The objectives of this study were to characterize and map the spatial distribution of As, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn in topsoil at Rayong Province, a rapidly developing city, and to evaluate the associated health risks. A total of 130 soil samples were collected by a stratified random sampling technique. The soil samples were digested by HNO₃, HCl and H₂O₂, and heavy metals were determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES). Descriptive statistics and geostatistics were used to analyze the data, and the kriging method was used for data interpolation. The results show that the mean values of most heavy metals in the soil, except for As, were lower than Thailand's soil quality standard for habitat and agriculture purposes and the worldwide background level. Highly significant correlations were found for As/Cd, As/Cu, As/Pb, As/Zn, Cd/Cu, Cd/Pb, Cd/Zn, Cu/Pb, Cu/Zn, and Pb/Zn. In addition, most heavy metals showed significantly positive correlations with the reference element (Fe). Spherical, Gaussian and exponential models were selected for the semivariogram analysis of the heavy metals in the Rayong soil. As, Cd, Cu, and Pb were fitted with the spherical model, and Zn was fitted with the exponential model. The total hazard index (HIs) from the heavy metals in the Rayong soil found in both children and adults were in the order of As > Pb > Cu > Cd > Zn. The hazard index of As in the children was higher than 1. The major health risk areas are mainly located in the eastern part of the study area where the land is used for agriculture and in the southwestern areas where industrial activities take place.

The complete mineralization of the conazole fungicide triadimefon in water at pH 3 using electrochemical advanced oxidation processes, electro-Fenton and photo electro-Fenton, was achieved. The electrochemical system consisted of a one-compartment electrochemical cell of 100 mL provided with a glassy carbon mesh electrode (cathode) and a concentric outer steel mesh as anode. The electrolysis was realized at constant current. The most remarkable features are as follows: (1) photo electro-Fenton process reaches a complete mineralization of triadimefon after 2 h of electrolysis with respect to electro-Fenton method; and (2) 4-chlorophenol, hydroquinone, carboxylic acids, and inorganic ions were detected as intermediates of degradation processes, which end with the complete mineralization of triadimefon to CO₂ + H₂O. (3) A reaction pathway for the oxidation of triadimefon fungicide by hydroxyl radicals that accounts for almost all detected intermediates is proposed.

Most of previous programming methods for air-quality management merely considered single pollutant from point sources. However, air pollution control is characterized by multiple pollutants from various sources. Meanwhile, uncertain information in the decision-making process cannot be neglected in the real-world cases. Thus, an inexact multistage stochastic programming model with joint chance constraints based on the air quality index (air-quality management model with joint chance constraints (AQM-JCC)) is developed for controlling multiple pollutants deriving from point and mobile sources and applied to a regional air-quality management system. In the model, integrated air quality associated with the joint probability existing in terms of environmental constraints is evaluated; uncertainties expressed as probability distributions and interval values are addressed; risks of violating the overall air-quality target under joint chance constraints are examined; and dynamics of system uncertainties and decision processes under a complete set of scenarios within a multistage context are reflected. The results indicate that useful solutions for air quality management practices in sequential stochastic decision environments have been generated, which can help decision makers to identify cost-effective control strategies for overall air quality improvement under uncertainties.

