Herbicide leaching on a recharge area of the Guarany aquifer in Brazil

The region of Ribeir?o Preto City, located in Southeast of Brazil, S?o Paulo State, is an important sugarcane, soybean, and corn producing area with a high level of pesticides utilization. This region is also an important recharge area for groundwater supply of the Guarany aquifer. Since the past ten years atrazine, simazine, ametryn, tebuthiuron, diuron, 2,4-D, picloram, and hexazinone are the main herbicides used in this area. In order to study a possible leaching of some of these herbicides into the aquifer, surface, and groundwater samples were collected in a watershed during the years of 1996 to 2003, from different locations. To detect and quantify the herbicides a GC-MS (gas chromatograph/mass spectrometry) method was used. The response of the herbicides analyzed was linear over the concentration range of 0.02 to 2.0 microg/L. Analysis of groundwater revealed that the herbicides tebuthiuron, diuron, atrazine, simazine, and ametryn were not present in the samples. In the surface water collected in 1997, ametryn was present in two out of nine locations with concentrations ranging from 0.17 and 0.23 microg/L, which is above the allowable 0.1 microg/L according to the European safety level. The leaching potential of tebuthiuron, diuron, atrazine, simazine, 2,4-D, picloram, and hexazinone has been evaluated using CMLS-94, "Chemical Movement in Layered Soil," as simulation model. No leaching into the depth of the water table at 40 m was found.     

Organochlorine bioaccumulation and biomarkers levels in culture and wild white seabream (Diplodus sargus)

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which can accumulate in the adipose fish tissues, can enter the human food chain through the consumption of fish, and cause risk to health. The use of chemical analysis, and biochemical and cellular responses is a way to detect the impact of pollutants in aquatic systems. The purpose of this study was to investigate the levels of organochlorine compounds (polychlorinated biphenyls - PCB and p,p'-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and its metabolites - tDDT) in, wild and cultivated, white seabream (Diplodus sargus), and also its biological effects that were evaluated by assessing the activity of biotransformation enzymes and genotoxic effects. To achieve that we have sampled five different size classes (I - 13 g, II - 64 g, III - 143 g, IV - 315 g and V - 441 g) of white seabream from a local aquaculture, and also a group of wild fish (375g) in order to compare accumulation and responses between cultured and wild fish. White seabream, cultured and wild, presented low levels of organochlorine content, both in liver and in muscle. Wild white seabream, in comparison to cultured ones at the marketable size, showed lower organochlorine accumulation. Biotransformation enzymes showed negative correlations with organochlorine levels in liver. Micronucleous numbers revealed that wild white seabream are not so exposed to genotoxic compounds as cultured ones.     

Magnetic Nanocrystalline Cellulose: Azithromycin Adsorption and In Vitro Biological Activity Against Melanoma Cells

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - This study reports a simple methodology of obtaining magnetic nanocrystalline cellulose under very mild conditions employing only Fe2+ as the iron source,...     

Turbulence investigation in the roughness sub-layer of a near wall flow

The turbulence behaviour along a wall roughened by pyramidal elements was analysed in the region extending from the apex of the roughness elements up to the external limit of the roughness sub-layer. The data used for the analysis were obtained by particle image velocimetry technique. The rough wall turbulent boundary layer flow is characterized by a relatively low Reynolds number. All the results on the rough wall were compared with data referring to the canonical flow on a smooth wall turbulent boundary layer. Mean values and turbulence quantities for the two flows collapse when approaching the external limit of the roughness sublayer. The quadrant analysis of the Reynolds shear stress, in the region near the surface, shows that the contribution of the sweep motions is about equivalent for the two flows (except for wall distances lower than 40 viscous units). The contribution of the ejection motions appears to be more important over the smooth wall than over the rough wall with increasing differences approaching the wall. The probability density functions of the streamwise fluctuating velocity field for the rough wall case appear to be positively skewed in the zone very close to the pyramid apex, in contrast with the behavior observed for the smooth wall case at corresponding distances from the wall. The integral and Taylor scales for the rough wall case appear to be strongly reduced by the presence of the roughness, while the Kolmogorov microscale shows higher values.     

