Nitrate contamination in groundwater is a worldwide problem especially in agricultural countries. Environmental factors, such as land-use pattern, type of aquifer, and soil-drainage capacity, affect the level of contamination. Exposure to high levels of nitrate in groundwater may contribute to adverse health effects among residents who use groundwater for consumption. This study aimed to determine the relationship between nitrate levels in groundwater with land-use pattern, type of aquifer, and soil-drainage capacity, in Photharam District, Ratchaburi Province, lower Mae Klong basin, Thailand. Health risk maps were created based on hazard quotient to quantify the potential health risk of the residents using US Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) health risk assessment model. The results showed the influence of land-use patterns, type of aquifer, and soil-drainage capacity on nitrate contamination. It was found that most of the residents in the studied area were not at risk; however, a groundwater nitrate monitoring system should be implemented.

The combined coagulation and adsorption of targeted acetaminophen and naproxen using activated biochar and aluminum sulfate were studied under various synthetic “combined sewer overflow” (CSO) conditions. The biochar demonstrated better adsorption performance for both acetaminophen and naproxen (removal, 94.1 and 97.7 %, respectively) than that of commercially available powdered activated carbon (removal, 81.6 and 94.1 %, respectively) due to superior carbonaceous structure and surface properties examined by nuclear magnetic resonance analysis. The adsorption of naproxen was more favorable, occupying active adsorption sites on the adsorbents by naproxen due to its higher adsorption affinity compared to acetaminophen. Three classified CSO components (i.e., representing hydrophobic organics, hydrophilic organics, and inorganics) played different roles in the adsorption of both adsorbates, resulted in inhibition by humic acid complexation or metal ligands and negative electrostatic repulsion under adsorption and coagulation combined system. Adsorption alone with biochar was determined to be the most effective adsorptive condition for the removal of both acetaminophen and naproxen under various CSO conditions, while both coagulation alone and combined adsorption and coagulation failed to remove the acetaminophen and naproxen adequately due to an increase in ionic strength in the presence of spiked aluminum species derived from the coagulant.

This work presents, for the first time, information on the adsorption–desorption characteristics of illicit drugs and precursors in soils and an estimation of their potential bioavailability. The experiment was conducted using a batch equilibrium technique for the parent drugs methamphetamine and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and the precursor pseudoephedrine in three South Australian soils varying in physiochemical properties. The individual compounds exhibited different adsorption mechanisms in the test soils, and the results fitted better with the Freundlich isotherm model (r ² ≥ 0.99). The maximum adsorption capacity was recorded for pseudoephedrine (2,000 μg g⁻¹). However, pseudoephedrine recorded lower organic carbon normalized adsorption coefficient values (<250 mL g⁻¹), lower magnitudes of Gibb’s free energy change, and higher percent desorption (73–92 %) compared to methamphetamine and MDMA. The results thus showed pseudoephedrine to be the most mobile compound in the soils under study, to have the highest availability for degradation of the three compounds, and to have the highest susceptibility to biotic degradation in test soils.

Although used motor oil from automobiles is one of the major pollutants through storm water in urban environments leading to contamination of water bodies, very little information is available on its toxicity towards growth of microalgae. Also, to our knowledge, there are no data on the used motor oil-induced oxidative stress in microalgae. We therefore investigated the toxicity of used and fresh motor oil on growth and antioxidant enzymes of a microalga, Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata. In general, used oil was more toxic to the alga than fresh oil. Used oil at 0.20 % inhibited algal growth, measured in terms of chlorophyll a, by 44 % while fresh oil was nontoxic up to 2.8 %. Water-accommodated fraction (WAF) of the used oil at >50 % concentration exhibited significant toxicity while WAF from fresh oil was nontoxic even up to 100 %. Used oil and its WAF, even at lower concentrations, increased the levels of antioxidant enzymes indicating algal response to the toxicity stress. When the alga was exposed to WAF from fresh motor oil, no alterations in the antioxidant enzyme levels were evident. The present investigation suggests that contamination of aquatic systems with used oil could potentially affect the ecosystem health via disruption of primary producers that are located at the base of the food chain.

Bentonite clay was modified using quaternary ammonium cations, viz. phenyltrimethylammonium (PTMA), hexadecyltrimethylammonium (HDTMA), trioctylmethylammonium (TOMA) [100 % of cation exchange capacity of clay], and stearylkonium (SK) [100 % (SK-I) and 250 % (SK-II) of cation exchange capacity of clay]. The organoclays were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared (IR) spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Atrazine adsorption on modified clays was studied using a batch method. Bentonite clay was a poor adsorbent of atrazine as 9.4 % adsorption was observed at 1 μg mL⁻¹atrazine concentration. Modification of clay by PTMA cation did not improve atrazine adsorption capacity. However, atrazine adsorption in HDTMA-, TOMA-, and SK-bentonites varied between 49 and 72.4 % and data fitted well to the Freundlich adsorption isotherm (R > 0.96). Adsorption of atrazine in organoclays was nonlinear and slope (1/n) values were <1. The product of Freundlich adsorption constants, Kf(1/n) in HDTMA-, TOMA-, and SK-I-bentonites was 239.2, 302.4, and 256.6, respectively, while increasing the SK cation loading in the clay (SK-II) decreased atrazine adsorption [Kf(1/n) − 196.4]. Desorption of atrazine from organoclays showed hysteresis and TOMA- and SK-I-bentonites were the best organoclays to retain the adsorbed atrazine. Organoclays showed better atrazine removal from wastewater than an aqueous solution. The synthesized organoclays may find application in soil and water decontamination and as a carrier for atrazine-controlled released formulations.

