Ecotoxicological and chemical evaluation of phenolic compounds in industrial effluents

The aim of this paper was to evaluate the ecotoxicological response of indu strial effluents containing phenolic compounds. All complex effluents colle cted from a chemical plant and then after both a chemical-physical and biol ogical treatment were characterised with chemical analysis, biodegradabilit y tests and four ecotoxicological tests (Daphnia magna, Artemia salina, Bra chionus plicatilis and Vibrio fisheri with Microtox (R)). The evaluation of the chemical and ecotoxicological data was useful for predicting the effec t of the raw effluent on the treatment plant and the impact of the final tr eated effluent on the receiving water. Besides the toxicity of the effluent from the chemical plants, the acute toxicity of its main components was al so determined. The results of the tests and toxicity data from literature w ere transformed in Toxic Units (TUs). Effluent toxicity was under- or over- estimated by calculating the sum of the TUs of the individual components, d epending on which toxicity data and test organisms were used. (C) 2001 Publ ished by Elsevier Science Ltd.