Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
2.10 Conclusions
Environmental risk assessments determined using models with K
oc
-derived
partition coefficients (TBP, EqP, sediment quality criteria, etc.) could be very
misleading. K
oc
-derived pore water recalcitrant compound levels in aquatic
plant detritus have been shown to underestimate potential exposure con-
centrations by a factor of 10. On the other hand, no bioaccumulation or
toxicity was demonstrated in soot containing sediments with solvent-extract-
able recalcitrant compound levels as high as 10,000 mg/kg. The levels of
soot and other diagenically mature, potential recalcitrant compound super-
absorbers (e.g., coal and coke) in sediments are expected to be heterogeneous,
but potentially high in industrialized watersheds. The rapidly desorbed
recalcitrant compound fraction (i.e., that which partitions to Tenax or solid
phase adsorbent within minutes) may provide a quick and simple means of
determining the biologically available fraction of sediment recalcitrant com-
pounds. Means to determine what part of the rapidly desorbing recalcitrant
compound microorganisms degrades and what part is accumulated into
benthic faunal lipid have yet to be developed, and no directly relevant
literature exists.
Thermal desorption mass spectrometry can be a very useful tool for
USACE dredging operations. TD-MS enables rapid qualitative and quanti-
tative measurements of recalcitrant compounds in sediments and provides
a measure of the energy with which they are bound. TD-MS is directly
compatible with emerging field-portable, direct-sampling, real-time analyt-
ical technologies being developed by the U.S. Army for the detection of
chemical and biological weapons.
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