Biological activity and environmental impact of anionic surfactants

The newest results concerning the biological activity and environmental fate of anionic surfactants are collected and critically evaluated. The chemical and physicochemical parameters related to the biological activity and the field of application are briefly discussed. Examples on the effect of anionic surfactants on the cell membranes, on the activity of enzymes, on the binding to various proteins and to other cell components and on their human toxicity are presented and the possible mode of action is elucidated. The sources of environmental pollution caused by anionic surfactants are listed and the methods developed for their removal from liquid, semiliquid and solid matrices are collected. Both the beneficial and adversary effects of anionic surfactants on the environment are reported and critically discussed. It was concluded that the role of anionic surfactants in the environment is ambiguous: they can cause serous environmental pollution with toxic effect on living organisms; otherwise, they can promote the decomposition and/or removal of other inorganic and organic pollutants from the environment. The relationship between their chemical structure, physicochemical parameters, biological activity and environmental impact is notwell understood. A considerable number of data are needed for the development of new anionic surfactants and for the successful application of the existing ones to reduce the adversary and to promote beneficial effects.     

Removal of residual pharmaceuticals from aqueous systems by advanced oxidation processes

Over the past few years, pharmaceuticals are considered as an emerging environmental problem due to their continuous input and persistence to the aquatic ecosystem even at low concentrations. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are technologies based on the intermediacy of hydroxyl and other radicals to oxidize recalcitrant, toxic and non-biodegradable compounds to various by-products and eventually to inert end-products. The environmental applications of AOPs are numerous, including water and wastewater treatment (i.e. removal of organic and inorganic pollutants and pathogens), air pollution abatement and soil remediation. AOPs are applied for the abatement of pollution caused by the presence of residual pharmaceuticals in waters for the last decade. In this light, this paper reviews and assesses the effectiveness of various AOPs for pharmaceutical removal from aqueous systems.     

Recent advances in aerial gamma-ray surveying

Aerial gamma-ray surveying uses NaI(Tl) detectors mounted in small aircraft to measure gamma radiation, emitted from the earth's surface. The data are collected as gamma-ray spectra, typically with 1 s counting times, from which are derived K, U and Th concentrations in the ground. Applications of aerial surveying include geological mapping for mineral exploration, soil mapping for agriculture, pollution studies and location of lost sources. Recent advances in applying statistical methods to the spectral data have resulted in large reductions in the noise levels in the surveys. Some of the methods available to do this include noise adjusted singular value decomposition (NASVD) [Proceedings of Exploration 97: Fourth Decennial International Conference on Mineral Exploration (1997) 753] and maximum noise fraction (MNF) and enhanced MNF (eMNF) [Explor. Geophys. 31 (2000) 73]. These methods, in general, apply normalization for variance to the spectra, use a principal component method to obtain the "significant" components of the data and reconstruct cleaned spectra, which are then processed in a standard manner to get radionuclide concentrations. However, they differ in the detail of the application and thus give slightly different results. In this paper, the application of noise reduction methods to various synthetic surveys is used to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the methods. In tests where there are high correlations between U and Th, the eMNF method performs best although the results are improved by prior clustering of the data by the Th/U ratio. If the data show no correlations, then the effectiveness of all the noise removal methods is reduced. If a data set is small (<1500 spectra), then MNF appears to be the better method. Consideration of the various tests suggests an optimum process whereby spectra are sorted into groups by the Th/U ratio of areas identified in a standard processing and then cleaned by eMNF or MNF, depending on the number of spectra in each group.     

Selection, preparation, and disposal of sodium compounds for dry SOx scrubbers

A program has been initiated to assess an SO₂ removal method wherein dry powdered sodium compounds are injected into the gas stream ahead of the baghouse filter. The compounds are collected on the surface of the filter bags for reaction with the gaseous SO₂. Initial program efforts include a survey of suitable and available sodium compounds, methods of preparing the compounds for injection, and an invistigation of environmentally acceptable methods of disposal.     

