Occurrence,transformation, bioaccumulation,risk and analysis of pharmaceutical and personal care products from wastewater: a review

Almost all aspects of society from food security to disease control and prevention have benefited from pharmaceutical and personal care products, yet these products are a major source of contamination that ends up in wastewater and ecosystems. This issue has been sharply accentuated during the coronavirus disease pandemic 2019 (COVID-19) due to the higher use of disinfectants and other products. Here we review pharmaceutical and personal care products with focus on their occurrence in the environment, detection, risk, and removal.

     

Understanding why consumers in China switch between wild,farmed, and synthetic bear bile products

An important rationale for legally farmed and synthetic wildlife products is that they reduce illegal, wild-sourced trade by supplying markets with sustainable alternatives. For this to work, more established illegal-product consumers must switch to legal alternatives than new legal-product consumers switch to illegal wild products. Despite the widespread debate on the magnitude and direction of switching, studies among actual consumers are lacking. We used an anonymous online survey of 1421 traditional Chinese medicine consumers in China to investigate switching among legal farmed, synthetic, and illegal wild bear bile. We examined the past consumption behavior, applied a discrete choice experiment framed within worsening hypothetical disease scenarios, and used latent class models to investigate groups with shared preferences. Bear bile consumers (86% respondents) were wealthier, more likely to have family who consumed bile, and less knowledgeable about bile treatments than nonconsumers. Consumer preferences were heterogenous, but most consumer preferences switched between bile types as disease worsened. We identified five distinct latent classes within our sample: law-abiding consumers (34% respondents), who prefer legal products and were unlikely to switch; two all-natural consumer groups (53%), who dislike synthetics but may switch between farmed and wild; and two nonconsumer groups (12%), who prefer not to buy bile. People with past experience of bile consumption had different preferences than those without. Willingness to switch to wild products was related to believing they were legal, although the likelihood of switching was mediated by preferences for cheaper products sold in legal, familiar places. We found that consumers of wild bile may switch to legal alternatives, given the availability of a range of products, whereas legal-product consumers may switch to illegal products if the barriers to doing so are small. Understanding preferences that promote or impede switching should be a key consideration when attempting to predict consumer behavior in complex wildlife markets.     

Biotechnological methods to remove microplastics: a review

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Microplastics pollution is major threat to ecosystems and is impacting abiotic and biotic components. Microplastics are diverse and highly complex...     

Concentrations of some heavy metals in commercially important finfish and shellfish of the River Ganga

Heavy metals are dangerous to aquatic organisms and it can be bioaccumulated in the food chain leading to diseases in human. Cumulative effects of metals or chronic poisoning may occur as a result of long-term exposure even to low concentrations. The accumulation of heavy metals varies depending upon the species, environmental conditions, and inhibitory processes. Concentrations of zinc, copper, lead, and cadmium were determined in finfish and shellfish species in the Gangetic delta using a PerkinElmer Sciex ELAN 5000 ICP mass spectrometer and expressed as milligrams per kilogram of dry weight. In finfish and shellfish species the concentrations of Zn, Cu, Pb, and Cd were comparatively higher at stations 1 and 2 than the permissible level of WHO. The concentration of metals exhibited significant spatial variation and followed the order station 1 > station 2 > station 3 > station 4, which may be related to different degree of contamination in different location. The metal accumulation exhibited species specificity.     

TiO2/Ag modified penta-bismuth hepta-oxide nitrate and its adsorption performance for azo dye removal

A modified hydrophilic penta-bismuth hepta-oxide nitrate (Bi₅O₇NO₃) surface was synthesized via a precipitation method using TiO₂ and Ag as modified agents. The synthesized product was characterized by different analytical techniques. The removal efficiency was evaluated using mono-and di-sulphonated azo dyes as model pollutants. Different kinetic, isotherm and diffusion models were chosen to describe the adsorption process. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results revealed no noticeable differences in the chemical states of modified adsorbent when compared to pure Bi₅O₇NO₃;however, the presence of hydrophilic centres such as TiO₂ and Ag developed positively charged surface groups and improved its adsorption performance to a wide range of azo dyes. Dyes removal was found to be a function of adsorbent dosage, initial dye concentration, solution pH and temperature. The reduction of Langmuir 1,2-mixed order kinetics to the second or first-order kinetics could be successfully used to describe the adsorption of dyes onto the modified adsorbent. Mass transfer can be described by intra-particle diffusion at a certain stage, but it was not the rate limiting step that controlled the adsorption process. Homogenous behavior of adsorbent surface can be explored by applying Langmuir isotherm to fit the adsorption data.     

