TOXICITY-DIRECTED FRACTIONATION OF EFFLUENTS USING THE BIOLUMINESCENCE OF VIBRIO-FISCHERI AND GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROSCOPY IDENTIFICATION OF THE TOXIC COMPONENTS

A procedure is presented for fractionating and identifying the dominan t acute toxicants in effluents using the Microtox test to evaluate tox icity. Initial characterization of chemical and physical properties of the major toxicants was performed, and showed that the dominant toxic ants were lipophilic. Samples containing lipophilic components were th en fractionated by column chromatography, the fractions tested for tox icity, and toxic components identified. These toxicants were quantifie d in the effluent and a toxicity evaluation was performed as a materia l balance in toxicity. Three effluents were studied and found to conta in only a few (2-4) toxicants or groups of related compounds. An efflu ent from a pharmaceutical industry contained a drug precursor and a dr ug constituent as dominant toxicants, and the combined toxicity of the two compounds, accounted for 87% of that of the effluent. A contribut ion from the interaction of the two compounds was observed. An effluen t from a forest product industry contained two unsaturated fatty acids and an unsaturated fatty acid amide as dominant toxicants, and almost the total toxicity of the sample (97%) was accounted for by the three compounds with a contribution from the interaction of the three. The acute toxicity of a textile industry effluent was dominated by two uns aturated fatty acids and two tridecanols, and these compounds accounte d for 84% of the toxicity of the original effluent. A mixture of aliph atic hydrocarbons was found in a toxic fraction, but was not further c haracterized, although the hydrocarbons may have contributed to the to xicity of the sample. (C) 1996 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.