Fate of 14 C-organic pollutant residues in composted sludge after application to soil Claire-Sophie Haudin a,⇑ , Yuhai Zhang b , Valérie Dumény b , Gwenaëlle Lashermes c , Valérie Bergheaud b , Enrique Barriuso b , Sabine Houot b a AgroParisTech, UMR 1091 Environment and Arable Crops, F-78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France b INRA, UMR 1091 Environment and Arable Crops, F-78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France c INRA, UMR 614 Fractionnement des AgroRessources et Environnement, F-51100 Reims, France highlights  The fate of 14 C-pollutants included in composts was studied after their application to soil.  The behaviour of compost-associated pollutants was assessed by the extraction techniques.  Non-extractable 14 C-pollutants at the end of composting were little remobilised in the soils.  The soil microorganisms were able to mineralise a portion of the 14 C-pollutant residues.  A part of fluoranthene and glyphosate 14 C-residues could be still available after 140 d. article info Article history: Received 16 August 2012 Received in revised form 21 February 2013 Accepted 26 February 2013 Available online 29 March 2013 Keywords: Sludge compost Soil Glyphosate Linear alkylbenzene sulphonate (LAS) Fluoranthene Nonylphenol (NP) abstract Organic micropollutants may be present in biosolids, leading to soil contamination when they are recy- cled in agriculture. A sludge spiked with 14 C-labelled glyphosate (GLY), sodium linear dodecylbenzene sulphonate (LAS), fluoranthene (FLT) or 4-n-nonylphenol (NP) was composted with green waste and the fate of the 14 C-micropollutant residues remaining after composting was assessed after the compost application to the soil. 14 C-residues were mineralised in the soil and represented after 140 d 20–32% of the initial activity for LAS, 16–25% for GLY, 6–9% for FLT and 4–7% for NP. The 14 C-residues at the end of composting that could not be extracted with methanol or ammonia were minimally remobilised or even increased for FLT. After 140 d, non-extractable residues represented 38–52% of all of the 14 C-residues remaining in the soil for FLT, 50–67% for GLY, 91–92% for NP and 94–97% for LAS and in most cases, less than 1% of the 14 C-res- idues were water soluble, suggesting a low direct availability for leaching and microbial or plant assim- ilation. FLT was identified as the main compound among the methanol-extractable 14 C-residues that may be potentially available. The fate of the 14 C-organic pollutant residues in composts after application to soil could be assessed through a sequential chemical extraction scheme and depended on the chemical nature of the pollutant. Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The use of sewage sludge in agriculture can be considered as a solution to recycle waste in a sustainable way and to prevent the loss of soil fertility. However, there is still a major concern with re- gard to the environmental and sanitary risks associated with the pollutants in sludge. Indeed, certain organic chemicals are highly toxic and can act as endocrine disruptors. Exhaustive inventories of the organic contaminants found in sewage sludge were recently published (Harrison et al., 2006; Clarke and Smith, 2011). Further- more, the 3rd working document on the European Directive (2000) contains limit values for some priority organic contaminants, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and such sur- factants as linear alkylbenzene sulphonates (LASs), nonylphenols (NPs) and nonylphenol ethoxylates. In recent decades, the co-composting of municipal sewage sludge with green waste has been developed, leading to the in- crease of sludge recycling in soil. Composting is a biological aerobic treatment that stabilises organic matter through the degradation of the labile fraction and the humification of the residual organic matter. Depending on the operating conditions, composting can 0045-6535/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2013.02.041 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 1 30 81 54 00; fax: +33 1 30 81 53 96. E-mail address: haudin@agroparistech.fr (C.-S. Haudin). Chemosphere 92 (2013) 1280–1285 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Chemosphere journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chemosphere