The carbon rich material obtained from pyrolysis process, i.e. biochar, has been widely discussed during the last decade due to its utilisation as a soil amendment. Furthermore, there is an unsolved question of biomass disposal from phytoremediation technologies. The idea of contaminated biomass pyrolysis has appeared, but there is lack of information about possible biochar utilisation obtained by this process. The aim of our study was to observe sorption properties of biochar prepared from contaminated biomass and release of contaminants from biochar back into the environment. The biomass of fast growing trees and maize was harvested on a site significantly damaged by risk element contamination (Cd, Pb and Zn). Plant biomass was pyrolysed and then the batch (de)sorption experiments were settled. The results confirmed no significant differences in metal sorption ability between biochars prepared from contaminated and uncontaminated biomass under the same conditions. The trend of maximum sorption capacity of observed matrices followed the order: wood biochar + soil (WB + soil) > wood uncontaminated biochar + soil (WUB + soil) > maize biochar + soil (MB + soil) > soil for cadmium, WB + soil > WUB + soil > soil for lead and MB + soil > WUB + soil > WB + soil > soil for zinc. Despite of increase of Zn desorption from wood biochars, maximum sorption capacity of the final WB + soil system was comparable to the WUB+soil sample. Our laboratory experiments showed high potential of biochar from contaminated plants as a soil amendment with sorption abilities and minimal risk of metal release.

This study investigates the use of sericite beads and microalgae for the removal of heavy metals from acid mine drainage (AMD) and the simultaneous enhancement of biomass productivity. The experiment was conducted over a period of 6 days in a hybrid system containing sericite beads and microalgae Chlorella sp. The results show that the biomass production increased to ~8.04 times its initial concentration of 0.367 g/L as measured by an optical panel photobioreactor (OPPBR) and had a light transmittance of 95 % at a 305-mm depth. Simultaneous percent removal of Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn, As, and Cd from the AMD effluent was found to be 97.78 to 99.26 %. Biomass production was significantly enhanced by removal of heavy metal ions. We thus found that our hybrid system of sericite beads and microalgae was highly effective in removing heavy metal and in enhancing biomass production and could be a useful alternative treatment of AMD.

Urban soil amendment with organic matter can increase the steady state concentration of trace metals in urban soil. Different types of organic matter have different abilities to sorb and retain trace metals. The potential of urban soil amended with compost derived from mixed green and table waste and with maple-wood-derived biochar to retain trace metals (Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb) in the presence of de-icing salt (Na) was studied in a leaching test. Soil amended with compost retained significantly higher concentrations of Zn and Pb, as compared to soil amended with biochar, possibly due to the high cation exchange capacity of compost and its positive effect on soil pH. Indicating high ability for retaining trace metals, compost can bind contaminants originating from urban runoff water percolating through urban soil and provide a healthier medium for street tree growth.

Residual antibiotics in land-applied manure and biosolids present a potential threat to public and ecological health. It remains important to determine antibiotic degradation efficiencies for manure and biosolids waste management practices and to identify conditions that enhance antibiotic degradation. The fates of the antibiotics florfenicol, sulfadimethoxine, sulfamethazine, and tylosin were studied during pilot-scale static pile thermophilic composting, and the effects of temperature and feedstock particles on antibiotic degradation rates were tested. The antibiotics were spiked into dairy manure solids and wastewater biosolids, and treatments included aerated and non-aerated manure and biosolids/wood-product (1:3 v/v) composting. Results showed no significant differences between aerated and non-aerated treatments; on average, ≥85, ≥93, and ≥95 % antibiotic degradation was observed after 7, 14, and 21 days of composting. Greater antibiotic degradation was observed in manure compost compared to biosolids compost for florfenicol (7, 14, 21, 28 days) and tylosin (14, 28 days); however, there was no significant difference for sulfadimethoxine and sulfamethazine. Peak temperatures were 66–73, and ≥55 °C was maintained for 6–7 days in the biosolids compost and 17–20 days in the manure compost. Bench-scale experiments conducted at 25, 55, and 60 °C showed that lower temperature decreased degradation of the sulfonamides and tylosin in both feedstocks and florfenicol in the biosolids. The presence of compost particles increased antibiotic degradation, with time to 50 % degradation ≤2 days in the presence of solids (60 °C) compared to no degradation in their absence. These results indicate that thermophilic composting effectively degrades parent antibiotic compounds in manure and biosolids.

The potential of granular activated carbon (GAC) to remove iopromide and its intermediates from ozone-treated river water was evaluated. Mass spectrum analysis showed that ozone treatment lead to partial removal of iopromide (m/z 791.8) with generation of various intermediates. GAC demonstrated a lower iopromide adsorption (1.60 μg/g) in the presence of natural organic matter (NOM) compared to NOM-free water (12.54 μg/g), indicating the inhibitory effect of NOM on iopromide adsorption. Ozone treatment of the influent reduced the inhibitory effect of NOM by altering its composition and inducing polarity shift. GAC post-treatment resulted in improved removal of residual iopromide and its intermediates from the ozone-treated influent. Application of such combined treatment of ozonation followed by GAC adsorption can be an effective strategy for the removal of iopromide and its intermediates from contaminated water streams.

