The chemical, mineralogical, and leaching behavior of three dominant Greek forest species ashes (Pinus halepensis, Pistacia lentiscus, and Olea europaea), before and after treating forest species with diammonium phosphate (DAP) 5% and 10% weight to weight, have been studied using a new five-step shake leaching method at pH = 6. For the analysis of ashes (prior and after leaching) and leachants, the following analytical techniques were used: atomic absorption spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis. The presence of DAP obstructs the extraction process of some metal ions (i.e., Na, K) contained in ashes by converting the soluble carbonate salts to the less soluble phosphates (i.e., Na₂CO₃ [rightward arrow] Na₃PO₄). On the contrary, DAP enhances the mobility of some other metals (i.e., Ca) by forming more soluble compounds [i.e., CaCO₃ [rightward arrow] Ca₃(PO₄)₂]. In addition, the presence of DAP lowers the pH of leachates, causing dissolution of some toxic elements (i.e., Mn, Pb, Zn). Unexpectedly, DAP prevents the leachability of Cr from ash. The above study concerns the environmental effects (soil and ground and underground water streams) caused by the use of chemical retardants on forest fires.

This study was conducted to evaluate the environmental fate processes of the herbicide (4-chloro-2-methylphenoxy)acetic acid (MCPA) in agricultural soils in the presence and absence of ash originating from the burning of wheat residue. The ash-amended soils (1% ash by weight) were approximately 8-16 times more effective than the ash-free soils in sorbing MCPA. The desorption results showed that 40-78% of initially sorbed MCPA were desorbed in both soils, depending on the initial MCPA concentration in solution. Addition of ash to soils decreased the desorption of MCPA by approximately 20%. Degradation of MCPA was substantially reduced in the presence of the ash. A 6-week incubation resulted in 50-85% of MCPA microbially degraded in ash-amended soils, as compared to >85-100% in ash-free soils under the same conditions.

In this study we have investigated the uptake and distribution of arsenic (As) and phosphate (Pi) in roots, shoots, and grain of wheat grown in an uncontaminated soil irrigated with solutions containing As at three different concentrations (0.5, 1 and 2 mg l⁻¹) and in the presence or in the absence of P fertilization. Arsenic in irrigation water reduced plants growth and decreased grain yield. When Pi was not added (P-), plants were more greatly impacted compared to the plus Pi (P+) treatments. The differences in mean biomass between P- and P+ treatments at the higher As concentrations demonstrated the role of Pi in preventing As toxicity and growth inhibition. Arsenic concentrations in root, shoot and grain increased with increasing As concentration in irrigation water. It appears that P fertilization minimizes the translocation of As to the shoots and grain whilst enhancing P status of plant. The observation that P fertilization minimises the translocation of arsenic to the shoots and grain is interesting and may be useful for certain regions of the world that has high levels of As in groundwater or soils.

Natural lignite from South Moravia was tested for the sorption of fluoride anion in concentration range from 5·10⁻⁵ to 8·10⁻⁴ mol/l. The lignite removes majority of fluorides and only about 13% of sorption is reversible upon leaching in pure water. Sorption data can be fitted by both Freundlich and Langmuir equations and both isotherms indicate presence of two principal sorption sites or steps. The sorption is fast, at least 90% of final sorbed amount is removed during the first 10 min but kinetic data show a complex pattern with temporary increase of fluoride concentration. This is attributed to complexity of lignite-water interactions, lignite soaking and swelling in aqueous media. Foreign ions and pH showed only slight influence on the sorbed amount. Natural lignite can be considered as a potential low-cost defluoridation agent that is effective at various solution chemistries and also at low, but still over-limit, fluoride concentrations.

Variation of mercury (Hg) in sediments and biota from Coatzacoalcos estuary during the dry, rainy and windy seasons was estimated. In sediments, Hg concentrations ranged from 0.07 μg g⁻¹ in site 13 (Ixhuatepec) located upstream, to 1.06 μg g⁻¹ in site 3 (Coatzacoalcos river), located in the industrialized area. Highest enrichment factor (EF) and index of geoaccumulation (I geo) in surficial sediments were 53 and 5.1 respectively. From EF and I geo, it is considered that Coatzacoalcos estuary is from moderately contaminated to contaminated. In most fish species from Coatzacoalcos estuary, the sequence of Hg concentration was liver>muscle>gills. Average Hg concentrations in soft tissue of bivalves ranged from 0.09 μg g⁻¹ in Corbicula fluminea to 0.18 μg g⁻¹ in Polymesoda caroliniana. Biota-sediment accumulation factor (BSAF) ranged from 0.9 in P. caroliniana during the rainy season (site 4) to 3.8 in P. caroliniana from the same site during the windy season.