This paper deals with the photolytic and the photocatalytic degradation of sulfonamide antibiotic sulfamethazine (SMT) dissolved in Milli-Q water and in synthetic wastewater. Besides the direct photolysis, oxidation processes including UV/H₂O₂, UV/TiO₂, and UV/TiO₂/H₂O₂ using UV-A and UV-C radiation were investigated. Pseudo-first-order kinetics was observed for the degradation of SMT in all investigated processes. Additions of an electron acceptor (H₂O₂) and a catalyst (TiO₂ film) accelerated the photolytic degradation of SMT for both the UV-A- and the UV-C-based processes. The most efficient process was UV-C/TiO₂/H₂O₂ with complete degradation of SMT obtained in 10 min. The UV-A-based processes have been less efficient in terms of irradiation time required to totally degrade SMT than the UV-C-based processes. It was also confirmed that different wastewater components can significantly reduce the degradation rate of SMT. An almost ninefold reduction in the rate constant of SMT was observed for the specific synthetic wastewater. Although UV-A radiation experiments need more time and energy (2.7 times more electrical energy was consumed per gram of demineralized SMT) than UV-C experiments, they have a potential for practical use since natural UV-A solar radiation could be used here, which lowers the overall cost of the treatment. Five degradation products were detected during the degradation processes, and their structural formulae are presented. The structural formulae were elucidated based on mass spectra fragmentation pattern obtained using the tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and NMR analysis.

Heavy metals released into the water bodies and on land surfaces by industries are highly toxic and carcinogenic in nature. These heavy metals create serious threats to all the flora and fauna due to their bioaccumulatory and biomagnifying nature at various levels of food chain. Existing conventional technologies for heavy metal removal are witnessing a downfall due to high operational cost and generation of huge quantity of chemical sludge. Adsorption by various adsorbents appears to be a potential alternative of conventional technologies. Its low cost, high efficiency, and possibility of adsorbent regeneration for reuse and recovery of metal ions for various purposes have allured the scientists to work on this technique. The present review compiles the exhaustive information available on the utilization of bacteria, algae, fungi, endophytes, aquatic plants, and agrowastes as source of adsorbent in adsorption process for removal of heavy metals from aquatic medium. During the last few years, a lot of work has been conducted on development of adsorbents after modification with various chemical and physical techniques. Adsorption of heavy metal ions is a complex process affected by operating conditions. As evident from the literature, Langmuir and Freundlich are the most widely used isotherm models, while pseudo first and second order are popularly studied kinetic models. Further, more researches are required in continuous column system and its practical application in wastewater treatment.

Response surface methodology (RSM) and central composite design (CCD) were used to develop models for optimization and modeling of a gas sparging assisted microfiltration of oil-in-water (o/w) emulsion. The effect of gas flow rate (Q G), oil concentration (C ₒᵢₗ), transmembrane pressure (TMP), and liquid flow rate (Q L) on the permeate flux and oil rejection were studied by RSM. Two sets of experiments were designed to investigate the effects of different gas–liquid two-phase flow regimes; low and high gas flow rates. Two separate RSM models were developed for each experimental set. The oil concentration and TMP were found to be the most significant factors influencing both permeate flux and rejection. Also, the interaction between these parameters was the most significant one. At low Q G , the more the gas flow rate, the higher the permeate flux; however, in the high gas flow rate region, higher Q G did not necessarily improve the permeate flux. In the case of rejection, gas and liquid flow rates were found to be insignificant. The optimum process conditions were found to be the following: Q G = 1.0 (L/min), C ₒᵢₗ = 1,290 (mg/L), TMP = 1.58 (bar), and Q L = 3.0 (L/min). Under these optimal conditions, maximum permeate flux and rejection (%) were 115.9 (L/m²h) and 81.1 %, respectively.

Optical and micro-physical features of aerosol are reported using Skyradiometer (POM-01L, Prede, Japan) observations taken from a high-altitude station Merak, located in north-eastern Ladakh of the western trans-Himalayas region during January 2011 to December 2013. The observed daily mean aerosol optical depth (AOD, at 500 nm) at the site varied from 0.01 to 0.14. However, 75 % of the observed AOD lies below 0.05 during the study period. Seasonal peaks of AOD occurred in spring as 0.06 and minimum in winter as 0.03 which represents the aged background aerosols at the site. Yearly mean AOD at 500 nm is found to be around 0.04 and inter-annual variations of AOD is very small (nearly ±0.01). Angstrom exponent (a) varied seasonally from 0.73 in spring to 1.5 in autumn. About 30 % of the observed a lies below 0.8 which are the indicative for the presence of coarse-mode aerosols at the site. The station exhibits absorbing aerosol features which prominently occurred during spring and that may be attributed by the transported anthropogenic aerosol from Indo-Gangatic Plain (IGP). Results were well substantiated with the air mass back-trajectory analysis. Furthermore, seasonal mean of single scattering albedo (SSA at 500 nm) varied from of 0.94 to 0.98 and a general increasing trend is noticed from 400 to 870 nm wavelengths. These features are apparently regional characteristics of the site. Aerosol asymmetry factor (AS) decreases gradually from 400 to 870 nm and varied from 0.66 to 0.69 at 500 nm across the seasons. Dominance of desert-dust aerosols, associated by coarse mode, is indicated by tri-modal features of aerosol volume size distribution over the station during the entire seasons.