Trees can be used as good indicators to evaluate the increase in atmospheric heavy metal concentrations. In the last two decades, air pollution in the city of Ankara has rapidly increased with the ever-increasing traffic density. In the present study, the depositions of aluminum (Al), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), chrome (Cr), cadmium (Cd), sodium (Na), calcium (Ca), barium (Ba), phosphor (P), magnesium (Mg), arsenic (As), and boron (B) in the rings of oak trees were analyzed using a GBC Integra XL–SDS-270 ICP-OES device. The study found that heavy metal concentrations in tree rings varied over the past 20 years; furthermore, there was a significant relationship between the heavy metal concentrations in tree rings and the atmospheric heavy metal concentrations. There was an increase in the concentrations of nutritional elements (Na, P, and Mg) in 2010 when there was excessive precipitation. As a result, the concentrations of all elements in the woods of different ages were significantly different at a confidence interval of 95% for As, 99% for Cd, and 99.9% for other elements.

Biochar is frequently applied for the reduction of mercury (Hg) migration in soil; however, most of the studies only focused on the adsorption capacity evaluation of fresh biochar. We investigated the Hg adsorption capacities of biochar prepared from wheat straw, corn straw, and sunflower seed shells. Biochar aging was simulated via natural aging, high-temperature aging, and freeze-thaw aging. The adsorption capacities of all the aged biochar were increased, and wheat straw biochar and seed shells biochar treated with high-temperature aging (wBC-Ha500 and sBC-Ha600) and corn straw biochar treated with freeze-thaw aging (cBC-Fta500) showed an observable improvement on the equilibrium adsorption amounts. The kinetics of the fresh biochar samples fitted the pseudo-first-order kinetic model and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, while the kinetics of the aged biochar samples fitted the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Biochar adsorption capacity increased with higher initial concentrations and increasing temperatures. Elemental analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) spectra, cation-exchange capacity (CEC), surface area (SA), zeta potential, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed that the aging mechanism consisted of hydroxylation and carboxylation caused by the functional groups on the biochar surface. According to the different climatic zones in China, wheat straw biochar and seed shell biochar are suitable for the tropical zone and the subtropical zone, while corn straw biochar is more suitable for the cold and the mid-temperate zones.

This work comprises results of the laboratory tests on formation and potential release of contaminants from underground gasification of lignites. Four large scale and multi-day trials were carried out using ex-situ gasification facilities. Two different kinds of lignite were tested, i.e. Velenje lignite (Slovenia) and Oltenia lignite (Romania). Gasification tests were conducted in the artificial coal seams under two distinct pressure regimes—atmospheric and high pressure regime (35 bar and 10 bar for the Velenje and Oltenia samples respectively). The UCG wastewater samples were periodically collected from the gas purification module to measure the rate of the wastewater and contaminants production at each phase of the experiment and to assess the effect of gasification pressure and lignite physicochemical properties. The group of target contaminants included: phenols, aromatic hydrocarbons, and some non-specific water parameters. The effect of gasification pressure was confirmed, especially for BTEX and phenols and significant drops in the contents of these compounds were observed at elevated pressures. The effect of pressure was more pronounced for the geologically older coal (Velenje), i.e. drop in the average concentrations from 1994 μg/l (atmospheric) to 804 μg/l (35 bar) and from 733 mg/l (atmospheric) to 17 mg/l (35 bar) for BTEX and total phenols, respectively. The differences in the macromolecular structure and ash content of the both coals were found to be the main reason behind the differences in the contents of organic and inorganic species respectively. The study also shown that composition of UCG wastewaters significantly varied over the time of the particular experiments, which reflected changes in the gasification thermodynamic conditions and development of oxidation and pyrolysis zones. During the atmospheric gasification experiments, the values of BTEX for the Velenje lignite dropped from 3434 μg/l to 1364 μg/l and for the Oltenia lignite from 1833 μg/l to 978 μg/l. A similar downward trend in the concentrations of BTEX was observed for the pressurized experiments. For the Velenje trial a drop from 1111.6 μg/l to 211.2 μg/l and for the Oltenia - from 1695 μg/l to 688 μg/l was observed. Concentrations of phenolic compounds during the atmospheric gasification experiments varied significantly during both atmospheric trials and no significant trends were noticed.