The effect of nickel (Ni) excess on selected aspects of chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) metabolism was studied. Water-soluble Ni represented 27%, 46%, and 47%, and the methanol-soluble fraction 54%, 70%, and 88% of total shoot Ni content after 10 days of treatments with 3, 60, and 120 μM Ni, respectively. “Intra-root” Ni content represented 72% (3 μM), 96% (60 μM), and 78% (120 μM) of total root Ni. Leaf rosettes treated with 120 μM contained 137 μg Ni g⁻¹ DW after 10 days of treatment. The highest Ni concentration particularly affected the content of mineral nutrients (e.g., decrease of K and increase of Fe) and activity of selected antioxidative enzymes (increase of ascorbate peroxidase and guaiacol peroxidase activities). Malondialdehyde accumulation was not influenced (measured in methanol extracts). Among 17 detected free amino acids, accumulation of histidine, proline, methionine, and cysteine was most distinct in the leaf rosettes and/or roots, indicating their involvement in Ni detoxification. Lower Ni toxicity in comparison to previously tested metals is also discussed.

A submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR) was used to treat two types of petrochemical wastewater: olefin process wastewater and total petrochemical wastewater. Various operational MBR conditions, such as influent pH and hydraulic retention time (HRT), were tested while these wastewaters were treated. The MBR treatment of olefin process wastewater reduced chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total organic carbon (TOC) by around 90% in both cases, and more than 90% of the suspended solids (SS) were removed. When MBR was used, the reduction in COD and TOC was also high for the total petrochemical wastewater, and was compared with the reduction obtained when the conventional activated sludge treatment plant was used (CASP). However, MBR effluent wastewaters showed high conductivity so for some reuse purposes subsequent reverse osmosis (RO) treatment would be needed. We characterized the MBR influent and MBR effluent wastewaters using a sequential solid phase extraction (SSPE) followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses. The main compounds that were tentatively identified were hydrocarbons, alkyl benzenes, phenols, acidic acids and esters, almost all of which could be partially or completely removed by MBR treatment.

The kinetics of the adsorption of Pb²⁺ and Cd²⁺ by sodium tetraborate (NTB)-modified kaolinite clay adsorbent was studied. A one-stage and two-stage optimization of equilibrium data were carried out using the Langmuir and time-dependent Langmuir models, respectively. Increasing temperature was found to increase the pseudo-second order kinetic rate constant and kinetic data for Pb²⁺ adsorption were found to fit well with the pseudo-second order kinetic model (PSOM) while that for Cd²⁺ were found to show very good fit to the modified pseudo-first order kinetic model (MPFOM). Binary solutions of Pb²⁺ and Cd²⁺ reduced the adsorption capacity of the modified adsorbent for either metal ion with increased initial sorption rate due to competition of metal ions for available adsorption sites. The use of NTB-modified kaolinite clay adsorbent reduces by approximately 72.2% and 96.3% the amount of kaolinite clay needed to adsorb Pb²⁺ and Cd²⁺ from wastewater solutions. From the two-stage batch adsorber design study, the minimum operating time to determine a specified amount of Pb²⁺ and Cd²⁺ removal was developed. The two-stage batch adsorption process predicted less than half the minimum contact time to reach equilibrium in the one-stage process for the adsorption of Pb²⁺ and Cd²⁺ by NTB-modified kaolinite clay adsorbent and requires 0.05 times the mass of the adsorbent for the single-stage batch adsorption at the same operating conditions.

Nitrogen removal in wetlands is achieved through two pathways: (a) N cycling and (b) storage. N cycling is a permanent removal pathway. There has been an increasing interest in the development of technologies to alleviate permanent nitrogen removal limitation in constructed wetlands by ensuring prevalence of conditions enhancing N cycling. The purpose of this study is to review an emerging technology of vegetated submerged bed constructed wetland system aimed at improving nitrogen removal in wetlands through rational system design. The design and performance of this system type is evaluated. The oxygen transfer capacity and nitrogen removal mechanisms on system performance are evaluated. Constructed wetland combinations most commonly consist of vertical flow (VF) and horizontal flow (HF) beds where VF and HF are aimed at nitrification and denitrification, respectively. Nitrate nitrogen accumulation is the most limiting factor in typical VF based systems.

In this study, a high-rate fibre filter was used as a pre-treatment to stormwater in conjunction with in-line flocculation. The effect of operating the fibre filter with different packing densities (105, 115 and 125 kg/m³) and filtration velocities (20, 40, 60 m/h) with and without in-line flocculation was investigated. In-line flocculation was provided using 5, 10 and 15 mg/L of ferric chloride (FeCl₃·6H₂O). The filter performance was studied in terms of pressure drop (ΔP), solids removal efficiency, heavy metals (total) removal efficiency and total organic carbon (TOC) removal efficiency. It is found that the use of in-line flocculation at a dose of 15 mg/L improved the performance of fibre filter as measured by turbidity removal (95%), total suspended solids reduction (98%), colour removal efficiency (99%), TOC removal (reduced by 30-40 %) and total coliform removal (93%). The modified fouling index reduced from 750-950 to 12 s/L² proving that fibre filter can be an excellent pre-treatment to membrane filtration that may be consider as post-treatment. The removal efficiency of heavy metal was variable as their concentration in raw water was small. Even though the concentration of some of these metals such as iron, aluminium, copper and zinc were reduced, others like nickel, chromium and cadmium showed lower removal rates.