The mission of the TRC is to provide for analyses of quality in the interdisciplinary aspects of the Program, and to provide for methods development for new research areas and in interactions for technology transfer to industry. The equipment component assists in providing basic equipment necessary for individual project research, and for equipment needed for interdisciplinary multiproject research. Research in the program has pointed to the potential application of the methods and results to current questions of environmental hazards that are presented by industry-wide problems. A common issue is the question of the environmental stability, persistence and fate of apparently recalcitrant compounds and the impact of these compounds on human health. The primary TRC project examines whether components of metal-complex azo dyes become bioavailable and thus a threat to human health. Five metal-complex dyes in commercial use will be examined for the constituents of the starting press cake dyes, their organic portions, potential degradation products and free ionic metals. Environmental samples will be press cake from the manufactures, wastewater treatment products, sludges and effluents from textile dye users, and water and sediment samples upstream and downstream from effluent discharges. Analyses will involve HPLC and inductively coupled plasma/mass spectrometry for metal speciation, chemical stability under abiotic and biotic conditions, environmental partition properties and the biological stability of the dyes. Long range goals include biofilm reactor studies of these samples and of environmental samples from other metal producing and using industries.
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