Impact of regulation on English and Welsh water-only companies: an input-distance function approach

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The assessment of productivity change over time and its drivers is of great significance for water companies and regulators when setting urban water...     

The clean development mechanism—catalyst for wide spread deployment of renewable energy technologies? or misnomer?

The (usually not professed) truth is that we are not destroying the planet due to lack of technology, but due to lack of application of technology. Indeed, opportunities exist for renewable energy technologies’ diffusion under the new climate change regime as they contribute to global sustainability through GHG mitigation and, they conform to national priorities by leading to the enhancement of local economic activity, capacities and infrastructure. The clean development mechanism (CDM), although is considered one of the global policy tools to contribute to sustainable development and technology transfer, has recently been criticised for its unequal distribution of projects across countries and for insufficiently being embedded in developing countries’ national energy context. In the above framework, this article presents the ENTTRANS approach, five indicative renewable energy technologies, and insights about a more effective application of CDM, which may be part of the international process striving towards sustainable development.     

Cesium-137 contamination of oak (Quercus petrae Liebl.) from sub-mediterranean zone in South Bulgaria

This study focuses on the cesium-137 (¹³⁷Cs) contamination in grass and in different compartments of oak trees growing in ecosystems, located in the zone with sub-mediterranean climate in South Bulgaria, characterized with high summer temperatures, low precipitation and often periods of drought. In 2008, three experimental sites - PP1, PP2, PP3 - were sampled in oak ecosystems from Maleshevska Mountain at 900 m above sea level. Samples from grass species and oak tree leaves, branches with different diameter, wood disks and bark were analyzed for ¹³⁷Cs activity with γ-spectrometry. The soil-to-plant transfer factor (TF) values for ¹³⁷Cs were estimated differentiating different tree compartments. Our findings showed relatively high activity concentrations of ¹³⁷Cs in oak trees even 22 years after the Chernobyl accident. The grass under oak was less contaminated compared with the oak trees. The different organs of oak trees could be distinguished according to the ¹³⁷Cs contamination as follows: bark > branches (d < 1 cm) > leaves > branches (d > 3 cm) > wood. The relatively higher contamination of bark compared with the new-formed biomass suggested that a significant part of ¹³⁷Cs was accumulated as a result of direct adsorption at the time of the main contamination event. The TF values obtained and the presence of ¹³⁷Cs in the branches, leaves and in the wood formed after 1986 confirmed that 22 years after the contamination, the main mechanism of ¹³⁷Cs entrance in tree biomass was the root uptake.     

Effectiveness of tertiary treatment processes in removing different classes of emerging contaminants from domestic wastewater

● Different advanced treatment processes were tested for ECs removal from wastewater. ● UV radiation showed low to moderate removal for 5 of the 38 micropollutants. ● Among tested membrane processes, nanofiltration showed the better performance. ● The use of PAC achieved high or partially removal for 31 out of the 38 compounds. ● The environmental and economical evaluation of a pilot-scale PAC unit is suggested. In this work, 38 different organic emerging contaminants (ECs), belonging to various chemical classes such as pharmaceuticals (PhCs), endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), benzotriazoles (BTRs), benzothiazoles (BTHs), and perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), were initially identified and quantified in the biologically treated wastewater collected from Athens’ (Greece) Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). Processes already used in existing STPs such as microfiltration (MF), nanofiltration (NF), ultrafiltration (UF), UV radiation, and powdered activated carbon (PAC) were assessed for ECs’ removal, under the conditions that represent their actual application for disinfection or advanced wastewater treatment. The results indicated that MF removed only one out of the 38 ECs and hence it was selected as pretreatment step for the other processes. UV radiation in the studied conditions showed low to moderate removal for 5 out of the 38 ECs. NF showed better results than UF due to the smaller pore sizes of the filtration system. However, this enhancement was observed mainly for 8 compounds originating from the classes of PhCs and PFCs, while the removal of EDCs was not statistically significant. Among the various studied technologies, PAC stands out due to its capability to sufficiently remove most ECs. In particular, removal rates higher than 70% were observed for 9 compounds, 22 were partially removed, while 7 demonstrated low removal rates. Based on our screening experiments, future research should focus on scaling-up PAC in actual conditions, combining PAC with other processes, and conduct a complete economic and environmental assessment of the treatment.     

