Cadmium accrual in combined wastewater treatment: aquaculture system

Journal Article · Thu Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1976 · Environ. Sci. Technol.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/es60118a003· OSTI ID:7238525

Kerfoot, W B; Jacobs, S A

Trace amounts of cadmium were added to isolated links of a sewage/seawater-plankton-shellfish food chain employed in a prototype tertiary treatment-aquaculture system in operation at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Accumulation of metal was studied in two types of phytoplankton, a green platymonad (Prasinocladus tricornutum) and a mixture of diatoms (predominantly Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Chaetoceros simplex), and two species of shellfish, the American oyster (Crassostrea virginica) and the hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria). The algae showed a rapid increase in metal concentration until an equilibrium was reached, proportional to the initial concentration introduced. Shellfish species exhibited a continual increase in concentration when exposed to seawater and algae mixtures contaminated with cadmium. Separation of the two pathways of transfer identified the algae as the principal source of accumulation in the aquaculture system. Safe levels of cadmium were evaluated by determining final concentrations of cadmium expected in the shellfish tissue for various algae-shellfish-human food chains.

• Research Organization: Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst., MA
• OSTI ID: 7238525
• Journal Information: Environ. Sci. Technol.; (United States), Journal Name: Environ. Sci. Technol.; (United States) Vol. 10:7; ISSN ESTHA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
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63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ALGAE
ANIMALS
AQUACULTURE
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
BIOLOGICAL ACCUMULATION
BIOMASS
BODY BURDEN
CADMIUM
CONTAMINATION
DIATOMS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FOOD CHAINS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INVERTEBRATES
LIQUID WASTES
MAMMALS
MAN
METALS
MOLLUSCS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
OYSTERS
PLANKTON
PLANTS
PRIMATES
QUANTITY RATIO
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
SEAWATER
SEWAGE
VERTEBRATES
WASTE WATER
WASTES
WATER