Selenium (Se) radioactive wastes can be disposed through stabilization/solidification (S/S) based on the cementitious matrix on hydration products, where hydrocalumite (Ca₂Al-LDH) is expected to play an important role in the retention of SeO₄²⁻. Natural organic matters (NOMs) are known to be a risk to affect the transportation and mobility of undesirable chemical species in the pedosphere which receives the low level radioactive wastes (LLW). In the present work, five amino acids were selected as the simplified models of NOMs in the pedosphere to explore their effects on the stability of Ca₂Al-LDH after immobilized SeO₄²⁻ under alkaline conditions. As the loading amount of amino acids on Ca₂Al-LDH increasing, release of SeO₄²⁻ was enhanced in HGly, H₂Asp, and H₂Cys series, while no enhancement was observed in HPhe and HTrp series. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation predicted ion-exchange of amino acids and CO₃²⁻ with SeO₄²⁻ in a unit cell of LDH model. The intercalation of Asp²⁻ and CO₃²⁻ caused 003 peaks in XRD sharper and d₀₀₃ decreased from 8.15 Å to 7.70 Å which is assigned to Ca₂Al-LDH(Asp, CO₃). In H₂Cys series, the 003 peaks were kept broad and SeO₄²⁻ was still relatively maintained in LDH which was caused by the lower amounts of intercalated CO₃²⁻ in the presence of H₂Cys. Amino acids in the interlayer of Ca₂Al-LDH have several possible configurations, where the most stable one is prone to be in a horizontal direction through hydrogen bonds and Ca–O chemical bonds. This provides an insight on the stability of selenate immobilized in hydrocalumite, which can be produced in cement disposing in the pedosphere for a long term of burying. Not only carbonate but also small molecular organic matters like amino acids possibly give environmental impact on the mobility of low level anionic radionuclides in LDH.

Reservoirs are an important type of drinking water source for megacities, while lots of reservoirs are threatened by odor problems during certain seasons. The influencing factors of odor compounds in reservoirs are still unclear. During August 2019, a nationwide survey investigating the distribution of odor compounds in reservoirs used as drinking water sources was conducted on seven reservoirs. 2-methylisoborneol (2-MIB) and geosmin were detected in almost every reservoir, and some odor compound concentrations even exceeded the odor threshold concentration. The average concentration of 2-MIB was 2.68 ng/L, and geosmin was 3.63 ng/L. The average chlorophyll a concentration was 8.25 μg/L. The dominant genera of phytoplankton in these reservoirs belonged to cyanobacteria and diatom. Statistical analysis showed that odor compound concentration was significantly related to the chlorophyll a concentration and indicated that the odor compounds mainly came from phytoplankton. The concentration of odor compounds in the euphotic zone was significantly related to phytoplankton species and biomass. Therefore, the odor compound concentrations in the subsurface chlorophyll maxima layer was generally higher than in the surface layer. However, the odor compounds in the hypolimnion layer were related to the density current. This research suggests that both phytoplankton proliferation events and heavy storm events are important risk factors increasing odor compounds in reservoirs. Control of algal bloom, in-situ profile monitoring system and depth-adjustable pumping system will greatly reduce the risk of odor problems in reservoirs using as water supplies for large cities.

With increasingly stringent regulations on emission criteria and environment pollution concerns, marine fuel oils (particularly heavy fuel oils) that are commonly used today for powering ships will no longer be allowed in the future. Various maritime energy strategies are now needed for the long-term upgrade that might span decades, and quantitative predictions are necessary to assess the outcomes of their implementation for decision support purpose. To address the technical need, a novel approach is developed in this study that can incorporate the strategic implementation of fuel choices and quantify their adequacy in meeting future environmental pollution legislations for ship emissions. The core algorithm in this approach is based on probabilistic simulations with a large sample size of ship movement in the designated port area, derived using a Bayesian ship traffic generator from existing real activity data. Its usefulness with scenario modelling is demonstrated with application examples at five major ports, namely the Ports of Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, Long Beach, and Hamburg, for assessment at Years 2020, 2030, and 2050 with three economic scenarios. The included fuel choices in the application examples are comprehensive, including heavy fuel oils, distillates, low sulphur fuel oils, ultra-low sulphur fuel oils, liquefied natural gas, hydrogen, biofuel, methanol, and electricity (battery). Various features are fine-tuned to reflect micro-level changes on the fuel choices, terminal location, and/or ship technology. Future atmospheric pollutant emissions with various maritime energy strategies implemented at these ports are then discussed comprehensively in details to demonstrate the usefulness of the approach.

