An emission inventory of carbonyl sulfide (COS) from primary anthropogenic sources in China was compiled from 2010 to 2015. The national total emission was estimated at 174 Gg S yr⁻¹ in 2015, with an annually average sustainable growth rate of 7.2% from 2010 to 2015. Industrial sources, biomass burning, coal combustion, agricultural sources and vehicle exhaust contributed 68.2%, 22.0%, 6.1%, 2.2%, and 1.5%, respectively, of total COS emissions in 2015. Aluminum production, carbon black production, titania production, coke production, pulp and paper industry, were the main industrial sources of COS, with the emission about 118 Gg S yr⁻¹ COS in 2015, accounting for 98.5% of total direct emissions from the Chinese industry. The distribution of COS emissions in China showed significant differences at the provincial level. In Shandong and Xinjiang province, they were much bigger than other provinces, with total emissions of 31 and 15 Gg S yr⁻¹, respectively. Uncertainty analysis of COS emission inventories showed that the emission range was 70–267 Gg S yr⁻¹ at a 95% confidence interval. In this study, COS emissions in China were much higher than prior underestimated estimations, even for Asian and global emissions, which could be resolved part of missing sources in the global COS budget.

Regional specification of PM2.5 pollution characteristics is crucial for pollution control and policymaking. Spatiotemporal variations of six criteria air pollutants and influencing factors in China were studied using hourly concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, CO, and O3 from 2015 to 2016. China was categorized into eight regions: north-east, northern coastland, eastern coastland, southern coastland, Yellow River middle reaches, Yangtze River middle reaches, south-west, and north-west. The 29 exemplary cities in China were also researched. It was found that the PM2.5 concentration in the northern coastland (Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei–Shandong) was the highest (72.28 μg.m−3) among the eight regions, particularly in the city of Baoding, Hebei, which had an annual average PM2.5 concentration of 98.53 μg.m−3. Average PM2.5 concentrations in 2015 and 2016 of China were 50.16 μg.m−3 and 46.61 μg.m−3, respectively. Compared with 2015, the PM2.5 concentration decreased by 8.41% in 2016, the decline of PM2.5 in summer was the largest, followed by autumn, spring and winter. The average mean PM2.5 concentrations of the 29 exemplary cities in 2015 and 2016 were 54.66 μg.m−3 and 48.37 μg.m−3, respectively, exceeding the limit for grade 2 of the national standards (35 μg.m−3). National air pollution distribution has exploded geographically with influence of regional economic factors. Gaseous pollutant as well as geographical and socio-economic conditions influenced PM2.5 emissions. Effects of these factors on PM2.5 emissions varied across regions and decreased continuously from the northern region to the south-west and eastern coastland regions. This paper clearly identifies the regional characteristics and distribution of PM2.5, focusing on the effects of gaseous pollutant, geography and socio-economic development. Secondary transformation and vehicle exhaust across regions should be further studied.

Rare earth elements (REEs) have recently received particular attention due to their accumulation in the environment. Such heightened recognition prompted our evaluation of the possible occurrence of La-induced plant hormesis in the peer-reviewed literature. This study revealed 703 La-induced hormetic concentration/dose responses in plants, which were quantitatively and qualitatively assessed. The maximum (MAX) biological response to low La concentrations/doses is commonly below 150% of control response, with a geometric mean of 142% at 56 μM (geometric mean). The geometric mean concentration of the no-observed-adverse-effect-level (NOAEL) was 249 μM. The MAX:NOAEL distance was commonly below 5-fold, with a geometric mean of 4.5-fold. Hormetic concentration/dose responses varied as per the growth substrate pH, number of concentrations/doses below the NOAEL, and time window. These results provide a unique insight into the effects of low doses of La on plant growth, as well as offer means for improving experimental designs to assess low dose effects.

Groundwater with elevated As concentrations is a global concern, and low-cost, high-efficiency removal technologies are necessary. Therefore, we have prepared three adsorbent FeMnLa-impregnated biochar composites (FMLBCs) for the efficient removal of As(III) from aqueous solutions and characterized them using a variety of techniques. We found that the efficiency of As(III) removal increased with increasing La content and that the removal mainly occurred via adsorption and oxidation. Moreover, the removal of As(III) by FMLBCs was rapid and was best fitted to a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The adsorption isotherms were well described by the Langmuir equation, and the maximum As(III) adsorption capacity was 15.34 mg g⁻¹. These results highlight the significant potential of FMLBCs as adsorbents for As(III) removal from aqueous solutions.

