Comparative assessment of acute and chronic ecotoxicity of water soluble fractions of diesel and biodiesel on Daphnia magna and Aliivibrio fischeri

Juliana Braun Müller, Silvia Pedroso Melegari, Francois Perreault, William Gerson Matias

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

The widespread use of diesel as a transportation fuel and the introduction of biodiesel into the world energy matrix increase the likelihood of aquatic contamination with these fuels. In this case, it is important to know the environmental impacts caused by water-soluble fraction (WSF) of these fuels, since it is the portion that can result in long-term impacts and affect regions far away from the location of a spill. Therefore, we evaluated and compared the aquatic ecotoxicity of the WSF of biodiesel and diesel through acute ecotoxicity tests with the aquatic microcrustacean Daphnia magna and the marine bacteria Aliivibrio fischeri, as well as chronic ecotoxicity tests with D. magna. The WSF of diesel was 2.5–4 folds more toxic than the WSF of biodiesel in acute ecotoxicity tests. Similarly, a comparison of the chronic ecotoxicity demonstrated that the WSF of diesel was more toxic than the WSF of biodiesel. WSF of diesel causes chronic effects on reproduction, longevity and growth of D. magna (NOEC was 12.5, 12.5, 6.25%, respectively), while WSF of biodiesel did not present significantly different results compared to the control for any of the parameters evaluated in any of the dilutions tested (NOEC> 25%). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that compares the chronic ecotoxicity of WSF of diesel and biodiesel on D. magna.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)640-646
Number of pages7
JournalChemosphere
Volume221
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2019

Keywords

  • Acute ecotoxicity
  • Biodiesel
  • Chronic ecotoxicity
  • Diesel
  • Water contamination
  • Water soluble fraction

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Pollution
  • General Chemistry
  • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
  • Environmental Engineering
  • Environmental Chemistry

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