Biotesting of petroleum sorbents on the basis of polymer waste
Authors:   Ivano-Frankivsk Medical University, Malyshevska O. S. 
Published: July 2021

Introduction. Biotesting is considered to be an effective method of assessing the potential hazard of chemical, physical or biological effects on an ecosystem. Biotesting is carried out experimentally using, as a rule, standardized laboratory test systems, by recording changes in biologically important indicators (test reactions) under the influence of the studied samples. Hydrobionts act as biologically sensitive sensors: protozoa, algae, crustaceans, mollusks, fish, etc. Biotic indicators can provide information about the transformation of the ecosystem, the state of organisms and the degree of acceptability of influences to preserve the diversity of life forms and their balanced development. During the bioremediation of oil-contaminated water bodies at low temperatures and at high water flow rates (mountain streams) there are significant difficulties and traditional approaches and sorbents can not always be applied. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new non-traditional sorbents. At the same time, it is ecologically expedient to use multi-ton waste of packaging polymeric materials extracted from solid household waste, which are biologically and chemically inert, have unique sorption properties and are suitable for multiple use. Two ecologically dangerous problems have been solved - water pollution by oil products and the growth of polymer packaging in the share of household waste. The goal is to biotest the change of oil-contaminated environment during purification in model conditions with the use of polymer hydrophobic sorbents from raw materials extracted from solid household waste as bioremediators. Research objectives: to establish biological and toxicological safety of the use of secondary polymer raw materials from packaging waste as oil sorbents; to investigate the safety of using environmentally friendly surfactants from vegetable raw materials common in Ukraine to increase the extraction of petroleum products from water. Methods and techniques: toxicological - determination of water toxicity on Daphnia magna acute according to DSTU 4173: 2003 (ISO 6341: 1996, MOD) and chronic according to DSTU 4166: 2003 (ISO 10706: 2000, MOD), photometric method for determining the amount of oil in water according to GOST 17.1.4.01-80. The research results show the effectiveness of hydrophobic polymer sorbents made from secondary polymer raw materials extracted from solid waste in water contaminated with petroleum products to ensure their localization-sorption. The mortality rates of daphnia in all samples with sorbents at the beginning of the experiment were much lower than in the control, because the bulk of the contaminant was adsorbed on the surface of hydrophobic sorbents. At the end of the experiment, the best result in terms of the number of viable daphnia was observed in the cut of a sorbent made of polypropylene, the surface of which is covered with surfactants extracted from Milnyanka medicinal (Saponaria officinalis L). In this sample, the mortality of the test culture is 23%, which is 32% less than the control - 72%. Conclusions. Studies of the impact on aquatic ecosystems and the toxic effect of developed petroleum sorbents on Daphnia magna Straus have established the effectiveness of hydrophobic polymeric sorbent in water contaminated with petroleum products, ensuring their localization-sorption. The mortality rates of daphnia in all studied samples of sorbents except the sorbent from PVC waste were significantly lower than in the control, because the bulk of the contaminant was adsorbed in the polymeric sorbent. Biotesting showed that the sorption material based on polymeric secondary raw materials did not have a toxic effect in the process of purification of water from hydrocarbons. Therefore, it can be considered promising as a basis for bioremediators and for further use in the purification of water bodies from dissolved and spilled petroleum products. However, further in-depth toxicological studies require PVC-based sorbents, although their effects have not gone beyond what is acceptable and it is necessary to study their behavior under the influence of temperature changes and the reaction of other test organisms.