We analyzed, for the first time, the different fractions of metals present in the spent catalyst and changes they undergone during bioleaching and chemical leaching. Before bioleaching, Al (83.9 %) was found mainly in the residual fraction of the pretreated spent catalyst. Ni (61.3 %) was mainly present in the exchangeable fraction exhibiting its high environmental mobility. V (58.5) and Mo (49.3 %) mainly existed in the oxidizable fraction suggesting that highly oxidizing conditions would liberate these metals from the spent catalyst. During bioleaching with Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans, almost complete solubilization of the exchangeable as well as of reducible fraction was observed. Due to strong acidic conditions, part of oxidizable fraction of these metals was also solubilized. Bioleaching also affected the fractionation of metals remaining in the treated spent catalyst. At the end of the process, most of the metals remaining in the spent catalyst were found in the more stable fractions ensuring the safe disposal of spent catalyst. The leaching yields and fractionation behavior of metals during chemical leaching was found to be identical. The results of the present study strongly suggest that bioleaching is an effective method for removing metals from the spent catalyst.

A laboratory-scale study was conducted to test whether biochar from cow dung as a soil amendment can reduce nutrient leaching from soil irrigated with biogas slurry. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) columns were packed with soils containing 0, 20, and 40 g kg⁻¹of biochar. The biogas slurry was applied at 0, 200, and 400 ml per column, equivalent to 0, 130, and 260 kg N ha⁻¹. The biogas slurry was diluted to 1,500 ml with water and then applied five times every 6 days at 300 ml each time. All leached solutions were collected separately. Results showed that soil available phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) increased significantly with increased biogas slurry rates and biochar rates. The concentrations of total N, P, and K in leached solutions increased significantly as biogas slurry rates increased. Biochar significantly increased the concentrations of total and available P, total K, and electric conductance in leached solution. Contributions of biochar and biogas slurry treatments to the net amount of N, P, and K in leached solution increased with increased biochar and biogas slurry rates except at 4 % biochar rate where total N was decreased. Nutrient removal rate of biochar was over 10.6 % for total N and negative for total K at 2 % biochar rate. Nutrient removal rate of biochar was over 7.19 % for total P and negative for total N and total K at 4 % biochar rate. It is suggested that both biogas slurry and biochar have the potential to pollute water when leaching happens although biochar has the ability to adsorb N and P from biogas slurry.

We determined basal levels of cholinesterase (ChE) and carboxylesterase (CbEs; two substrates: α-naphthyl acetate and 4-nitrophenylvalerate) in different tissues of tadpoles and adults of the frog Pseudis paradoxa and evaluated their use as complementary biomarkers of anti-cholinesterase pesticide exposure. ChE and CbEs sensitivity to malaoxon was also evaluated. Adults and tadpoles were collected with sweep net from temporary ponds located in natural riparian forests along the Paraná River (Garay Department, Santa Fe province, Argentina). We found significant differences in B-esterase activities between adults and tadpoles and among different tissues. The in vitro inhibition tests indicated that ChE is more sensitive to inhibition than CbEs. Our results suggest that basal ChE and CbE (α-NA and 4-NPV) activities in different tissues of adult and tadpoles P. paradoxa would be suitable biomarkers of pesticide exposure, and this amphibian species could be used as sentinel in field monitoring.

This study was undertaken to synthesise a novel biomass-based chemically activated carbon from Australian pine cone and to investigate its effectiveness in the removal of anionic dye Congo red from aqueous solution. The effect of activation parameters such as the concentration of phosphoric acid and temperature were identified as the most efficient parameters for activation in the Congo red removal. The synthesised activated carbon was characterised by Fourier transform infrared and different physical properties, such as bulk density, CHNS analysis, carbon yield, particle size, zeta potential and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area were also determined. Batch adsorption study showed that the amount of adsorption depends on various physico-chemical process parameters, such as solution pH, dye concentration, temperature and adsorbent dose. It was observed that Langmuir maximum adsorption capacity was 500 mg/g at a pH of 3.5. Furthermore, pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, Elovich and intra-particle diffusion models were fitted to examine the adsorption kinetic and mechanism of adsorption. Equilibrium data were fitted with Langmuir, Freundlich and Tempkin adsorption isotherm models. Thermodynamic parameters such as ΔG⁰, ΔH⁰, and ΔS⁰were also calculated. Finally, a single-stage batch adsorber design for the Congo red adsorption onto activated carbon particles was presented based on the Freundlich isotherm model equation. These results indicated pine cone biomass is a good and cheap precursor for the production of an effective activated carbon adsorbent and alternative to commercial-activated carbon.

