Abstract
Our research aim was to apply UV/Vis spectrophotometric techniques for the rapid monitoring of the quality of water sourced from on-farm root vegetable washing processes. To achieve this goal, the quality assessment of the washing water and wastewater at different stages of the technological processes was performed using physicochemical, biological, and UV/Vis absorbance measurements as well as statistical methods, such as principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares (PLS) regression. Limit values of UV/Vis absorbance at specific wavelengths were predicted in order to adapt them for routine testing and water quality monitoring at the farm packhouses. Results of the lab analyses showed, that the main problems of the water quality were caused by suspended solids (470–3400 mg L−1), organic substances (BOD5 215–2718 mg L−1; COD 540–3229 mg L−1), nitrogen (3–52 mg L−1), phosphorus (1–6 mg L−1), and pathogenic microorganisms (TVC > 300 cfu mL−1, E. coli 5.5 × 103–1.0 × 104 cfu mL−1, intestinal enterococci 2.8 × 102–1.5 × 104 cfu mL−1, coliform bacteria 1.6 × 103–2.0 × 104 cfu mL−1). Suspended solids exceeded the limit values by 10–50 times, organic matter by 10–25 times, dissolved organic carbon by 3–5 times, nitrogen by 3–7 times, total phosphorus by 3–12 times, and microorganisms by 3–10 times. UV/Vis limit values calculated were as follows: A210 nm—3.997–4.009 cm−1, A 240 nm—5.193–5.235 cm−1, A254 nm—4.042–4.047 cm−1, A320 nm—7.387–7.406 cm−1, and A 660 nm—3.937–3.946 cm−1. UV/Vis measurements at A320 nm are proposed for the routine water quality monitoring.
Highlights
Washing water and wastewater quality control in on-farm packhouses is of great importance for the quality of agricultural production as well as the environment
The main objectives of the principal component analysis (PCA) are the transformation of the original data’s coordinate system into a more relevant one and reduction of the original system dimension using a limited number of the principal components (PC’s) which reflect the inherent structure of the data [38]
In order to prove the hypothesis, analysis was performed using components, the and map the Ultraviolet/visual spectrometry (UV/Vis) absorbance data infactor the new axes defined by the principal components, and Kaiserplot
Summary
Washing water and wastewater quality control in on-farm packhouses is of great importance for the quality of agricultural production as well as the environment. Producers require rapid and efficient methods for water quality monitoring. Conventional standard analytical methods are expensive, time-consuming and require special laboratory conditions and equipment. They are inconvenient and impossible to use for the water quality monitoring at the on-farm packhouses. Ultraviolet/visual spectrometry (UV/Vis) can have significant advantages over other in situ methods for this application due to its wide availability and low application costs. Various UV/Vis methods were used, for example, to determine the particle size of polystyrene in solution, the size distribution of quantum particles of a ZnO semiconductor, the size of gold-coated palladium clusters in solution, and to study the aggregation of b-carotene particles [1].
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