Bringing together raptor collections in Europe for contaminant research and monitoring in relation to chemicals regulations

Raptors are good sentinels of environmental contamination and there is good capability for raptor biomonitoring in Europe. Raptor biomonitoring can benefit from natural history museums (NHMs), environmental specimen banks (ESBs) and other collections (e.g. specialist raptor specimen collections). Europe’s NHMs, ESBs and other collections hold large numbers of raptor specimens and samples, covering long periods of time. These collections are potentially a valuable resource for contaminant studies over time and space. There are strong needs to monitor contaminants in the environment to support EU and national chemical management. However, data on raptor specimens in NHMs, ESBs and other collections are dispersed, few are digitised, and they are thus not easy to access. Specimen coverage is patchy in terms of species, space and time. Contaminant research with raptors would be facilitated by creating a framework to link relevant collections, digitising all collections, developing a searchable meta-database covering all existing collections, making them more visible and accessible for contaminant research. This would also help identify gaps in coverage and stimulate specimen collection to fill gaps in support of prioritised contaminant monitoring. Collections can further support raptor biomonitoring by making samples available for analysis on request.     

The effects and the toxicity increases caused by bicarbonate,chloride, and other water components during the UV/TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> degradation of oxazaphosphorine drugs

The influences of HCO₃ ^?, Cl^?, and other components on the UV/TiO₂ degradation of the antineoplastic agents ifosfamide (IFO) and cyclophosphamide (CP) were studied in this work. The results indicated that the presence of HCO₃ ^?, Cl^?, NO₃ ^?, and SO₄ ^2? in water bodies resulted in lower degradation efficiencies. The half-lives of IFO and CP were 1.2 and 1.1 min and increased 2.3–7.3 and 3.2–6.3 times, respectively, in the presence of the four anions (initial compound concentration = 100 μg/L, TiO₂ loading =100 mg/L, anion concentration = 1000 mg/L, and pH = 8). Although the presence of HCO₃ ^? in the UV/TiO₂/HCO₃ ^? system resulted in a lower degradation rate and less byproduct formation for IFO and CP, two newly identified byproducts, P11 (M.W. = 197) and P12 (M.W. = 101), were formed and detected, suggesting that additional pathways occurred during the reaction of ?CO₃ ^? in the system. The results also showed that ?CO₃ ^? likely induces a preferred ketonization pathway. Besides the inorganic anions HCO₃ ^?, Cl^?, NO₃ ^?, and SO₄ ^2?, the existence of dissolved organic matter in the water has a significant effect and inhibits CP degradation. Toxicity tests showed that higher toxicity occurred in the presence of HCO₃ ^? or Cl^? during UV/TiO₂ treatment and within 6 h of reaction time, implying that the effects of these two anions should not be ignored when photocatalytic treatment is applied to treat real wastewater.     

Investigation of low-level <Superscript>242</Superscript>Pu contamination on nutrition disturbance and oxidative stress in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Solanum tuberosum</Emphasis> L.

Plutonium associated with higher molecular weight molecules is presumed to be poorly mobile and hardly plant available. In our present study, we investigate the uptake and effects of Pu treatments on Solanum tuberosum plants in amended Hoagland medium at concentrations of [²⁴²Pu] = 100 and 500 nm, respectively. We found a direct proof of oxidative stress in the plants caused by these rather low concentrations. For the confirmation of oxidative stress, we explored the production of nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) by epifluorescence microscopy. Oxidative stress markers like lipid peroxidation and superoxide radicals (O₂ ^??) are monitored through histochemical analysis. The biochemical parameters i.e. chlorophyll and carotenoids are measured as an indicator of cellular damage in the tested plants including the enzymatic parameters such as catalase and glutathione reductase. From our work, we conclude that Pu in low concentration has no significant effects on the uptake of many trace and macroelements. In contrast, the content of O₂ ^?? , malondialdehyde (MDA), and H₂O₂ increases with increasing Pu concentration in the solution, while the opposite effects was found for NO, catalase, and glutathione reductase. These findings prove that even low concentration of Pu regulates ROS production and generate oxidative stress in S. tuberosum L.     

