Semiconductor industry requires ultrapure chemicals to manufacture microelectronic devices. Hydrogen peroxide is one of the most demanded chemical by the semiconductor industry and ultrapurification processes are needed to achieve the electronic grade requirements for this chemical. Among all the ultrapurification alternatives, reverse osmosis emerges as the most desirable option according to environmentally friendly criteria. Through modelling based on membrane transport equations and mass balances, different integrated reverse osmosis membrane cascades have been previously optimized. All the optimal solutions were characterized by the maximum allowed values for the applied pressures in the reverse osmosis stages, corresponding to the highest energy consumption and the lowest energy productivity (expressed as economic profit of the process for each unit of energy consumed). In this work, the energy productivity of the process was maximized and the optimal operation conditions were those with minimum applied pressures. However, under those conditions the membrane area required increased and the membrane productivity (expressed as economic profit of the process for each unit of membrane area employed) decreased. Therefore, multi-objective optimization was formulated to maximize simultaneously the productivities of both resources (energy and membranes).

Peatland testate amoebae are widely used to reconstruct paleohydrological/climatic changes, but many species are also known to respond to pollutants. Peatlands around the world have been exposed to anthropogenic and intermittent natural pollution through the late Holocene. This raises the question: can pollution lead to changes in the testate amoeba paleoecological record that could be erroneously interpreted as a climatic change? To address this issue we applied testate amoeba transfer functions to the results of experiments adding pollutants (N, P, S, Pb, O3) to peatlands and similar ecosystems. We found a significant effect in only one case, an experiment in which N and P were added, suggesting that pollution-induced biases are limited. However, we caution researchers to be aware of this possibility when interpreting paleoecological records. Studies characterising the paleoecological response to pollution allow pollution impacts to be tracked and distinguished from climate change.

In the year 2010 more than 24 Mt and 5 Mt of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) were generated in Spain and Portugal. Landfilling, incineration and recycling are the most common treatments. In 2010, in the Iberian Peninsula between 58-6 2 % of the MSW generated was sent to the landfill, 9-19 % was incinerated and the rest was recycled and composting (EUROSTAT, 2010). Despite landfilling is still the most common practice, waste treatment by means of an incineration process has increased. The main advantages of this type of waste treatment are the reduction of mass and volume of residues and the energy recovery. Nevertheless, incineration had gained a bad reputation owing to the environmental impact, in particular, due to the emissions of acid gases, dioxins and furans (PCDD/F) and greenhouse gases. To assess the environmental advantages and disadvantages as well as the potential environmental impacts of waste incineration a life cycle perspective is required. Within this framework is the development of FENIX-Giving Packaging a New Life, a 3-year European LIFE+ funded project. This work is just the first step within this project where a database and a model based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to assess the environmental impacts of waste incineration in Spain and Portugal will be developed. Particularly, the aim of this paper is to review the different technologies applied to MSW solid waste incineration and to carry out both the diagnosis of the current situation at the incineration plants in Spain and Portugal and to collect data to develop the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI).

Desulfurant sorbents prepared by hydration, in sea or distilled water, of calcined sewage sludge (ash) and CaO at CaO/ash weight ratios of 0.2 or 3 at room temperature or at 90 º C, were characterized by X-ray diffraction in order to relate the X-ray composition of the sorbents to the preparation process and to the specific surface area of the obtained sorbents. Results show that the main compounds detected in the sludge´s ash are the same than those found in bibliography for the calcined sludge. In all the sorbents, independently of the preparation conditions, Ca(OH)2 was found instead of CaO used as raw material. New and different crystalline products were found in the sorbents depending on the preparation conditions. All the sorbents prepared in seawater contain NaCl in their composition; the specific surface area of the sorbents increased with hydration time and temperature and was lower when seawater was used for hydration. | We are thankful to MICINN in Spain, National Plan for scientific Research, Development and innovation, for financial support under Project: MAT2010-18862.

According to European Directive and national regulations in Spain, techniques based on thermal decomposition are proposed for the sewage sludge disposal. In this work, the sludge from the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) of Casar de Periedo, in Cantabria (Spain) is studied by Thermogravimetry – Differential Scanning Calorimetry – Mass Spectrometry (TG –DSC – MS). A sample of this sludge was submitted, after drying, to different atmospheres: 100 % He, N2 /air or He/air 80/20 and 100 % air, from 20 to 900 ºC, to study primary decomposition reactions in pyrolysis, gasification and combustion respectively. The purpose was to determine the weight loss at different temperatures, the heat flow at each atmosphere and the presence of some gas products like H2, CO, CO2, CH4, or HCl, SO2, SO3, NO and NO2 released, these last five gases to know the contaminants emitted. Combustion conditions (air) rend the greatest mass loss and energy production. Reactions take place at lower temperatures, being mainly CO2 and H2O the products detected in MS, with little amounts of CH4, as it is expected for mainly total oxidation reactions. In gasification conditions, essayed with two atmospheres (N2-air and He-air), quantitative results found are similar, but the highest thermal conductivity of He produces exothermic reactions at lower temperatures, observed in the mass loss and heat flow profiles. From reactions of decomposition, partial oxidation and total oxidation, CO2, H2, H2O and CH4, were identified by MS. Pyrolysis conditions (He) produce the lowest mass loss and slightly endothermic reactions, mainly because of decomposition reactions. Higher H2 amounts were obtained at higher temperatures than in gasification conditions. No gas contaminant (HCl, SO2, SO3, NO and NO2) has been detected by MS, considering this sewage sludge as a “clean sludge”. Comparing the thermal behaviour of the sewage sludge of this plant to that obtained in the WWTP of Santander, the sludge from Casar de Periedo is more appropriated to thermal valorization. | We are thankful to MICINN in Spain, National Plan for scientific Research, Development and innovation, for financial support under Project: MAT2010-18862.

