Behavior of
3-Amino-l,2,4,-Triazole in Surface
Water and Sewage Treatment
F. J. LUDZACK and J. W. MANDIA
Robert A. Taft Sanitary Engineering Center
Bureau of State Services
Public Health Service
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
Cincinnati, Ohio
The use of 3-amino-l, 2,4, -triazole (3AT) attracted attention in the fall
of 1959 in connection with possible residuals of the chemical on cranberries in
the market place. Behavior of 3AT in soils, plants, and animals had been investigated previously. Little was known about 3AT characteristics in water,
although runoff from treated soils or waste water from 3AT manufacturing or
processing are likely sources of contamination. This study was designed to determine the characteristics of biochemical degradation of 3AT in surface
water and in waste treatment, to evaluate possible interference of 3AT in
treatment of associated wastes, and to study operational controls that promote
3AT treatability in waste water.
John F. Yost, American Cyanamide Company, compiled much of the
known information on analysis and degradability of 3AT and its effects on
plants or animals (1),(2),(3). Background material from his reports and others
was used as a guide in our experimental design and for comparison purposes.
According to Ercegovich (4), and Sund (5), 3AT added to soils is difficult
to recover quantitatively. Recovery varies with soil properties such as moisture, base exchange capacity, re-actability, or complexation with metals,
clays, and organic constituents. Ercegovich was convinced that 3AT degrades
biologically hut was unable to demonstrate this by short-term culture methods. He found that 3AT disappeared more rapidly in soils at 70 to 100 C than
at normal field temperatures. Burschel and Freed (6) noted that leaching
velocity, temperature, moisture content, and chemical concentration influenced disappearance or analytical recovery of 3AT in soils.
Condarenko (7) employed Cl4-labeled 3AT mixed with silty clay loam
to estimate the degradability of 3AT in soils. Air free of carbon dioxide was
passed into the mixture and radioactivity of the respired C"02 measured.
Maximum discharge of radioactivity occurred on the 13th day with more than
70 per cent of the applied activity recovered as Cl4o2 by 30 days. Burschel
and Freed (6) observed first order reaction characteristics when testing soils
in a similar manner.
Condarenko (8) and Rogers (9) observed rapid translocation of 3AT in
plants, primarily through the veins. Rcusen (10) applied Cl4-labeled 3AT to
primary leaves and found radioactivity in stems within 24 hrs. Five days later
the bulk of the Cl4 activity was found in primary leaves and terminal buds
with relatively little in stems, roots, and soil. Aphids feeding on the plants
were found to contain significant Cl4 activity. Paper chromatographic separation of plant extracts (10) showed a rapid decrease in the fraction having
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