%0 Journal Article %T Silver Nanoparticle Adsorption to Soil and Water Treatment Residuals and Impact on Zebrafish in a Lab-scale Constructed Wetland %A Angela Ebeling %A Victoria Hartmann %A Aubrey Rockman %A Andrew Armstrong %A Robert Balza %A Jarrod Erbe %A Daniel Ebeling %J Computational Water, Energy, and Environmental Engineering %P 16-25 %@ 2168-1570 %D 2013 %I Scientific Research Publishing %R 10.4236/cweee.2013.23B004 %X
Nanoparticles (< 100 nm) are
becoming more prevalent in residential and industrial uses and may enter the
environment through wastewater. Although lab studies have shown that
nanoparticles can be toxic to various organisms, limited research has been done
on the effects of nanoparticles in the environment. Environmental conditions
such as pH and ionic strength are known to alter the biotoxicity of
nanoparticles, but these effects are not well understood. The objectives of
this research were to determine the impacts of silver nanoparticles (AgNP) on
zebrafish in the pseudo-natural environment of a lab-scale constructed wetland,
and to investigate wastewater remediation through soil and water treatment
residual (WTR) adsorption of AgNPs. Concurrently, the effect of particle size on
AgNP sorption was examined. Researchers exposed adult zebrafish in a lab-scale
constructed wetland to concentrations of AgNP ranging from 0 - 50 mg
AgNP/L and compared them to negative controls with no silver exposure and to
positive controls with exposure to silver nitrate. The results suggest that
aggregated AgNP do not impact zebrafish. Separately, sorption experiments were
carried out examining three media - a wetland soil, a silt loam soil, and a WTR
- in their capacity to remove AgNPs from water. The silt loam retained less
AgNPs from solution than did the wetland soil or the WTR. In the WTR AgNPs were
associated with sand size particles (