In the last twenty years, pesticide use in Chile has increased more than 160%, generating a greater risk of water resources pollution. The objective of this study was to assess the presence of 22 pesticides and 12 degradation products in surface water samples from the Cachapoal River basin, Central Chile, an area characterized by intense agricultural activity. Pesticide concentrations in the dissolved phase (DP) and particulate phase (PP) in samples collected in the dry season and after precipitation events was assessed. The solid-phase extraction technique was used to preconcentrate the samples and GC/MS and LC/MS were used to detect pesticides. The results present spatio-temporal variations in the proportion and concentration of pesticides and their degradation products in both the DP and PP for each site and sampling period. The most ubiquitous compounds in the dissolved phase were atrazine, atrazine-2-hydroxy (HA), cyprodinil, pyrimethanil, and tebuconazole, while in the particulate phase HA, imidacloprid, diazinon and pyrimidinol were detected. The results presented in this study make up the first record of pesticides in the dissolved and particulate phases in surface water in Chile. They show that the problem of pesticide contamination undoubtedly affects the quality of bodies of water in agricultural areas in Chile and support the need for a proper assessment of the water quality of the Cachapoal River in the future.

Atmospheric stability significantly influences the accumulation and dispersion of air pollutants in the near-surface atmosphere, yet few stability metrics have been applied as predictors in statistical PM₂.₅ concentration mapping practices. In this study, eleven stability metrics were derived from radiosonde soundings collected in eastern China for the time period of 2015–2018 and then applied as independent predictors to explore their potential in favoring the prediction of PM₂.₅. The statistical results show that the in situ PM₂.₅ concentration measurements correlated well with these stability metrics, especially at monthly and seasonal timescales. In contrast, correlations at the daily timescale differed markedly between stability metric and also varied with seasons. Nevertheless, the modeling results indicate that incorporating these stability metrics into the PM₂.₅ modeling framework rendered small contribution to PM₂.₅ prediction accuracy, yielding an increase of R² by < 5% and a reduction of RMSE by < 1 μg/m³ on average. Compared with other stability indices, the inversion depth and intensity appeared to have relative larger benefiting potential. In general, our findings indicate that including these stability metrics would not result in significant contribution to the PM₂.₅ prediction accuracy in eastern China since their effects could be partially overwhelmed or offset by other predictors such as AOD and boundary layer height.

One of the most important reasons for the controversy over the development of nuclear energy is the proper disposal of spent fuel. Separation of actinide and lanthanide ions is an important part of safe long-term storage of radioactive waste. Herein, a three-dimensional (3D) graphene-based macrostructure (GOCS) was utilized to remove actinide thorium and lanthanide europium ions from aqueous solutions. The adsorption of Eu(III) and Th(IV) on the GOCS was evaluated as a function of adsorption time, solution pH, initial ion concentrations, and ionic strength. The experimentally determined maximum adsorption capacities of this GOCS for Eu(III) (pH 6.0) and Th(IV) (pH 3.0) are as high as 150 and 220 mg/g, respectively. By using Fourier transformation infrared (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron (XPS), and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy, we concluded that the Eu(III) and Th(IV) adsorption was predominantly attributed to the inner-sphere coordination with various oxygen- and nitrogen-containing functional groups on GOCS surfaces. Our selective adsorption results demonstrate that the actinide and lanthanide ions can be effectively separated from transition metal ions. This study provides new clues to the overall recycling of actinide and lanthanide ions in radioactive environmental pollution treatments.

