Contemporary Organic Contamination Levels in Digested Sewage Sludge from Treatment Plants in Korea : (3) Organophosphorus Insecticides

Organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) contents in the sewage sludge derived from the residential and industrial areas were determined in order to characterize contemporary organic contamination levels as a part of the ongoing development of the environmentally sound sewage sludge management strategy in Korea. OPPs were extracted from freeze-dried sludges in a ultrasonic extractor. The extracts were cleaned-up by florisil column and subsequently fed into gas chromatograph/nitrogen phosphorus detector (GC/NPD) for determining OPP contents. Diazinon, dimethoate, disulfoton, EPN, malathion, methyl parathion, parathion, phorate and sulfotep were present in the appreciable amount in the domestic sewage sludges. The sum of the 9 OPPs in the sewage sludge varied from 534.8 to 15552.1 , dry wt..