Occurrence of high-tonnage anionic surfactants in Spanish sewage sludge

Agricultural application has become the most widespread method of sewage sludge disposal, being the most economical outlet for sludge and also recycling beneficial plant nutrients and organic matter to soil for crop production. As a matter of fact, the European Sewage Sludge Directive 86/278/EEC seeks to encourage the disposal of sewage sludge in agriculture applications and regulate its use to prevent harmful effects on the soil environment. At the present time, the sewage sludge Directive is under revision and a possible cut-off limit for some organic chemicals may be implemented. Linear alkylbenzene sulphonate (LAS), the main synthetic anionic surfactant, has been included in the draft list of chemicals to be limited. The present research work deals with the monitoring of LAS and soap in Spanish sewage sludge. The average concentration of LAS found in anaerobic sewage sludge samples was 8.06 g/kg, higher than the average values for European sludge. Besides, it has been also found that more than 55% of Spanish anaerobic sludge would not fulfil the limit proposed by the 3rd European Working paper on sludge. As a consequence, the implementation of the limit for LAS would make the disposal of most Spanish biosolids for agricultural applications almost impossible. Regarding the mechanisms why anionic surfactants are found in sludge, two surfactants are compared: LAS and soap, both readily biodegraded in aerobic conditions. Irrespective of the anaerobic biodegradability of soap, its concentration found in sludge is higher than LAS (only anaerobically biodegradable under particular conditions). The relevance of anaerobic biodegradation to assure environmental protection is discussed for this case.