Impact of heat-treatment on wastewater analytical parameters
Raw wastewater analysis is an important step in treatment assessment; however, it is associated with risks of personnel exposure to pathogens. Such risks are enhanced during virus outbreaks, such as the COVID pandemic, and heat-treatment is a commonly used mitigation measure. We examined whether hea...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IWA Publishing
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Water Science and Technology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://wst.iwaponline.com/content/88/11/2931 |
| _version_ | 1797389175755898880 |
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| author | Praveen Rosario Thamayanthi Seenivasan Ramya Viswash Sudha Ramalingam Viswa Barani Claire M. Welling Sonia Grego |
| author_facet | Praveen Rosario Thamayanthi Seenivasan Ramya Viswash Sudha Ramalingam Viswa Barani Claire M. Welling Sonia Grego |
| author_sort | Praveen Rosario |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Raw wastewater analysis is an important step in treatment assessment; however, it is associated with risks of personnel exposure to pathogens. Such risks are enhanced during virus outbreaks, such as the COVID pandemic, and heat-treatment is a commonly used mitigation measure. We examined whether heat-treatment compromises wastewater analytical parameters results. We found that heat-treatment of blackwater at 60 °C for 90 min in capped containers yielded no statistically different values (p > 0.05) for pH, chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia (NH3), total nitrogen (TN), total suspended solids (TSS), and turbidity for specimens from three different sources. This heat-treatment inactivated coliform bacteria (>4 log10 reduction) thus compromising the measurement of commonly used fecal contamination indicators. The observation of intact helminth eggs in heat-treated specimens suggests that the helminth egg enumeration assay is not compromised. These findings indicate that heat-treatment for the safe handling of wastewater, as may be needed in future virus outbreaks, does not affect the measurements of many common wastewater physico-chemical properties.
HIGHLIGHTS
Heat-treatment of wastewater was used as a personnel safety measure during the COVID-19 pandemic.;
We examined whether heat-treatment compromises wastewater analytical parameters.;
Heat-treatment yielded no statistical difference in pH, organics, nitrogen, and solid content values.;
Heat-treatment significantly degraded the fecal coliform enumeration results, but helminth egg enumeration may be possible.; |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T22:52:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e7fba84f4a3749929728ef570e2336f6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0273-1223 1996-9732 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T22:52:02Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | IWA Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Water Science and Technology |
| spelling | doaj.art-e7fba84f4a3749929728ef570e2336f62023-12-16T11:36:27ZengIWA PublishingWater Science and Technology0273-12231996-97322023-12-0188112931293910.2166/wst.2023.359359Impact of heat-treatment on wastewater analytical parametersPraveen Rosario0Thamayanthi Seenivasan1Ramya Viswash2Sudha Ramalingam3Viswa Barani4Claire M. Welling5Sonia Grego6 Duke India Services Private Ltd, Bangalore, India PSG Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India PSG Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India PSG Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India Duke India Services Private Ltd, Bangalore, India Center for WaSH-AID, Duke University, Durham, NC 27701, USA Center for WaSH-AID, Duke University, Durham, NC 27701, USA Raw wastewater analysis is an important step in treatment assessment; however, it is associated with risks of personnel exposure to pathogens. Such risks are enhanced during virus outbreaks, such as the COVID pandemic, and heat-treatment is a commonly used mitigation measure. We examined whether heat-treatment compromises wastewater analytical parameters results. We found that heat-treatment of blackwater at 60 °C for 90 min in capped containers yielded no statistically different values (p > 0.05) for pH, chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia (NH3), total nitrogen (TN), total suspended solids (TSS), and turbidity for specimens from three different sources. This heat-treatment inactivated coliform bacteria (>4 log10 reduction) thus compromising the measurement of commonly used fecal contamination indicators. The observation of intact helminth eggs in heat-treated specimens suggests that the helminth egg enumeration assay is not compromised. These findings indicate that heat-treatment for the safe handling of wastewater, as may be needed in future virus outbreaks, does not affect the measurements of many common wastewater physico-chemical properties. HIGHLIGHTS Heat-treatment of wastewater was used as a personnel safety measure during the COVID-19 pandemic.; We examined whether heat-treatment compromises wastewater analytical parameters.; Heat-treatment yielded no statistical difference in pH, organics, nitrogen, and solid content values.; Heat-treatment significantly degraded the fecal coliform enumeration results, but helminth egg enumeration may be possible.;http://wst.iwaponline.com/content/88/11/2931blackwatercodfecal coliformheat inactivationphysico-chemical parameterssars-cov-2 |
| spellingShingle | Praveen Rosario Thamayanthi Seenivasan Ramya Viswash Sudha Ramalingam Viswa Barani Claire M. Welling Sonia Grego Impact of heat-treatment on wastewater analytical parameters Water Science and Technology blackwater cod fecal coliform heat inactivation physico-chemical parameters sars-cov-2 |
| title | Impact of heat-treatment on wastewater analytical parameters |
| title_full | Impact of heat-treatment on wastewater analytical parameters |
| title_fullStr | Impact of heat-treatment on wastewater analytical parameters |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impact of heat-treatment on wastewater analytical parameters |
| title_short | Impact of heat-treatment on wastewater analytical parameters |
| title_sort | impact of heat treatment on wastewater analytical parameters |
| topic | blackwater cod fecal coliform heat inactivation physico-chemical parameters sars-cov-2 |
| url | http://wst.iwaponline.com/content/88/11/2931 |
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