Occurrence, distribution, and sources of six phenolic endocrine disrupting chemicals in the 22 river estuaries around Dianchi Lake in China

The objectives of this study are to track the occurrence, distribution, and sources of phenolic endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in the 22 rivers around Dianchi Lake in China, to estimate the input and output amounts of phenolic EDCs in the water system, and to provide more comprehensive fundamental data for risk assessment and contamination control of phenolic EDCs in aquatic environment. Six phenolic EDCs were systematically evaluated in water and surface sediment in the estuaries of those rivers. The water and sediment samples were preconcentrated by solid-phase extraction system and microwave-assisted extraction system, respectively. Phenolic EDCs were analyzed by GC-MS (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA) after derivatization. Phenolic EDCs were found ubiquitously in the aquatic environment. The total concentrations ranged from 248 to 4,650 ng/L in water, and 113 to 3,576 ng/g dry weight in surface sediment. The residue amount of phenolic EDCs in Dianchi Lake was 258 kg/a. Concentrations of the phenolic EDCs in the Lake decreased with increase in distance to the estuaries of those rivers which run through urban and industrial areas. The rivers seriously contaminated by phenolic EDCs were Xin River, Yunliang River, Chuanfang River, Cailian River, Jinjia River, Zhengda River, and Daqing River which run through the old area of Kunming City. Satisfying correlations were observed between the concentrations of the target compounds in water and in surface sediment. NP1EO, NP2EO, and BPA were identified as the three predominant phenolic EDCs. There were significant correlations between phenolic EDCs and many basic water quality parameters. Urban and industrial areas are the major contributors for phenolic EDCs, especially in Kunming City. Compositional profiles of phenolic EDCs in surface sediment were similar to those in river water. The concentrations of phenolic EDCs in the rivers located in the northwest part of the valley were very high, and posed a potential risk to aquatic organisms and even human. The concentrations of NP2EO, NP1EO, and BPA were at moderate levels of other areas. The basic water quality parameters (TOC, TN, DO, and pH) play important roles on the distribution, fate, and behavior of phenolic EDCs in the valley.     

Mineralogy and characterization of deposited particles of the aero sediments collected in the vicinity of power plants and the open pit coal mine: Kolubara (Serbia)

In this paper, particular attention was paid to the presence of aerosol solid particles, which occurred mainly as a result of exploitation and coal combustion in the thermal power plants of the Kolubara basin. Not all of the particles created by this type of anthropogenic pollution have an equal impact on human health, but it largely depends on their size and shape. The mineralogical composition and particle size distribution in the samples of aero sediments were defined. The samples were collected close to the power plant and open pit coal mine, in the winter and summer period during the year 2007. The sampling was performed by using precipitators placed in eight locations within the territory of the Lazarevac municipality. In order to characterize the sedimentary particles, several methods were applied: microscopy, SEM-EDX and X-ray powder diffraction. The concentration of aero sediments was also determined during the test period. Variety in the mineralogical composition and particle size depends on the position of the measuring sites, geology of the locations, the annual period of collecting as well as possible interactions. By applying the mentioned methods, the presence of inhalational and respiratory particles variously distributed in the winter and in the summer period was established. The most common minerals are quartz and feldspar. The presence of gypsum, clay minerals, calcite and dolomite as secondary minerals was determined, as well as the participation of organic and inorganic amorphic matter. The presence of quartz as a toxic mineral has a particular impact on human health.     

The acute effects of fine particles on respiratory mortality and morbidity in Beijing, 2004–2009

Recent epidemiological and toxicological studies have shown associations between particulate matter and human health. However, the estimates of adverse health effects are inconsistent across many countries and areas. The stratification and interaction models were employed within the context of the generalized additive Poisson regression equation to examine the acute effects of fine particles on respiratory health and to explore the possible joint modification of temperature, humidity, and season in Beijing, China, for the period 2004–2009. The results revealed that the respiratory health damage threshold of the PM_2.5 concentration was mainly within the range of 20–60 μg/m³, and the adverse effect of excessively high PM_2.5 concentration maintained a stable level. In the most serious case, an increase of 10 μg/m³ PM_2.5 results in an elevation of 4.60 % (95 % CI 3.84–4.60 %) and 4.48 % (95 % CI 3.53–5.41 %) with a lag of 3 days, values far higher than the average level of 0.69 % (95 % CI 0.54–0.85 %) and 1.32 % (95 % CI 1.02–1.61 %) for respiratory mortality and morbidity, respectively. There were strong seasonal patterns of adverse effects with the seasonal variation of temperature and humidity. The growth rates of respiratory mortality and morbidity were highest in winter. And, they increased 1.4 and 1.8 times in winter, greater than in the full year as PM_2.5 increased 10 μg/m³.     

