Determination of toluene formed during fermentation of sewage sludge

Abstract

The results of determination of toluene in samples of sewage sludge by purge and trap technique are presented. The research on the fermentation process allowed the observation of the phenomenon of toluene formation. The increase in concentration of this compound ranged from about 3 mg/L to more than 24 mg/L for samples taken from WWTP ‘Gdansk Wschod’ and from 0.6 mg/L to above 4.5 mg/L for samples taken from WWTP ‘Debogorze’. An increase in toluene concentration to a certain maximum value was observed during the first stage of this process; it was then followed by a concentration decrease.