Fate of zinc and silver engineered nanoparticles in sewerage networks

Gianluca Brunetti; Erica Donner; Giuseppe Laera; Ryo Sekine; Kirk G Scheckel; Maryam Khaksar; Krasimir Vasilev; Giuseppe De Mastro; Enzo Lombi

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2015.03.003

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Fate of zinc and silver engineered nanoparticles in sewerage networks

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Fate of zinc and silver engineered nanoparticles in sewerage networks

Gianluca Brunetti, Erica Donner, Giuseppe Laera, Ryo Sekine, Kirk G Scheckel, Maryam Khaksar, Krasimir Vasilev, Giuseppe De Mastro and Enzo Lombi

Water Research, Vol.77(6), pp.72-84

2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2015.03.003

PMID: 25841090

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Abstract

Fate

Nanoparticles

Sewer

Silver

Transformations

Zinc oxide

Engineered zinc oxide (ZnO) and silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) used in consumer products are largely released into the environment through the wastewater stream. Limited information is available regarding the transformations they undergo during their transit through sewerage systems before reaching wastewater treatment plants. To address this knowledge gap, laboratory-scale systems fed with raw wastewater were used to evaluate the transformation of ZnO- and Ag-NPs within sewerage transfer networks. Two experimental systems were established and spiked with either Ag- and ZnO-NPs or with their dissolved salts, and the wastewater influent and effluent samples from both systems were thoroughly characterised. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) was used to assess the extent of the chemical transformation of both forms of Zn and Ag during transport through the model systems. The results indicated that both ZnO- and Ag-NPs underwent significant transformation during their transport through the sewerage network. Reduced sulphur species represented the most important endpoint for these NPs in the sewer with slight differences in terms of speciation; ZnO converted largely to Zn sulfide, while Ag was also sorbed to cysteine and histidine. Importantly, both ionic Ag and Ag-NPs formed secondary Ag sulfide nanoparticles in the sewerage network as revealed by TEM analysis. Ag-cysteine was also shown to be a major species in biofilms. These results were verified in the field using recently developed nanoparticle in situ deployment devices (nIDDs) which were exposed directly to sewerage network conditions by immersing them into a municipal wastewater network trunk sewer and then retrieving them for XAS analysis.

Details

Title: Fate of zinc and silver engineered nanoparticles in sewerage networks
Authors: Gianluca Brunetti (Author) - University of South Australia
Erica Donner (Author) - University of South Australia
Giuseppe Laera (Author) - Water Research Institute
Ryo Sekine (Author) - University of South Australia
Kirk G Scheckel (Author) - Environmental Protection Agency
Maryam Khaksar (Author) - University of South Australia
Krasimir Vasilev (Author) - University of South Australia
Giuseppe De Mastro (Author) - University of South Australia
Enzo Lombi (Author) - University of South Australia
Publication details: Water Research, Vol.77(6), pp.72-84
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd
Date published: 2015
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2015.03.003
ISSN: 0043-1354; 1879-2448; 0043-1354
PMID: 25841090
Organisation Unit: University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99513771902621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Engineering, Environmental; Environmental Sciences; Water Resources

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