Adsorptive micellar flocculation as an efficient method for processing soil extracts containing both surfactant and polychlorinated biphenyls: practical demonstration.

The main purpose of the paper is to share the results and experience from processing soil extracts containing a high concentration of both anionic surfactant and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) by use of method the called adsorptive micellar flocculation. The method is similar to coagulation, but the mechanism is more complicated. The flocculants examined in the laboratory section involved ferric chloride, aluminium chloride, ferric sulfate, and aluminum sulfate. It was observed that ferric chloride provides the best PCB removal efficiency from the extract. Subsequently, two extracts obtained from the pilot-scale demonstration of the PCBs leaching from the soils by the surfactant solution were processed by this method. The volume of the extracts processed was several hundred liters. The method proved it can remove PCBs from all extracts with a very high efficiency (greater than 99.99%). The residual PCB concentrations in solution were less than 1 microg/L.     

Anaerobic Biodegradation of Polymer Composites Filled with Natural Fibers

Polymer composites with natural fibers prepared by melt blending were investigated. Synthetic and natural macromolecules were used, including poly(lactic acid), polyhydroxybutyrate-co-polyhydroxyvalerate and low density polyethylene. These polymers were filled with flax fibers. Mechanical properties of the composites, biogas production and mass loss under anaerobic digestion have been presented. It has been shown that the mechanical properties sustain after 28 days of biodegradation. Such materials can be found in applications as packaging, as well as in medicine as polymeric scaffolds, and drug delivery systems etc.     

Feedstock recycling of waste polymers by thermal cracking in molten metal: thermodynamic analysis

Waste plastics contribute to serious environmental and social problems, such as the loss of natural resources, environmental pollution, and depletion of landfill space, but they also create demands on the environmentally-oriented part of the society. Feedstock recycling of scrap polymers by thermal and chemical methods is well known and environmentally accepted. The paper presents the results of thermodynamic analysis of the conversion of polyolefins in a fuel-like mixture of hydrocarbons using thermal cracking in a new type of tubular reactor with molten metal. Evaluation of the efficiency of the process was based on exergy calculations. Calculated exergy efficiency was ca. 79.5 %. It means that feedstock recycling of waste is better from an energetic and environmental point of view than other processes, particularly incineration.     

Multi-elemental analysis of Lentinula edodes mushrooms available in trade

ABSTRACT

The present study investigated the content of 62 elements in the fruiting bodies of Lentinula edodes (Shiitake mushroom) cultivated commercially in Poland on various substrates from 2007–2015. The general mean content (mg kg^?1 dry weight (DW)) of the studied elements ranked in the following order: K (26,335) > P (11,015) > Mg (2,284) > Ca (607) > Na (131) > Zn (112) > Fe (69) > Mn (33) > B (32) > Rb (17) > Cu (14.5) > Al (11.2) > Te (2.9) > As (1.80) > Cd (1.76) > Ag (1.73) > Nd (1.70) > Sr (1.46) > Se (1.41) > U (1.11) > Pt (0.90) > Ce (0.80) > Ba (0.61) > Co (0.59) > Tl (0.58) > Er (0.50) > Pb (0.42) > Li (0.40) > Pr (0.39) > Ir (0.37) > In (0.35) > Mo (0.31) > Cr (0.29) > Ni (0.28) > Sb (0.26) > Re (0.24) > Ti (0.19) > Bi (0.18) > Th (0.12) > La (0.10) = Pd (0.10) > Os (0.09) = Zr (0.09) > Rh (0.08) > Ho (0.07) > Ru (0.06) > Sm (0.04) = Eu (0.04) = Tm (0.04) > Gd (0.03) > Sc (0.02) = Y (0.02) > Lu (0.01) = Yb (0.01) = V (0.01). The contents of Au, Be, Dy, Ga, Ge, Hf, and Tb were below the limits of detection (0.02, 0.02, 0.01, 0.01, 0.01, 0.01, 0.02 mg kg^?1 respectively). The concentrations of Al, As, B, Ba, Ca, Cd, Cr, Er, Fe, In, Lu, Mn, Nd, Sr, Ti, Tm, and Zr were comparable over the period the mushrooms were cultivated. The study revealed that Lentinula edodes contained As and Cd at levels potentially adverse to human health. This highlights the need to monitor these elements in food products obtained from this mushroom species and ensure that only low levels of these elements are present in cultivation substrates.     