New Evidence for the presence of arsenocholine in shrimps (Pandalus borealis) by use of pyrolysis gas chromatography — atomic absorption spectrometry/mass spectrometry

An analytical method for the structure elucidation of quarternary organoarsenic compounds in trace amounts in fish and crustaceans has been developed in this laboratory. The two major organoarsenicals found in shrimps have been separated by ion-exchange chromatography and their stucture has been studied by the use of pyrolysis gas chromatography. Their degradation in the pyrolyzer unit has been studied by the use of atomic absorption spectrophotometer or mass spectrometer as detectors. A comparison of the analytical data of these substances and data from synthetic reference substances show complete agreement. The structures of reference compounds have been confirmed by use of nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry and fast atom bombardment (FAB) mass spectrometry. It is demonstrated that both of the organoarsenic compounds in shrimps have a trimethylarsonio moiety e.g. the compounds have a quarternary structure. Furthermore, the more basic organoarsenic compound has a mass spectrometric fragmentation pattern similar to synthetic arsenocholine and acetylarsenocholine. Treatment of arsenobetaine with hot base produces trimethylarsineoxide in a high yield (96%). Arsenocholine, however, remains unchanged during this treatment. Treatment with sodium benzenethiolate does not result in chemical demethylation, which shows that this method together with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry is not feasible for confirmation of its structure.     

The Interactive Effects of Fire and Diversity on Short-Term Responses of Ecosystem Processes in Experimental Mediterranean Grasslands

We conducted a field experiment using constructed communities to test whether species richness contributed to the maintenance of ecosystem processes under fire disturbance. We studied the effects of diversity components (i.e., species richness and species composition) upon productivity, structural traits of vegetation, decomposition rates, and soil nutrients between burnt and unburnt experimental Mediterranean grassland communities. Our results demonstrated that fire and species richness had interactive effects on aboveground biomass production and canopy structure components. Fire increased biomass production of the highest-richness communities. The effects of fire on aboveground biomass production at different levels of species richness were derived from changes in both vertical and horizontal canopy structure of the communities. The most species-rich communities appeared to be more resistant to fire in relation to species-poor ones, due to both compositional and richness effects. Interactive effects of fire and species richness were not important for belowground processes. Decomposition rates increased with species richness, related in part to increased levels of canopy structure traits. Fire increased soil nutrients and long-term decomposition rate. Our results provide evidence that composition within richness levels had often larger effects on the stability of aboveground ecosystem processes in the face of fire disturbance than species richness per se.     

Mineral, chemical and radiological investigation of a black sand at Touzla Cape, near Thessaloniki, Greece

A black-sand formation located at Touzla Cape, near Thessaloniki city, Greece, was investigated using optical microscopy, powder-XRD, SEM-EDS, INAA and in-situ -ray spectrometry. This black sand is mainly composed of ilmenite, magnetite, garnet, zircon and rutile. Also present, in minor or trace amounts, are quartz, sphene, pyroxenes, sillimanite, feldspars, biotite, haematite, tourmaline, chromite, niobian-rutile and pyrrhotite. Niobian-rutile and pyrrhotite were found as inclusions in ilmenite and magnetite respectively. The radioactivity measurements indicated contributions of the uranium and thorium radioactive series and of 40K and 137Cs, and the maximum value of the total absorbed dose rate in air was found to be 62, 172, 8 and 2 nGy h-1 respectively. The main radioactivity of the uranium and thorium series is attributed to the fractions of zircon (304 µg Th g-1 and 157 µg U g-1), of ilmenite (89 µg Th g-1) and to a lesser extent to the fraction of garnet (5 µg Th g-1). The zircon fraction also contained 5076 µg Hf g-1. Some minerals and elements (Ti, Zr, Hf, Th, U) contained in the black sand could be of potential economic value. The high proportions of monomineralic grains along with the variations observed in mineral phases, in colour, in sphericity, in roundness, in grain size, in composition and in mineral inclusions, imply that the minerals and grains were subjected to several cycles of weathering and sedimentation, as well as being derived from multiple source rocks and areas.     

e-Serem – A Web-Based Manual For The Estimation of Emission Reductions From JI and CDM Projects

This paper presentse-SEREM (Smart Emission ReductionEstimation Manual), a cost-free, easilyaccessed and updated, web-based manual forestimating emission reductions from Joint Implementation (JI) andClean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects. e-SEREM's main functions arethe selection of a benchmark for a specificproject type in the power or heat sectorand the calculation of the annual andcumulative emission reductions accrued bythis project for its crediting lifetime.e-SEREM was developed in order to test itsapplicability and practicality in assistingproject developers and evaluators toelaborate baselines easily and calculatethe emission credits earned by candidate JIor CDM projects hosted in several countries.     

Exchange of sulfur pollution between Bulgaria and Greece

The EMAP model (Eulerian Model for Air Pollution) is applied for calculating the sulfur concentration and deposition fields for 1995 as based upon Bulgarian and Greek sources. The country-to-country budgets show that about 4% of the sulfur oxides emitted by Bulgaria are deposited over Greek territory, estimated at 28 kt S. Only 2% of sulfur compounds emitted by Greece are deposited over Bulgaria, estimated at 6.2 kt S for 1995. This data is in agreement with EMEP/MSC-W estimates and provides more details concerning time and space. The results can be used in decision-making, negotiating and the development of contamination strategies.