The current study has assessed whether the oral and/or dermal exposure of C57Bl/6 J mice to tannery effluent (a complex pollutant consisting of xenobiotic mixtures) could damage their olfactory functions, as well as whether it changes their aversive behavior in the inhibitory avoidance test. Accordingly, the animals were distributed in groups which were exposed or not to this xenobiotic through two different routes (oral and dermal), for 15 days. The effluent group subjected to oral exposure received drinking water containing 5% tannery effluent, whereas the animals in the dermal group were exposed to raw tannery effluent for 1 h/day. The animals dermally exposed to the tannery effluent (males and females) have shown the highest latency to find palatable food in the buried food test. The shortest time spent by the animals (orally or dermally) exposed to tannery effluent in the safety zone of the apparatus used in the predator exposure test, as well as the longest time spent by them in the aversive zone, have shown failures in their perception to the risk represented by the presence of the predator (cat). The passive avoidance test results have shown that the dermal exposure to tannery effluent led to partial memory deficit in male and female mice; therefore, the present study has confirmed the tannery effluent toxicity to mammals. Moreover, the present study was pioneer in demonstrating that the dermal exposure to this xenobiotic, even for a short period-of-time, can change the olfactory and cognitive functions of animals, as well as lead to harmful consequences to their health.

In this study, immobilization technique was employed to improve simultaneous algicidal and denitrification of immobilized Acinetobacter sp. J25 with magnetic Fe₃O₄ in eutrophic landscape water. After 7 days of operation, the maximum superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity (54.43 U mg⁻¹), nitrate removal efficiency (100% (0.2127 mg L⁻¹ h⁻¹)), and chlorophyll-a removal efficiency (89.71%) were obtained from the immobilized J25 with magnetic Fe₃O₄. The results suggest that immobilized J25 with magnetic Fe₃O₄ had better nitrogen removal efficiency and algicidal activity in eutrophic landscape water. High-throughput sequencing data profiled the strain J25 that was immobilized with magnetic Fe₃O₄ which changed the composition of the microbial community. The results indicated a novel concept of enhancing the algicidal and denitrification property of immobilized bacteria with magnetic Fe₃O₄ in eutrophic landscape water.

Arsenic pollution of drinking water is a concern, particularly in the developing countries. Removal of arsenic from drinking water is strongly recommended. Despite the availability of efficient technologies for arsenic removal, the small and rural communities in the developing countries are not capable of employing most of these technologies due to their high cost and technical complexity. There is a need for the “low-cost” and “easy to use” technologies to protect the humans in the arsenic affected developing countries. In this study, arsenic removal technologies were summarized and the low-cost technologies were reviewed. The advantages and disadvantages of these technologies were identified and their scopes of applications and improvements were investigated. The costs were compared in context to the capacity of the low-income populations in the developing countries. Finally, future research directions were proposed to protect the low-income populations in the developing countries.

Vegetated buffer strips (VBSs) are widely encouraged as a cost-effective strategy to address phosphorus (P) pollution associated with agricultural production. However, there is a lack of evidence in the effectiveness of these measures for tackling diffuse P pollution in cold-climate regions under concentrated runoff flow conditions. This research aimed to investigate the effects of VBSs on reducing P concentrations in surface runoff at three different watersheds in Manitoba, Canada. Surface runoff samples were collected in four sub-catchments from each watershed by installing paired weirs at 0.5-m and at 5-m into the VBSs along the expected runoff flow path. In addition, P concentrations were measured in soil samples collected within and outside of the runoff flow path to gain further insight into P dynamics within VBSs at each study site. The results indicate that VBSs had little or no significant effect on reducing the concentration of P forms in surface runoff in the majority of situations, resulting in reduced runoff losses of total, dissolved and particulate P concentrations in only 23, 12 and 12% of the situations, respectively. In addition, Olsen extractable P concentrations in VBS soils were not significantly different from field soils both within and outside of the flow path. The ineffective P retention by VBSs in this region is likely associated with the fact that the majority of the runoff flow is concentrated through small portions of VBSs and occurs during snowmelt when biogeochemical processes responsible for P retention in VBSs are limited. Further research is needed to develop alternative management practices that enhance P retention during concentrated snowmelt runoff events in such cold-climate regions.