The main goal of this study was to explore the suitability and performance of bicomponent polymer membranes based on acrylonitrile copolymers-polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) mixtures and small quantities of anion (Purolite A100) or cation exchange resin (Purolite C150), prepared by phase inversion. Membranes were used for copper removal from synthetic wastewater solutions. A three detachable cylindrical compartment electrodialysis cell without recirculation of the electrolytes and synthetic solutions of various concentrations, similar to a copper electrowinning electrolyte, were used. The electrodialysis unit operates under galvanostatic control. The effect of pH on electrodialysis separation of Cu²⁺and on the solution conductivity has been also investigated. The laboratory electrodialysis cell performance was evaluated in terms of percent of extraction (pe) and current efficiency (ce). Experimental results showed that the ionic transfer in electrodialysis cell was especially affected by concentration. The highest values for the pe (>81 %) and the ce (>25 %) of copper ions were obtained at maximum concentration in copper ions (3 g/L), indicating a better performance of the ion extraction. The transport of copper ions was also correlated with flux data. The ion exchange membranes were characterized using FT-IR spectroscopy, ESEM, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.

An inexact left-hand-side chance-constrained programming (ILCCP) was proposed and applied to a nonpoint-source water quality management problem within an agricultural system. The ILCCP model can reflect uncertainties presented as interval parameters (manure mass balance, crop nutrient balances, energy and digestible protein requirements, pollutant losses, water quantity constraints, technical constraints, and so on) and left-hand-side random variables (nitrogen requirement of crop i) at the same time. A non-equivalent linearization form of ILCCP was deduced and proved intuitively, which can help handle the left-hand-side random parameters in the constraints. The decision schemes through ILCCP were analyzed under scenarios at different individual probabilities (p ᵢ , denotes the admissible probability of violating the constraint i). The performance of ILCCP was also compared with the corresponding interval linear programming model. A representative nonpoint-source water quality management case was employed to facilitate the analysis and the comparison. The optimization results indicated that the net system benefit in the water quality management case would decrease with increasing probability levels on the whole. This was because that the higher constraint satisfaction of probability would lead to stricter decision space. The optimal scheme shows an obvious downtrend in the application amount of manure as the violation probability levels decreasing from scenarios 1 to 3 (p ᵢ = 0.1, 0.05 and 0.01). This demonstrates that the application amount of manure would be reduced effectively by adjusting strictness of the constraints. This study is the first application of the ILCCP model to water quality management, which indicates that the ILCCP is applicable to other environmental problems under uncertainties.

Research was conducted to assess metal contamination of soils and fruits and evaluate potential human health risks. Heavy metal concentrations (Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb) in plum orchard soils were below maximum permissible concentration. Igₑₒshowed that soils were uncontaminated (Igₑₒ<0 for Fe and Mn) and uncontaminated to moderately contaminated (I gₑₒ for Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd ranged from 1.20–0.57, 1.32–0.98, 2.97–0.88 and 1.26–0.58, respectively). Fruit Zn, Cu, Mn, Pb and Cd concentrations were within maximum permissible concentration in foods in Serbia. Only Fe levels were above maximum permissible concentration at most locations. The soil-to-fruit transfer factor (TF) showed large differences between metals. TF for Cd and Pb was 0.0, for Mn 0.007–0.030 and for Zn 0.04–0.09, indicating no potential risk to human health, whereas TF for Fe and Cu was high, i.e. 0.30–1.51 and 0.33–1.69, respectively, suggesting that plum can accumulate Fe and Cu.

