Presence of Phenolic Compounds in Sewage, Effluent and Sludge from Municipal Sewage Treatment Plants

Abstract

A total of 25 municipal sewage treatment plants were sampled, 10 of which were resampled, to determine the quantity of phenolics in the sewage, final effluent and the anaerobically digested sludge using capillary GC/MS/DS/techniques. The study noted in decreasing order of frequency in raw sewage: phenol, pentachloro-phenol, dimethyl phenol, 3-methyl, 4-chlorophenol, 2,4,6-trichloro-phenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol, 2-nitrophenol, 2-chlorophenol, 2,4-dinitro-6-methylphenol and 2,4-dinitrophenol. The maximum concentration of phenol in sewage and sludge was 2800 ppb and 4460 respectively, while similar values for pentachlorophenol were 58 and 1200 ppb. Statistically calculated concentration reductions for phenol and dimethyl phenol were generally greater than noted for tri- and pentachlorophenol. Low decreases or increases were noted for monochlorophenol and especially for dichlorophenol as a result of the chloronation of the final effluent.