In order to remove arsenic (As) from contaminated water, granular Mn-oxide-doped Al oxide (GMAO) was fabricated using the compression method with the addition of organic binder. The analysis results of XRD, SEM, and BET indicated that GMAO was microporous with a large specific surface area of 54.26 m²/g, and it was formed through the aggregation of massive Al/Mn oxide nanoparticles with an amorphous pattern. EDX, mapping, FTIR, and XPS results showed the uniform distribution of Al/Mn elements and numerous hydroxyl groups on the adsorbent surface. Compression tests indicated a satisfactory mechanical strength of GMAO. Batch adsorption results showed that As(V) adsorption achieved equilibrium faster than As(III), whereas the maximum adsorption capacity of As(III) estimated from the Langmuir isotherm at 25 °C (48.52 mg/g) was greater than that of As(V) (37.94 mg/g). The As removal efficiency could be maintained in a wide pH range of 3~8. The presence of phosphate posed a significant adverse effect on As adsorption due to the competition mechanisms. In contrast, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ could favor As adsorption via cation-bridge involvement. A regeneration method was developed by using sodium hydroxide solution for As elution from saturated adsorbents, which permitted GMAO to keep over 75% of its As adsorption capacity even after five adsorption–regeneration cycles. Column experiments showed that the breakthrough volumes for the treatment of As(III)-spiked and As(V)-spiked water (As concentration = 100 μg/L) were 2224 and 1952, respectively. Overall, GMAO is a potential adsorbent for effectively removing As from As-contaminated groundwater in filter application.

In this study, the central composite rotatable design (CCRD) was used in the optimization of the operating parameters for the removal of the direct blue 86 (DB86), an anionic dye, because of its hazardous impact on human health and aquatic environment. In addition, DB86 is a recalcitrant and non-biodegradable dye whose presence considerably inhibits photosynthesis. Its removal in aqueous medium was achieved by biosorption onto the novel biosorbent Crataegus azarolus stones (CAS). The parameters like the solution pH, biosorbent dose, initial DB86 concentration, and temperature were studied in the ranges 2–6, 0.8–4 g L⁻¹, 20–100 mg L⁻¹, and 10–50 °C, respectively. The significance of the experimental parameters and their interactions was investigated by the Student’s t test and p values with 5% error limits using JMP 11.0.0 software. The regression analysis of the experimental data obtained from 31 batch runs provides a cubic model. The optimum conditions obtained for the maximum DB86 elimination from the synthetic solution were found to be pH 2, biosorbent dose of 4 g L⁻¹, initial DB86 concentration of 20 mg L⁻¹, and temperature of 10 °C, leading to a theoretical maximum removal of 123%. The experimental data were analyzed by the Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin equilibrium models. The Langmuir isotherm gave the best fit with a maximum biosorption capacity of 24.02 mg g⁻¹. The results of the kinetic study revealed that the biosorption kinetic of DB86 follows a pseudo-second-order model. All results confirmed that CAS are an efficient, economic, and ecological alternative for the treatment of industrial wastewaters loaded with anionic dyes.

