Clastogenicity of landfarming soil treated with sugar cane vinasse

The addition of nutrients and/or soil bulking agents is used in bioremediation to increase microbial activity in contaminated soils. For this purpose, some studies have assessed the effectiveness of vinasse in the bioremediation of soils contaminated with petroleum waste. The present study was aimed at investigating the clastogenic/aneugenic potential of landfarming soil from a petroleum refinery before and after addition of sugar cane vinasse using the Allium cepa bioassay. Our results show that the addition of sugar cane vinasse to landfarming soil potentiates the clastogenic effects of the latter probably due the release of metals that were previously adsorbed into the organic matter. These metals may have interacted synergistically with petroleum hydrocarbons present in the landfarming soil treated with sugar cane vinasse. We recommend further tests to monitor the effects of sugar cane vinasse on soils contaminated with organic wastes.     

The Power of Innovation and Strategic Sustainability Positioning: A Survey of the Mining Sector in Brazil

This study investigates the relationship between the power of innovation and the sustainability strategies of companies involved in the minerals extraction sector in Brazil. The study included companies associated with the Brazilian Mining Institute, and it used research surveys to gather data. Analysis of the survey data revealed that companies with highly intensive characteristics in regard to innovation and environmental activities (environmental management activities) also display offensive, or proactive, strategies for pursuing sustainability.     

Protective effect of gamma-oryzanol against manganese-induced toxicity in Drosophila melanogaster

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Manganese (Mn) is an essential element that, in excess, seems to be involved in the development of different neurodegenerative conditions....     

Continuous process applied to degradation of triclosan and 2.8-dichlorodibenzene-p-dioxin

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This study describes the use of a prototype for the continuous photocatalytic reaction process using Fe/Nb2O5-immobilized catalyst for triclosan and...     

Phytotoxic effects of phenolic acids from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Merostachys riedeliana,</Emphasis> a native and overabundant Brazilian bamboo

Merostachys riedeliana Rupr. is a native and overabundant bamboo species in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Moderate to strong allelopathic activity may be one mechanism that explains this super-dominance and the changes in structure and composition of forest areas occupied by bamboo. This study evaluated the phytotoxic effect of M. riedeliana extracts and fractions and identified their putative allelochemicals. We investigated the presence of allelochemicals in soil collected from stands occupied by M. riedeliana. Furthermore, we evaluated the putative effect of tree allelochemicals, individually and combined, on germination and growth. The aqueous extract of leaves and its ethyl acetate fraction presented the highest inhibitory effects on seed germination and seedling growth. The effect of the extracts and fractions on the target species was species-specific. Neither the individual nor the combined phenolic acids significantly inhibited seed germination; however, a pronounced growth inhibition was observed in M. bimucronata seedlings treated with vanillic acid and in E. verna and M. bimucronata seedlings treated with combined phenolic acids. Isovitexin, vitexin, isoorientin, orientin, and their O-glycoside derivatives, the lactonic dimer of the p-hydroxybenzoic acid and 3,4-methylenedioxymandelic acid were identified in the aqueous extracts and ethyl acetate fraction by Liquid Chromatography-Diode Array Dectector/Electrospray Ionization/Mass Spectrometry (LC-DAD/ESI–MS/MS). The Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer (GC–MS) profile of the same extract and fraction showed the presence of benzoic, benzeneacetic, salicylic, p-hydroxybenzoic, p-hydroxyphenylacetic, vanillic, p-coumaric, protocatechuic, syringic, gallic, m-coumaric vanillylmandelic, 4-methylmandelic, 3,4-methylenedioxymandelic and trans-ferulic acids. The p-benzoic acid and the apigenin 6-C-glucoside (isovitexin) were identified in the soil extract collected from under bamboo-growing areas. Even though laboratory bioassays are not completely predictive of the allelopathic effects that occur in nature, the results of this study provide preliminary evidence of allelopathy as a possible species-specific inhibition mechanism of native species that explain the impoverishment of floristic richness and the functional groups in areas where M. riedeliana is overabundant.     

Water Quality Index (WQI) of Jaguari and Atibaia Rivers in the region of Paulínia,São Paulo,Brazil

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment - Due to the concern with the quality of hydric resources, the monitoring is essential to evaluate and identify the anthropogenic and environmental...     

Comparison of the toxicogenetic potential of sewage sludges from different treatment processes focusing agricultural use

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - A problem that has been dragging in recent decades is the final disposal of the waste produced in the wastewater treatment process. In addition to its...     

Optimization of Fenton's oxidation of chemical laboratory wastewaters using the response surface methodology

Establishing a treatment process for practical and economic disposal of laboratory wastewaters has become an urgent environmental concern of the Department of Chemical Engineering of the Universidade Estadual de Maringá (State University of Maringá), Brazil. Fenton and related reactions are potentially useful oxidation processes for destroying toxic organic compounds in water. In these reactions, hydrogen peroxide is combined with ferrous or ferric iron in the presence or absence of light to generate hydroxyl radicals (.OH). The feasibility of Fenton's reagent to treat waste chemicals from an academic research laboratory was investigated in this study. A response surface methodology was applied to optimize the Fenton oxidation process conditions using chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal as the target parameter to optimize, and the reagent concentrations, as related to the initial concentration of organic matter in the effluent, and pH as the control factors to be optimized. Maximal COD removal (92.3%) was achieved when wastewater samples were treated at pH 4 in the presence of hydrogen peroxide and iron in the ratios [COD]:[H2O2]=1:9 and [H2O2]:[Fe2+]=4.5:1. Under these conditions, it was possible to obtain simultaneously maximal COD removal and minimal chemical sludge after treatment, which is a residue that needs further processing.     

Combined use of Nassarius reticulatus imposex and statolith age determination for tracking temporal evolution of TBT pollution in the NW Portuguese continental shelf

Spatial and temporal trends of tributyltin (TBT) pollution on the northern continental shelf of Portugal (5-34 m depth) were assessed using Nassarius reticulatus as a bioindicator. Imposex levels were determined in 2006 and 2010, and integrated with age readings from statoliths for a better chronological analysis of the data. Females affected with imposex were detected in 84% of the sites surveyed in 2006, with levels higher than the Ecological Quality Objective (EcoQO) set by the OSPAR Commission for N. reticulatus (VDSI < 0.3) in approximately half of those sites. In 2010, imposex was only detected in 20% of the surveyed sites and, when detected, the VDSI were lower than the EcoQO, except for one location. The comparison between the current results and the levels previously reported for 2004 and 2005 in the same offshore area evidences a clear decline of imposex in 2010 that confirms the efficacy of Regulation (EC) No. 782/2003 and the IMO AFS-Convention (entered into force in 2003 and 2008, respectively). Moreover, the age of the whelks used in the monitoring is estimated in 3-5 years, indicating that actual TBT water contamination in 2010 may in fact be lower than that extrapolated from the imposex levels. We conclude that the legislation was indeed very effective in reducing TBT pollution in the NW Portuguese continental shelf, not only in terms of the magnitude but also in terms of fast field repercussion.