Application of chemical oxidation to remediate HCH-contaminated soil under batch and flow through conditions

This is the first study describing the chemical oxidation of hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) in contaminated soil under water saturated and unsaturated flow through conditions. Soil contaminated with β-HCH (45 mg kg^?1) and γ-HCH (lindane, 25 mg kg^?1) was sampled from former lindane waste storage site. Efficiency of following treatments was tested at circumneutral pH: H₂O₂ alone, H₂O₂/Fe^II, Na₂S₂O₈ alone, Na₂S₂O₈/Fe^II, and KMnO₄. Experimental conditions (oxidant dose, liquid/solid ratio, and soil granulometry) were first optimized in batch experiments. Obtained results revealed that increasing dose of H₂O₂ improved the oxidation efficiency while in Na₂S₂O₈ system, maximum HCHs were removed at 300 mM. However, oxidation efficiency was slightly improved by Fe^II-activation. Increasing the solid/liquid ratio decreased HCH removal in soil samples crushed to 500 μm while an opposite trend was observed for 2-mm samples. Dynamic column experiments showed that oxidation efficiency followed the order KMnO₄ > Na₂S₂O₈/Fe^II > Na₂S₂O₈ whatever the flow condition, whereas the removal extent declined at higher flow rate (e.g., ~50% by KMnO₄ at 0.5 mL/min as compared to ~30% at 2 mL/min). Both HCH removal and oxidant decomposition extents were found higher in saturated columns than the unsaturated ones. While no significant change in relative abundance of soil mineral constituents was observed before and after chemical oxidation, more than 60% of extractable organic matter was lost after chemical oxidation, thereby underscoring the non-selective behavior of chemical oxidation in soil. Due to the complexity of soil system, chemical oxidation has rarely been reported under flow through conditions, and therefore our findings will have promising implications in developing remediation techniques under dynamic conditions closer to field applications.     

Assessing demineralization treatments for PVC effluent reuse in the resin polymerization step

To reduce fresh water consumption in a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant, the effluent from a biological treatment must be demineralized to be re-used in the resin polymerization process. Demineralization is a critical process, since the quality and the stability of the PVC resins are highly influenced by the water quality used in the process. The main target values for water parameters are the following: conductivity <10 μScm^?1, TOC < 10 mg L^?1, and Al < 0.1 mg L^?1. To achieve this quality, several reverse osmosis membranes from different materials and suppliers were tested and compared in the demineralization treatment. Polyamide membranes showed higher salt rejection compared to cellulose acetate membranes yielding both types similar flux and permeability. Two-pass reverse osmosis treatment was necessary to reach conductivities lower than 10 μS cm^?1. On the other hand, a good quality effluent for reuse was obtained by combining RO and ionic exchange resins. Results showed that good quality PVC resins in terms of color, granulometry, porosity, and bulk density were obtained when demineralized water from two-pass reverse osmosis was used as fresh water, proving the feasibility of the effluent reuse in the PVC industry.     

汽车尾气催化转化器模型研究进展

本文主要介绍汽车尾气催化转化器模型的研究进展 ,包括反应器内气体流动特性、单通道反应器内的传递现象和反应动力学、通道间的热传递和反应行为的模拟 ;并指出认识反应器内的各种特性和规律对设计汽车尾气催化转化器的必要性和意义     

环境材料及其评价方法

本文综述了环境材料的实质、特点及其与传统材料在主要内涵、研究重点、评价指标体系和材料选择原则的差异 ,并介绍了环境材料的评价体系与方法和设计原则     

锆负载型树脂用于含氟废水深度处理的研究

本文研制了一种以火力发电厂废树脂为载体的锆负载型氟离子吸附剂 ,并在评价了该树脂对氟离子的吸附性能之后探讨了该树脂用于火力发电厂含氟废水深度处理的可能性。研究结果表明 ,锆的最佳负载的最佳浓度为0 .5mol/L ,该负载树脂的最佳吸附pH为 3.0— 4 .0 ,用填充柱进行的动态实验结果表明 ,pH =3时的吸附容量显著高于 pH=4时的值。利用该树脂对火力发电厂模拟含氟废水进行了双柱串联吸附工艺处理 ,当柱流量为 35mL/min(SV10 )、第二柱穿透时 ,第一柱的吸附容量为 10 2 2 8mg/L湿树脂 ;用 0 .1mol/L的NaOH溶液进行再生 ,柱流量选择为 35mL/min(SV10 )时 ,脱附率在 95 %以上。     

污染土壤修复的技术再造与展望

污染土壤的面积在迅速扩大,迫切需要修复、治理;随着土壤污染组分的日益复杂化,等待着全面、高效的修复技术的研制。对污染土壤修复相关技术现状进行剖析表明,现有的各种污染土壤修复技术由于存在着许多技术上难以克服的问题,需要从技术的现有进展和技术构想进行整体意义上的创新,即如何把现有的技术进行参数优化、改造后进行最佳组合与综合,才能取得该技术领域的重大突破。污染土壤的生态化学修复,其实质在于技术的再造,代表了21世纪污染土壤修复技术的发展方向。     

白腐菌对芳香族化合物的降解途径

白腐菌 (Whiterotfungi)是目前所发现的对芳香族化合物有很强降解能力的一类微生物。本文探讨了降解芳香族化合物的白腐菌种及其代谢化合物的主要类型 ,分析了对不同化合物的不同代谢途径 ,同时展望了其应用前景