The degradation of total oil and grease (TOG) in crude oil-contaminated soil in the presence of Cyperus brevifolius (Rottb.) Hassk was investigated in a net house study. C. brevifolius plants were transplanted in to spiked soil containing 8% (w/w) crude oil. The capability of plant for enhancing the biodegradation process was tested in pots containing fertilized and unfertilized soil over a 360-day period. Analysis of the degradation of hydrocarbon contaminants, plant growth, and biomass was conducted at 60-day interval. In the presence of contaminants, plant biomass and height were significantly reduced. The specific root surface area was reduced under the effects of crude oil. Concerning TOG content in soil, C. brevifolius could decrease up to 86.2% in TA (crude oil-contaminated soil with fertilizer) and 61.2% in TC (crude oil-contaminated soil without fertilizer). In the unvegetated pots, the reduction of TOG was 13.7% in TB (crude oil-contaminated soil with fertilizer) and 12.5% in TD (crude oil-contaminated soil without fertilizer). However, biodegradation was significantly more in vegetated pots than in unvegetated pots (p = 0.05). The addition of fertilizer had positive effect on TOG degradation in the presence of C. brevifolius compared to the unfertilized treatments. Thus, there was evidence of C. brevifolius enhancing the biodegradation of crude oil in soil under the conditions of this experiment.

The aim of this work has been to analyze the effects of a bioemulsificant exopolysaccharide (EPS₂₀₀₃) on the abundance and vitality of natural marine microbial population. Harbor seawater microcosms, supplemented with bioemulsificant EPS₂₀₀₃ (at different concentrations), were monitored over 20 days. The microbial community dynamic was analyzed by measurement of bacterial density (total and cultivable count) and vitality (live/dead count and total RNA amount). The results obtained show that addition of bioemulsificant (also at different concentrations), as sole carbon source, supported growth of the indigenous bacterial populations and revealed that this substance is optimal for use in the participations of recovery of environment polluted from oil. In comparison, an analysis with commercial dispersant was also carried out.

The separation on microchip provides the advantages including high efficiency, increased throughput, reduced quantities of hazardous materials, cost saving, relatively facile instrumentation, improved portability, etc. A technique of micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) coupled with amperometric detection has been actualized on a polydimethylsiloxane microchip for the rapid separation and determination of three phenolic xenoestrogens as octylphenol (OP), 4-nonylphenol (4-NP), and bisphenol A (BPA). The baseline separation of these phenolic xenoestrogens is successfully obtained within 55 s under the optimized MEKC conditions with borate running buffer of pH 8.0 containing sodium dodecyl sulfate and β-cyclodextrin. The linear range for OP, 4-NP, and BPA are 20–1,000, 15–1,000, and 20–1,000 μg/L with the detection limit of 5.0, 4.0, and 3.0 μg/L, respectively. The present method is successfully applied for the determination of these phenolic xenoestrogens in some industrial wastewater samples from mainland of China with the recoveries ranged from 90.2 to 109.4 %.

A low-cost carbon black has been used as an adsorbent for the removal of trimethoprim (TMP) from aqueous solution. The kinetic and equilibrium aspects of the adsorption of TMP by this adsorbent were studied. The influence of different operation conditions, namely temperature (20–40 °C), pH (4–8), and ionic strength (0.001–0.1 M) on the removal efficiency of TMP by the adsorbent has been analyzed by applying a statistical design of experiments. Response surface methodology technique was used to optimize TMP removal. Temperature resulted to be the main variable influencing TMP removal, followed by pH. Analysis of variance test reported significance for three of the nine involved variables. An optimum TMP removal was found at pH 9.2, at a temperature of 47 °C and with a value of ionic strength equal to 0.48 M. Under these conditions, a maximum value of removal efficiency equal to 156.2 mg of TMP per gram of adsorbent was attained.

This study aimed at evaluating and comparing the removal of arsenic from solutions by a low-cost waste-based sorbent, produced by pyrolysing sewage sludge under appropriate conditions, and by a commercially activated carbon. Batch sorption experiments were performed under isothermal conditions (20°C), in order to evaluate the effect of pH on the arsenic sorption kinetics and on the equilibrium sorption capacity of the materials under study. Kinetic data revealed that the arsenic sorption was faster onto the activated carbon than onto the pyrolysed sludge. The sorption process was well described by both the pseudo-first and pseudo-second-order kinetics equations for both materials. Changes in the initial solution pH have distinct effects on the removal of arsenic onto pyrolysed sludge and activated carbon. While for pyrolysed sludge, pH affects essentially the equilibrium time, for activated carbon it affects the sorption capacity. Equilibrium results were well described by both Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models, although fittings corresponding to the Langmuir isotherm were slightly better. The Langmuir maximum sorption capacity determined for the pyrolysed sludge was 71 μg g−1, while for activated carbon was 229 μg g−1. Despite the relative lower capacity of the pyrolysed sludge, the considerable lower cost and the valorisation of the sludge may justify further research on its use for water decontamination.

