Abstract
Previous studies have shown that the soil microbial population and soil enzyme activity are seriously affected by fracturing flow-back fluid (FFBF) from the shale gas mining process. However, the toxic effect of FFBF on specific bacteria, fungi, and plankton has not been systematically confirmed in detail. In this paper, a toxic effect evaluation of FFBF was conducted using the representative toxicity test organisms Vibrio fischeri, Daphnia, Aspergillus niger, and S. cerevisiae, indicating that FFBF can significantly decrease the survival rate of these species. The results also showed that there was a significant negative correlation between the concentration of some inorganic toxicity factors and the survival rate when Daphnia was used as the test organism, indicating that the toxicity degree order for these inorganic toxicity factors is Ba2+ > Li+ > As3+ > Cl— > Cu2+ > Rb2+ > Ga2+ > V2+ > Na+. In addition, other toxic factors, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), were also determined, and the order of toxic effects with a negative correlation to the Daphnia survival rate was confirmed. These results showed that the biological toxicity of FFBF was caused not only by inorganic toxicity factors such as heavy metals but also by organic compounds such as PAHs. The results not only provide a significant reference value for the systematic assessment of biological toxicity by FFBF, but they also have great significance for developing approaches to appropriate FFBF treatment.
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Acknowledgements
We appreciate various cooperation of Xi Lin, Yuan Luo, and WanLi Pu from Yangtze Normal University to our research activities.
Funding
This study was funded by Chongqing Natural Science Foundation project (Grant Nos. cstc2019jcyj-msxmX0651), Chongqing technology Innovation and Application Demonstration Project (Grant Nos. cstc2018jszx-zdyfxmX0011), Key Laboratory of Applied Technology on Green-Eco-Healthy Animal Husbandry of Zhejiang Province (ZJKLAT2019-001), Chongqing Science Committee, Key laboratory of Degraded and Unused Land Consolidation Engineering, and the Ministry of Natural and Resources (Grant No. SXDJ2019), Ecological environment survey and ecological restoration technology demonstration project in the water-level-fluctuating of the Three Gorges Reservoir (no. 5000002021BF40001).
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HFS participated in conception, design, data collection and analysis, and drafted the manuscript. XDM and FHZ assisted laboratory work, results interpretation, and manuscript revision. FLX participated in result discussion and manuscript revision. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Dan, W., Xu, F., Fanhai, Z. et al. Toxic effect of fracturing flow-back fluid on Vibrio fischeri, Daphnia, and specific industry microorganisms Aspergillus niger and S. cerevisiae. Environ Monit Assess 194, 728 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10308-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10308-0