Assessment of C-18 coated silica particles as surrogate benthic organisms for examining bioaccumulation from bedded sediment
- Environmental Protection Agency, Narragansett, RI (United States)
To simulate the accumulation of neutral organic contaminants by infaunal benthos the partitioning of PCBs and PAHs between a contaminated estuarine sediment and admixed C-18 coated silica particles was measured. The C-18 coated particles initially were mixed into the sediment, then, at time intervals they were retrieved, separated from the sediment and analyzed. The concentrations of lower chlorinated PCB congeners (< five chlorine atoms per molecule) on the C-18 coated silica particles reached apparent steady state within 300 hrs while congeners with greater numbers of chlorine atoms required much greater time periods ( > one year) to reach apparent steady state. Increasing the concentration of C-18 coated silica particles in the mixtures generally decreased the time required to reach steady state. Non-alkylated PAHs showed significantly less partitioning from sediment to the C-18 particles than PCB congeners (p <.05), although the Log K{sub ow} ranges of the compounds in these comparisons were similar. BSAFs, defined as the lipid normalized contaminant concentration in an exposed organism divided by the organic carbon normalized contaminant concentration of the sediment, were calculated for these exposures using the C-18 of the particles as the lipid. The results from these exposures agreed closely with those measured in studies where living benthic organisms were exposed to contaminated sediment; supporting further development of this approach for measuring bioaccumulation from contaminated sediment.
- OSTI ID:
- 218456
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9511137--; ISBN 1-880611-03-1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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