Water extracts of soil samples of the former ammunition plant “Tanne” near Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Lower Saxony, Germany, were investigated for highly polar oxidized 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) metabolites. 0.4 to 9.0 mg/kg dry soil 2,4,6-trinitrobenzoic acid (TNBA) and 5.8 to 544 mg/kg dry soil 2-amino-4,6-dinitrobenzoic acid (2-ADNBA) were found. In addition to the oxidized metabolites, TNT, 4- and 2-aminodinitrotoluene (4- and 2-ADNT), and 2,4-dinitrotoluene (2,4-DNT) were extractable with water. Most interestingly, in one sample, 2-ADNBA represented the main contaminant.The origin of the oxidized nitroaromatics is unknown at this time. They might be generated chemically or photochemically. Furthermore, a biological synthesis seems possible.

An overview of the application of organic geochemistry to the analysis of organic matter on aerosol particles is presented here. This organic matter is analyzed as solvent extractable bitumen/ lipids by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The organic geochemical approach assesses the origin, the environmental history and the nature of secondary products of organic matter by using the data derived from specific molecular analyses. Evaluations of production and fluxes, with cross-correlations can thus be made by the application of the same separation and analytical procedures to samples from point source emissions and the ambient atmosphere. This will be illustrated here with typical examples from the ambient atmosphere (aerosol particles) and from emissions of biomass burning (smoke).Organic matter in aerosols is derived from two major sources and is admixed depending on the geographic relief of the air shed. These sources are biogenic detritus (e.g., plant wax, microbes, etc.) and anthropogenic particle emissions (e.g., oils, soot, synthetics, etc.). Both biogenic detritus and some of the anthropogenic particle emissions contain organic materials which have unique and distinguishable compound distribution patterns (C₁₄-C₄₀). Microbial and vascular plant lipids are the dominant biogenic residues and petroleum hydrocarbons, with lesser amounts of the pyrogenic polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and synthetics (e.g., chlorinated compounds), are the major anthropogenic residues.Biomass combustion is another important primary source of particles injected into the global atmosphere. It contributes many trace substances which are reactants in atmospheric chemistry and soot paniculate matter with adsorbed biomarker compounds, most of which are unknown chemical structures. The injection of natural product organic compounds into smoke occurs primarily by direct volatilization/steam stripping and by thermal alteration based on combustion temperature. Although the molecular composition of organic matter in smoke particles is highly variable, the molecular tracers are generally still source specific. Retene has been utilized as a tracer for conifer smoke in urban aerosols, but is not always detectable. Dehydroabietic acid is generally more concentrated in the atmosphere from the same emission sources. Degradation products from biopolymers (e.g., levoglucosan from cellulose) are also excellent tracers. An overview of the biomarker compositions of biomass smoke types is presented here. Defining additional tracers of thermally-altered and directly-emitted natural products in smoke aids the assessment of the organic matter type and input from biomass combustion to aerosols. The precursor to product approach of compound characterization by organic geochemistry can be applied successfully to provide tracers for studying the chemistry and dispersion of ambient aerosols and smoke plumes.

The focus of this study was to characterize the concentration levels of selected PCBs and compare them to compiled data in order to contribute to the international database. The sampling site is located in the outskirts of Madrid and can be considered an open urban area. 32 samples of air were taken from February 1998 to June 1998 by using a high volume air sampler. Glass fiber filters and polyurethane foam (PUF) were used to collect the paniculate and gas phase material, respectively.PUF plugs were Soxhlet extracted and filters were ultrasonically extracted by using pesticide-grade hexane and dichloromethane, respectively. The cleanup procedure was carried out on a florisil column with hexane and hexane/dichloromethane as elution solvents.GC/MS in a selected ion monitoring mode was used for quantification and 29 selected PCBs congeners were analyzed.