Effect of silicate supplementation on the alleviation of arsenite toxicity in 93-11 (Oryza sativa L. indica)

Chronic exposure to arsenic (As) in rice has raised many health and environmental problems. As reported, great variation exists among different rice genotypes in As uptake, translocation, and accumulation. Under hydroponic culture, we find that the Chinese wild rice (Oryza rufipogon; acc. 104624) takes up the most arsenic among tested genotypes. Of the cultivated rice, the indica cv. 93-11 has the lowest arsenic translocation factor value but accumulates the maximum concentration of arsenic followed by Nipponbare, Minghui 86, and Zhonghua 11. Higher level of arsenite concentration (50 μM) can induce extensive photosynthesis and root growth inhibition, and cause severe oxidative stress. Interestingly, external silicate (Si) supplementation has significantly increased the net photosynthetic rate, and promoted root elongation, as well as strongly ameliorated the oxidative stress by increasing the activities of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, and peroxidase in roots and/or leaves of 93-11 seedlings. Notably, 1.873 mM concentration of Si considerably decreases the total As uptake and As content in roots, but significantly increases the As translocation from roots to shoots. In contrast, Si supplementation with 1.0 mM concentration significantly increases the total As uptake and As concentrations in roots and shoots of 93-11 seedlings after 50 μM arsenite treatment for 6 days.     

Occurrence and distribution of heavy metals and tetracyclines in agricultural soils after typical land use change in east China

Land use in east China tends to change from paddy rice to vegetables or other high-value cash crops, resulting in high input rates of organic manures and increased risk of contamination with both heavy metals (HMs) and antibiotics. This investigation was conducted to determine the accumulation, distribution and risks of HMs and tetracyclines (TCs) in surface soils and profiles receiving different amounts of farmyard manure. Soil samples collected from suburbs of Hangzhou city, Zhejiang province were introduced to represent three types of land use change from paddy rice to asparagus production, vineyards and field mustard cultivation, and divided into two portions, one of which was air-dried and sieved through 2-, 0.3- and 0.149-mm nylon mesh for determination of pH and heavy metals. The other portion was frozen at ?20 °C, freeze-dried and sieved through a 0.3-mm nylon mesh for tetracyline determination. HM and TC concentrations in surface soils of 14-year-old mustard fields were the highest with total Cu, Zn, Cd and ∑TCs of 50.5, 196, 1.03 mg?kg^?1 and 22.9 μg?kg^?1, respectively, on average. The total Cu sequence was field mustard?>?vineyards?>?asparagus when duration of land use change was considered; oxytetracycline (OTC) and doxycycline were dominant in soils used for asparagus production; OTC was dominant in vineyards and chlortetracycline (CTC) was dominant in mustard soils. There were positive pollution relationships among Cu, Zn and ∑TCs, especially between Cu and Zn or Cu and ∑TCs. Repeated and excessive application of manures from intensive farming systems may produce combined contamination with HMs and TCs which were found in the top 20 cm of the arable soil profiles and also extended to 20–40 cm depth. Increasing manure application rate and cultivation time led to continuing increases in residue concentrations and movement down the soil profile.     

Toxicological characterization of the landfill leachate prior/after chemical and electrochemical treatment: A study on human and plant cells

In this research, toxicological safety of two newly developed methods for the treatment of landfill leachate from the Piškornica (Croatia) sanitary landfill was investigated. Chemical treatment procedure combined chemical precipitation with CaO followed by coagulation with ferric chloride and final adsorption by clinoptilolite. Electrochemical treatment approach included pretreatment with ozone followed by electrooxidation/electrocoagulation and final polishing by microwave irradiation. Cell viability of untreated/treated landfill leachate was examined using fluorescence microscopy. Cytotoxic effect of the original leachate was obtained for both exposure periods (4 and 24 h) while treated samples showed no cytotoxic effect even after prolonged exposure time. The potential DNA damage of the untreated/treated landfill leachate was evaluated by the comet assay and cytokinesis-block micronucleus (CBMN) assay using either human or plant cells. The original leachate exhibited significantly higher comet assay parameters compared to negative control after 24 h exposure. On the contrary, there was no significant difference between negative control and chemically/electrochemically treated leachate for any of the parameters tested. There was also no significant increase in either CBMN assay parameter compared to the negative control following the exposure of the lymphocytes to the chemically or electrochemically treated landfill leachate for both exposure periods while the original sample showed significantly higher number of micronuclei, nucleoplasmic bridges and nuclear buds for both exposure times. Results suggest that both methods are suitable for the treatment of such complex waste effluent due to high removal efficiency of all measured parameters and toxicological safety of the treated effluent.     

