New porous carbonaceous adsorbents were prepared from an oily sludge generated in a fuel oil storage tank using pyrolysis with and without activation by KOH at 600 °C. The pore characteristics of the activated carbonaceous adsorbent (AC), due to the formation of micropores and mesopores structure, were considerably better than those of non-activated carbonaceous adsorbent (NA). The adsorption of Cd from aqueous solutions on the produced carbonaceous adsorbents was optimized using the Taguchi method. Under optimum conditions, the Cd adsorption efficiency for the NA and AC was obtained to be 77.7 and 98.2 %, respectively. The initial concentration and the adsorbent dose were the most significant factors affecting the removal of Cd by NA and AC, respectively. The adsorption data for the AC were well fitted by the Langmuir, Freundlich, and Redlich-Peterson isotherms models. The regeneration and reuse of the adsorbents in the three cycles of Cd adsorption-desorption were possible. The carbonaceous adsorbents had acceptable efficiency for the removal of Cd from a mine wastewater. Based on the obtained results, the oily sludges available in huge amounts in the petroleum industry proved to be a potential precursor resource for the production of the porous carbonaceous adsorbents, particularly for application in the wastewater treatment.

Cs is a common radionuclide present in nuclear wastes and released from nuclear power plant accidents. It is hard to be removed from water with traditional technology. The current study aimed at developing of efficient cost-effective adsorbent for removing Cs with modified MCM-41 with specific functional groups –SH. Mesoporous material MCM-41 was selected due to its large surface area and tunable pore structure. Functional –SH groups were grafted into the pores of MCM-41 to enhance its capability of selective adsorption of Cs from multi-element (Co, Sr) water solution. The adsorption results showed that the maximum adsorption capacity was 29.24 mg/g. Both Langmuir and Freundlich models described the adsorption processes of Cs, indicating co-existence of both monolayer and multilayer adsorption in the surface and inner pores of the materials. TEM, FTIR, and Raman spectroscopy analyses indicated that –SH groups were successfully bounded into the pores of MCM-41. The present study approved the surface functional modified MCM-41 which might be a good alternative candidate for cleaning up of radionuclide Cs from nuclear power plant accidents and relevant nuclear accident events.

In this work, the removal of methylene blue by Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) 016 was investigated through batch experiments and microscopic investigations. It was found that methylene blue could not affect the growth of B. thuringiensis 016 at the concentration ranging from 5 to 25 mg/L, and be removed with the increase of biomass. Further studies indicated that Bt 016 biomass possessed strong ability of methylene blue biosorption with a quick process. Twenty-five milligrams of methylene blue per liter could be completely biosorbed within 2 h. The pH value could affect the removal of methylene blue in a large extent. UV–visible, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy analyses, and microscopic investigations suggested that the removal of methylene blue could be divided into two steps as follows: (1) rapid biosorption of methylene blue on Bt 016 biomass through electrostatic attraction or chelating activity of functional groups; (2) methylene blue was further degraded by Bt 016 through enzyme-mediated or couple with the metabolism process.

SrCO₃ was formed and added as a carrier into copper-based catalyst (CuZnAl catalyst) prepared by hydrothermal method before the catalyst incorporates with HZSM-5. The CuZnAlSr catalyst was characterized by SEM, BET, XRD, IR, and activity-evaluation system in a fixed-bed tubular reactor equipped with chromatograph (GC). The conversion of CO₂ reaches 30.30 %, and the overall yield of methanol and dimethyl ether is 27.80 %. Catalytic property as to CO₂ conversion has only slight decrease even up to 150 h of reaction time. The addition of SrCO₃ enhanced the activity of the catalyst through providing a tridimensional frame and electron transfer bridge.

The intensive pig production has been causing huge amounts of pig slurry with high content of potential pollutants. However, there is a lack of information on the efficiency of combined techniques applied to pig slurry purification. The objective of this research was to assess the pollutant removal efficiency and pathogenic microorganism decrease using mechanical treatments, phytoextraction, and microalgae bioremediation. The purification system was located in the southeast of Spain. Physico-chemical and microbiological parameters were studied in each module of treatment. We observed significant declines for total suspended solids (89 %), settleable solids (100 %), chemical oxygen demand (91 %), biochemical oxygen demand (90 %), total phosphorus (97 %), copper (96 %), zinc (92 %), total nitrogen (89 %), total coliforms (78 %), fecal coliforms (70 %), fecal streptococcus (75 %), Salmonella, Shigella, and Escherichia coli (100 %) in the final effluent of the combined purification system. This survey pointed out the effectiveness of phytoextraction and bioremediation treatments. The results indicated the high efficiency of the purification system, minimizing environmental and human risks.