Employing the data available to date, anthropogenic Pt fluxes are calculated for Germany with special emphasis on the Pt emitted by cars equipped with catalytic converters. Pt fluxes are quantified using five different methods (street deposition, automobile emission rate, sewage sludges, atmospheric load, industrial consumption). During the first and the second methods, approx. 100 kg of emitted Pt are seen to result for both for the mid 1990’s. Up to the year 2018, a total of 2100 kg of Pt will be emitted by cars equipped with catalytic converters. The diffuse atmospheric Pt deposition amounts to 0.73 – 4.4 μg/m²y or 260 kg Pt/year. Industrial sources emitting Pt into the atmosphere are likely but difficult to quantify. The enrichment of Pt in soils during agriculture fertilization with sewage sludges and during diffuse atmospheric deposition result in a level of 46 – 460 ng/kg up to the year 2018. Although this is slightly below the geogenic background, a comparison with the pollution history of Pb implies that forthcoming environmental Pt enrichment should not be neglected.

Microbial decontamination of hydrocarbon-polluted soil was paralleled with soil respiration measurements. About 1,500 tons of a loamy top soil were found to be contaminated with approximately 2000 mg/kg of aliphatic hydrocarbons, mainly oleic (C18:1) and linoleic acid (C18:2) found in the vicinity of a linoleum manufacturing and then a car dewaxing plant. The contaminated soil was analysed for dry matter, pH, dehydrogenase activity, electrical conductivity and nutrient content viz. nitrate, phosphorus and potassium, as well as a number of indigenous microbes. The soil was low in salt and nutrients. This paper describes the procedure and measures to decontaminate this bulk soil on site from approx. 2,000 to 500 mg of aliphatic hydrocarbons/kg dry matter by use of a nutrient emulsion, indigenous micro-organisms and aeration over 13 months. This 75% reduction in aliphatic hydrocarbons resulted in a concomitant carbon efflux, measured as soil respiration, and was used to calculate carbon fluxes.

The interdependencies of parameters applied in the models of EUSES are visualised in a directed connectivity graph. The parameters (inputs, defaults, state variables, outputs) are represented by boxes (nodes) and their relations by lines (edges). The visualisation, on the one hand, clarifies the complexity of the models in EUSES and, on the other hand, creates an overview and transparency. The parameters’ relations to each other can be recognised faster, and the models can be better understood. The complexity was quantified by the number (variety), kind (substance parameter, physico-chemical parameter, concentration, other parameters), and depth (dimension) of the parameter and the number of relations (connectivity). The variety of EUSES (without the modelsSimple Treat andSimple Box whose interior structure is not documented and without the effect and risk characterisation) amounts to 466, the connectivity to 961, and the maximal dimension is 21.

In order to improve the link from Substance Flow Analysis (SFA) studies to environmental policy, a translation is made from the SFA overview of flows and stocks into a limited set of indicators. This set is designed to evaluate a region’s substance regime with regard to environmental quality and sustainable development, including problem shifting in time and space.

The photo-induced degradation of naphthalene, 1,4-naphthoquinone, 1-naphthol and 1-NO₂ naphthalene, adsorbed on silica gel, and with the addition of nitrogenous air pollutants e.g. NO₂ (as KNO₂) was investigated. Results indicate that compounds adsorbed onto a solid carrier are degraded when irradiated with UV light (λ > 290 nm) in the presence of nitrites. The key species initiating the naphthalene degradation is the OH-radical which is generated through the photolysis of NO₂. Reaction products identified were 2-formyl-cinnamaldehyde, 1,4-naphthoquinone, nitronaphthol, o-phthaldialdehyde, phthalide and nitronaphthalene. A mass balance between 40–50% was achieved. Under the same irradiation conditions, 1-NO₂ naphthalene is mainly degraded by direct photolysis while degradation of 1-naphthol and 1,4-naphthoquinone proceeds via the reaction with OH-radicals. Identified products were hydroxy-nitro-nitroso- and quinones compounds.