L’identification des zones des bassins versants, potentiellement contributrices en contaminants d’origine agricole, est effectuée par une modélisation spatiale (méthode PIXAL) en croisant des indicateurs spatialisés de la vulnérabilité des eaux de surface avec ceux de la pression agricole. Ces indicateurs qui traduisent les facteurs de risque sont choisis d’abord suivant leur pertinence à l’égard des milieux sur les espaces géographiques considérés, mais aussi suivant la disponibilité des données nécessaires en ce qui concerne l’évaluation de la vulnérabilité des eaux de surface. Les pressions anthropiques d’origine agricole résultent du croisement entre l’occupation du sol et les pratiques agricoles pour une campagne donnée. L’occupation du sol est obtenue soit à partir d’images satellitales pour les grands bassins versants tels que Save, Flumen, soit à partir des données parcellaires du SIG-PAC pour les petits bassins tels qu’Alegria, Enxoe.

The efficiency of the photocatalytic degradation of the herbicide quinmerac in aqueous TiO2 suspensions was examined as a function of the type of light source, TiO2 loading, pH, temperature, electron acceptors, and hydroxyl radical (.OH) scavenger. The optimum loading of catalyst was found to be 0.25 mg mL−1 under UV light at pH 7.2, with the apparent activation energy of the reaction being 13.7 kJ mol−1. In the first stage of the reaction, the photocatalytic degradation of quinmerac (50 μM) followed approximately a pseudo-first order kinetics. The most efficient electron acceptor appeared to be H2O2 along with molecular oxygen. By studying the effect of ethanol as an .OH scavenger, it was shown that the heterogeneous catalysis takes place mainly via .OH. The results also showed that the disappearance of quinmerac led to the formation of a number of organic intermediates and ionic byproducts, whereas its complete mineralization occurred in about 120 min. The reaction intermediates (7-chloro-3-methylquinoline-5,8-dione, three isomeric phenols hydroxy-7-chloro-3-methylquinoline-8-carboxylic acids, and 7-chloro-3-(hydroxymethyl)quinoline-8-carboxylic acid) were identified and the kinetics of their appearance/disappearance was followed by LC–ESI–MS/MS. Tentative photodegradation pathways were proposed and discussed. The study also encompassed the effect of quality of natural water on the rate of removal of quinmerac.

Water monitoring results of the Danjiangkou Reservoir indicated that total nitrogen and total phosphorus concentrations are high and therefore worse than required for central drinking water supplies. Nutrients including nitrogen and phosphorus accumulated in the bank cultivated land were greater than those contained within the river estuary sediment as well as in the reservoir bay sediment. This implies that high concentrations of loosely exchangeable phosphorus (166.53 mg/kg) in cultivated land could, after the completion of the dam heightening project, easily lead to the development of algal blooms. Serious water and soil loss occurring in the reservoir area will promote the transportation of non-point source pollution mainly caused by untreated agricultural domestic wastewater, chemical fertilizer and livestock farming, which accounted for more than 50% of the total basin’s nutrient input loads. Ecological control techniques were therefore the first choice for nutrient reduction and water quality guarantee in the Danjiangkou Reservoir. In order to guide the ecological restoration process, leading international ecological methodologies were summarized and compared, taking into consideration aspects of engineering, as well as ecological, biological, environmental and economic advantages and disadvantages. Finally, novel ecological filtration and a purification dam were designed for eutrophication control.

Solution pH is among the most important parameters that influence heavy metal biosorption. This work presents a kinetic study of the effects of pH on chromium biosorption onto Cupressus lusitanica Mill bark from aqueous Cr(VI) or Cr(III) solutions and proposes a mechanism of adsorption. At all assayed contact times, the optimum pH for chromium biosorption from the Cr(III) solution was 5.0; in contrast, optimum pH for chromium biosorption from the Cr(VI) solution varied depending on contact time. The kinetic models that satisfactorily described the chromium biosorption processes from the Cr(III) and Cr(VI) solutions were the Elovich and pseudo second-order models, respectively. Diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy studies suggest that phenolic compounds present on C. lusitanica Mill bark play an important role in chromium biosorption from the Cr(III) solution. On the other hand, chromium biosorption from the Cr(VI) solution involved carboxyl groups produced on the bark by redox reactions between oxygen-containing groups and Cr(VI), and these were in turn responsible for the biosorption of Cr(III) produced by Cr(VI) reduction.

The Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge) developed throughout millennia as a system with waters low in nutrients. Today, the Refuge wetlands are impacted by inflows containing elevated nutrient concentrations originating from agricultural sources. Surface water samples were collected monthly at 48 marsh and five canal sites from June, 2004 through May, 2011 and analyzed water quality trends by sampling perimeter, transition, and the interior zones based on distance from the canal towards the Refuge interior. Nutrient, inorganic ion, and C concentrations generally decreased with distance from the canal to the Refuge interior. These water quality parameters also decreased from the canal to the Refuge interior, but less sharply. This finding suggests that there has been less canal water intrusion into the Refuge during the sampling period. The origin of the high Ca and Cl concentrations in canal water is most likely from intrusion of connate seawater into the canal. The reason for the improved water quality from June, 2004 to June 2011 can be attributed to an improved STA1-East performance since 2005. Additionally, canal water that originally by-passed treatment in STA1-East and STA1-West, and flowed into the L-7 canal through the S-6 pump, is now diverted farther south into STA2 for treatment.