Remediation of drinking water contaminated with arsenic by the electro-removal process using different metal electrodes

The purification of water by the electro-removal process using different metal electrodes is widely used in different spheres of science and industry. The comparative characteristics under galvanostatic conditions of zinc (Zn), brass (Cu-Zn), copper (Cu) and iron (Fe) anodes for arsenic (As) removal from water by the electro-removal process in laboratory scale experiments were determined at current densities of 1.5, 3 and 12 mA cm(-2) for 60 min, from a solution containing different concentrations of As(v) (from 70 to 130 microg L(-1)). The results at these different current densities indicated that rapid arsenic removal was achieved at higher current densities (12 mA cm(-2)), with the chemical precipitation of arsenate complexes. The removal of As was relatively efficient, with the following tendency (at 1.5 mA cm(-2)): Fe (>93%) congruent with Zn (>93%) > Cu-Zn (>73%) >Cu (>67%), these efficiencies were relatively independent of the removal rate for all the initial arsenic concentrations investigated. This behaviour is attributed to the electrochemical intrinsic properties of the most active metals, and to the chemical precipitation reactions following the electrochemical process, iron being the most attractive metal for arsenic removal for practical applications.     

Heavy metal enrichment in surface sediments from the SW Gulf of Mexico

The south west coastal zone in the Gulf of Mexico is an area with great industrial and agricultural development, which experiences intensive prospecting and extraction of hydrocarbons. After running through industrial, agricultural, and urban areas, waters from both the Jamapa River and La Antigua River arrive here. The rivers’ discharge areas of influence were estimated considering the textural and chemical composition of the supplied sediments. The main factors that determine sediment distribution were mineralogy, heavy minerals, carbonates, and anthropic contributions. The presence of metals in excess was evaluated using various pollution indicators, such as the enrichment factor, contamination factor, modified contamination factor, and geo-accumulation indexes. Data from different used contamination indexes show metal enrichments in As, Cu, Zn, Co, Cr, and V in La Antigua; As, Cu, and Cr in Jamapa; and As, Zn, and Pb in the Continental slope area. The adverse effects of metals on aquatic organisms were assessed using sediment quality guidelines that show Ni, As, Cu, and Cr may produce adverse effects on coastal areas. There was no evidence of contamination associated to the oil industry.     

Kinetic of formation for single carbon dioxide and mixed carbon dioxide and tetrahydrofuran hydrates in water and sodium chloride aqueous solution

A laboratory-scale reactor system is built and operated to measure the kinetic of formation for single and mixed carbon dioxide–tetrahydrofuran hydrates. The T-cycle method, which is used to collect the kinetic data, is briefly discussed. For single carbon dioxide hydrate, the induction time decreases with the increase of the initial carbon dioxide pressure up to 2.96 MPa. Beyond this pressure, the induction time is becoming relatively constant with the increase of initial carbon dioxide pressure indicating that the liquid phase is completely supersaturated with carbon dioxide. Experimental results show that the inclusion of tetrahydrofuran reduces the induction time required for hydrate formation. These observations indicate hydrate nucleation process and onset growth are more readily to occur in the presence of tetrahydrofuran. In contrast, the presence of sodium chloride prolongs the induction time due to clustering of water molecules with the ions and the salting-out effects. It is also shown that the degree of subcooling required for hydrate formation is affected by the presence of tetrahydrofuran and sodium chloride in the hydrate forming system. The presence of tetrahydrofuran in the hydrate system significantly reduces the amount of carbon dioxide uptake. The apparent rate constant, k, for those systems are reported.     

A study of heavy metals and their fate in the composting of tannery sludge

Tannery waste is categorized as toxic and hazardous in Malaysia due to its high content of Cr (in excess of 500 mg/kg) and other heavy metals. Heavy metals, when in high enough concentrations, have the potential to be both phytotoxic and zootoxic. Heavy metals are found as contaminants in tannery sludge. This investigation aimed to identify the fate of chromium, cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc concentrations in tannery sludge throughout a 50-day composting cycle. The results of this study showed a general increase in the removal of Cr, Cd, Pb, and to a much smaller extent Zn and Cu, manifested by a decrease in their overall concentrations within the solid fraction of the final product (the decreases were likely the result of leaching). Furthermore, in using a sequential extraction method for sludge composting at different phases of treatment, a large proportion of the heavy metals were found to be associated to the residual fraction (70-80%) and fractions more resistant to extraction, X-NaOH, X-EDTA, X-HNO3 (12-29%). Less than 2% of the metals were bound to bioavailable fractions X-(KNO3+H2O).     