The closed-loop cycle for industrial wastewater: The future pollution solution

The paper discusses the trend in all the U.S. industries toward increased water recycling and reuse. Also presented are the water use demands by various industries, and the water use by functions. Data are given on industrial water quality in use for various functions among selected high water using industries. Presented is an over-all system designed for a closed-loop cycle for industrial wastewater. This will be practical for industry to implement by 1985 or soon thereafter if the required technology is properly developed. Research and development needs to achieve this closed-loop system are identified. Rather than a discussion of economics with typical costs based on amount of water treated or on the specific processes employed, the paper presents data on the total cost of removal of controlling factors from a hypothetical wastewater.Future demands and restrictions on industrial wastewater are stated and ten references are cited.     

Rapping systems for collecting surfaces in an electrostatic precipitator

Dust build-up on adjacent surfaces is often an unwanted effect in industrial processes handling pulverized materials. In the case of electrostatic precipitation, build-up of dust on the collecting surface is the purpose of the process. Removal of this build-up is sometimes difficult, but necessary to maintain the continuity of the process. Dry-process methods for dust removal include rapping by impact.It is the intent of this paper to provide information on the general subject of dust removal from plates, on rapping systems used in electrostatic precipitators, and on measurements and order of magnitude of rapping forces.Rapping acceleration test results obtained in the laboratory are expanded to cover full-scale collecting surface plates.Effects of plate design, plate height and length, method of support, rapping, hammer weight, and lift are analyzed.     

Thallium: a review of public health and environmental concerns

Thallium (Tl) is a rare but widely dispersed element. All forms of thallium are soluble enough to be toxic to living organisms. Thallium is more toxic to humans than mercury, cadmium, lead, copper or zinc and has been responsible for many accidental, occupational, deliberate, and therapeutic poisonings since its discovery in 1861. Its chemical behavior resembles the heavy metals (lead, gold and silver) on the one hand and the alkali metals (K, Rb, Cs) on the other. It occurs almost exclusively in natural waters as monovalent thallous cation. The solubility of thallous compounds is relatively high so that monovalent thallium is readily transported through aqueous routes into the environment. Tl can be transferred from soils to crops readily and accrues in food crops. The fascinating chemistry and high toxicity potential make thallium and its compounds of particular scientific interest and environmental concern. Thallium was detected in base-metal mining effluents. The conventional removal of heavy metals from wastewater has little effect on thallium. In this review, various treatment options and removal technologies are enumerated in order to protect the environment from thallium toxicity.     

Volatile organic compounds in indoor environment and photocatalytic oxidation: state of the art

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are the major pollutants in indoor air, which significantly impact indoor air quality and thus influencing human health. A long-term exposure to VOCs will be detrimental to human health causing sick building syndrome (SBS). Photocatalytic oxidation of VOCs is a cost-effective technology for VOCs removal compared with adsorption, biofiltration, or thermal catalysis. In this paper, we review the current exposure level of VOCs in various indoor environment and state of the art technology for photocatalytic oxidation of VOCs from indoor air. The concentrations and emission rates of commonly occurring VOCs in indoor air are presented. The effective catalyst systems, under UV and visible light, are discussed and the kinetics of photocatalytic oxidation is also presented.     

Investigation of 85Sr adsorption on selected soils of different horizons

Studies on the mechanism of (90)Sr migration in soil require many processes to be considered. One of the most important is sorption on the surface of mineral components of the soil. In this study adsorption of (85)Sr on a variety of soil types from different horizons has been investigated. Adsorption isotherms show various affinities of (85)Sr, depending on soil type and to a lesser extent the horizon. An important effect of pH was found with a maximum in the range 5-7. The influence of calcium ions on the extent of adsorption of (85)Sr isotope on soil samples from surface horizons of four sites is presented. Depending on the soil type differing degrees of competitive adsorption of Sr and Ca were observed. Desorption of (85)Sr by distilled water as well as Ca(NO(3))(2) solution was also examined. Both methods resulted in the removal of a considerable proportion of the adsorbed isotope from the soil. Additionally the kinetics of the desorption process were studied.     