The influence of application of biochar and metal-tolerant bacteria in polluted soil on morpho-physiological and anatomical parameters of spring barley

Environmental Geochemistry and Health - The paper presents the results of the model experiment on spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) grown in polluted soil. The influence of separate and combined...     

Hepatitis A Outbreaks and Environmental Circulation of Genotype IA Strains in the São Paulo City, 2017–2018

Food and Environmental Virology - Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is the major cause of enterically transmitted infectious hepatitis. Between 2016 and 2017, the number of confirmed cases of hepatitis A...     

Pervaporation of ethanol produced from banana waste

Banana waste has the potential to produce ethanol with a low-cost and sustainable production method. The present work seeks to evaluate the separation of ethanol produced from banana waste (rejected fruit) using pervaporation with different operating conditions. Tests were carried out with model solutions and broth with commercial hollow hydrophobic polydimethylsiloxane membranes. It was observed that pervaporation performance for ethanol/water binary mixtures was strongly dependent on the feed concentration and operating temperature with ethanol concentrations of 1–10%; that an increase of feed flow rate can enhance the permeation rate of ethanol with the water remaining at almost the same value; that water and ethanol fluxes was increased with the temperature increase; and that the higher effect in flux increase was observed when the vapor pressure in the permeate stream was close to the ethanol vapor pressure. Better results were obtained with fermentation broth than with model solutions, indicated by the permeance and membrane selectivity. This could be attributed to by-products present in the multicomponent mixtures, facilitating the ethanol permeability. By-products analyses show that the presence of lactic acid increased the hydrophilicity of the membrane. Based on this, we believe that pervaporation with hollow membrane of ethanol produced from banana waste is indeed a technology with the potential to be applied.     

Evaluating the toxicity of food processing wastes as co-digestion substrates with dairy manure

Studies have shown that including food waste as a co-digestion substrate in the anaerobic digestion of livestock manure can increase energy production. However, the type and inclusion rate of food waste used for co-digestion need to be carefully considered in order to prevent adverse conditions in the digestion environment. This study determined the effect of increasing the concentration (2%, 5%, 15% and 30%, by volume) of four food-processing wastes (meatball, chicken, cranberry and ice cream processing wastes) on methane production. Anaerobic toxicity assay (ATA) and specific methanogenic activity (SMA) tests were conducted to determine the concentration at which each food waste became toxic to the digestion environment. Decreases in methane production were observed at concentrations above 5% for all four food waste substrates, with up to 99% decreases in methane production at 30% food processing wastes (by volume).     

Cap and trade schemes on waste management: A case study of the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS) in England

The Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS) is one of the main instruments used in England to enforce the landfill diversion targets established in the Directive 1999/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 April 1999 on the landfill of waste (Landfill Directive). Through the LATS, biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) allowances for landfilling are allocated to each local authority, otherwise known as waste disposal authorities (WDAs). The quantity of landfill allowances received is expected to decrease continuously from 2005/06 to 2019/20 so as to meet the objectives of the Landfill Directive. To achieve their commitments, WDAs can exchange, buy, sell or transfer allowances among each other, or may re-profile their own allocation through banking and/or borrowing. Despite the goals for the first seven years – which included two target years (2005/06 and 2009/10) – being widely achieved (the average allocation of allowances per WDA was 22.9% higher than those finally used), market activity among WDAs was high and prices were not very stable. Results in terms of waste reduction and recycling levels have been satisfactory. The reduction of BMW landfilled (in percentage) was higher during the first seven years of the LATS period (2005/06–2011/12) (around 7% annually) than during the previous period (2001/02–2004/05) (4.2% annually). Since 2008, the significance of the LATS diminished because of an increase in the rate of the UK Landfill Tax. The LATS was suppressed after the 2012/13 target year, before what it was initially scheduled. The purpose of this paper is to describe the particularities of the LATS, analyse its performance as a waste management policy, make a comparison with the Landfill Tax, discuss its main features as regards efficiency, effectiveness and the application of the “polluter pays” principle and finally discuss if the effect of the increase in the Landfill Tax is what made the LATS ultimately unnecessary.