The Relation between Polyaromatic Hydrocarbon Concentration in Sewage Sludge and Its Uptake by

The aim of the study was to define the relationship between the concentration of PAHs in sewage sludge at a particular location and their amount in various plant materials growing on it. The credibility of the results is enhanced by the fact that sewage sludge from two separate sewage-treatment plants were selected for their influence on the content of PAHs in three plant species growing on them. The investigations were carried out for a period of three years. The results demonstrated unequivocally that the uptake of PAHs by a plant depended on polyaromatic hydrocarbon concentration in the sewage sludge. The correlation between accumulation coefficient of PAH in a plant and the content of the same PAH in the sewage sludge had for three-, four- and five-ring hydrocarbons an exponential character and for six-ring hydrocarbons was of a linear character. The accumulation coefficients calculated for three-ring aromatics were several times higher than for four-ring PAHs; further the coefficient values calculated for five-ring PAHs were several times lower than for four-ring hydrocarbons. Finally, the accumulation coefficient values of six-ring PAHs were the lowest in the series of studied polyaromatic hydrocarbons