Efficiency of the activated carbon filtration in the natural organic matter removal

The removal and transformation of natural organic matter were monitored in the different stages of the drinking water treatment train. Several methods to measure the quantity and quality of organic matter were used. The full-scale treatment sequence consisted of coagulation, flocculation, clarification by flotation, disinfection with chlorine dioxide, activated carbon filtration and post-chlorination. High-performance size-exclusion chromatography separation was used to determine the changes in the humic substances content during the purification process; in addition, a UV absorbance at wavelength 254 nm and total organic carbon amount were measured. A special aim was to study the performance and the capacity of the activated carbon filtration in the natural organic matter removal. Four of the activated carbon filters were monitored over the period of 1 year. Depending on the regeneration of the activated carbon filters, filtration was effective to a degree but did not significantly remove the smallest molar mass organic matter fraction. Activated carbon filtration was most effective in the removal of intermediate molar mass compounds (range 1,000-4,000 g/mol). Regeneration of the carbon improved the removal capacity considerably, but efficiency was returned to a normal level after few months.     

八种不同工艺组合人工湿地系统除磷效果研究

传统的人工湿地系统除磷效能的提高方式主要集中在基质填料的选择、湿地植物的筛选等方面,本试验从调整湿地的组合工艺着手探索提高磷去除效率的优化组合,在为期两年的研究中考察了推流床-下行流-上行流、下行流-上行流-推流床、好氧塘-下行流、下行流-兼性塘、推流床-下行流、下行流-上行流、推流床等8种不同工艺组合人工湿地系统对富营养化湖泊水体中磷的去除规律,比较了这些湿地组合所构建的生物学效应。试验结果显示,如果采用塘系统作组合单元在湿地系统中前置比较理想,而在不同的季节,不同水力负荷下的冲击试验结果表明,复合垂直流湿地系统可以常年保持稳定的、较高的磷去除能力,而且对水力变化具有更好的耐受性能。复合垂直流湿地作为一种新型的人工湿地系统工艺组合具有较好的理论价值和应用前景.     

Metal bioremediation through growing cells

Heavy-metal pollution represents an important environmental problem due to the toxic effects of metals, and their accumulation throughout the food chain leads to serious ecological and health problems. Metal remediation through common physico-chemical techniques is expensive and unsuitable in case of voluminous effluents containing complexing organic matter and low metal contamination. Biotechnological approaches that are designed to cover such niches have, therefore, received great deal of attention in the recent years. Biosorption studies involving low-cost and often dead/pretreated biomass have dominated the literature and, subsequently, extensive reviews focusing on equilibrium and kinetics of metal biosorption have also come up. However, the low binding capacity of biomass for certain recalcitrant metals such as Ni and failure to effectively remove metals from real industrial effluents due to presence of organic or inorganic ligands limit this approach. At times, when pure biosorptive metal removal is not feasible, application of a judicious consortium of growing metal-resistant cells can ensure better removal through a combination of bioprecipitation, biosorption and continuous metabolic uptake of metals after physical adsorption. Such approach may lead to simultaneous removal of toxic metals, organic loads and other inorganic impurities, as well as allow optimization through development of resistant species. However, sensitivity of living cells to extremes of pH or high metal concentration and need to furnish metabolic energy are some of the major constraints of employing growing cells for bioremediation. The efforts to meet such challenges via isolation of metal-resistant bacterial/fungal strains and exploitation of organic wastes as carbon substrates have began. Recent studies show that the strains (bacteria, yeast and fungi) isolated from contaminated sites possess excellent capability of metal scavenging. Some bacterial strains possess high tolerance to various metals and may be potential candidates for their simultaneous removal from wastes. Evidently, the stage has already been set for the application of metal-resistant growing microbial cells for metal harvesting. This review focuses on the applicability of growing bacterial/fungal/algal cells for metal removal and the efforts directed towards cell/process development to make this option technically/economically viable for the comprehensive treatment of metal-rich effluents.     