Biochar has been widely used in the mitigation of soil potentially toxic metals due to its high efficiency and low cost. Crayfish shell biochar (CSBC) was prepared at 300, 500, and 700 °C (referred to as CS300, CS500, and CS700, respectively) and the performance and mechanism of CSBC for mitigating Pb polluted water and soil was investigated. The results indicated that CSBC prepared at higher temperatures possessed higher pH value and ash content, more abundant pore structure, and higher stability. Pb²⁺ adsorption onto CSBC fitted well with the pseudo second order and intraparticle diffusion models. The maximum adsorption capacity of Pb²⁺ increased with the pyrolysis temperature, being 599.70, 1114.53, and 1166.44 mg·g⁻¹ for CS300, CS500 and CS700, respectively. Compared with the control soil samples, the content of available Pb after applying 0.05%–5% CSBC was reduced by 1.87%–16.48% in acidic soils and 1.00%–11.09% in alkaline soils. Moreover, the fractionation of exchangeable Pb was converted to stable organic matter bound, Fe-Mn oxide bound, and residue fractions. XRD, SEM-EDS, and FTIR analysis showed that ion exchange, complexation, precipitation, and C−π interaction are the dominant interaction mechanisms. Therefore, CSBC can employ as an effective immobilizing agent for the mitigation of Pb contaminated water and soil.

2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) is a well-known immunotoxic environmental pollutant. However, most immunotoxicology studies of TCDD were based on the animal models and the inner mechanisms have just focused on a few genes/proteins. In this study, the immune functions of THP-1-derived macrophages was measured with in-vitro bioassays after 24-h exposure of TCDD including environmentally relevant concentrations. RNA-seq and Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis were used to characterize the immunotoxicity molecular mechanisms. Our study is the first report on the TCDD-induced effects of cell adhesion, morphology, and multiple cytokines/chemokines production on THP-1 macrophages. After TCDD treatment, we observed an inhibited cell adherence, probably attributed to the suppressed mRNA levels of adhesion molecules ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and CD11b, and a decrease in cell pseudopodia and expression of F-actin. The inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-10 and other 8 cytokines/chemokines regulating granulocytes/T cells and angiogenesis were disrupted by TCDD. Alternative splicing event was found to be a sensitive target for TCDD. Using WGCNA, we identified 10 hub genes (TNF, SRC, FGF2, PTGS2, CDH2, GNG11, BDNF, WNT5A, CXCR5 and RUNX2) highly relevant to these observed phenotypes, suggesting AhR less important in the effects TCDD have on THP-1 macrophages than in other cells. Our findings broaden the understanding of TCDD immunotoxicity on macrophages and provide new potential targets for clarifying the molecular mechanisms.

The treatment of industrial waste and harmful bacteria is an important topic due to the release of toxins from the industrial pollutants that damage the water resources. These harmful sources frighten the life of every organism which was later developed as the carcinogenic and mutagenic agents. Therefore, the current study focuses on the breakdown or degradation of 4-chlorophenol and the antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli (E. coli). As a well-known catalyst, pure titanium-di-oxide (TiO₂) had not shown the photocatalytic activity in the visible light region. Hence, band position of TiO₂ need to be shifted to bring out the absorption in the visible light region. For this purpose, the n-type TiO₂ nanocrystalline material's band gap got varied by adding different ratios of p-type CuO. The result had appeared in the formation of p (CuO) – n (TiO₂) junction synthesized from sol-gel followed by chemical precipitation methods. The optical band gap value was determined by Kubelka-Munk (K-M) plot through UV–Vis diffusive reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). Further, the comprehensive mechanism and the results of photocatalytic and antibacterial activities were discussed in detail. These investigations are made for tuning the TiO₂ catalyst towards improving or eliminating the existing various environmental damages.

Abundant use of plastic materials has increased the amount of microplastics (MPs) and related hazardous chemicals in the marine environment. Hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs), brominated flame retardants added to expanded polystyrene (EPS), have been detected in biotic and abiotic samples. In this study, the partition constants of HBCDs between plastics and seawater (KPₛw) were determined. Fugacities of HBCDs in EPS, seawater, sediment, and mussels were obtained to determine the directions of the diffusive flux. The fugacities in EPS (fEPS) were greater than those in seawater (fₛw), sediment (fₛₑd), and mussels (fₛwₘᵤₛₛₑₗ₋EPS and fₘᵤₛₛₑₗ₋ᵣₒcₖ) by three orders of magnitude, indicating that EPS plastics are a significant source of HBCDs. The fₘᵤₛₛₑₗ₋ᵣₒcₖ of α-HBCD in rock mussels was greater than fₛw by factors of 1.7, whereas the fₘᵤₛₛₑₗ₋ᵣₒcₖ of γ-HBCD was smaller than fₛw by factors of 16, indicating the bioisomerization from γ-to α-HBCD. The relatively constant concentration ratio of β-HBCD to the total HBCDs indicated that β-HBCD is a sufficient tracer for determining the diffusive flux. The fₛₑd values of HBCDs were greater than fₛw by factors of 17–28, implying a probable advective vertical flow of HBCDs from the EPS plastics, which requires further investigation.

