Glyphosate concentrations in global freshwaters: are aquatic organisms at risk?

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Glyphosate is the most used herbicide worldwide. Many studies have reported glyphosate risks to aquatic organisms of different trophic levels....     

A multi-emission analysis of organic and inorganic pollutants during the combustion of sludge with high and low calorific value coals

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - To achieve allowable gas emission limits and eliminate the high cost and challenges associated with pre-treatment of sludge before incineration, a new...     

Explanation of heavy metal pollution in coal mines of china from the perspective of coal gangue geochemical characteristics

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In the process of coal gangue surface accumulation and underground filling disposal, the heavy metals contained in coal gangue will inevitably...     

Method to assess component contribution to toxicity of complex mixtures: Assessment of puberty acquisition in rats exposed to disinfection byproducts

A method based on regression modeling was developed to discern the contribution of component chemicals to the toxicity of highly complex, environmentally realistic mixtures of disinfection byproducts(DBPs). Chemical disinfection of drinking water forms DBP mixtures.Because of concerns about possible reproductive and developmental toxicity, a whole mixture(WM) of DBPs produced by chlorination of a water concentrate was administered as drinking water to Sprague–Dawley(S–D) rats in a multigenerational study. Age of puberty acquisition,i.e., preputial separation(PPS) and vaginal opening(VO), was examined in male and female offspring, respectively. When compared to controls, a slight, but statistically significant delay in puberty acquisition was observed in females but not in males. WM-induced differences in the age at puberty acquisition were compared to those reported in S–D rats administered either a defined mixture(DM) of nine regulated DBPs or individual DBPs. Regression models were developed using individual animal data on age at PPS or VO from the DM study. Puberty acquisition data reported in the WM and individual DBP studies were then compared with the DM models. The delay in puberty acquisition observed in the WM-treated female rats could not be distinguished from delays predicted by the DM regression model, suggesting that the nine regulated DBPs in the DM might account for much of the delay observed in the WM. This method is applicable to mixtures of other types of chemicals and other endpoints.     

好氧MBBR处理含吲哚废水的工艺优化试验研究

为了处理制药企业废水中吲哚类有机污染物,采用好氧MBBR(移动床生物膜反应器)工艺对含吲哚废水进行了试验研究,通过考察HRT、曝气量、吲哚冲击负荷等工艺条件对吲哚、COD和NH_4~+-N等去除效果的影响,确定了好氧MBBR反应器的最佳工艺条件。实验结果表明,在HRT在6~18 h变化时,MBBR工艺对吲哚去除率在8 h以上时达到100%,COD去除率在8 h达到89.65%,而NH_4~+-N去除率在12 h达到最高。在曝气量为0.1~0.12 m L/min时,MBBR工艺对COD和NH_4~+-N去除率分别为88.88%~92.95%和65%~66.83%。进水吲哚浓度25~65 mg/L变化时,好氧MBBR对吲哚去除率保持在100%,而对COD和NH_4~+-N去除率也保持在80%和40%以上,表明好氧MBBR工艺在处理难降解有机污染物方面具有显著优势。     

某钢铁企业颗粒物无组织排放核算与监测对比分析

以济南东部老工业区一家大型钢铁企业为例,通过前期调研和排放系数核算出颗粒物(TSP)排放总量,再运用公式计算出厂区周边不同距离颗粒物(TSP)的落地浓度。将该落地浓度与厂区周边颗粒物(TSP)的监测值进行对比分析,充分印证了连续点源扩散的高斯模式的准确性和可行性。随着气流经过该厂区,对比上下风向监测点位颗粒物(TSP)浓度迅速升高(增大1.04倍),下风向颗粒物(TSP)浓度超出二级标准1.32倍;颗粒物(TSP)的落地浓度在厂区不同距离上的浓度变化明显,从0.1到10 km其落地浓度稀释了约3 500倍,距离>4 km时,无组织排放的颗粒物(TSP)对周围空气质量直接影响有限。     

CHO cell cytotoxicity and genotoxicity analyses of disinfection by-products: An updated review