The present study investigates the heterogenic distribution of nine polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soil on a microscale. For this purpose, we developed a method allowing for the detailed analysis of PAHs in minute amounts of soil (5 to 25 mg). A certified reference soil with a known PAH content and a diffusely polluted Danish surface soil from central Copenhagen were used in the study. In order to separate soil heterogeneity from analytical variation, we attempted to establish the least amount of soil in which homogeneous and reproducible results could be obtained for the PAHs in question. The results demonstrated that for fluoranthene, analytical results in accordance with the certified reference values could be obtained in quantities of 10 mg of soil or more. For phenanthrene and pyrene, certified reference values could be obtained in quantities of 25 mg of soil or more. Similar results were obtained with the Nyboder soil, using the reference soil for quality and quantity assurance. For quantification of all nine PAHs, a minimum of 100 mg of soil was needed for both soils. In order to obtain an expression for the degree of heterogeneity of PAHs in the soils, a subsample variation was calculated based on overall sample variation and analytical measurements variation. The results demonstrate that the PAHs in the Nyboder soil are much more heterogeneously distributed than the PAHs in the reference soil due to much larger subsample variations. Furthermore, strong relationships between different physico-chemical properties and subsample variation were found. These included molecular weight, water solubility, log octanol/water partition coefficient, and soil–water distribution coefficient of the investigated PAHs, demonstrating that the heterogeneity of PAHs in the Nyboder soil is significantly influenced by such parameters.

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) play an important role in the biodegradation of natural and xenobiotic organic compounds in soil. They can also alter heavy metal bioavailability and contribute to phytoremediation in the presence or absence of synthetic metal chelating agents. In this study, the inhibitory effect of Cd2+ and Ni2+ at different concentrations of Ca2+ and Mg2+, and the influence of the widely used chelator EDTA on growth of the PGPR Pseudomonas brassicacearum in a mineral salt medium with a mixture of four main plant exudates (glucose, fructose, citrate, succinate) was investigated. Therefore, the bacteriostatic effect of Cd2+, Ni2+ and EDTA on the maximum specific growth rate and the determination of EC50 values was used to quantify inhibitory impact. At high concentrations of Ca2+ (800 μmol L-1) and Mg2+ (1,250 μmol L-1), only a small inhibitory effect of Cd2+ and Ni2+ on growth of P. brassicacearum was observed (EC50 Cd2+, 18,849 ±â€‰80 μmol L−1; EC50 Ni2+, 3,578 ±â€‰1,002 μmol L−1). The inhibition was much greater at low concentrations of Ca2+ (25 μmol L−1) and Mg2+ (100 μmol L−1) (EC50 Cd2+, 85 ±â€‰0.5 μmol L−1 and EC Ni2+, 62 ±â€‰1.8 μmol L−1). For the chosen model system, a competitive effect of the ions Cd2+ and Ca2+ on the one hand and Ni2+ and Mg2+ on the other hand can be deduced. However, the toxicity of both, Cd2+ and Ni2+, could be significantly reduced by addition of EDTA, but if this chelating agent was added in stoichiometric excess to the cations, it also exhibited an inhibitory effect on growth of P. brassicacearum.

Leachable chromium in the incineration fly ash and wastewater sludge has been thermally stabilized by plasma melting at the temperature of 1,773 K. To better understand how chromium is stabilized with the high-temperature treatment, chemical structure of the slags sampled at temperature zones of 1,100–1,700 K has been studied by synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The component-fitted X-ray absorption near edge structure spectra of chromium indicate that the main chromium compounds in the sludge and fly ash are Cr(OH)₃, Cr₂O₃, and CrCl₃. A small amount of toxic CrO₃ is also observed in the fly ash. In the plasma melting chamber under the reducing environment, the high-oxidation state chromium is not found. The slags in the plasma melting chamber have much less leachable chromium, which is due to chemical interactions between chromium and SiO₂ in the slags. The existence of the interconnected Cr-O-Si species is observed by refined extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. In the Cr₂O₃ phase of the slags, their bond distances, and coordination numbers for the first (Cr-O) and second (Cr-(O)-Cr) shells have insignificant perturbation when experienced with different melting temperatures between 1,300 and 1,700 K. It seems that Cr₂O₃ and chromium encapsulated in the silicate matrix of the slags have relatively much lower leachability. With this concept, to obtain a low chromium leachability slag from the plasma melting process, the residence time of the melting chamber may be decreased, and the slag discharge temperatures may be increased to 1,300 K. This work also exemplifies utilization of molecule-scale data obtained from synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy to reveal how chromium is thermally stabilized in a commercial scale plasma melting process.

