Mobile forms vs the total content of thallium in activated sludge

Sewage sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants is currently a serious environmental problem, given its diversity due to the variability of time and heavy metal content. Current research on the monitoring of heavy metals is based on the determination of Pb, Cd, Hg, Ni, Zn, Cu and Cr. This makes any thallium content data difficult to access. The study estimated the degree of contamination of sewage sludge with thallium. The sludge samples came from a sewage treatment plant located in Poland. The results are presented for the total concentration of thallium and its mobile forms. These samples were analyzed by differential pulse voltammetry. The results showed that the average thallium content was 0.203 mu g/g and its mobile form was 0.025 mu g/g. The conducted research shows that almost 13% of thallium from sewage sludge can be gradually released into the environment.

Automated summary

Sewage sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants is a serious environmental problem due to its varying heavy metal content, and it has been challenging to measure the thallium content. This study estimated the contamination level of thallium in sewage sludge from a Polish treatment plant and found that approximately 13% of the thallium could gradually be released into the environment.