The disinfection of drinking water is an important public health service that generates high quality, safe and palatable tap water. The disinfection of drinking water to reduce waterborne disease was an outstanding public health achievement of the 20th century. An unintended consequence is the reaction of disinfectants with natural organic matter, anthropogenic contaminants and bromide/iodide to form disinfection by-products (DBPs). A large number of DBPs are cytotoxic, neurotoxic, mutagenic, genotoxic, carcinogenic and teratogenic. Epidemiological studies demonstrated low but significant associations between disinfected drinking water and adverse health effects. The distribution of DBPs in disinfected waters has been well defined by advances in high precision analytical chemistry. Progress in the analytical biology and toxicology of DBPs has been forthcoming. The objective of this review was to provide a detailed presentation of the methodology for the quantitative, comparative analyses on the induction of cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of 103 DBPs using an identical analytical biological platform and endpoints. A single Chinese hamster ovary cell line was employed in the assays. The data presented are derived from papers published in the literature as well as additional new data and represent the largest direct quantitative comparison on the toxic potency of both regulated and emerging DBPs. These data may form the foundation of novel research to define the major forcing agents of DBP-mediated toxicity in disinfected water and may play an important role in achieving the goal of making safe drinking water better.     

Effect of reclaimed water effluent on bacterial community structure in the Typha angustifolia L. rhizosphere soil of urbanized riverside wetland, China

In order to evaluate the impact of reclaimed water on the ecology of bacterial communities in the Typha angustifolia L. rhizosphere soil,bacterial community structure was investigated using a combination of terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism and 16S rRNA gene clone library. The results revealed significant spatial variation of bacterial communities along the river from upstream and downstream. For example,a higher relative abundance of γ-Proteobacteria,Firmicutes,Chloroflexi and a lower proportion ofβ-Proteobacteria and ε-Proteobacteria was detected at the downstream site compared to the upstream site. Additionally,with an increase of the reclaimed water interference intensity,the rhizosphere bacterial community showed a decrease in taxon richness,evenness and diversity. The relative abundance of bacteria closely related to the resistant of heavy-metal was markedly increased,while the bacteria related for carbon/nitrogen/phosphorus/sulfur cycling wasn't strikingly changed. Besides that,the pathogenic bacteria markedly increased in the downstream rhizosphere soil since reclaimed water supplement,while the possible plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria obviously reduced in the downstream sediment.Together these data suggest cause and effect between reclaimed water input into the wetland,shift in bacterial communities through habitat change,and alteration of capacity for biogeochemical cycling of contaminants.     

In-situ synthesis of TiO2 rutile/anatase heterostructure by DC magnetron sputtering at room temperature and thickness effect of outermost rutile layer on photocatalysis

TiO_2 rutile/anatase heterostructure thin films with varying rutile thickness have been in-situ synthesized via DC magnetron sputtering with Ar gas at room temperature. The crystal texture, surface morphology, energy gap and optical properties of the films have been investigated by X-ray diffraction meter, grazing incidence X-ray diffraction meter, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and UV–visible spectrophotometer, which indicates that the rutile/anatase heterostructure films are successfully fabricated. The further degradation experiments display that the photocatalytic activity can be dramatically affected by the thickness of the outmost rutile layer and the 100 nm thickness exhibits the best performance in all of the TiO_2 thin films. With the increase of the outmost rutile layer, the optical band gap of TiO_2 film displays a systematic decrease slightly. However,the change in photocatalytic activity does not coincide with that in the band gap. The photoresponse and electrochemical properties of the thin films have been characterized to understand the mechanism of the varied photocatalytic activity.     

Tissue distribution of perfluoroalkyl acids and health status in wild Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) from Loskop Dam, Mpumalanga, South Africa

This study examined concentrations of 15 perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in tissues from male Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) collected at Loskop Dam, Mpumalanga, South Africa in 2014 and 2016. Nine of the 15 PFAAs were detected frequently and were included in statistical analysis and included two of the most commonly known PFAAs, perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) (median, 41.6 ng/g) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) (median, 0.0825 ng/g). Of the tissues measured, plasma (2016 and 2014 median, 22.2 ng/g) contained the highest PFAA burden followed by (in descending order): liver (median, 11.6 ng/g), kidney (median, 9.04 ng/g), spleen (median, 5.92 ng/g), adipose (median, 2.54 ng/g), and muscle (median, 1.11 ng/g). Loskop Dam tilapia have been affected by an inflammatory disease of the adipose tissue known as pansteatitis, so this study also aimed to investigate relationships between PFAA tissue concentrations and incidence of pansteatitis or fish health status. Results revealed that healthy tilapia exhibited an overall higher (p-value < 0.05) PFAA burden than pansteatitis-affected tilapia across all tissues. Further analysis showed that organs previously noted in the literature to contain the highest PFAA concentrations, such as kidney, liver, and plasma, were the organs driving the difference in PFAA burden between the two tilapia groups. Care must be taken in the interpretations we draw from not only the results of our study, but also other PFAA measurements made on populations (human and wildlife alike) under differing health status.