Uncoupling chemical looping gasification (CLG), the organic sulfur evolution was simulated and explored qualitatively and quantitatively using typical sulfur compounds on TG-MS and temperature-programmed fixed bed. The HS radical in the reductive atmosphere easier converted to H₂S and COS. H₂O activated the evolution of S which was stably bonded to carbon, and H₂ generated from gasification and oxidation of reductive Fe by H₂O contributed to the release of sulfur. The proportion of H₂S released from sulfur compounds was greater than 87% in steam gasification, and more than 60% during CLG. Oxygen carriers promoted the conversion of sulfur to SO₂ in the mid-temperature region (500 °C–700 °C), and H₂S in the high temperature region (700 °C–900 °C). Sulfur species played a pivotal role in sulfur evolution at low temperature of CLG. The organic sulfur in mercaptan and benzyl were more easily converted and escaped than in thiophene and phenyl. The thermal stability of sulfur species, the presence of steam and OC affected the initial temperature and peak concentration of gas sulfur release as well as sulfur distribution. Consequently, CLG strengthened the sulfur evolution, and made it possible to targeted restructure the distribution of sulfur by regulating process parameters, or blending fuel with different sulfur species for emission reduction, and selective conversion of sulfur.

One possible way to reduce the environmental impacts of pesticides is by nanostructuring biocides in nanocarriers because this promotes high and localized biocidal activity and can avoid toxicity to non-target organisms. Neem oil (NO) is a natural pesticide with toxicity concerns to plants, fish, and other organisms. Thus, loading NO in a safe nanocarrier can contribute to minimizing its toxicity. For this study, we have characterized the integrity of a nanosilica-neem oil-based biocide delivery system (SiO₂NP#NO BDS) and evaluated its effectiveness in reducing NO toxicity by the Allium cepa test. NO, mainly consisted of unsaturated fatty acids, was well binded to the SiO₂NP with BTCA crosslinker. Overall, this material presented all of its pores filled with the NO with fatty acid groups at both the surface and bulk level of the nanoparticle. The thermal stability of NO was enhanced after synthesis, and the NO was released as zero-order model with a total of 20 days without burst release. The SiO₂NP#NO BDS was effective in reducing the individual toxicity of NO to the plant system. NO in single form inhibited the seed germination of A. cepa (EC₅₀ of 0.38 g L⁻¹), and the effect was no longer observed at the BDS condition. Contrarily to the literature, the tested NO did not present cyto- and geno-toxic effects in A. cepa, which may relate to the concentration level and composition.

Human exposure to particulate matter (PM) originating from air pollution is inevitable since more and more population is present in large cities that are characterized by poor air quality. The impact on human health is evident and we need to intensify research regarding this problem to get molecular insight into versatile effects of chronic exposure to PM inducing organism responses and initiating the development of selected disorders. Herein, the impact of standard PM representing urban pollution on the structure and function of human serum albumin (HSA) was evaluated by the application of various analytical techniques. HSA was selected due to its high likeliness of being exposed to PM because of the abundance of this protein in blood. The studies were focused mainly on the inorganic residue of PM resulting from removing organic components by a low-temperature plasma. To mimic physiological conditions, dialysis technique was used to simulate the release of nanoparticles and ions from PM to aqueous environment under, which in turn may interact with biomolecules inside the living system. Capture of metals from the bulk suspension was found for many metals like Al, Fe, Zn and Pb in quantities of more than 1 mol of metal ions per mole of HSA. No significant structural changes of the protein upon dialysis with PM were observed, however, an increase in the thermal stabilization of the HSA structure was observed. Moreover, the interaction of HSA dialyzed in the presence of PM with selected drugs (warfarin, aspirin) was negatively affected, indicating a lower affinity of drugs towards the protein, even though only small conformational changes of the PM exposed protein were observed. Our findings point to a possible interference of air pollutants with the drugs taken by patients living in highly polluted areas.

Biochar has recently been fascinating for research in many environment areas due to its potential applications. In this research, graphene, and nano zero-valent iron (nZVI) were integrated with biochar and used for copper immobilization in the soil. Initially, the biomass feedstock was pyrolyzed under N₂ atmosphere from 150 to 650 °C and immersed in an aqueous solution containing graphene, and then impregnated with nZVI. Laboratory characterization with different instruments (eg. SEM, TEM, XRD, UV–Vis, VSM, and XPS) showed that graphene sheets and reactive nZVI were loaded on the biochar surface during the development process. The 450 °C was considered as optimum pyrolysis temperature based on the effective surface properties of the obtain biochar material. Boehm titration and functional group analysis confirmed the presence of carboxylic groups, phenolic groups in the corn stack biochar supported graphene oxide/nZVI (CTBC-GO/nZVI). Thermogravimetric analysis showed that nZVI incorporation to biochar surface could improve thermal stability as compared to graphene oxide incorporated biochar and pristine biochar. The material was utilized for copper (Cu) immobilization in the soil and a comparative evaluation was established on the basis of efficiency. The soil experiment showed that the CTBC-GO/nZVI has a superior immobilization efficiency of copper than pristine biochar and GO@BC. The available Cu content decreased by > 65% in CTBC-GO/nZVI amended soil after 14 days. Sequential extraction procedure (SEP) results suggested that CTBC-GO/nZVI promoted the conversion of more accessible Cu into the less accessible and bioavailable forms to reduce the toxicity of Cu. Therefore, CTBC-GO/nZVI composite is a promising and effective amendment for immobilizing Cu in contaminated soils and improving soil properties.This work can put forward a strategy to develop magnetic biochar composites and an application towards toxic heavy metals immobilization in soil.

