Ecotoxicity and Biodegradability Assessment of Metalworking Fluids by Activated Sludge Bacteria

Abstract

Ecotoxicity and Biodegradability Assessment of Metalworking Fluids by Activated Sludge BacteriaThe main aim of this study was to evaluate toxicity of metalworking fluids to bacterial consortium of activated sludge according to OECD 209 (STN EN ISO 8192) and a potential of the same sludge to degrade a part of the fluids according to OECD 302B.Toxic impact can affect different responses, particularly the inhibition of respiration measured from the oxygen consumption in a closed bottle. The degradation rate was calculated from COD according to the authors such as van der Gast and Ian Thompson (1, 2) who tested the degradability of some MWFs in bioreactors by measuring the COD. The lowest toxic MWF's were Cimstar 597 and Emulzin H (the highest tested concentration was below EC50), then Zubora TXS (EC50 - 11 349 mg l-1), Aquamet LAK-E (EC50 - 5 228 mg l-1), Adrana D 407 (EC50 - 4 351 mg l-1) followed, and finally, Hocut 3380 (EC50 - 2 339 mg l-1) was assessed as the most toxic.Important in this test (OECD 302B) is that the starting concentration of the tested substance must not decrease below 20% after 3 hours of cultivating. After that, it is impossible to distinguish biological