Probing and understanding interaction of Eu(III) with γ- alumina in presenceof malonic acid

Radionuclide migration in aquatic environment is influenced by its sorption onto colloids/mineral oxides and the presence of organic complexing anions. With a view to understand the sorption of trivalent actinides by mineral oxides in presence of organic acid, in the present study, Eu(III), malonic acid (MA) and γ-alumina are considered as representatives of trivalent actinides, low molecular weight natural occurring organic acid and aluminol sites, respectively. The influence of MA on sorption of Eu(III) by γ-alumina was elucidated by batch sorption, spectroscopic techniques and surface complexation modeling, for the first time. Attenuated Total Reflection-Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopic studies of MA sorbed on γ-alumina revealed the presence of two inner-sphere surface complexes. Batch sorption for binary (alumina-Eu(III)) and ternary (alumina-Eu(III)-MA) systems were investigated as a function of pH, Eu(III) concentration and sequential addition of Eu(III)/MA. The pH edge for Eu(III) sorption shifts to higher pH with increasing Eu(III) concentration. In ternary systems, Eu(III) sorption is significantly enhanced at pH < 4.5. Eu(III) speciation on γ-alumina is independent of addition sequence of Eu(III)/MA. Time resolved fluorescence spectroscopy of Eu(III) sorbed on γ-alumina exhibited two surface species, XOEu²⁺ and (YO)₂Eu⁺. The enhancement in I₆₁₆/I₅₉₂ and lifetime for ternary systems, as compared to binary system, at low pH, indicates the participation of Eu-MA complexes in the formation of surface species in ternary systems. The diffuse layer model has been employed to successfully model the experimental sorption profiles of binary and ternary systems, using code FITEQL 4.0, by considering the surface species identified by spectroscopic techniques.     

Boating and navigation activities influence the recruitment of fish in a Baltic Sea archipelago area

We studied the effects of boating and navigation activities on the recruitment of coastal fish in the Stockholm archipelago in the NW Baltic proper. The impacts were quantified by sampling metamorphosed young-of-the-year (Y-O-Y) fish in inlets adjacent to i) routes for medium-sized passenger ferries; ii) berths (small marinas) with small boats; and iii) references. Species with high preference for vegetation were negatively influenced by boating and navigation activities and species with low preference positively influenced. Pike (Esox lucius) Y-O-Y were significantly more abundant in reference areas, while bleak (Alburnus alburnus) were more abundant in dredged marinas. No statistically significant patterns were identified for perch (Perca fluviatilis) although there was a trend of low abundance along ferry routes. Many species of nearshore fishes are dependent on submerged vegetation as spawning and larval substrate, structural refuge and feeding habitat. Our results suggest that the negative effects from boating and navigation activities on the coverage and height of vegetation, especially on species of Chara and Potamogeton spp., may contribute to changes in the Y-O-Y fish community.     

Seasonal variation and sources of carbonaceous species and elements in PM2.5 and PM10 over the eastern Himalaya

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The study represents the seasonal characteristics (carbonaceous aerosols and elements) and the contribution of prominent sources of PM2.5 and PM10 in...     

Does adding more lettuce make a hamburger truly green? A metaphor behind the green movement paradigm in designing cities

In designing cities, the label of the green movement these days is being applied to almost everything—starting from works of environmental non-governmental organizations and international as well as local conservation organizations to grass-roots resistance activism including radical environmentalism. This paper seeks to understand the motivation—the paradigm—behind the green movement initiatives and how the paradigm appears to shift from the ground reality. Conclusions suggest that, on one hand, environmental problems are far from being a matter of common sense and, on the other, the matter of intellectual and technological developments—the outcomes of rigorous academic research reflected in endless literature predominantly comprising the fields of environmental sociology, environmental anthropology, and conservation psychology—are in reality often found to be dealt with by shallow planning and policy practices without even realizing the big-picture that the paradigm is merely being used as an advertizing tool for making business profit. It is expected that, unless a shift from such negative practices towards a conscious and genuine commitment to proactive environmental stewardship is made, the situation will continue to be exacerbated.