Arsenic in Drinking Water and Its Removal

Superfluous arsenic in drinking water can do harm to human health. In this paper, a broad overview of the available technologies for arsenic removal has been presented on the basis of literature survey. The main treatment methods included coagu- lation-sedimentation, adsorption separation and ion exchange, membrane technique, which have both advantages and disadvan- tages. It concluded that the selection of treatment process should be site specific and prevailing conditions and no process can serve the purpose under diverse conditions as each technology has its own limitations. In order to gain good results, some methods should be improved.     

Remediation of water pollution caused by pharmaceutical residues based on electrochemical separation and degradation technologies: A review

In the last years, the decontamination and disinfection of waters by means of direct or integrated electrochemical processes are being considered as a very appealing alternative due to the significant improvement of the electrode materials and the coupling with low-cost renewable energy sources. Many electrochemical technologies are currently available for the remediation of waters contaminated by refractory organic pollutants such as pharmaceutical micropollutants, whose presence in the environment has become a matter of major concern. Recent reviews have focused on the removal of pharmaceutical residues upon the application of other important methods like ozonation and advanced oxidation processes. Here, we present an overview on the electrochemical methods devised for the treatment of pharmaceutical residues from both, synthetic solutions and real pharmaceutical wastewaters. Electrochemical separation technologies such as membrane technologies, electrocoagulation and internal micro-electrolysis, which only isolate the pollutants from water, are firstly introduced. The fundamentals and experimental set-ups involved in technologies that allow the degradation of pharmaceuticals, like anodic oxidation, electro-oxidation with active chlorine, electro-Fenton, photoelectro-Fenton and photoelectrocatalysis among others, are further discussed. Progress on the promising solar photoelectro-Fenton process devised and further developed in our laboratory is especially highlighted and documented. The abatement of total organic carbon or reduction of chemical oxygen demand from contaminated waters allows the comparison between the different methods and materials. The routes for the degradation of the some pharmaceuticals are also presented.     

复合构建湿地运行初期理化性质及氮的变化

研究了在间歇式进水条件下，复合构建湿地系统对氮的去除效果，阐述了湿度要、溶氧、pH等理化因子变化的原因。实验初期，系统尚处于不稳定时期，对N的去除不够理想。随着筚驼逐步步和稳定状态，对KN、NH4^ 、N、NO2^-有明显的去除效果，平均去除率分别为50％、66％和71％。硝化－反硝化作用是氨氮去除的主要途径。从总体上看，有植物系统中硝态氮的出水含量较对照系统同，说明间歇式进水以及植物的存在都有利于硝化作用的发生。实验发现，复合构建湿地在冬季仍能较好地改善水质，是一种有效的水链管理对策，对受污水体水质改善和水生态系统恢复具有重要意义。     

河流健康研究进展与前瞻

河流健康研究是目前河流生态学领域研究热点之一。首先介绍了河流健康概念的产生、发展及其不同的内涵,辨析了河流生态系统健康、流域生态系统健康概念与河流健康概念的区别与联系,认为河流健康是指河流既能保持河流生态系统完整性,又能维持其对人类社会提供的各种服务功能。在分析河流健康内涵的基础上,着重回顾分析了国内外河流健康评价的实践情况以及河流健康评价方法,根据河流健康评价方法的评价原理,河流健康评价方法主要分为预测模型法和多指标方法。针对目前河流健康研究领域存在的主要问题,提出了河流健康研究的发展方向,认为今后开展河流健康评价研究还需在评价指标选取、评价标准确定、评价尺度选取以及河流健康评价与河流管理集成等方面进一步加强。     

