Monitoring, modelling and environmental exposure assessment of industrial chemicals in the aquatic environment

Monitoring and laboratory data play integral roles alongside fate and exposure models in comprehensive risk assessments. The principle in the European Union Technical Guidance Documents for risk assessment is that measured data may take precedence over model results but only after they are judged to be of adequate reliability and to be representative of the particular environmental compartments to which they are applied. In practice, laboratory and field data are used to provide parameters for the models, while monitoring data are used to validate the models' predictions. Thus, comprehensive risk assessments require the integration of laboratory and monitoring data with the model predictions. However, this interplay is often overlooked. Discrepancies between the results of models and monitoring should be investigated in terms of the representativeness of both. Certainly, in the context of the EU risk assessment of existing chemicals, the specific requirements for monitoring data have not been adequately addressed. The resources required for environmental monitoring, both in terms of manpower and equipment, can be very significant. The design of monitoring programmes to optimise the use of resources and the use of models as a cost-effective alternative are increasing in importance. Generic considerations and criteria for the design of new monitoring programmes to generate representative quality data for the aquatic compartment are outlined and the criteria for the use of existing data are discussed. In particular, there is a need to improve the accessibility to data sets, to standardise the data sets, to promote communication and harmonisation of programmes and to incorporate the flexibility to change monitoring protocols to amend the chemicals under investigation in line with changing needs and priorities.     

The material resources for the iron and steel industries

The future supplies of iron ore, coking coal and ferrous scrap are discussed. There is no likelihood of the resources of iron ore being exhausted until well into the twenty-first century. Coking coal, on the other hand, is in shorter supply but it is being eked out by blending with non-coking coal and by making blast furnaces more efficient. Briquettes made completely from non-coking coal will play a part in iron making in the future. To ensure greater flexibility in steel making, hydrocarbons are being considered as possible substitutes for coal. Scrap has always played an important part in steel making and the amount recycled is increasing every year. But more effort is needed, for example, to ensure that the steel in car scrap is fully utilised and that refuse is efficiently recycled. Steel making increasingly demands the scrap to have few impurities and to be in uniform sized pieces. A cryogenic method of preparing such scrap is described. A futuristic way of extracting iron, non-ferrous metals and other saleeable by-products from refuse, by using redundant blast furnaces, is also discussed.     

Mass Spectrometric Detection and Identification of Polar Pesticides and their Degradation Products - A Comparison of Different Ionization Methods

Due to increasing use of polar pesticides, they are found together with their degradation products in ground- and surface waters serving for drinking water treatment. The triazine derivatives acetamido-atrazine, ametryne, atrazine, cyanazine, deethylatrazine, deethyldeisopropyl-hydroxyatrazine, deethyl-hydroxyatrazine, deisopropyl-atrazin, deisopropyl-hydroxyatrazine, desmetryn, hydroxyatrazine, prometryne, propazine, simazine, terbumeton, terbutryne and terbutylazine, and the pesticides 2,4-D, dichlorprop, isoproturon, diuron, metolachlor, glyphosate, metsulfuronmethyl and dalapon, all of them belonging to this type of pesticides, have been studied. For determination of triazine derivatives UV detection by means of diode array detector (DAD) as well as mass spectrometric (MS) detection coupled by thermospray interface (TSP) have been used successfully after liquid chromatoraphic (LC) separation. Interfaces like thermospray (TSP), electrospray (ESP) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation (APCI) were examined with regard to their suitability for substance-specific detection of polar pesticides by flow injection analysis (FIA) with MS- and tandem mass spectroscopic detection (MS/MS) without preceding LC separation. Optimised detection conditions for these pesticides using FIA are presented, and solutions for occurring problems are offered.     

Layer of organic pine forest soil on top of chlorophenol-contaminated mineral soil enhances contaminant degradation

Chlorophenols, like many other synthetic compounds, are persistent problem in industrial areas. These compounds are easily degraded in certain natural environments where the top soil is organic. Some studies suggest that mineral soil contaminated with organic compounds is rapidly remediated if it is mixed with organic soil. We hypothesized that organic soil with a high degradation capacity even on top of the contaminated mineral soil enhances degradation of recalcitrant chlorophenols in the mineral soil below. We first compared chlorophenol degradation in different soils by spiking pristine and pentachlorophenol-contaminated soils with 2,4,6-trichlorophenol in 10-L buckets. In other experiments, we covered contaminated mineral soil with organic pine forest soil. We also monitored in situ degradation on an old sawmill site where mineral soil was either left intact or covered with organic pine forest soil. 2,4,6-Trichlorophenol was rapidly degraded in organic pine forest soil, but the degradation was slower in other soils. If a thin layer of the pine forest humus was added on top of mineral sawmill soil, the original chlorophenol concentrations (high, ca. 70 μg g^?1, or moderate, ca. 20 μg g^?1) in sawmill soil decreased by >40 % in 24 days. No degradation was noticed if the mineral soil was kept bare or if the covering humus soil layer was sterilized beforehand. Our results suggest that covering mineral soil with an organic soil layer is an efficient way to remediate recalcitrant chlorophenol contamination in mineral soils. The results of the field experiment are promising.     

Integrating energy efficiency performance in production management – gap analysis between industrial needs and scientific literature

For governments and for manufacturing companies, global warming, rising energy prices, and customers’ increasing ecological awareness have pushed energy efficient manufacturing to the top of the agenda. Governments and companies are both striving to identify the most effective measures to increase energy efficiency in manufacturing processes. Based on results of a recent EU-funded roadmapping project, this paper highlights the needs of industrial companies for integrating energy efficiency performance in production management. First, it analyses concepts and tools for measurement, control and improvement of energy efficiency in production management proposed in literature. Second, the paper outlines that ICT tools and standardization are important enablers for energy efficient manufacturing. Third, industrial needs in these areas are presented based on expert interviews. The industrial needs thus identified are contrasted with concepts proposed in literature to point out the implementation gaps between practice and theory. The paper demonstrates that there exists a gap between the solutions available and the actual implementation in industrial companies. It concludes by deriving requirements for energy management in production that future collaborative research projects should address.     

Stem cell transplantation before birth – a realistic option for treatment of osteogenesis imperfecta?

Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is characterized by severe bone deformities, growth retardation and bones that break easily, often from little or no apparent cause. OI is a genetic disorder primarily with defective type I collagen with a wide spectrum of clinical expression. In the more severe cases, it can be diagnosed before birth. Transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) has the potential to improve the bone structure and stability, growth and fracture healing. Prenatal and postnatal cell transplantation has been investigated in preclinical and clinical studies of OI and suggests that this procedure is safe and has positive effects. Cell transplantation resulted in improved linear growth, mobility and reduced fracture incidence. However, the effect is transient and for this reason re-transplantation may be needed. So far there is limited experience in this area, and proper studies are required to accurately determine if MSC transplantation is of clinical benefit in the treatment of OI. In this review, we summarize what is currently known in this field. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.