The adsorption process and mechanism of dibenzothiophene (DBT) over metal-loaded phenolic resin-derived activated carbon (PR-AC) were firstly reported in this work. The metal component (Zn, Ni, or Cu) was respectively introduced to PR-AC support via an impregnation method. The effects of adsorbent component, initial DBT concentration, liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV), adsorption time, and adsorption temperature on the adsorption capacity of the adsorbents were systematically investigated. Furthermore, the adsorption mechanism was discussed by analyzing the properties of adsorption product and saturated adsorbent as well as adsorption kinetics. Experimental results indicate that the PR-AC-loaded metal adsorbents, especially with Zn, present much higher DBT adsorption capability than that of pure PR-AC support. The DBT removal rate over PR-AC-loaded Zn (Zn²⁺ = 0.2 mol L⁻¹) reaches 89.14 %, which is almost twice higher than that of pure PR-AC (45.6 %). This is due to the π-complexation between DBT and metal ions (dominating factor) and the weakening of the local hard acid sites over PR-AC. The multi-factor orthogonal experiment shows that the DBT removal rate over PR-AC-loaded Zn sample achieved 92.36 % in optimum conditions.

A life cycle assessment (LCA) of a four-stage biorefinery concept, coined H-M-Z-S, that converts 1 t of organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) into bioenergy and bioproducts was performed in order to determine whether it could be an alternative to common disposal of OFMSW in landfills in the Mexican reality. The OFMSW is first fermented for hydrogen production, then the fermentates are distributed 40 % to the methane production, 40 % to enzyme production, and 20 % to the saccharification stage. From hydrogen and methane, up to 267 MJ and 204 kWh of gross heat and electricity were produced. The biorefinery proved to be self-sustainable in terms of power (95 kWh net power), but it presented a deficit of energy for heating services (−155 MJ), which was partially alleviated by digesting the wastes from the bioproducts stages (−84 MJ). Compared to landfill, biorefinery showed lower environmental impacts in global warming (down to −128 kg CO₂-eq), ozone layer depletion (2.96 × 10⁻⁶ kg CFC₁₁-eq), and photochemical oxidation potentials (0.011 kg C₂H₄-eq). The landfarming of the digestates increased significantly the eutrophication impacts, up to 20 % below the eutrophication from landfilling (1.425 kg PO₄-eq). These results suggest that H-M-Z-S biorefinery could be an attractive alternative compared to conventional landfilling for the management of municipal solid wastes, although new alternatives and uses of co-products and wastes should be explored and tested. Moreover, the biorefinery system would benefit from the integration into the market chain of the bioproducts, i.e., enzymes and hydrolysates among others.

To investigate bioturbation effects on anthracene (Ant) release from sediments to the overlying water, indoor microcosms were developed. Naturally contaminated estuarine sediments were exposed to the crab Helice tiensinensis over 70 days and compared with sediments with no crab. Bioturbation by crab could significantly increase the release of both particulate and dissolved Ant. The releases of particulate Ant with bioturbation treatments were 2.3–11.7 times higher than in the control treatments. However, the releases of dissolved Ant with bioturbation treatments were 1.7–3.7 times higher than in the control treatments. The ratio of particulate Ant/total Ant varied from 89 % to 98 % in the bioturbation treatments, which was significantly higher than in the control treatments. These results indicate that crab bioturbation significantly enhanced both particulate and dissolved Ant release from sediment, but the particulate Ant is the predominant process.

The Three Gorges Dam in China is the world’s largest dam. Upon its completion in 2003, the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) became the largest reservoir in China and plays an important role in economic development and national drinking water safety. However, as a sink and source of heavy metals, there is a lack of continuous and comparative data on heavy metal pollution in sediments. This study reviewed all available literatures published on heavy metals in TGR sediments and further provided a comprehensive assessment of the pollution tendency of these heavy metals. The results showed that heavy metal concentrations in TGR sediments varied spatially and temporally. Temporal variations indicated that Hg in tributaries, as well as As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn in the mainstream, exhibited a higher probability to exceed background values after the impoundment of TGR. Pollution assessments by contamination factor, geoaccumulation index, and potential ecological risk were similar. High Cd and Hg concentrations in both the mainstream and tributaries are a cause for much concern. However, sediment quality guidelines produced different results, as most previous studies adopted different sampling and measurement strategies. The data inconsistencies and lack of continuity regarding the reservoir confirm the need for a continuous monitoring network and the development of quality criteria relevant to the sediments of the TGR in the future.