Previous research in agricultural catchments showed that past inputs of nitrate continue to influence present observations and future characteristics of nitrate concentrations in stream water for a long period of time. This persistence manifests itself as a “memory effect” with a prolonged response of stream water nitrate levels to reductions of nitrate inputs on the catchment scale. The question we attempt to resolve is whether such a memory effect also exists in mountainous catchments with a snowmelt-dominated runoff regime. We analyzed long-term records (∼20 years) of nitrate-nitrogen concentrations measured in stream at three stations on the upper Váh River (Slovakia). Applying spectral analysis and detrended fluctuation analysis, we found a varying degree of persistence between the three analyzed sites. With increasing catchment area, the fluctuation scaling exponents generally increased from 0.77 to 0.93 (fluctuation exponents above 0.5 are usually considered as a proof of persistence while values close to 0.5 indicate “white” uncorrelated noise). The nitrate-nitrogen signals temporally scaled as a power-low function of frequency (1/f noise) with a strong annual seasonality. This increase in persistence might be attributable to the catchment areas upstream the sampling sites. These results have important implications for water quality management. In areas where reduction of nitrate in surface waters is imposed by legislation and regulatory measures, two catchments with different persistence properties may not respond to the same reduction of sources of nitrogen at the same rate.

Phosphate removal from water is crucial to the prevention of eutrophication. The phosphate adsorption performance from aqueous solutions by using lanthanum-doped activated carbon fiber (ACF-La) was developed by batch and continuous column adsorption method. The batch sorption condition with respect to interfering ions was tested, and the pseudo second-order and intraparticle diffusion models were used to evaluate the adsorption kinetics of phosphate onto ACF-La in the presence of interfering ions, with the second-order model to fit the experimental data better. Moreover, three factors (phosphate concentration, flow rate, and interfering ions) were examined at column run method to evaluate the practical application of ACF-La to the continuous removal phosphate from solution. Furthermore, how the factors (eluted solution concentration, eluted time, and regeneration number) affect the regeneration efficiency of ACF-La was also investigated. These findings suggest that ACF-La has a considerable potential for the application of phosphate removal from contaminated waters.

The Mar Piccolo (surface area of 20.72 km2) is located in the Northern area of the Taranto town (Ionian Sea, Italy). It is an inner, semi-enclosed basin with lagoon features connected with the Mar Grande through two channels which are very important for water exchange. Mar Piccolo basin is subjected to urbanization, industry, agriculture, aquaculture and commercial fishing. Hence, it is important to have a temporal picture both of heavy metal content and of organic carbon and their distribution (hydrophobic fraction, hydrophilic fraction, humic compounds) to check the progress of pollution in time. Three sediment cores collected on the basis of the pollution sources have been analyzed. Both heavy metal and organic carbon concentrations underline the fact that the anthropogenic input is different in the three sites, and that in time the amount of pollutants coming into the Mar Piccolo have changed in different ways. The high amount of organic hydrophilic compounds present in sediments, both due to the small water depth and to the high accumulation rate, make the sediment site high in oxygen consumption due to a considerable chemical and biochemical transformations of organic matter.

Surfactants have been used for environmental remediation to remove hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) in water and soil. However, there are limited studies on the use of surfactants in confined micelle arrays to remove pesticides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from water. We studied the recovery of HOCs using two confined surfactants: nonionic Triton X-100 and cationic 3-(trimethoxysily)propyl-octadecyldimethyl-ammonium chloride (TPODAC). The micelle arrays were confined on a mesoporous silica matrix deposited onto a magnetic iron core. These magnetic, dispersible sorbents can be used to recover HOCs, minimizing the application of surfactants when compared to soil-washing techniques. The TPODAC-based sorbent had better average recovery of the HOCs studied compared to the Triton-X sorbent, and was, in general, comparable to activated carbon. It performed well with the chlorinated pesticides, in part due to additional interactions between the cationic sites and the polar compounds.