Effective sorption of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) on hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide immobilized mesoporous SiO2 hollow sphere

The hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HDTMAB) immobilized hollow mesoporous silica spheres were prepared for the efficient removal of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) from aqueous solution. Besides the traditional sorption behavior including sorption kinetics as well as effect of solution pH and temperature, the effect of increasing volume which simulated the natural river where the rate of solute and solvent was relatively constant and solution volume was always changing was investigated. The result indicated that the residual PFOS concentrations in aqueous phase decreased with increasing solution pH and ionic strength, whereas they increased with increasing temperature. The HDTMAB immobilized material still maintained high efficiency after increasing volume, that is, the removal kept more than 99% after the treatment when the initial PFOS concentration was 1 mg L^?1. The uptake behavior and morphology of spheres which was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that the additional HDTMAB and mesoporous shell were responsible for the enhanced sorption of PFOS. It was concluded that electrostatic interaction and Ca-bridge role played an important role in the sorption of PFOS on the mesoporous SiO₂ hollow spheres, whereas, hydrophobic interaction contributed to the nice sorption performance of PFOS on the HDTMAB immobilized sorbent.     

青岛市餐厨垃圾现状调查及分析

通过问卷与实地跟踪形式调查青岛市4个主城区餐厨垃圾现状并提出关于餐厨垃圾管理和处置的建议,力求为该市餐厨垃圾的资源化利用提供参考.调查结果显示:餐厨垃圾产量为265.00 t/d,含水率为74.93％、含油率为6.06％、营养物为12.22％(质量分数);54.4％的调查餐饮单位将餐厨垃圾分为剩饭菜、废油和生活垃圾3类排放,需进一步加强餐厨垃圾分类放置的管理工作;所调查餐饮单位中有64.4％的剩饭菜、54.3％的废油由政府统一收运,统一收运率有待进一步提高;正规回收的餐厨垃圾为197.66 t/d,被用于堆肥或进行填埋处置.     

混凝辅助电化学法处理橙黄G染料废水

以石墨板为阳极,研究了电化学氧化法对橙黄G染料废水的降解效果。比较了在NaCl、Na2 SO4以及NaCl与FeSO4·7H2O组合的支持电解质体系中的处理效果,同时考察了电压、初始pH、电解质浓度、电极间距和电解时间等因素对废水中橙黄G脱色率及COD去除率的影响。研究结果表明,橙黄G的脱色主要是活性氯的氧化作用,橙黄G分子的矿化可能主要是电解过程中产生的·OH的作用,FeSO4·7H2O的加入增加了混凝作用,使得处理效果进一步提高。最佳脱色条件下橙黄G脱色率和COD的去除率分别为97．6％和56．3％,B／C（BOD／COD）由0．09提高至0．41,可生化性有较大改善,并且随着降解时间的增加,COD去除率逐渐升高。此结果表明,橙黄G废水COD的去除相对于脱色存在滞后性。     

磁性埃洛石对水溶液中盐酸土霉素的吸附

采用一种简便的方法对埃洛石纳米管进行加磁,得到的磁性埃洛石纳米管（MHNTs）利用x射线衍射仪（XRD）、透射电子显微镜（TEM）、振动样品磁强计（VSM）和原子吸收光谱仪（AAS）进行表征,结果表明,MHNTs具有很强的磁性性能（Ms=34．02emu／g）以及较低损失磁性粒子的性能。制备的MHNTs作为吸附剂吸附水溶液中的盐酸土霉素,并且探索反应温度、溶液pH和起始浓度等对MHNTs吸附盐酸土霉素性能的影响。研究表明,Langmuir等温线模型更优于Freundlich等温线模型,其动力学的研究结果利用拟二阶方程能够很好地进行说明。此外,MHNTs作为吸附剂经过3次的重复使用吸附能力没有明显的降低。