Modelling the accumulation of hydrophobic organic chemicals in earthworms

In this paper a method is developed which can be used to estimate the body burden of organic hydrophobic chemicals in earthworms. In contrast to the equilibrium partitioning theory, two routes of uptake are incorporated: uptake from interstitial water and dietary uptake. Although many uncertainties still remain, calculations show that for earthworms steady state body burdens are mainly determined by uptake from interstitial water. Under most circumstances, the contribution of dietary uptake is small, except for hydrophobic chemicals (log K_ow > 5) in soils with a high organic matter (OM) content of ≈ 20 %. Under those conditions, estimates of the steady state body burden calculated with the equilibrium partitioning model, in which only uptake from interstitial water is taken into account, might result in a small underestimation of the real body burden of chemicals in earthworms.     

Hydrophobicity of complex organic mixtures

Hydrophobicity is an important property in risk assessment of chemicals. A group parameter that reflects the hydrophobicity of technical mixtures is not yet available. However, many substances are complex organic mixtures, for which it is practically impossible to determine each component separately. An experimental procedure to measure the hydrophobicity of organic mixtures without knowledge of the individual components was developed and tested for a mixture of benzene and twelve chlorobenzenes. This procedure is based on separation of the mixture into fractions of increasing hydrophobicity by reversed-phase HPLC, after which the total molar concentration in each fraction is determined by vapour pressure osmometry. The obtained information on hydrophobicity can be used for assessing bioaccumulation and sediment sorption after emission of the mixture to water has occurred.     

Alcohol ethoxylate mixtures in marine sediment: Competition for adsorption sites affects the sorption behaviour of individual homologues

Mineral surfaces form the main sorption phase for alcohol ethoxylates (AEs) in marine sediment. Competition for adsorption sites is investigated for marine sediment and kaolinite clay using simple mixtures of AE homologues. For both sorbents, adsorption sites on mineral surfaces can be effectively blocked by an AE homologue with the strongest adsorption affinity. The strongly adsorbed AE, however, forms a second sorption phase to which weakly adsorbing AE will sorb, forming bilayers. An extended dual-mode model accounts for competition effects, while still based on sorption properties of individual compounds. Competition effects become apparent when total adsorbed concentrations reach ∼10% of the adsorption capacity. Deviations from individual sorption isotherms depend on affinity constants and dissolved homologue composition. Competition will not often occur in contaminated field sediments, with AEs concentrations usually far below the adsorption capacity, but will affect sorption studies, sediment toxicity tests or applications with nonionic surfactant mixtures.     

Variation in Sensitivity of Aquatic Species to Toxicants: Practical Consequences for Effect Assessment of Chemical Substances

5 –10⁶ times higher compared with less sensitive species. The use of assessment factors in effect assessment procedures may lead to an underestimation of effects on the more sensitive species. For many priority pollutants there is little information on their ecotoxicity. Predictive techniques are needed to compensate for this lack of data. Knowledge of the relation between modes of action of compounds and interspecies variation in sensitivity should be integrated in risk assessment procedures in order to make more efficient use of the limited financial resources available.     

Towards a systematic approach of effect prediction: A handbook as guide and aid for environmental prediction. A review

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is based on the results of effect prediction. In general, there is much diversity in the expertise in the field of environmental prediction between the different categories of actors involved in EIA. In practice it became obvious in The Netherlands that the accessibility and comprehensibility of existing relevant information was insufficient. For improvement, a series of systematic handbooks on effect prediction, useful for all categories of actors, has been developed in The Netherlands. In this way, the selection of effect prediction methods to be used in concrete circumstances is improved and speeded up for all parties involved in environmental prediction. After a discussion of the purpose of the handbook, the realization and structure of the series are presented. Finally, the use and (potential) benefits of the handbooks for environmental management are indicated.     

Grinding and sieving soil affects the availability of organic contaminants: a kinetic analysis

Field contaminated soils are often homogenized before application in bioassays and chemical assays that estimate the (bio)availability of their contaminants. The homogenization of the soil might affect the availability, and thereby the outcome of a bioassay might not reflect field situations. In this study, uptake kinetics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) by a negligible depletive passive sampler exposed to a ground and non-ground field contaminated soil were tested. The measurements illustrate how freely dissolved pore water concentrations of contaminants can be affected by soil treatment. It took more than a month, and over a year to reach steady state in the passive sampler exposed to the ground and non-ground soil, respectively. The uptake rate seemed to be limited by desorption from the soil, even though the fiber only extracted 0.2% of the soil-sorbed PAH at maximum. If these observations are translated to the field situation, where contaminants are not homogeneously distributed and disappear by (bio)degradation or physical transport processes, it is unlikely that pore water concentrations are solely determined by a thermodynamic equilibrium. Hence, exposure of organisms in these soils cannot always be estimated by sorption studies and an equilibrium partitioning approach.     

Equilibrium partitioning theory to predict the sediment toxicity of the anionic surfactant C(12)-2-LAS to Corophium volutator

The study of the effect of the sorption of linear alkylbenzene sulfonates (LAS) on the bioavailability to marine benthic organisms is essential to refine the environmental risk assessment of these compounds. According to the equilibrium partitioning theory (EqP), the effect concentration in water-only exposure will be similar to the effect concentration in the sediment pore water. In this work, sorption and desorption experiments with two marine sediments were carried out using the compound C₁₂-2-LAS. The effect of the sediment sorption on the toxicity of benthic organisms was studied in water-only and in sediment bioassays with the marine mud shrimp Corophium volutator. In addition, three common spiking methods were tested for its application in the toxicity tests, as well as the stability of the surfactant during the water-only and sediment-water test duration. LC50 values obtained from water-only exposure showed a good correspondence with the pore water concentrations calculated from the sorption and desorption isotherms in the spiked sediments.