and inactivation was investigated by using both qPCR and viability-qPCR. Results showed that all investigated indicators were detected in each fraction of sludge flocs. The PF treatment led to a great migration of indicators from sludge pellets to sludge EPS and some extent of their inactivation in each fraction of sludge flocs. The overall reductions of human fecal indicators in sludge determined by qPCR were 0-1.30 logs, which were 0-2 orders of magnitude lower than those of 0.69-2.39 logs detected by viability-qPCR, implying their inactivation by PF treatment to potentially alleviate the associated human health risks.

Keywords: Fecal indicators; Fecal pollution; Municipal sewage sludge; Potassium ferrate; Spatial distribution.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Humans
Iron Compounds*
Potassium Compounds
Sewage*
Water

Substances

Sewage
potassium ferrate
Iron Compounds
Potassium Compounds
Water