The brewing industry is an important sector in the world economy, and its production process generates a large amount of wastewater. It is essential the proper treatment of this wastewater and a significant amount of biomass may be recovered by coagulation/flocculation process. When using vegetable tannin as an organic flocculant, biomass can be used in the preparation of organic fertilizer, unlike what would occur if a metal base flocculant was used, some of which are considered to be toxic. This work presents a study on the use of vegetable tannin as flocculant agent (Tanfloc SL) for the treatment of brewery wastewater, which also contains microalgae originated from an aerated pond of a local brewery industry. Experiments of coagulation/flocculation and sedimentation were carried out using jar test equipment. A sequential 2² factorial design and two-factor Doehlert design were used to determine the optimum levels of pH and tannin concentration for turbidity and apparent color removals from the wastewater. The higher efficiency results in the biomass separation were obtained by employing 0.23 mL L⁻¹ of vegetable tannin at pH = 4.9, resulting in the substantial removal of approximately 99% of turbidity and apparent color. The removals of biomass and nutrient components were also evaluated: N-NH⁴⁺ (80.8%), N-NO₂- (83.6%), N-NO₃ (56.9%), total phosphorus (82.3%), orthophosphate (76.2%), COD (96.5%), BOD (69.4%), and total solids (40.8%). The Tanfloc SL showed to be efficient in flocculation of the brewery effluent, allowing the reuse of water in industry and the recovered biomass material containing nutrients in agriculture.

Sustainable development has by now become an element deeply integrated in the everyday design. It has many shades and may be found under many names. We speak about resiliency in design and procurement of passive, ecologic, plus energy, or nZEB buildings. Nevertheless, if we look closely, we may distinguish certain characteristic ideas. First, sustainable development of societies and urbanization processes should be consistent on a deeper level than presently, and be included within design processes, organization, and planning, as well as modernization and redevelopment procedures of existing urban tissue. Secondly, urbanization should be perceived holistically, as an interaction and harmonious development of both natural and manmade environments, with solutions based on the best technical and technological standards available. Lastly, described ideas are achievable only, if we include continuous cooperation between urban planners, architects, specialist consultants, as well as energy-efficient interdisciplinary solutions to achieve high standard energy measures. One of the thresholds is economic feasibility; the other is health and well-being of the users which should always be discussed as a priority. This paper—outside a brief theoretical approach to initial procedures in design management—will dwell on transformation and modernization of an existing building belonging to the Warsaw University of Technology, one of the oldest universities in Poland, its founding dating back to the beginning of the twentieth century. In 2015, a Nordic Finance Mechanism grant dedicated to the nZEB technology transfer from Norway to Poland was awarded to a group of researchers from Warsaw University of Technology and NTNU Trondheim. The main aim of the project is implementation of nZEB knowledge in Poland, as well as preparation of two integrated concept designs for public (University) buildings as exemplary case studies which could act as the benchmarks for other public buildings.

The study investigated species composition and polysaccharides, proteins, and eDNA content in EPS fractions (soluble, Sol-EPS; loosely bound, LB-EPS; tightly bound, TB-EPS) in nitrifying aerobic granules from reactor operated at a high load of nitrogen 0.5 kg TKN/(m³ × day). In the study, polysaccharides predominated in Sol-EPS, whereas proteins were the main component of bound EPS. eDNA was only detectable in TB-EPS. In Sol-EPS, eDNA originating from Pseudomonales predominated; species belonging to Pseudomonales produce glue-like polysaccharides that enable surface colonization. In all EPS fractions, high abundance of Acinetobacter sp. was noted. In TB-EPS, Thauera sp. was present in high abundance (25.6%) that produce polymers ensuring compact granule structure and that participate in many key metabolic processes for nitrogen conversions in wastewater treatment plants such as heterotrophic nitrification or denitrification. The study indicates that each EPS fraction in aerobic granules represents micro-environment facilitating the growth of species that produce a component of EPS with function essential for surrounding cells.

In this paper, nanosized titanium dioxide as catalysts for degrading dye wastewater was in situ synthesized on the surface of cotton fabrics used tetrabutyl titanate as precursor. The morphology and structure of prepared catalysts were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectrometer, and X-ray diffraction. The characterization results showed that anatase nanosized titanium dioxide was successfully synthesized in situ on cotton fabrics and had excellent dispersibility. Subsequently, the effects of irradiation time, catalyst dosage, dye concentration, initial pH value of dye, hydrogen peroxide dosage, and dye type on dye degradation rate were investigated one by one by a photocatalytic performance test. The test results indicated that the degradation rates of methylene blue, methyl orange, and rhodamine B were 90.4%, 81.4%, and 58.3%, separately, at catalyst dosage of 4.8 g/L, initial dye concentration of 10 mg/L, pH of 7, and hydrogen peroxide dosage of 0.24 mol/L, after 4 h of UV irradiation.

