Anaerobic dechlorination is an effective degradation pathway for higher chlorinated polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The enhanced reductive dechlorination of PCB-contaminated soil by anaerobic composting with zero-valent iron (ZVI) was studied, and preliminary reasons for the enhanced reductive dechlorination with ZVI were investigated. The results show that the addition of nanoscale ZVI can enhance dechlorination during in-vessel anaerobic composting. After 140 days, the average number of removed Cl per biphenyl with 10 mg g⁻¹of added nanoscale ZVI was 0.63, enhancing the dechlorination by 34 % and improving the initial dechlorination speed. The ZVI enhances dechlorination by providing a suitable acid base environment, reducing volatile fatty acid inhibition and stimulating the microorganisms. The C/N ratios for treatments with the highest rate of ZVI addition were smaller than for the control, indicating that ZVI addition can promote compost maturity.

The present study explores the tolerance and metal removal response of a well-developed 2-week-old Phormidium mat after long-term exposure to Cu²⁺-enriched medium. Cu²⁺enrichment inhibited increase in mat biomass in a concentration-dependent manner. Mat area and the number of entrapped air bubbles decreased as Cu²⁺concentration increased in the medium. Decrease in number of air bubbles obviously reflects the adverse effect of Cu²⁺on photosynthetic performance of the mat. Metal enrichment did not substantially alter the amount of pigments, such as chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoids, and phycocyanin, in the mat. Enhancement of Cu²⁺concentration in the medium led to changes in species composition of the test mat; however, Phormidium bigranulatum always remained the dominant organism. Relative share of green algae and some cyanobacterial taxa, namely, Lyngbya sp. and Oscillatoria tenuis, in the mat were increased by Cu²⁺enrichment. The mat successfully removed 80 to 94 % Cu²⁺from the growth medium containing 10 to 100 μM Cu²⁺. Extracellular polysaccharides, whose share increased in the mat community after metal addition, seem to have contributed substantially to metal binding by the mat biomass.

Direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) process using polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane was used for fluoride removal from aqueous solution. This study has been carried out on heat and mass transfer analyses in DCMD. The dusty-gas model was used to analyze the mass transfer mechanism and to calculate the permeate flux. The heat transfer is analyzed based on energy balance, and the different layers are considered as a series of thermal resistances. Mass transfer analysis showed that the transition Knudsen-molecular diffusion is the dominant mechanism to describe the transport of water vapor through the pores of the PVDF membrane. The most significant operating parameter is the feed temperature. The permeate increases sensitively with feed temperature and velocity, and it shows insignificant change with feed salts concentration. Heat transfer analysis showed the conduction through the matrix of the membrane presents the major part of available energy. The increasing feed temperature leads to increase thermal efficiency (TE) and decrease temperature polarization coefficient (TPC). The experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical values. Therefore, it is suggested to work at high feed temperature, which will benefit both the thermal efficiency and permeate flux. The experimental results proved that DCMD process is able to produce almost fluoride-free water suitable for many beneficial uses.

The aim of this study is the treatment of Basic Red 29 (BR29) dye solution using hybrid iron-aluminum electrodes by electrocoagulation and electro-Fenton methods. The effect of current density, initial pH, supporting electrolyte, H₂O₂, and initial dye concentration on dye removal efficiency was investigated, and the best experimental conditions were obtained. Time-coarse variation of UV-Vis spectra and toxicity and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal were also examined at the best experimental conditions. Both systems were found very successful for the removal of BR29 dye. The removal efficiency of >95 % for BR29 dye solution was reached easily in a short time. At the best experimental conditions, for the initial BR29 concentration of 100 mg/L, >95 % BR29 dye and 71.43 % COD removal were obtained after 20 and 40 min of electrolysis, respectively. Additionally, toxicity results for electro-Fenton treatment of 100 mg/L BR29 were also very promising. According to the results obtained, although electro-Fenton is more effective, both systems can be used successfully to treat textile wastewater including dyes.

This study examines gaseous chlorinated species generated from the reaction of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) with sodium chlorite powder (NaClO₂₍ₛ₎) to obtain insight into the propensity of this process to enhance NO and Hg⁰oxidation. A packed bed reactor containing NaClO₂₍ₛ₎was used and the reaction temperature was set to 130 °C. Initially, we determined that the presence of SO₂enhances the oxidation of NO and Hg⁰by reaction with NaClO₂₍ₛ₎. We then introduced NO₂into the gas mixture as a radical scavenger and determined that the chlorinated species generated by the reaction of SO₂with NaClO₂₍ₛ₎are OClO, Cl, ClO, and Cl₂. Based on these results, we suggest that such gaseous chlorinated ones are responsible for the enhancement of NO and Hg⁰oxidation.