Fine particulate matter (Particulate matter with diameter ≤ 2.5 μm) is associated with multiple health outcomes, with varying effects across seasons and locations. It remains largely unknown that which components of PM₂.₅ are most harmful to human health.We systematically searched all the relevent studies published before August 1, 2018, on the associations of fine particulate matter constituents with mortality and morbidity, using Web of Science, MEDLINE, PubMed and EMBASE. Studies were included if they explored the associations between short term or long term exposure of fine particulate matter constituents and natural, cardiovascular or respiratory health endpoints. The criteria for the risk of bias was adapted from OHAT and New Castle Ottawa. We applied a random-effects model to derive the risk estimates for each constituent. We performed main analyses restricted to studies which adjusted the PM₂.₅ mass in their models.Significant associations were observed between several PM₂.₅ constituents and different health endpoints. Among them, black carbon and organic carbon were most robustly and consistently associated with all natural, cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. Other potential toxic constituents including nitrate, sulfate, Zinc, silicon, iron, nickel, vanadium, and potassium were associated with adverse cardiovascular health, while nitrate, sulfate and vanadium were relevant for adverse respiratory health outcomes.Our analysis suggests that black carbon and organic carbon are important detrimental components of PM₂.₅, while other constituents are probably hazardous to human health. However, more studies are needed to further confirm our results.

Potential impacts of change in climate on Indian agriculture may be significantly adverse, if not disastrous. There are projections of potential loss in wheat yield due to the rise in daily minimum (Tmin) and maximum (Tmax) temperature, but only few researchers have considered the extent of such loss on a spatial scale. We therefore, systematically studied the effect of change in Tmax, Tmean (daily average temperature) and Tmin, solar radiation (Srad) and precipitation (RAIN) during wheat growing seasons (from 1986 to 2015) on wheat crop yield over five wheat growing zones across India, taking into account the effect modification by aerosol loading (in terms of aerosol optical depth, 2001–2015). We note that for the entire India, 1 °C rise in Tmean resulted a 7% decrease in wheat yield which varied disproportionately across the crop growing zones by a range of −9% (peninsular zone, PZ) to 4% (northern hills zone, NHZ). The effect of Tmean on wheat yield was identical to the marginal effect of Tmax and Tmin, while 1% increase in Srad enhance wheat yield by 4% for all India with small geographical variations (2–5%), except for the northern hill region (−4%). Rise in 1 °C Tmean exclusively during grain filling duration was noted positive for all the wheat growing regions (0–2%) except over central plain zone (−3%). When estimates of weather variables on wheat yield was combined with the estimated impact of aerosols on weather, the most significant impact was noted over the NHZ (−23%), which otherwise varied from −7% to −4%. Overall, the study brings out the conclusive evidence of negative impact of rising temperature on wheat yield across India, which we found spatially inconsistent and highly uncertain when integrated with the compounding effect of aerosols loading.

A number of systematic reviews have investigated the association between air pollutants and health impacts, these mostly focus on morbidity and mortality from hospital data. Previously, no reviews focused solely on ambulance dispatch data. These data sets have excellent potential for environmental health research. For this review, publications up to April 2019 were identified using three main search categories covering: ambulance services including dispatches; air pollutants; and health outcomes. From 308 studies initially identified, 275 were excluded as they did not relate to ambulance service dispatches, did not report the air pollutant association, and/or did not study ambient air pollution. The main health outcomes in the remaining 33 studies were cardiac arrest (n = 14), cardiovascular (n = 11) and respiratory (n = 10) dispatches. Meta-analyses were performed to summarise pooled relative risk (RR) of pollutants: particulate matter less than 2.5 and 10 μm (PM₂.₅, PM₁₀), the fraction between PM₁₀ and PM₂.₅ (coarse) and suspended particulate matter (SPM) per 10 μg/m³ increase, carbon monoxide (CO) per 1 ppm increase and of sulphur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), and ozone (O₃) per 10 ppb increment and ambulance dispatches. Statistically significant associations were found for ambulance dispatch data for all-respiratory and PM₂.₅ at 1.03 (95% CI:1.02–1.04) and at 1.10 (95% CI:1.00–1.21) for asthma and NO₂ associations. For dispatches with subsequent paramedic assessment for cardiac arrest with PM₂.₅, CO and coarse dispatches at 1.05 (95% CI:1.03–1.08), 1.10 (95% CI:1.02–1.18) and 1.04 (95% CI:1.01–1.06) respectively. For dispatches with subsequent physician diagnosis for all-respiratory and PM₂.₅ at 1.02 (95% CI:1.01–1.03). In conclusion, air pollution was significantly associated with an increase in ambulance dispatch data, including those for cardiac arrest, all-respiratory, and asthma dispatches. Ambulance services should plan accordingly during pollution events. Furthermore, efforts to improve air quality should lead to decreases in ambulance dispatches.