Toxicity Testing

All secondary (biological) wastewater treatment processes rely on a biomass of living, respiring, microorganisms to break down contaminants in wastewater. The rate at which the aerobic biomass breaks down contaminants is proportional to the rate at which they consume oxygen.

Wastewater may contain compounds which are toxic to biomass, particularly if there are industries discharging trade wastes to a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WwTP). Such toxic compounds can adversely affect the performance of a WwTP, in particular where nitrification (conversion of ammonia to nitrate) is required. It is possible to determine the likely effect of a trade waste discharge, or other wastewater, on a secondary wastewater treatment process through respiration-based toxicity testing. Find out more about our toxicity tests on our FAQs page.

The Wastewater Specialists can provide rapid, repeatable toxicity testing of trade waste and other wastewater. The toxicity test(s) most applicable to you will depend on whether you want to run a screening test on several different trade waste samples, a detailed test on a single trade waste sample, or both.