Studies focused on the possible use of spider webs as environmental pollution indicators. This was a first time ever attempt to use webs as indicators of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) pollution. The aim of the study was (a) to evaluate whether webs are able to accumulate PM-associated road traffic emissions and be analyzed for organic toxics such as PAHs, (b) to assess if the distance from emission sources could have an influence on the accumulation level of pollutants, and (c) to determine types of pollution sources responsible for a structure of monitoring data set. Webs of four species from the family Agelenidae were sampled for PAHs presence. Data from vehicle traffic sites (i.e., road tunnel, arterial surface road, underground parking) and from railway traffic sites (i.e., two railway viaducts) in the city of Wroclaw (Southwest of Poland) showed a significantly higher mean concentrations of PAHs than the reference site 1 (municipal water supply works). We also found a significant differences at sites differed by the distance from emission sources. The result of PCA analysis suggested three important sources of pollution. We conclude that spider webs despite of some limitations proved useful indicators of road traffic emissions; they could be even more reliable compared to use of bioindicators whose activity is often limited by a lack of water and sun.

Uranium concentrations in cultivated (sunflower, sunchoke, potato) and native plants, plant compartment specimens, and mushrooms, grown on a test site within a uranium-contaminated area in Eastern Thuringia, were analyzed and compared. This test site belongs to the Friedrich-Schiller University Jena and is situated on the ground of a former but now removed uranium mine waste leaching heap. For determination of the U concentrations in the biomaterials, the saps of the samples were squeezed out by using an ultracentrifuge, after that, the uranium concentrations in the saps and the remaining residue were measured, using ICP-MS. The study further showed that uranium concentrations observed in plant compartment and mushroom fruiting bodies sap samples were always higher than their associated solid residue sample. Also, it was found that the detected uranium concentration in the root samples were always higher than were observed in their associated above ground biomass, e.g., in shoots, leaves, blossoms etc. The highest uranium concentration was measured with almost 40 ppb U in a fruiting body of a mushroom and in roots of butterbur. However, the detected uranium concentrations in plants and mushrooms collected in this study were always lower than in the associated surface and soil water of the test site, indicating that under the encountered natural conditions, none of the studied plant and mushroom species turned out to be a hyperaccumulator for uranium, which could have extracted uranium in sufficient amounts out of the uranium-contaminated soil. In addition, it was found that the detected uranium concentrations in the sap samples, despite being above the sensitivity limit, proved to be too low—in combination with the presence of fluorescence quenching substances, e.g., iron and manganese ions, and/or organic quenchers—to extract a useful fluorescence signal, which could have helped to identify the uranium speciation in plants.

Copper and iron isotope fractionation by plant uptake and translocation is a matter of current research. As a way to apply the use of Cu and Fe stable isotopes in the phytoremediation of contaminated sites, the effects of organic amendment and microbial addition in a mine-spoiled soil seeded with Helianthus annuus in pot experiments and field trials were studied. Results show that the addition of a microbial consortium of ten bacterial strains has an influence on Cu and Fe isotope fractionation by the uptake and translocation in pot experiments, with an increase in average of 0.99 ‰ for the δ⁶⁵Cu values from soil to roots. In the field trial, the amendment with the addition of bacteria and mycorrhiza as single and double inoculation enriches the leaves in ⁶⁵Cu compared to the soil. As a result of the same trial, the δ⁵⁶Fe values in the leaves are lower than those from the bulk soil, although some differences are seen according to the amendment used. Siderophores, possibly released by the bacterial consortium, can be responsible for this change in the Cu and Fe fractionation. The overall isotopic fractionation trend for Cu and Fe does not vary for pot and field experiments with or without bacteria. However, variations in specific metabolic pathways related to metal–organic complexation and weathering can modify particular isotopic signatures.

Butyltin (BT) contamination was evaluated in hermit crabs from 25 estuaries and in sediments from 13 of these estuaries along about 2,000 km of the Brazilian coast. BT contamination in hermit crabs ranged from 2.22 to 1,746 ng Sn g⁻¹of DBT and 1.32 to 318 ng Sn g⁻¹of TBT. In sediment samples, the concentration also varied widely, from 25 to 1,304 ng Sn g⁻¹of MBT, from 7 to 158 ng Sn g⁻¹of DBT, and from 8 to 565 ng Sn g⁻¹of TBT. BTs are still being found in surface sediments and biota of the estuaries after the international and Brazilian bans, showing heterogeneous distribution among and within estuaries. Although hermit crabs were previously tested as an indicator of recent BT contamination, the results indicate the presence of contamination, probably from resuspension of BTs from deeper water of the estuary.

The degradation of aqueous Rhodamine B (RhB) was examined using a dual-channel spark switch module designed to regulate the steepness of pulsed high voltage with microsecond rise time. Depending on the energy per pulse, a spark along the water surface (SPWS) or streamer along the water surface (STWS) was formed. STWS was found to have a better degradation effect and energy efficiency toward RhB than SPWS at the same power; however, addition of H₂O₂amounts resulted in increased degradation, the effect being more pronounced using SPWS. The initial concentration of RhB also appeared to influence the rate constant of the degradation reaction. Furthermore, TiO₂films doped with Fe, Mn, and Ce were found to enhance the degradation performance of plasma. A possible reaction mechanism of plasma formation along the water surface was concluded by determination of the main inorganic products in the liquid and gas phases.