Bioaccumulation,subcellular, and molecular localization and damage to physiology and ultrastructure in Nymphoides peltata (Gmel.) O. Kuntze exposed to yttrium

Bioaccumulation, subcellular distribution, and acute toxicity of yttrium (Y) were evaluated in Nymphoides peltata. The effects of Y concentrations of 1–5 mg L^?1 applied for 4 days were assessed by measuring changes in photosynthetic pigments, nutrient contents, enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, and ultrastructure. The accumulation of Y in subcellular fractions decreased in the order of cell wall > organelle > soluble fraction. Much more Y was located in cellulose and pectin than in other biomacromolecules. The content of some mineral elements (Mg, Ca, Fe, Mn, and Mo) increased in N. peltata, but there was an opposite effect for P and K. Meanwhile, ascorbate, and catalase activity decreased significantly for all Y concentrations. In contrast, peroxidase activity was induced, while initial rises in superoxide dismutase activity and glutathione content were followed by subsequent declines. Morphological symptoms of senescence, such as chlorosis and damage to chloroplasts and mitochondria, were observed even at the lowest Y concentration. Pigment content decreased as the Y concentration rose and the calculated EC₅₀ and MPC of Y for N. peltata were 2 and 0.2 mg L^?1 after 4 days of exposure, respectively. The results showed that exogenous Y was highly available in water and that its high concentration in water bodies might produce harmful effects on aquatic organisms. N. peltata is proposed as a biomonitor for the assessment of metal pollution in aquatic ecosystems.     

Technologies for pollutant removal and resource recovery from blackwater: a review

● Blackwater is the main source of organics and nutrients in domestic wastewater. ● Various treatment methods can be applied for resource recovery from blackwater. ● Blackwater treatment systems of high integration and efficiency are the future trend. ● More research is needed for the practical use of blackwater treatment systems. Blackwater (BW), consisting of feces, urine, flushing water and toilet paper, makes up an important portion of domestic wastewater. The improper disposal of BW may lead to environmental pollution and disease transmission, threatening the sustainable development of the world. Rich in nutrients and organic matter, BW could be treated for resource recovery and reuse through various approaches. Aimed at providing guidance for the future development of BW treatment and resource recovery, this paper presented a literature review of BWs produced in different countries and types of toilets, including their physiochemical characteristics, and current treatment and resource recovery strategies. The degradation and utilization of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) within BW are underlined. The performance of different systems was classified and summarized. Among all the treating systems, biological and ecological systems have been long and widely applied for BW treatment, showing their universality and operability in nutrients and energy recovery, but they are either slow or ineffective in removal of some refractory pollutants. Novel processes, especially advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), are becoming increasingly extensively studied in BW treatment because of their high efficiency, especially for the removal of micropollutants and pathogens. This review could serve as an instructive guidance for the design and optimization of BW treatment technologies, aiming to help in the fulfilment of sustainable human excreta management.     

Concentration,sources, influencing factors and hazards of heavy metals in indoor and outdoor dust: A review

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Heavy metals are a common class of toxic contaminants in soil, water and air, yet their occurrence in indoor environments is less known. Heavy metals enter...     

Changes in biomass activity and characteristics of activated sludge exposed to low ozone dose

In this paper, the response mechanism of activated sludge exposed to low-dose ozone at less than 20 mg O₃ g⁻¹ total suspended solids (TSS) was studied by analyzing the changes in sludge activity and the evolution of C, N, P and metals from sludge following ozonation. The intracellular ATP concentration was not affected at less than 5 mg O₃ g⁻¹ TSS and thereafter decreased rapidly to around 60% when the ozone dose increased to 20 mg O₃ g⁻¹ TSS. Similarly, the efficiency of sludge solubilization initially changed a little and then increased rapidly to around 30% at an ozone dose of 20 mg O₃ g⁻¹ TSS. However, the activities of superoxide dismutase and protease decreased immediately upon exposure to ozone. These findings indicate that ozone firstly destroys the floc, leading to the disruption of the compact aggregates, which does not affect cells viability but induces a decrease in enzyme activities. Ozone then attacks the bacterial cells of the sludge, causing a decrease in cells viability. During ozonation, the content of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in the sludge matrix decreased, while the content of these elements in the micro-solids and supernatant gradually increased. Most of the released metals from the sludge matrix were found in the micro-solids.     

