Water, Air, and Soil Pollution

The presence of surfactants in groundwater and in drinking and superficial waters is a major public health concern. Recently, various treatment technologies have been studied to remove these pollutants; among them, the treatments based on the sorption onto natural adsorbing materials appear more eco-friendly and with very interesting removal efficiencies. The sorption of the cationic surfactant benzyldimethyldodecyl ammonium chloride (BDC-12) onto zeolitic tuff (Si/Al ratio = 2.4) was well described by a pseudo-second-order equation with a kinetic constant not depending on the exchangeable cationic form of the zeolite. The isosteric enthalpies and entropies (∆istH and ∆istS) obtained from sorption isotherms were negative, and their absolute values increased with decreasing amounts of BDC-12 bound at the equilibrium (qe). Zeolite sorbitivity (qe/unit dry mass sorbent) for BDC-12 increased with NaCl concentration in the batch solution, suggesting that the sorption process does not involve cation exchange.

The changed political situation and recognition of the acute destruction of the natural environment in Poland have caused a series of actions aimed at preventing further deterioration of Polish environment One of the most important events which took place in the last few years was the enactment by the Polish Parliament in May 1991 of the Act on the National Ecological Policy. The basic assumption of the new environmental policy is a declaration that sustainable development will in future direct economic development in Poland. The aim of the presented paper is to introduce existing policy of air protection and instruments which have been implemented to protect the air. Special attention will be paid to legislation instruments, introduction and enforcement of proper economic mechanisms strengthening air protection and foreign policy aiming at increasing foreign assistance for this objective.

The deposition process of suspended particles in storm sewer has been simulated to explore the depositional regularity of storm sewer under different conditions of pipelines and suspended particles. The maximum deposition position, maximum deposition rate, and average deposition velocity of suspended particles have been calculated according to the mathematical models. The results show that the different conditions have a great influence on the deposition process in the pipeline. The higher concentration, the larger fullness and particle size or the smaller flow velocity and pipe slope, the more serious the deposition in the front section of the pipeline. The mathematical models show that the five factors have different effects on the maximum deposition position, maximum deposition rate, and average deposition velocity in the pipeline. When the concentration, particle size, and fullness increase, the maximum deposition position of suspended particles is removed forward. When the concentration and flow velocity increases, the maximum deposition rate tends to decrease, while it rises with the increase of particle size. In the case of high concentration or large particle size, the average deposition velocity of the suspended particles is larger, and it rises first and then decreases when flow velocity increases. Under the test conditions, when the flow velocity is in the range of 0.3–0.35 m/s, the average deposition velocity reaches the maximum.

In this work, we investigated the degradation of the mixture of acid yellow 36 and acid blue 80 via photoperoxidation (PP/UV-C) and via electrochemical oxidation (EAOP). After optimization, the best results were obtained using [H2O2] = 80 mg‧L−1 for PP/UV-C and concentrations of 0.05 mol∙L−1 of the electrolytes (Na2SO4 and KCl) for EAOP/UV-C. For PP/UV-C, complete degradation of the monitored groups was obtained for all 3 λ. For the electrochemical systems, the higher degradation efficiency was achieved by using UV-C radiation associated with the electrochemical absorption process (EAOP/UV-C), reaching 75% for 267 nm and 100% for the other λ from 180 min. A kinetic monitoring by HPLC analytical technique was performed in order to visualize the possible reaction intermediates, as well as the consumption of H2O2 and the production of chlorine compounds as oxidizing agents of the applied processes. The toxicity evaluation against Nasturtium officinale, Daucus carota subsp. Sativus, and Thymus vulgar seeds and for Escherichia coli showed the presence of intermediate species of the dyes due to a certain degree of post-treatment toxicity. It was concluded that the use of the PP/UV-C and EAOP processes was efficient for the degradation of the dyes studied, although the system must be further improved to achieve better mineralization.

Surficial sediment samples and specimens of the filter-feeding marine mussel, Mytilus edulis, were collected at thirteen sites near a Pb/Zn ore stockpile and smelting complex (Canada). Aside from measuring the total S content in the sediment samples, each of these samples were subjected to a sequential extraction procedure designed to determine the partitioning of Fe and Pb among various geochemical phases and compared with the Pb levels measured in the mussel tissues. About one third of the Fe and more than 90% of the Pb were extracted from the sediments. Sediments collected within Belledune Harbour generally yielded the greatest amount of Pb whereas the highest levels of S were measured in Dalhousie Harbour sediments. Regression analysis indicated that the total S content in the sediments played an important role in defining the Pb accumulation in the mussel tissues.

Spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst) needle litter was placedin litterbags and incubated (≥6 yr) at five spruce standsin southern Sweden. The litterbags were collected twice a yearduring year 1–2 and thereafter once a year, for total analyses(conc. HNO3) of Cd, Zn, Mn, Cu and Pb. The main objectiveswere to document changes in concentrations and amounts of theseelements during litter decomposition and to investigate factorscontrolling the changes.Concentrations of Cd, Zn, Cu and Pb increased to at least 0.5, 1.5, 3 and 13 times the initial concentration. During the latterpart of the incubations, concentrations became more stable ordecreased. Concentrations at which the metals are considered to be toxic to micro-organisms in the mor layer were not reached during the experiment. Generally, concentrations of Mn decreased.Total amounts of Cd, Zn and Mn had decreased by at least15, 24 and 43%, from the initial amount at the end of theexperiment. The total amount of Cu increased (>40%) before itstarted to decrease. The total amount of Pb increased by over230%. Thereafter it became more constant or decreased.According to a PCA, the dynamics of total amounts of Cd,Zn and Mn in the litter were similar, as were those of Pb and Cu.Furthermore, in most cases the heavy metal amounts on anysampling occasion differed more between than within sites. Thedynamics of total amounts of elements were more similar betweenadjacent sites than between more distant sites.

Waste site cover systems used to prevent rainfall from reaching the waste need to remain intact throughout the lifetime of the waste site. Monitoring of these covers is needed to ascertain the performance and to determine if any degradation has occurred. Researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory have used gaseous perfluorocarbon tracers (PFTs) to monitor the integrity of caps and covers for waste disposal sites. Detection of the PFTs currently uses gas chromatography techniques developed at BNL. This paper presents a potential approach to this wide-area screening problem by replacing conventional gas chromatography analysis with laser-based, lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) detection of the PFTs. Lidar can be used to scan the surface of the cover system, looking for fugitive PFTs. If successful this would enable the departure from soil gas analysis and instead look for PFTs in the air just above the soil surface. The advantages of using a lidar platform are multi-fold and include the elimination of soil monitoring ports. Benchtop and pilot-scale indoor experiments using an a continuous wave, line-tunable infrared CO2 laser were used to detect PMCH (perfluoromethylcyclohexane, one of a group of PFTs used at BNL). Laboratory measurements of the absorption cross-section were the same order of magnitude compared to literature values for similar perfluorocarbon compounds. Initial benchtop, fixed cell length experiments were successful in detecting PMCH to levels of 10 ppb-m. To improve the lower limit of detection, a HgCdTe detector was purchased that was more specific to the lasing region of interest and hence had a higher sensitivity at this spectral region Using a pilot-scale lidar system in a 40m indoor hallway air concentrations of PMCH were then measured down to 1 ppb-m. These results are very promising and show great potential for monitoring the integrity of cover systems using lidar and PFTs.

The effect of five concentrations of mercuric chloride (10 mM, 5 mM, 1 mM, 0.5 mM, and 0.l mM) on the uptake of glucose and fructose from the intestine of the fresh water murrel Channa punctatus after 15, 30 and 60 min was studied. Intestinal glucose and fructose transport was also assessed in fish exposed to a sublethal concentration (3 μg l−1) of mercuric chloride for 10 and 30 days. The results show that the uptake of glucose and fructose from the intestine was reduced by all five concentrations of mercuric chloride. Maximum reduction was observed after 60 min of exposure to 10 mM mercuric chloride. The rate of absorption of glucose and fructose increased with time in controls and in all concentrations of mercury except the highest concentration (10 mM) where the rate of absorption decreased gradually. The reduction in the rate of absorption of the two sugars was not dependent on the concentration of mercury in the instilled medium. In fish exposed to mercuric chloride in laboratory media, the reduction of glucose and fructose absorption was greater after 30 days of exposure than after 10 days.

Three kinds of fortifiers, polyaspartic acid (PASP), aminotriacetic acid (NTA), and tea saponin (TS) were applied in strengthening the phytoremediation efficiency of nickel by Bidens pilosa L. (B. pilosa) in nickel-pyrene-contaminated soil. The growth of B. pilosa, Ni distribution in B. pilosa, chemical morphology of Ni, and soil microbial community structure were investigated by pot experiment in this study. Results showed that the removal rate of Ni increased by 10.02% in the PASP treatment and 8.81% in the PASP-TS treatment, compared with the only planting B. pilosa treatment. The Ni content in roots of these two treatment groups was increased by 86.8% and 87.9%, and Ni content in the cell wall and soluble fraction of roots were increased by 99.31% and 82.60% and 109.05% and 43.69%, respectively. More inorganic and water-soluble Ni was converted to Ni bounded to polysaccharides or proteins. In addition, the residual and organic matter-bounded state of Ni in soil greatly transformed into the iron-manganese oxide-bounded state after adding PASP. The relative abundance of bacteria related to Ni transformation increased significantly. Sphingomonas was promoted to 19.2% in PASP-TS treatment. Correlation analysis showed that plant extraction and soil microbial transformation were obviously related to Ni removal. The application of NTA and TS had little effect on the remediation efficiency of Ni. In conclusion, the use of PASP was conducive to the remediation effect of Ni in co-contaminated soil by B. pilosa.