Vehicular Contamination of Dust in Amman, Jordan

Road dust from four traffic areas; the city center, tunnels, closed car parks and a residential area was collected from the urban part of Amman and analyzed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and heavy metals content.Total PAH and selected heavy metals were in the range of a few gg^–1. The distribution of PAH was controlled by the arid climatic conditions. PAH distribution in the street dust tended to be dominated by 4- and 6-ring PAHs with significantly less 2- and 3-ring PAH reflecting volatilization of the latter under the hot and dry climatic conditions. However, both PAH and heavy metal concentrations were affected by the densities and conditions of traffic activity at the various sites. Generally, the highest concentrations of both PAH and heavy metals were found in the tunnels and the lowest in the residential areas.Significant correlation between PAH and total organic matter (TOM), lead and cadmium indicated that PAH and heavy metals in street dust of heavily traffic areas are strongly affected by automobile exhaust emission and that those in the residential areas have another source, most probably street material erosion.     

Heavy metal tolerant endophytic fungi Aspergillus welwitschiae improves growth,ceasing metal uptake and strengthening antioxidant system in Glycine max L.

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In modern agricultural practice, heavy metal (HM) contamination is one of the main abiotic stress threatening sustainable agriculture, crop...     

Supercritical water oxidation of phenol and process enhancement with in situ formed Fe2O3 nano catalyst

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - During the past few decades, the treatment of hazardous waste and toxic phenolic compounds has become a major issue in the pharmaceutical, gas/oil,...     

Health concerns among waste collectors during pandemic crisis

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected the economic, social, and psychological aspects globally. COVID-19 can possibly spread through municipal...     

昌吉市不同景观土壤动物群落结构

为了解不同利用方式土地的春季土壤动物群落结构,于2007年3月至6月对昌吉市周围的5种土地,即天然林、人工林、草地、农田、废弃地进行取样调查,共捕获土壤动物2 046只,隶属3门10纲24目.分析表明:土壤动物优势类群为昆虫纲(Insecta)、蛛形纲(Arachnida)、弹尾纲(Collembola),常见类群为腹足纲(Gastropoda)、寡毛纲(Oligochaeta)、软甲纲(Malacostraca)和双尾纲(Diplura)等,其他均为稀有类群.5种不同利用方式土地土壤动物群落物种多样性和均匀度指数有一定的差异,草地的物种多样性最大,废弃地的多样性最小,体现了群落的复杂性与多样性.垂直分布显示土壤动物具有明显的表聚现象.根据土壤动物群落聚类的结果,可将5中土地分为2组,即草本植物种植型、林地型.显示了土壤动物群落对土壤利用方式的响应情况.     

新疆和硕绿洲农田土壤重金属污染及生态风险

新疆和硕绿洲采集82个耕地土壤样品,测定其中As、Cd、Cr、Cu、Mn、Ni、Pb和Zn等8种重金属元素的含量。采用地统计法、污染负荷指数(PLI)和潜在生态风险指数(RI)评估农田土壤重金属污染和潜在生态风险,并讨论重金属主要来源。结果表明:(1)和硕绿洲农田土壤所有重金属元素含量平均值均未超出国家二级标准的限值,Cd、Cr、Ni、Pb和Zn含量的平均值分别超出新疆灌耕土背景值的2.0、1.51、1.18、2.13和8.47倍。(2)农田土壤Cd与Zn呈现中度污染,Cr、Cu、Ni和Pb轻度污染,Mn轻微污染,As无污染。研究区PLI平均值呈现轻度污染。(3)各重金属元素单项生态风险指数从大到小依次为:Cd、Ni、As、Cu、Cr、Zn与Pb。农田RI平均值属于轻微生态风险。重金属元素含量、污染与生态风险空间分布格局各不相同。(4)和硕绿洲农田土壤As、Pb和Zn主要受到人为因素的影响,Cr、Cu、Mn和Ni主要受到土壤地球化学作用的影响,Cd受人为污染和自然因素共同影响。Cd是研究区农田土壤主要的污染因子之一,对农田土壤污染及潜在生态风险的贡献较大,农田土壤Cd污染值得关注。     

Remediation of sulfidic wastewater by catalytic oxidation with hydrogen peroxide

Oxidation of sulfide in aqueous solution by hydrogen peroxide was investigated in the presence of hydrated ferric oxide catalyst. The ferric oxide catalyst was synthesized by sol gel technique from ferric chloride and ammonia. The synthesized catalyst was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-Ray di raction analysis, scanning electrom microscope and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. The catalyst was quite e ective in oxidizing the sulfide by hydrogen peroxide. The e ects of sulfide concentration, catalyst loading, H2O2 dosing and temperature on the kinetics of sulfide oxidation were investigated. Kinetic equations and activation energies for the catalytic oxidation reaction were calculated based on the experimental results.     

Quantitative estimation of essential/toxic elemental levels in the serum of esophagus cancer patients in relation to controls

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Esophageal cancer is a very deadly disease ranking 8th most common cancer in terms of incidence and the 6th highest in terms of mortality both in the...     

Novel Pretreatment Performance Evaluation for Cellulose Nanofibrils Extraction from Ficus natalensis Barkcloth

Recently, nanosized cellulose materials extraction is extensively interesting from the sources of sustainable materials. Cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) extraction through green bio-based materials featured as promising interest in the field of science. In this study, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) was applied to examine its effectiveness in pretreating the Ficus natalensis barkcloth cellulose (FNBC) for CNF production before 2,2,6,6,-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) oxidation. The pretreatment performance of DMSO was evaluated based on the structural and morphological changes. DMSO pretreated FNBC attained the most dramatic morphological changes as compared to untreated cellulose samples. The results of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) shows that there is an extensive structural disruption of FNBC during the pretreatment process, which could be because of outstanding ability to eliminate non-cellulosic materials and amorphous regions from the FNBC, confirmed by the X-ray diffractometry (XRD) showing higher crystallinity values, as well as higher thermal stabilities values of pretreated FNBC samples, were also noted. Overall, this study revealed a tremendously effective and pioneer pretreatment method for fractionating FNBC, to stimulate the successive extraction of cellulose nanofibrils. Furthermore, based on the cellulose and CNF characterizations, this study showed that F. natalensis barkcloth could be considered as an alternative source of cellulose for potential value-added industrial applications such as the food industry, paper making, and biomedicines.

Graphic Abstract