Organochlorines as Environmental Tainting Substances: Taste Panel Study and Chemical Analyses of Incubated Mussels

Lake mussels (Anodonta piscinalis) incubated in freshwater stations upstream and downstream of a large pulp mill were studied for tainting by a panel of 18 persons. The tasted animal muscle and tissue water samples, and composites of other simultaneously incubated mussels were analyzed for organochlorine compounds. Bad taste scores were obtained for mussels from the nearest station downstream to the pulp mill and were significantly (p < 0.001 **) higher than those from other stations. A similar difference was observed for the measured chlorophenol, chloroanisole and chloroveratrole, chlorocymene and PCB contents. Chloroanisoles and chloroveratroles were indicated to form the main tai…

Use of Mussels (Anodonta piscinalis) in the Monitoring of Organic Chlorine Compounds

Characterization of high molecular mass material in ECF and TCF bleaching liquors by Py-GC/MS with and without TMAH methylation

Abstract High molecular weight (HMW) fractions (MW > 1000) of effluents were obtained by ultrafiltration of elemental chlorine-free (ECF) bleaching (O-D-EOP-D-ED) and totally chlorine-free (TCF) bleaching (O-Z-Q-P-Z-Q-P-P) liquors of softwood (Pinus sylvestris) pulp. The fractions were studied by analytical pyrolysis coupled to gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) with and without TMAH (tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide) derivatization. The pyrograms showed a number of pyrolysis products mainly derived from lignin and carbohydrates. The comparison of 4-hydroxyphenyl (H), guaiacyl (G) and syringyl (S) lignin units in both bleaching effluents showed that the G unit content was clearly…