Sulfuric acid leaching is a promising technique to extract toxic metals from polluted soils. The objective of this study was to define the optimum sulfuric acid leaching conditions for decontamination of the fine particle fraction (<125 μm) of an industrial soil polluted by Cd (16.8 mg kg⁻¹), Cu (3,350 mg kg⁻¹), Pb (631 mg kg⁻¹) and Zn (3,010 mg kg⁻¹). Batch leaching tests in Erlenmeyer shake flasks showed that a soil pulp pH between 1.5 and 2.0 using a solid concentration (SC) ranging from 5 to 20 % is adequate to efficiently solubilize toxic metals. Leaching tests performed at different temperatures (20, 40, 60 and 80 °C) also revealed that it is not beneficial to heat the soil suspension during the leaching treatment. The application in a 1-L stirred tank reactor of five consecutive 1-h leaching steps at 10 % SC and ambient temperature, followed by three water washings steps resulted in the following metal extraction yields: 30 % As, 90 % Cd, 43 % Co, 7 % Cr, 88 % Cu, 75 % Mn, 26 % Ni, 18 % Pb and 86 % Zn. The decontaminated soil conformed to Quebec norms for commercial and industrial use of soil.

Boehmite was used for the removal of fluoride ions from aqueous solutions in a batch system. The pH, contact time, and fluoride concentration in the removal of fluoride ions by boehmite were evaluated. The removal of fluoride ions by boehmite was the highest between the pH values of 4.5 and 7.5. The kinetic fluoride sorption from aqueous solutions by boehmite was best described by the pseudo-second-order model, and equilibrium was reached in about 24 h. The Freundlich model described the isotherm sorption process; the results indicate that the sorption mechanism is chemisorption on a heterogeneous material.

In the present study, the preparation of sorbent from waste-derived siliceous materials has been investigated for the removal of nickel ion (Ni) from aqueous solutions. Three types of ashes, i.e., rice husk ash (RHA), palm oil fuel ash (PFA), and coal fly ash (CFA), were used in the preparation of sorbent. Batch studies were carried out to examine the effect of various experimental parameters, i.e., RHA/CFA/PFA ratio in the sorbent preparation, contact time, initial concentration of Ni, agitation rate, and pH. Among all the ratios of the prepared sorbent, it was found that sorbent containing RHA and PFA gave the highest Ni removal efficiency. The optimum conditions for Ni removal using RHA/PFA sorbent were obtained at contact time of 30 min, Ni concentration of 100 mg/L, agitation rate of 130 rpm, and pH 4. During the optimum condition, more than 90% of Ni could be removed in all experiment studies. It was also found that the spent RHA/PFA sorbents had a narrow range of particle size distributions as compared to prepared RHA/PFA sorbent. In addition, the surface morphology of the spent RHA/PFA sorbents had more compact structures.

Atmospheric pollution is known to induce corrosion effects on various materials. For Greece, stone deterioration could emerge severe costs in the case of damaging cultural monuments. This work aims to investigate the corrosion process on materials of archaeological importance (marble, limestone, and sandstone) in the Greater Athens Area (GAA) by using sophisticated geoanalytical methods together with dose–response functions for selected materials, in order to derive corrosion maps for GAA in the period 2000–2009. Also, a corrosion trend analysis is performed, which can be a very helpful tool for the prediction of potential risks to monuments of cultural heritage due to atmospheric pollution. The corrosion effects on the selected materials are generally weak. Nevertheless, increasing corrosion trends are found in the eastern regions of GAA for all sheltered materials and in the northern parts of GAA for unsheltered marble. The technique is finally applied to 12 locations in GAA, which include some of the most important archaeological monuments of Athens, and provides comprehensive results for the estimation of the impact of atmospheric corrosion on the structural materials of these archaeological sites.

The historical trend of heavy metal pollution recorded in sediment cores from Lake Shinji, western Japan, was investigated to evaluate the contribution of increasing long-range transport of heavy metals from the Asian continent in recent years. The concentrations of Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Sb, and Zn and lead isotope ratios were determined for sediment cores collected at two sites in the lake. Among the metals, Cd, Sb, and Zn showed markedly high concentrations since the 1970s. Moreover, a high Pb concentration and less radiogenic lead isotope ratios have been observed since the 1980s in the core from a site close to the mouth of a major river. Air masses from the Asian continent, including China, Russia, and South Korea, have less radiogenic lead isotope ratios than those from Japan. This suggests that the recent increase in Pb concentration in the sediment core is primarily due to the long-range transport of heavy metals from the Asian continent, followed by their deposition in the catchment area of the river. The concentration ratios of Pb/Cd, Pb/Sb, and Pb/Zn of the sediment around 2000 were calculated on the basis of the metal concentrations in excess of those before 1940. They were then compared with the volume-weighted annual average concentration ratios of Pb/Cd, Pb/Sb, and Pb/Zn of rain samples collected on the shore of the lake for 1999–2001. The result showed that the ratios of the former to the latter are 1.0 for Cd, 0.69 for Sb, and 0.31 for Zn. Thus, it is likely that the long-range transport of Cd and Sb from the Asian continent also contributes significantly to the recent increase in the concentrations of these metals in the sediment core from Lake Shinji. For Zn, however, the contribution from the Asian continent was evaluated to be small, suggesting the importance of local sources such as effluent discharges.