Agriculture intensification and the use of pesticides have led to biodiversity loss due to soil toxic compounds. Thus, soil contamination studies are important to understand the negative effects in the physicochemical interactions. The use of biomarkers through bioindicators is a useful tool for assessing toxicity in agricultural environments complemented with the determination of pesticides. The objectives of this study were to determine the presence of organochlorine (OCPs) and organophosphate (OPPs) pesticides and the soil’s potential toxicity in agricultural fields with different crops from the center of Quintana Roo State, using a set of enzymatic biomarkers (BMs), such as acetylcholinesterase (AChE), glutathione-S-Transferase (GST), and catalase (CAT) on earthworms (Eisenia fetida). Earthworms were exposed for 96 h on nine different agricultural soils as well as on a reference soil from a conservation area. Within all samples of soils, only OCPs were detected in low concentrations (ranged from non-detected to 1.40 ppm). However, no correlation was observed between these pesticides and the BMs activity. AChE and CAT activity was significantly inhibited in at least one agricultural soil if compared to the conservation area, while no significant differences of GST were observed. The AChE activity observed suggests the presence of anticholinergic substances (that were neither detected nor determined analytically) in the sampled soils. The characterization of oxidative stress BMs was not correlated with the OCPs analyzed. Our results demonstrate that further studies of toxicity under field conditions are required, given the complexity of environmental conditions outside the laboratory.

Full-scale application of heterogeneous photocatalysis for industrial wastewater treatment remains a challenge because of the complex nature of these matrices and the potential to form toxic by-products during treatment. A recent unsuccessful attempt to find adequate conditions for TiO₂/UV treatment of a cotton dyeing textile mill led to this study on the treatability of mixtures of the dyes used in the greatest amounts at the mill and therefore most likely to be present in mill effluent. Four reactive and three vat dyes were mixed in different combinations and treated (10 mg/L of each dye, 0.5 mg/L TiO₂, pH 4) to evaluate the influence of the different dyes on ADMI color, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and acute toxicity. While ADMI color removal was similar in all dye mixtures, COD removal was higher when vat dyes were absent. When treated individually, vat dyes exhibited greater recalcitrance, with no ADMI color removal and COD removals of less than 30%. Toxicity to Daphnia similis was decreased or eliminated from dye mixtures that exhibited the highest COD removals and corresponded to those in which reactive dyes were partially degraded. For raw textile mill effluent, photocatalysis reduced but did not eliminate treated effluent toxicity (EC50 = 26.8%).

The heavy metal Cd(II) in wastewater is highly toxic to organisms and must be removed. In this work, an efficient Cd(II) adsorbent consisting of ground calcium carbonate (GCC) and nano-TiO₂ (GCC/TiO₂) was harvested through a facile two-step strategy. Firstly, GCC was immersed in titanium sol which prepared from titanium butoxide to form the precursor. Secondly, GCC/TiO₂ was obtained via hydrothermal reaction and the optimal hydrothermal condition was determined to be pH of 3, temperature of 200 °C and reaction time of 12 h. The removal of Cd(II) from aqueous solution by adsorbents under different hydrothermal conditions and adsorption experiments was studied by means of SEM, FT-IR, XPS, and ICP. The maximum Cd(II) removal capacity was approximately 124.07 mg/g at 25 °C and the adsorption equilibrium was attained in only 8 min (at 100 mg/g initial Cd(II) concentration, 0.8 g/L adsorbent dosage, and an initial Cd(II) solution pH of 5). Furthermore, the Cd(II) removal capacity of GCC/TiO₂ was significantly higher than that of isolated GCC and TiO₂ and exhibited an excellent self-settlement property, which is beneficial for adsorbent separation in practical applications. The Cd(II) removal mechanisms include ion-exchange reaction between Cd(II) and the Ca²⁺ ions on the GCC/TiO₂ surface and electrostatic attraction. Moreover, the GCC/TiO₂ adsorbent could be regenerated by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt and exhibited a high reusability. The adsorption data could be well fitted by the Langmuir model, and the adsorption kinetic follows the pseudo-second-order model indicating that the removal processes are controlled by the chemisorption mechanism.