Zhang, Heyuan2013-11-072013-11-0720062006Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 44-06, page: 2888.http://hdl.handle.net/10393/27204http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-18590A study on the investigation of the fate of mercury in a secondary wastewater treatment plant has been carried out by combination of field scale sampling and computer modeling simulation at Robert O. Pickard Environmental Centre (ROPEC). Over 200 wastewater, sludge and solid samples and over 680 gaseous and biogas samples were collected from various points throughout the plant and analyzed for total mercury in July, August, December 2003, and March, April, May, June 2004. An approximated mass balance on mercury was performed around each unit process based on the data collected in the field sampling and the facility operation. Partitioning coefficients (K p), the critical parameters, in primary and secondary treatment processes that will be employed in subsequent modeling of TOXCHEM+ to predict the fate of total mercury in wastewater, sludge and gaseous streams were also calculated. The results of this study indicated that only approximately 24 +/- 9% of the total mercury load entering the plant portioned into the anaerobically digested sludge (CAKE), 65 +/- 18% of the total mercury discharged to Ottawa River, and less than 0.002% of the total mercury excited in the form of biogas and total gaseous mercury (TGM) volatilization to atmosphere. The removal efficiency of total mercury within facility is about 35 +/- 18%, based on the percent of mercury leaving in the final effluent compared to total inputs. The approximate total mercury-loading rate to the Ottawa River at ROPEC is approximately 191 +/- 116 g/d. The comparison between the predictions run with TOXCHEM+ and observed data collected from field sampling suggests that the models such as TOXCHEM+ could be employed as an useful tool to evaluate and predict the fate of mercury at ROPEC after further calibration and verification.128 p.enEngineering, Chemical.Thesis