The effect of land application of sewage sludge on soil microbial communities and the possible spread of antibiotic- and metal-resistant strains and resistance determinants were evaluated during a 720-day field experiment. Enzyme activities, the number of oligotrophic bacteria, the total number of bacteria (qPCR), functional diversity (BIOLOG) and genetic diversity (DGGE) were established. Antibiotic and metal resistance genes (ARGs, MRGs) were assessed, and the number of cultivable antibiotic- (ampicillin, tetracycline) and heavy metal- (Cd, Zn, Cu, Ni) resistant bacteria were monitored during the experiment. The application of 10 t ha⁻¹ of sewage sludge to soil did not increase the organic matter content and caused only a temporary increase in the number of bacteria, as well as in the functional and structural biodiversity. In contrast to expectations, a general adverse effect on the tested microbial parameters was observed in the fertilized soil. The field experiment revealed a significant reduction in the activities of alkaline and acid phosphatases, urease and nitrification potential. Although sewage sludge was identified as the source of several ARGs and MRGs, these genes were not detected in the fertilized soil. The obtained results indicate that the effect of fertilization based on the recommended dose of sewage sludge was not achieved.

HONO is an important component of reactive nitrogen (Nᵣ) and precursors of OH radical. However, the source and removal of HONO are not clear. Here, measurements of HONO (May 18–31, 2018) were conducted in Xi'an and Xianyang simultaneously for the first time. The relationship between HONO and other Nᵣ (such as NO and NO₂) in two cities was analyzed. The mixing ratio of HONO in Xi'an was 1.2 ± 0.8 ppbv, and that in Xianyang was 1.2 ± 1.1 ppbv. The nighttime HONO mixing ratio was higher in Xianyang, while the daytime HONO was higher in Xi'an. Compared with the contribution from heterogeneous process of NO₂, direct emissions and homogeneous processes (NO + OH) were less important for nocturnal HONO formation in these two cities. The relative contribution of heterogeneous process in Xianyang was more important than that in Xi'an. The reaction of NO₂ upon aerosols surface was identified as an important source of HONO for two sites. The conversion of NO₂ on the other surfaces might attend the heterogeneous formation of HONO in Xianyang site. Daytime HONO budget analysis indicated that there was an additional unknown formation process of HONO at two sites. The net OH production rate from HONO (from 08:00 to 17:00) was 1.6 × 10⁷ and 1.3 × 10⁷ molecule/(cm³ s) for Xian and Xianyang, 5.2 and 3.5 times higher than from O₃ photolysis. Besides, a dust storm appeared during this observation period, and the impact of local emission and transport processes was separately analyzed. The sources, characteristics, and effects of HONO identified in this study laid a foundation for further research on HONO and air pollution in the Guanzhong area.

Discharged carbon nanotubes (CNTs) likely interact with co-existing organic contaminants (OCs) and pose joint toxicity to environmental microbes. Herein, hydrophobic pentachlorophenol (PCP) and hydrophilic ciprofloxacin (CIP) were used as representative OCs and their joint toxicities with CNTs to Bacillus subtilis were systematically investigated at cellular, biochemical, and omics levels. The 3-h bacterial growth half inhibitory concentrations of CNTs, PCP, and CIP were 12.5 ± 2.6, 3.5 ± 0.5, and 0.46 ± 0.03 mg/L, respectively, and they all could damage cell membrane, increase intracellular oxidative stress, and alter bacterial metabolomics and transcriptomics; while CNTs-PCP and CNTs-CIP binary exposures exhibited distinct additive and synergistic toxicities, respectively. CNTs increased bacterial bioaccumulation of PCP and CIP via destabilizing and damaging cell membrane. PCP reduced the bioaccumulation of CNTs, while CIP had no significant effect; this difference could be owing to the different effects of the two OCs on cell-surface hydrophobicity and CNTs electronegativity. The additive toxicity outcome upon CNTs-PCP co-exposure could be a result of the balance between the increased toxicity from increased PCP bioaccumulation and the decreased toxicity from decreased CNTs bioaccumulation. The increased bioaccumulation of CIP contributed to the synergistic toxicity upon CNTs-CIP co-exposure, as confirmed by the increased inhibition of topoisomerase Ⅳ activity and interference in gene expressions regulating ABC transporters and lysine biosynthesis. The findings provide novel insights into environmental risks of CNTs.