Natural and anthropogenic aerosols over coal mines regions in India play a significant role in influencing the regional radiation budget, causing climate implications to the overall hydrological cycle of India. In the reference of regional climate change and air quality, we discuss aerosol optical depth (AOD) variability and long-term trends (from Mar 2000–Dec 2012) over eastern, southeast, and south coalfield regions in India. The present work analyses the variations and trends in aerosol loading using Terra-MODIS (Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) AOD₅₅₀data in the period 2000–2012. Overall, an increasing trend in AOD₅₅₀has been observed over all regions namely Raniganj (7.31 %) in eastern and Korba (5.0 %) in southeast, and Godavari Valley (32 %) in the south coalfield region in India. This increasing trend predominantly owes to a constant increase in the seasonal/monthly averaged AOD during the winter (Dec–Feb) and post-monsoon (Oct–Nov) seasons dominated by anthropogenic emissions. In contrast, a decreasing trend is observed during pre-monsoon (Mar–May) season over eastern coalfield region (−13 %), while at south coalfield region (44 %) and southeastern coalfield region (0.8 %), increasing trends are observed. Similarly, increasing trends is observed over all regions in monsoon (Jun–Sep) months. Furthermore, the values of Hurst exponent, fractal dimension, and predictability index for AODs are 0.5, 1.5, and 0, respectively suggesting that the AODs in all sites follow the Brownian time series motion (true random walk). High AOD values (0.59 ± 0.21) are observed over eastern region Raniganj.

A method for simultaneous analysis of bisphenol A (BPA) and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) in water supply was developed using solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. The linearity was evaluated between 2.5 and 200 μg L⁻¹(r> for the analytes. The limits of quantification were 1.5 and 2.1 ng L⁻¹for BPA and EE2, respectively. The extraction was made with C18 cartridges, and recoveries obtained varied between 70 and 102 % for the strengthening of 5 μg L⁻¹. After the validation, the method was applied in the determination of pollutants in surface water and water supply of Sao Luis, Brazil, where BPA was found in two of the eight samples analyzed, with concentrations of 1.11 and 3.61 μg L⁻¹.

In 1999, the Perm region ranked eighth among Russian regions in terms of technogenic load per unit of area (4.4 t/km²). The situation in the city of Perm is especially unfavorable in ecological terms due to aerial contamination and hydrogenic contamination, because of industrial wastes entering the small rivers that are tributaries of the Kama river. It was revealed that fluvisols of the city of Perm are contaminated by heavy metals of hydrogenic origin because of the unpurified sewage water entering them. The fluvisols of the city of Perm are contaminated by heavy metals of hydrogenic origin because of the unpurified sewage water entering them.Content of HMs in fine earth showed the deficit and excess compared with European Soil Clarke and Local Background. In relation to European Soil Clarkes elements can be divided into three groups: (1) scarce elements forming negative geochemical anomaly, (2) "normal" elements, which does not differ significantly from Clarke, (3) excess elements forming positive geochemical anomaly. Scarce elements include rubidium and arsenic. “Normal” elements are yttrium, gallium, zirconium and lead. Excess elements are nickel, copper, zinc, strontium and chromium. In the fluvisols, the Fe-rohrensteins are formed. Some elements are concentrated in the Fe-rohrensteins, and some others are not concentrated in them or are found in low concentrations. In Fe-rohrensteins the highly active group comprises As, Zn, Ni, Cu, Cr, and Pb; the moderately active one is represented by Sr, Nb, Ga, and Y; and the inert group contains Zr and Rb. The contents of some chemical elements in Fe-rohrensteins are much greater than those in the fine earth. The Pb and Zn contents in Fe-rohrensteins of the soil of small rivers basin are 440 and 890 mg/kg, respectively. In Fe-rohrensteins, the Pb and Zn contents are 42 % and 17 % of their concentrations in fine earth, respectively. Since some part of heavy metals is precipitated at the redox microbarriers around concretions (Fe-rohrensteins), it is removed from the biological cycle.