Climate Change and Agricultural Development: Adapting Polish Agriculture to Reduce Future Nutrient Loads in a Coastal Watershed

Currently, there is a major concern about the future of nutrient loads discharged into the Baltic Sea from Polish rivers because they are main contributors to its eutrophication. To date, no watershed-scale studies have properly addressed this issue. This paper fills this gap by using a scenario-modeling framework applied in the Reda watershed, a small (482 km²) agricultural coastal area in northern Poland. We used the SWAT model to quantify the effects of future climate, land cover, and management changes under multiple scenarios up to the 2050s. The combined effect of climate and land use change on N-NO₃ and P-PO₄ loads is an increase by 20–60 and 24–31 %, respectively, depending on the intensity of future agricultural usage. Using a scenario that assumes a major shift toward a more intensive agriculture following the Danish model would bring significantly higher crop yields but cause a great deterioration of water quality. Using vegetative cover in winter and spring (VC) would be a very efficient way to reduce future P-PO₄ loads so that they are lower than levels observed at present. However, even the best combination of measures (VC, buffer zones, reduced fertilization, and constructed wetlands) would not help to remediate heavily increased N-NO₃ loads due to climate change and agricultural intensification.     

Milk ejection solicitations and non-nutritive nursings: an honest signaling system of need in domestic pigs?

In domestic pigs, about 20% of nursing episodes end without milk transfer (non-nutritive nursings, NNNs). The function of NNNs has not been satisfactorily explained yet. Here, we suggest that NNNs may be a part of an honest signaling system that enables the sow to provide more frequent nutritive nursings (NNs) to those litters that can prove their need through exceptionally frequent milk ejection solicitations. We further propose that the system is kept stable through the accelerating costs attached to the solicitation in the form of NNNs. Based on this hypothesis, we predicted that (P1) with an increasing number of all nursings (ALL = NNNs + NNs) the number of NNs should increase and that (P2) with an increasing number of ALL the proportion of NNNs should increase. We tested P1 and P2 using a meta-analysis applied to data from eight studies that recorded the number of NNs and NNNs in domestic pigs. We confirmed both P1 (NNs increasing with ALL) and P2 (proportion of NNNs increasing with ALL). In combination, these results show a steeply accelerating cost of each additional nutritive nursing that piglets instigate. This cost sets limits to the piglets' ability to solicit higher maternal investment through more frequent nursing solicitations.     

Polymeric microspheres with <Emphasis Type=Italic>N</Emphasis>-methyl-<Emphasis Type=SmallCaps>d</Emphasis>-glucamine ligands for boron removal from water solution by adsorption–membrane filtration process

Polymeric microspheres with N-methyl-d-glucamine (NMDG) ligands have been tested in the adsorption–membrane filtration process for boron removal from aqueous solutions. The chelating resins were synthesized by reacting NMDG with the vinylbenzyl chloride–styrene–1,4-divinylbenzene (VBC/S/DVB) copolymer at the reflux temperature and in the microwave reactor. VBC/S/DVB spheres with a gel structure that contained 6 wt% DVB were obtained by membrane emulsification followed by suspension polymerization. By selecting the optimal emulsification and polymerization parameters, it was possible to obtain 25-μm-diameter particles with a narrow size distribution. Resins obtained by microwave modification showed the higher boron adsorption capacity.     

The influence of deoxynivalenol and zearalenone on steroid hormone production by porcine ovarian granulosa cells in vitro

Fusarium mycotoxins deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEA) are frequently occurring in feed of pigs together. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible in vitro effects of DON and ZEA, alone or their combination on steroid secretion of porcine ovarian granulosa cells (GCs). A species-specific model with porcine ovarian GCs was used to study the potential endocrine disrupting effects of DON and ZEA alone and in co-exposure. Progesterone (P4) and estradiol (E2) were determined by radioimmunoassay (RIA) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The results of this study demonstrate that DON alone at the higher concentrations may act to stimulate P4 (at 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 and 5,000 ng mL^?1 but not 10 and 100 ng mL^?1) and E2 (at 2,000, 3,000 and 5,000 ng mL^?1 but not 10, 100 and 1000 ng mL^?1) secretion. The effects of ZEA on P4 and E2 secretion were not confirmed. DON in combination with the other fusariotoxin ZEA may impair steroidogenesis. Results aslo demonstrate different toxicological effects of fusariotoxins on follicle stimulating hormone-induced secretion of P4 and E2. All these results taken together suggest that fusariotoxin and their interactions can impact ovarian steroidogenesis, thereby demonstrating their potential reproductive effects in pigs.     

Numerical Modeling of Flow Fields and Dispersion of Passive Pollutants in the Vicinity of the Temelín Nuclear Power Plant

This study deals with numerical simulation of flow fields and dispersion of model passive admixtures in the planetary boundary layer in a 10 × 10 km square area, centered on the Czech Republic’s Temelín Nuclear Power Plant. Numerical calculations of three-dimensional flow fields with eight basic wind directions given for the inlet boundary of the computational domain are performed using the FLUENT CFD code with the standard k – ε turbulence model. The resultant modeling of the flow fields provides information as to probable local directions and velocities of flow vectors on a horizontal scale of 100 m, which are consistent with the data given for the boundaries of the calculation area in the framework of a scale of 10 km. The modeled flow fields generate the input data for related Lagrangian simulation of the ground concentration and deposition fields of passive particles assumedly emitted at the site of the Temelín plant. Simulated plumes describe eight cases of potential ground-level distribution of model passive admixtures in the area.