The application of biochar as a sustainable material in biofilters to remove volatile compounds from the air provides a lot of advantages in relation to equipment maintenance and efficiency and ensures a zero-emission process. This work has analysed the morphology of biochar produced from birch and pine at different temperatures, its pore structure and changes depending on the type of pollutant and microorganisms used in biofiltrating media. Biochar morphology was investigated by scanning electron microscopy, while biochar pore structure was analysed by mercury intrusion porosimetry and nitrogen absorption at 77 K. Performed tests have shown that the biggest surface area of pores is in the biochar from pine that underwent thermal treatment at 750 °C. It has been determined that the pore volume of pine biochar decreases when acetone, xylene and ammonia pollutants are being removed from air during biofiltration. The biggest changes occurred in the pores with a diameter of 2–20 μm. Meanwhile, after the treatment with the studied volatile compounds, the surface area of pine biochar mesopores with a diameter smaller than 0.05 μm increased.

A coupling technique is developed to predict the behavior of a buoyant river plume in a lake. The model incorporates a 3D hydrodynamic model (POMGL) and a 3D particle tracking model (Partic3D) for the far-field transport computations. The source conditions for the particle tracking model are obtained from a near-field model derived from the characteristics of the plume analyzed from extensive field studies on the Grand River plume, Lake Michigan. The empirical near-field model was developed to predict the geometry of the plume, dilution, and centerline trajectory near the river mouth, and to provide the concentration and location of the particles to be released in the far field. The coupled empirical-numerical model shows improved predictions in the near field versus the single numerical model. The present results strongly advocate the use of model combinations in order to improve coastal diffusion and transport processes. The primary application of the technique is in recreational water early-warning and forecasting systems that will estimate the immediate and short-term risk of exceeding pathogen indicator concentration criteria in lakes and coastal areas.

Henry’s law constant is an essential parameter for the estimation of the environmental prevalence of pollutants. Here, we present two improved methods for measuring Henry’s law constant deploying inert gas stripping (IGS). The methods are targeted at compounds with high gamma coefficients (activity coefficient at infinite dilution) corresponding to large infinite dilution coefficients, such as monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes. We deploy a highly sensitive PTR-MS (proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometer) (low limit of detection, wide linear range, split-second time resolution) as detector. We use suited off-equilibrium conditions to extrapolate to equilibrium conditions. The first method is based on the observed linear correlation between gas flow and off-equilibrium experimental Henry’s law constant value. The second method is based on the linear dependence of the gas holdup on volumetric flow. We report HLC constants for six monoterpenes, isoprene and even, as a proof of concept, the sesquiterpene farnesene. The new methods allow for measuring HLC of nearly insoluble compounds at a new accuracy and precision.

The diversity and spatial structure of soil fungi (SF) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) communities in the southern taiga forest litter were studied in sites with two contrasting contamination levels with copper smelter emissions. The operational taxonomic unit richness and evenness in the communities of both target groups decreased under contamination. The community structure of contaminated and control areas differed for SF, whereas they were similar for AMF. According to spatial structure analysis results on a scale of tens of meters, a gradual change of composition with distance was revealed for the SF community within 30-m intervals in the control sites. No spatial autocorrelation was found for AMF in the control sites. However, pronounced patchiness was characteristic of both SF and AMF communities within 10 m of contaminated sites. In the contaminated area, no specific spatial structure determinants of the studied communities was found among environmental factors such as water content, heavy metal concentrations in the forest litter, sample plot localization relative to canopy density, and herb vegetation diversity and abundance. However, in the control sites, AMF richness depended on herb abundance and litter chemistry.

Accumulations of mass loads of selected chemicals in roadside snowbanks were studied at five sites with various traffic densities in the city of Trondheim (Norway) by collecting snow samples throughout the winter period and analyzing them for 13 water quality constituents: pH, electrical conductivity (EC), alkalinity, Cl, Na, total suspended solids (TSS), Cd, Cr, Cu. Ni, Pb, W, and Zn. The resulting dataset was then supplemented by similar data collected earlier in the city of Luleå (Sweden). Regression analyses for individual sites indicated linear trends in unit-area constituent accumulations with time (0.65 < R ² < 0.95) and supported the assumption of linearity in further analyses. Principal component analysis (PCA) of the combined Luleå/Trondheim data revealed cause-effect relationships between the chemical mass loadings (TSS and trace metals) and three predictors: snow age (snow residence time (SRT)), traffic density (annual average density of traffic (AADT), and cumulative traffic volume (CTV = SRT × AADT). Cl and Na loads, originating from road salt applications in Trondheim only, did not display this trend. Two types of parsimonious models for predicting trace metal accumulations in winter-long roadside snowbanks were developed: (a) a linear regression model using CTV as a single predictor and predicting metal accumulations with a moderate certainty (0.37 < R ² < 0.66) and (b) multiple regression models using SRT, AADT, and snow water equivalent (SWE) as predictors. The latter models indicated good correlations between the mass loads and the predictors (0.64 < R ² < 0.77) and produced slightly better prediction accuracies (0.44 < R ² < 0.67) than the simpler model.