A series of column experiments was conducted to evaluate the effect of organic carbon fraction on long-term atrazine elution tailing for calcareous soil (foc = 0.97 %) and calcareous soil with 10 % by weight terra rossa amendment (foc = 1.20 %). Effluent atrazine concentrations were monitored for approximately 400 pore volume to understand the influence of controlling sorption–desorption kinetics on long-term tailing behavior. Laboratory studies showed that the sorption of atrazine was described by rate-limited, nonlinear reversible processes for both soils. Atrazine transport exhibited extensive elution tailing for all experiments due to the presence of hard carbon components such as black carbon and kerogen in both soils. This nonlinear sorption and extensive atrazine tailing behavior were more pronounced and extensive for soil with terra rossa amendment due to the addition of approximately 20 % organic carbon including 10 % hard carbon components from terra rossa soil. A mathematical model incorporating nonlinear, rate-limited sorption/desorption described by a continuous distribution function was used to successfully simulate atrazine transport early-time breakthrough and long-term concentration tailing for both porous media.

Microporous–mesoporous activated carbons from five different types of agro-industrial wastes were produced using chemical activation with ZnCl₂ and carbonization at mild conditions of 600 °C, comprehensively characterized and investigated for removal of methylene blue (MB) in aqueous solution, a model large-molecular-size organic pollutant. The external part of the mango pit (mango seed husk) was used for the production of activated carbon (AC) for the first time. Despite that the raw agro-materials exhibited significantly different porosity, all activated carbons produced possessed well-developed microporous–mesoporous structures showing high surface areas and micropore volumes. Further, it was revealed that the pore size distribution of raw agro-material is a more important property in development of microporous–mesoporous structure of produced ACs than their overall porosity. All activated carbons produced adsorbed MB, reaching in most cases 100 % removal from the aqueous phase. Adsorption data were fitted well to a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. For MB adsorption, the mesoporosity and the ratio of micropores accessible for MB were the key factors since there exists the size-selectivity effect on MB adsorption due to MB molecular dimensions. The molecular dimensions of MB were estimated via DFT calculations to 1.66 × 0.82 × 0.54 nm, and this parameter was correlated with determined micropore size distributions of activated carbons.

In this work, we developed a method based on ultrasound-assisted emulsification microextraction (USAEME) for the determination of nickel by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The method is based on the use of the organic solvent trichloroethylene and 2,2′-thiazolylazo-p-cresol (TAC) as a chelating reagent in a solution containing nickel ions. After ultrasonic emulsification, the mixture is centrifuged to separate the phases. Subsequently, the supernatant is discarded, and the enriched phase is diluted with nitric acid. The nickel content in this new mixture is quantified by FAAS. The following variables were optimized: type of solvent (trichloroethylene), type of chelating reagent (TAC), volume of extraction solvent (100 mL), concentration of chelating reagent (0.015 % w/v), pH (8.0), time of sonication (5.0 min), and time of centrifugation (4.0 min). The limits of detection and quantification were calculated under optimum conditions (0.23 and 0.77 μg L⁻¹, respectively). The enrichment factor obtained was 190. The relative standard deviation (RSD%) of the method (10.0 μg L⁻¹) was 2.3–4.1 %. The proposed method is simple, economical, fast, and efficient for the determination of nickel by FAAS. The procedure was applied to the determination of nickel in certified reference material (BCR-713, wastewater) and water samples.

Saplings of alder (Alnus glutinosa), birch (Betula pendula), hazel (Corylus avellana), beech (Fagus sylvatica), ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and oak (Quercus robur) were exposed to five episodic ozone regimes in solardomes, with treatment means between 16 and 72 ppb. All trees were kept fully watered for the first 5 weeks of exposure, after which half the trees continued to be well-watered, whereas the other half were subjected to a moderate drought by applying approximately 45 % of the amount of water. Species-specific reductions in growth in response to both ozone and drought were found, which could result in reduced potential carbon sequestration in future ozone climates. In well watered conditions, the ozone treatments resulted in total biomass reductions for oak (18 %), alder (16 %), beech (15 %), ash (14 %), birch (14 %) and hazel (7 %) in the 72 ppb compared with the 32 ppb treatment. For beech, there was a reduction in growth in response to ozone in the well-watered treatment, but an increase in growth in response to ozone in the drought treatment, in contrast to the decreased growth that would occur as a result of stomatal closure in response to either the ozone or drought treatment, and therefore assumed to result from changes in hormonal signalling which could result in stomatal opening in combined ozone and drought conditions. For alder, in addition to a decrease in root biomass, there was reduced biomass of root nodules with high compared with low ozone for both drought-treated and well-watered trees. There was also a large reduction in the biomass of nodules from drought trees compared with well-watered. It is therefore possible that changes in the nitrogen dynamics of alder could occur due to reduced nodulation in both drought and elevated ozone conditions.

Despite the decreased emission loads of mercury, historical deposits of this metal in various compartments of the environment may become an additional diffuse source in the future. Global climate change manifests itself in the temperate zone in several ways: warmer winters, shorter icing periods, increased precipitation and heightened frequency of extreme events such as strong gales and floods, all of which cause disturbances in the rate and direction of mercury biogeochemical cycling. The present study was conducted at two sites, Oslonino and Gdynia Orlowo (both in the coastal zone of the Gulf of Gdansk), from which samples were collected once a month between January 2012 and December 2012. In the Southern Baltic region, climate changes can certainly enhance coast to basin fluxes of mercury and the transfer of bioavailable forms of this metal to the food web. They may also, in the future, contribute to uncontrollable increases of mercury in the seawater.