不同密度螺-草结构对养殖尾水净化效果的比较研究

为减少水产养殖污染物排放，以苦草为对照组，构建环棱螺螺 草生态系统净化池塘养殖尾水，比较不同密度螺 草结构对养殖尾水的净化效果，同时探讨螺草互作对水质的影响。结果表明不同密度螺 草组合对养殖尾水均有较好的净化效果，以中密度组（螺密度50 ind/m3）的去除效果最优，25 d对Chl a、CODMn、TN、TP、NH4+ N、NO3- N和浊度的去除率分别达到98%、39.7%、44.2%、86.9%、58.2%、82.3%和91%，其中以17~25 d的营养物质去除率最高，水质由原来的Ⅳ类、Ⅴ类水提升为Ⅲ类水；环棱螺 苦草互作对水体的净化效果与苦草对照组差异不显著，表明其互利关系不明显；环棱螺 苦草组合对CODMn和TN的去除效果不是很理想，可能是由于实验中以黄土为底泥，其中的异养微生物较少引起的     

Anthropogenic Trace Compounds (ATCs) in aquatic habitats — Research needs on sources,fate, detection and toxicity to ensure timely elimination strategies and risk management

Anthropogenic Trace Compounds (ATCs) that continuously grow in numbers and concentrations are an emerging issue for water quality in both natural and technical environments. The complex web of exposure pathways as well as the variety in the chemical structure and potency of ATCs represents immense challenges for future research and policy initiatives. This review summarizes current trends and identifies knowledge gaps in innovative, effective monitoring and management strategies while addressing the research questions concerning ATC occurrence, fate, detection and toxicity.We highlight the progressing sensitivity of chemical analytics and the challenges in harmonization of sampling protocols and methods, as well as the need for ATC indicator substances to enable cross-national valid monitoring routine. Secondly, the status quo in ecotoxicology is described to advocate for a better implementation of long-term tests, to address toxicity on community and environmental as well as on human-health levels, and to adapt various test levels and endpoints. Moreover, we discuss potential sources of ATCs and the current removal efficiency of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to indicate the most effective places and elimination strategies. Knowledge gaps in transport and/or detainment of ATCs through their passage in surface waters and groundwaters are further emphasized in relation to their physico-chemical properties, abiotic conditions and biological interactions in order to highlight fundamental research needs. Finally, we demonstrate the importance and remaining challenges of an appropriate ATC risk assessment since this will greatly assist in identifying the most urgent calls for action, in selecting the most promising measures, and in evaluating the success of implemented management strategies.     

Diclofenac and its transformation products: Environmental occurrence and toxicity - A review

Diclofenac (DCF) is a prevalent anti-inflammatory drug used throughout the world. Intensive researches carried out in the past few decades have confirmed the global ubiquity of DCF in various environmental compartments. Its frequent occurrence in freshwater environments and its potential toxicity towards several organisms such as fish and mussels makes DCF an emerging environmental contaminant. At typical detected environmental concentrations, the drug does not exhibit toxic effects towards living organisms, albeit chronic exposure may lead to severe effects. For DCF, about 30–70% removal has been obtained through the conventional treatment system in wastewater treatment plant being the major primary sink. Thus, the untreated DCF will pass to surface water. DCF can interact with other inorganic contaminants in the environment particularly in wastewater treatment plant, such as metals, organic contaminants and even with DCF metabolites. This process may lead to the creation of another possible emerging contaminant. In the present context, environmental fate of DCF in different compartments such as soil and water has been addressed with an overview of current treatment methods. In addition, the toxicity concerns regarding DCF in aquatic as well as terrestrial environment along with an introduction to the metabolites of DCF through consumption as well as abiotic degradation routes are also discussed. Further studies are required to better assess the fate and toxicological effects of DCF and its metabolites and must consider the possible interaction of DCF with other contaminants to develop an effective treatment method for DCF and its traces.     

Arsenic in Drinking Water and Its Removal

Abstract

Superfluous arsenic in drinking water can do harm to human health. In this paper, a broad overview of the available technologies for arsenic removal has been presented on the basis of literature survey. The main treatment methods included coagulation-sedimentation, adsorption separation and ion exchange, membrane technique, which have both advantages and disadvantages. It concluded that the selection of treatment process should be site specific and prevailing conditions and no process can serve the purpose under diverse conditions as each technology has its own limitations. In order to gain good results, some methods should be improved.