The silica-composited biochars (SBC) were synthesized by adding silica particulates into bamboo biomass during pyrolysis at 700 °C to examine the effect of silica addition on biochar stabilities and adsorption properties for tetracycline (TC). Silica addition increased the total pore volume and average pore diameter of biochar due to the abundant mesopores in SBC, but decreased specific surface area due to the blockage of biochar pore with silica particles. Biochar stability was obviously enhanced with silica addition due to the decreased atomic ratio of H/C and O/C, the reduced C loss amount after chemical oxidation treatment, and the increased thermal stability. The adsorption capacities of SBC for TC were greatly enhanced with silica addition and increased with the increasing silica addition amount, which can be attributed to the facilitating effect of π–π electron donor acceptor (EDA) interaction and pore-filling effect. In addition, silica addition can also effectively enhance the oxidation resistance of biochar for TC adsorption, since the decreased degree (δ) of TC adsorption amounts on the biochars after chemical oxidation decreased with the increasing silica addition level. The observed positive correlations between δ values and the corresponding C loss amount of biochars after chemical oxidation suggested that the high carbon stability was favorable for the maintenance of biochar adsorption capacity. These results can provide a new way to improve biochar stabilities, aging resistance, and adsorption properties for organic pollutants.

The sorption of PAH on 12 different sediments was investigated and was correlated to their corresponding organic matter (OM) content and quality. For this purpose, the OM was precisely characterized using thermal analysis consisting in the successive combustion and quantification of the increasingly thermostable fractions of the OM. Simultaneously, the water-exchangeable fraction of the sorbed PAH defined as the amount of PAH freely exchanged between the water and the sediment (by opposition to the PAH harshly sorbed to the sediments particles) was determined using a passive sampler methodology recently developed. The water concentrations, when the sediment-water system is equilibrated, were also assessed which allows the determination of the sediment-water distribution coefficients without artifacts introduced by the non water-exchangeable fraction of PAH. Hence, the present study provides the distribution coefficients of PAH between the water and 4 different OM fractions combusted at a specific temperature range. The calculated distribution coefficients demonstrate that the sedimentary OM combusted at the intermediate temperature range (between 300 °C and 450 °C) drives the reversible sorption of PAH while the inferred sorption to the OM combusted at a lower and higher temperature range does not dominate the partitioning process.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are aromatic compounds that containing bromine atoms, which possess high efficiency, good thermal stability. However, PBDEs had various known toxic effects and were characterized as persistent environmental pollutants. Exposure to a quinone-type metabolite of PBDEs (PBDEQ) is linked with excess production of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) in our previous studies. Here, we observed that PBDEQ exposure led to ROS and mitochondrial dysfunction, which promoted canonical and non-canonical Nod-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation. Further experiments demonstrated that PBDEQ exposure activated Toll-like receptors (TLRs), subsequently regulating nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signaling. Moreover, lysosomal damage and K⁺ efflux were involved in PBDEQ-driven NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Our in vivo study also illustrated that PBDEQ administration induced liver inflammation in male C57BL/6J mice. Cumulatively, our current finding provided novel insights into PBDEQ-induced pro-inflammatory responses.

Direct utilization of waste polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from the environment to form highly porous aerogel technology for oil absorption is an attractive approach from the view point of green chemistry. However, the oil absorption reaction is limited by low oil absorption capacity and less stability. For now, silica aerogel are used to solve these problem. Our goal is to substitute to these silica aerogel with PET aerogel technology. Herein, we have prepared an environmental waste PET based aerogel with 1.0:0.5 wt% PET, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and glutaraldehyde (GA) 0.2% v/v were dispersed in 10 mL DI water, followed by homogenization (30 min), sonication (10 min), and ageing (2 h) at 70 °C. To escape macroscopic cracking, cooling (8 h) at 4 °C was followed by freezing (6 h), freeze drying at −80 °C, and 5 mTorr for 18 h. The hybrid PET aerogel displays excellent performance towards oil absorption. Notably it showed high absorption capacity towards the different oils about 21–40 times its own weight, depending on the viscosity and density of the oil and solvents within 15–35 s, 25 °C, and 2 × 2 cm aerogel size. In addition, the aerogel shows there is no change in structure after several recycles due to high mechanical strength. Furthermore, because of the PET aerogel's high porosity (99.74%) and low density (0.0311 g/cm³), close bonding between PET-PVA occurs. Therefore, aerogel shows hydrophobic nature, good mechanical strength, high thermal stability, arrangement of the interconnected fibrillar pore network offers a high surface to volume ratio, low surface energy, high surface roughness, and more reusability. All these parameters are responsible for high oil absorption.

Microplastics (particle size <5 mm) are an emerging contaminant for aquatic environmental, which have attracted increasing attention in worldwide range. In this study, an improved fluorescent staining method for detection and quantification of microplastics was developed based on thermal expansion and contraction. This method is effective in detection of polyethylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride and polyethylene terephthalate plastic particles. In order to avoid error statistics caused by pretreatment, various characterizations of microplastics were measured after heated, such as microstructure, compositions and thermostability. The results showed that there was no significant damage to microplastics even under heating condition at 75 °C for 30 min, and the stained microplastics had strong stability for up to two months. Moreover, this method has been successfully applied to the quantification of microplastics in biological samples and result showed there were about 54 particles g⁻¹ (dry weight) microplastics in the Sipunculus nudus. This new method provides a reliable method for quantitative analysis of microplastics in environment and biological tissue.