Reproductive plasticity in mole crabs, Emerita brasiliensis, in sandy beaches with contrasting morphodynamics

Ovarian macroscopical analysis, histological validation and field sampling procedures were used to evaluate the variability in reproductive traits of the mole crab Emerita brasiliensis Schmitt, 1935 (Decapoda: Hippidae) in two exposed sandy beaches of Uruguay with contrasting morphodynamics. All developmental stages involved in the complex life cycle exhibited lower abundance, individual size and temporal occurrence in a harsh reflective beach, compared with a more benign dissipative environment. In addition, this population showed more compressed events of the reproductive cycle (e.g oogenesis, encounter of potential mate and female parental care) and recruitment period. However, the beginning of the vitellogenesis, ovary maturity, male sexual differentiation and ending of spermatogenesis occurred at smaller sizes under dissipative conditions. These results disagree with the recent findings of delayed sexual maturity in dissipative beaches. We postulate that, in dissipative conditions, high food availability might allow an overlapping of reproductive and moulting processes, and thus females may reach optimum size and sexual maturity with fewer moults than in reflective beaches. Hence, reproductive responses must be considered not only in relation to environmental harshness, but also in the context of life history traits and their phylogenetic and allometric constraints. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Laboratory scale analysis of the influence of different heat transfer mechanisms on liquid nitrogen vaporization rate

The prediction of the potential hazards associated to accidental liquefied natural gas (LNG) spills has motivated a number of different studies including experimental and numerical approaches. Most of these studies focus on dispersion predictions, however there is limited information regarding source term of it: liquid spill and vaporization. There is a need of further improvements on the understanding of these phenomena and the quantification of the most important parameters that can affect them.The vaporization of cryogenic liquids is governed by the heat transfer phenomena including conduction, convection and thermal radiation mechanisms. The present work investigates the contribution of each of these heat transfer modes to the vaporization rate of cryogenic liquid nitrogen (LN₂) contained in a Dewar flask using well controlled and instrumented laboratory scale experiments. LN₂ vaporization rate was measured with individually controllable contributions from convective (generated by an electric fan) and thermal radiative (generated by light bulb) heat transfer in the presence of a baseline conductive heat transfer rate.In both cases of convection and radiation analysis the experimental study showed that they can play a significant role in the vaporization rate of LN₂. It was observed that the radiative heat absorbed by the LN₂ during the vaporization experiment represents only 50%–65% of the incident radiation that would reach the LN₂ pool surface if no vapour was present. Convective heat transfer generated by the fan was shown to have had the most significant contribution to the total heat transfer. As expected, this contribution was significantly higher than the one from bulb radiation. The experimental data also showed that the liquid level in the Dewar play a key role in the resulting amount of convective heat transfer. This could be attributed to the fact that lower liquid level the side walls of the Dewar were high enough to hold a layer of vapour and limit air motion directly above the liquid surface, thus limiting the heat transfer by convection.     

A conceptual framework for understanding illegal killing of large carnivores

The growing complexity and global nature of wildlife poaching threaten the survival of many species worldwide and are outpacing conservation efforts. Here, we reviewed proximal and distal factors, both social and ecological, driving illegal killing or poaching of large carnivores at sites where it can potentially occur. Through this review, we developed a conceptual social–ecological system framework that ties together many of the factors influencing large carnivore poaching. Unlike most conservation action models, an important attribute of our framework is the integration of multiple factors related to both human motivations and animal vulnerability into feedbacks. We apply our framework to two case studies, tigers in Laos and wolverines in northern Sweden, to demonstrate its utility in disentangling some of the complex features of carnivore poaching that may have hindered effective responses to the current poaching crisis. Our framework offers a common platform to help guide future research on wildlife poaching feedbacks, which has hitherto been lacking, in order to effectively inform policy making and enforcement.     

Supplementation with selenium nanoparticles alleviates diabetic nephropathy during pregnancy in the diabetic female rats

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The bioactivity of nanoparticles has engendered a promise in scientific communities for developing novel therapeutic strategies. This study...