Effects of Cationic Polyacrylamide and Cationic Starch on Aquatic Life
Publication: Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste
Volume 23, Issue 4
Abstract
Geotextile tubes with polyacrylamide flocculants are widely used in dewatering applications. Due to variations in solid concentrations during dredging, excess flocculant is sometimes released into the environment, where it might have toxic effects. This study determined optimum doses for a cationic polyacrylamide (CPAM) and a natural-based polymer alternative, cationic starch (C. Starch). Slurry samples were treated with optimum and 50% overdoses of each compound, and residual polymer concentrations were measured. Overdosed C. Starch resulted in low residuals (), but overdosed CPAM resulted in 17.4 ppm residual polymer. The relative toxicity of CPAM and C. Starch was also tested using zebrafish embryos. 100% of embryos that had their chorion removed and 71.8% of embryos that retained their chorions were dead or dying after 7 days of exposure to CPAM. In contrast, there was no statistically significant difference in the numbers of embryos that were dead or dying when exposed to C. Starch compared with controls. These data strongly suggest that C. Starch should be considered as a replacement for CPAM in dewatering applications.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request
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optimum dose results (plots of polymer added versus turbidity);
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residual polymer results (calibration curves and plots of titrant added versus charge); and
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zebrafish embryo phenotype results (dead/dying versus unaffected for dechorionated and non-dechorionated embryos).
Acknowledgments
Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) fellowship (Grant No. CMMI 1100131) to Katie L. Duggan and by Hill Collaboration Funds to Katharine E. Lewis. Research in the Lewis Lab was also supported by NIH NINDS R01 NS077947, NSF IOS-1257583 HFSP RGP0063, and New York State Spinal Cord Injury Funds. Additional thanks to José Marrero Rosado and Joanna Ding for preliminary experiments exposing zebrafish embryos to CPAM and C. Starch, in which it was first observed that the CPAM appeared to stick to the zebrafish chorions. Thanks to Dr. Jason Fridley for help with statistical analyses, April Kessler for help with some of the zebrafish experiments, and Sam England for taking photos of some of the zebrafish. Lastly, thanks to Ginny Grieb and Lewis Lab fish husbandry workers for maintaining zebrafish, and to other members of the Bhatia and Lewis Labs for their assistance and collaboration in the lab.
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Published In
Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste
Volume 23 • Issue 4 • October 2019
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 30, 2019
Accepted: Jun 10, 2019
Published online: Aug 15, 2019
Published in print: Oct 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Jan 15, 2020
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