The Toxicity and Irritancy of Ultrafiltrates of Non-Sanitary Military Wastes.
Abstract
A process of membrane ultrafiltration and post chlorination has been developed to treat laundry and shower waste waters for potential recycle and reuse. Samples of water taken at various stages in the purification process have been evaluated in respect to their immediate toxicity when given orally to mice, as a primary skin irritant when kept in contact with the intact and abraded skin of rabbits and as an irritant to the ocular tissues in rabbits. Each of these tests provided quantitative data which correlated with the efficiency of the purification process. The sample waters investigated were identified as: (1) synthetic laundry waste water, (2) synthetic or real shower waste water, (3) ultrafiltrates of Group 1, (4) ultrafiltrates of Group 2, and (5) concentrates (10 to 1000 fold) of waters from each of the 4 groups. The synthetic waste waters were constituted by adding to tap water known amounts of the chemical components identified in the real waste water, thereby providing for study water of known chemical composition which could be duplicated or altered as required. The various real wastes and ultrafiltrates were concentrated by a process of freezing. The ultrafiltrates (including those concentrated by freezing) caused no irritation in the skin or eye of rabbits, and were not toxic when given orally to mice. The severity of these responses was directly related to increasing concentration of waste chemicals as measured by the total organic carbon content of the water.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1978
- Accession Number
- ADA067541
Entities
People
- Edward A. Emmett
- Sylvan Witherup
Organizations
- University of Cincinnati