The partitioning and modelling of pesticide parathion in a surfactant-assisted soil-washing system

Soil sorption of organic pollutants has long been a problematic in the soil washing process because of its durability and low water solubility. This paper discussed the soil washing phenomena over a wide range of parathion concentrations and several soil samples at various fractions of organic content (foc) levels. When parathion dosage is set below the water solubility, washing performance is stable for surfactant concentrations above critical micelle concentration (cmc) and it is observed that more than 90% of parathion can be washed out when dosage is five times lower than the solubility limit. However, such trends change when non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPL) is present in the system. Parathion extraction depends very much on the surfactant dosage but is not affected by the levels of foc in the system. In between the extreme parathion dosage, a two-stage pattern is observed in these boundary regions. Washing performance is first increased with additional surfactant, but the increase slows down gradually since the sorption sites are believed to be saturated by the huge amount of surfactant in the system. A mathematical model has included foc to demonstrate such behavior and this can be used as a prediction for extraction.     

Codisposal of municipal refuse, sewage sludge and marine dredgings for methane production

As marine disposal of sewage sludge and dredged sediments may impose serious adverse effects to marine ecosystems, landfilling seems to be the most feasible method for the final disposal of these wastes. A batch experiment was conducted to study waste degradation and gas production after sewage sludge and marine dredgings were mixed with municipal refuse at 13 different ratios for 36 days. The addition of sludge and dredgings to municipal refuse enhanced gas production, compared with the degradation of refuse or sludge alone. A proper mixing ratio of wastes can also shorten the time to reach the final phase of anaerobiosis. The highest gas production was obtained from the ratio of 75-20-5 (refuse-sludge-dredgings) (wet weight basis). Its average daily gas production rate was 1.42 l kg(-1) waste mixture; methane content was 68.3%. The results indicated that codisposal of the three wastes would be beneficial for energy recovery from landfill gas.     

Effect of soil properties on saturated and unsaturated virus transport through columns

Viruses from contaminant sources can be transported through porous media to drinking water wells. The objective of this study was to investigate inactivation and sorption of viruses during saturated and unsaturated transport in different soils. Bacteriophages phiX174 and MS-2, and Br- tracer in a phosphate-buffered saline solution were introduced into saturated and unsaturated soil columns as a step function under constant flow rate and hydraulic conditions. Results showed that significantly greater virus removal occurred in the unsaturated columns than in the saturated columns in the two soils containing high metal oxides content. However, the increase in virus retention under unsaturated conditions was not significant in two other soils having high phosphorus and calcium contents and high pH, and in another soil with high organic matter content. The results imply that the extent of water content effect on inactivation and sorption of viruses can range from significant to minimal depending on the properties of the transport medium. We found that the presence of in situ metal oxides was a significant factor responsible for virus sorption and inactivation. Therefore, soils with high metal oxides content may have the potential to be used as hydrological barriers in preventing microbial contamination in the subsurface environments. We also found that the water content effect on virus removal and inactivation strongly depended on solid properties of the testing medium.     

Enzymatic oxidative transformation of chlorophenol mixtures

Chlorinated phenols are major industrial and agricultural xenobiotics that pollute soil and ground water. It has been shown that laccases catalyze the oxidative coupling of phenolic compounds. Therefore, the transformation of one or a mixture of several chlorinated phenols by a laccase from the fungus Trametes villosa was studied. Generally, if more than one phenol was added, the transformation of chlorinated phenols decreased, and if the concentration of the laccase was increased, the transformation of the phenols was enhanced. There were exceptions to these observations: for instance, the transformation of 0.1 mM 4-chlorophenol incubated with 1 mM 2,4-dichlorophenol in buffered salt solutions was not enhanced if the concentration of the laccase was increased from 2 to 20 DMP units/mL. The reason for the reduced transformation of chlorinated phenols in the presence of additional phenols is still unknown. However, in spite of some limitations, the application of laccase to decontaminate wastewater polluted with chlorinated phenols appears feasible.