The objectives of this work were to evaluate if the pollution emitted by the pelletizing factory causes visual symptoms and/or anatomical changes in exposed Eugenia uniflora and Clusia hilariana, in active biomonitoring, at different distances from a pelletizing factory. We characterize the symptomatology, anatomical, and histochemistry alterations induced in the two species. There was no difference in the symptomatology in relation to the different distances of the emitting source. The foliar symptoms found in C. hilariana were chlorosis, necrosis, and foliar abscission and, in E. uniflora, were observed necrosis punctuais, purple spots in the leaves, and increase in the emission of new leaves completely purplish. The two species presented formation of a cicatrization tissue. E. uniflora presented reduction in the thickness of leaf. In C. hilariana, it was visualized hyperplasia of the cells and the adaxial epidermis did not appear collapsed due to thick cuticle and cuticular flanges. Leaves of C. hilariana showed positive staining for iron, protein, starch, and phenolic compounds. E. uniflora showed positive staining for total phenolic compounds and starch. Micromorphologically, there was accumulation of particulate matter on the leaf surface, obstruction of the stomata, and scaling of the epicuticular wax in both species. It was concluded that the visual and anatomical symptoms were efficient in the diagnosis of the stress factor. C. hilariana and E. uniflora showed to be good bioindicators of the atmospheric pollutants emitted by the pelletizing factory.

Endosulfan is an organochlorine pesticide widely used in Southwest China. In this paper, the adsorption and desorption characteristics of endosulfan in two typical agricultural soils (latosol and lateritic red soil) in this area were studied. The results showed that Langmuir isothermal equation could well describe the adsorption thermodynamic characteristics of endosulfan in latosol and lateritic red soil, and the maximum adsorption capacities of α-endosulfan were 0.186 and 0.209 mg/g, while those of β-endosulfan were 0.140 and 0.148 mg/g, respectively. Endosulfan adsorption in the two soils was an exothermic physicochemical process, but dominated by physical process. The adsorption kinetic characteristics of endosulfan in the two soils could be well described by second-order kinetic equation, and the initial rate constants were 0.228 and 0.325 mg/(g min) for α-endosulfan, while those were 0.119 and 0.125 mg/(g min) for β-endosulfan, respectively. The adsorbed endosulfan in the two soils was difficult to be desorbed into the liquid phase, and showed weak desorption hysteresis. These results implied that endosulfan could be firmly adsorbed by the two soils, and their adsorption and desorption abilities may be related to the contents of soil clay and organic matter.

EDTA functionalized CoFe₂O₄ nanoparticles (EDTA-CoFe₂O₄) synthesized using a facile one-pot solvothermal method were employed as catalysts to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) with Orange G (OG) as the target pollutant. Effects of operating parameters including initial solution pH, catalyst dosage, PMS dosage, and water matrix components such as Cl⁻, NO₃ ⁻, CO₃ ²⁻, and humic acid were evaluated. A degradation efficiency of 93% was achieved in 15 min with 1 mM PMS and 0.2 g/L EDTA-CoFe₂O₄ catalyst, while only 57% of OG was degraded within 15 min in CoFe₂O₄/PMS system. The degradation of OG followed pseudo-first-order kinetics, and the apparent first-order date constant (k ₒbₛ) for OG in EDTA-CoFe₂O₄/PMS and CoFe₂O₄/PMS system was determined to be 0.152 and 0.077 min⁻¹, respectively. OG degradation by EDTA-CoFe₂O₄/PMS was enhanced with the increase of catalyst and PMS doses at respective range of 0.1–2.0 g/L and 0.5–10.0 mM. Higher efficiency of OG oxidation was observed within a wide pH range (3.0–9.0), implying the possibility of applying EDTA-CoFe₂O₄/PMS process under environmental realistic conditions. Humic acid (HA) at low concentration accelerated the removal of OG; however, a less apparent inhibitive effect was observed at HA addition of 10 mg/L. The k ₒbₛ value was found to decrease slightly from 0.1601 to 0.1274, 0.1248, and 0.1152 min⁻¹ with the addition of NO₃ ⁻, CO₃ ²⁻, and Cl⁻, respectively, but near-complete removal of OG could still be obtained after 15 min. Both of the sulfate radicals and hydroxyl radicals were produced in the reaction, and sulfate radicals were the dominant according to the scavenging tests and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) tests. Finally, a degradation mechanism was proposed, and the stability and reusability of the EDTA-CoFe₂O₄ were evaluated.

Several organic phosphorus compounds (Po) in sediment from a representative eutrophic lake were surveyed using a sequential fractionation procedure, which included microbial biomass phosphorus (Biomass-P), fulvic acid phosphorus (FA-P), humic acid phosphorus (HU-P), and residual phosphorus (Res-P). In addition, several organic compounds including orthophosphate monoesters, orthophosphate diesters, and pyrophosphate were simultaneously measured using ³¹P nuclear magnetic resonance (³¹P NMR). Results showed that Po contributed over 50% of total phosphorus (TP), and the average concentration of Po species generally decreased from Res-P > FA-P > HU-P > Biomass-P. Additionally, the relative proportions of phosphorus compounds in the sediment followed the decreasing order of orthophosphate monoesters > orthophosphate diesters > pyrophosphate. In general, Po was the dominant phosphorus species. Residual P was not a single species but comprised of a group of species, and tended to be stable. Although orthophosphate monoesters had the highest concentrations and ratios in Po, orthophosphate diesters displayed a more distinct remineralization trend. Principal component analysis (PCA) coupled with correlation analysis suggested that a greater amount of orthophosphate diesters resided in Res-P, than HU-P or FA-P.

This paper examines the holistic viewpoint on pollution pattern from time, day, and region dimensions based on the public data of fine particle concentrations, which cover 35 ambient monitoring stations in Beijing firstly. According to data driven, non-negative tensor factorization (NTF) method is introduced to distinguish pollution patterns which could identify the area service function. Results show that five patterns are obtained and annotated as traffic, industrial, residential, commercial, and steady ones. Each type owns special characteristics on time basis or day basis. Furthermore, calculating the reconstruction correlation of tensors with respect to sites, time, and days approximately approaches to 0.95–0.96, and it can be employed with high evaluation values of the model. Comparing with the original classifications drew by land use, this method corresponds with the reality well for considering the changes of surrounding sources. Some commendations on public travel and controlling measures based on local pollution presented in this study can be provided for further decrease of fine particle and improvement of air quality.

Plastics are widely used in the production of short-life products, which are discarded producing an accumulation of these materials and problems due to their persistence in the environment and waste management systems. Degradable plastics (compostable, oxodegradable) have been presented as an alternative to decrease the negative effect of plastic waste. In this research, the feasibility of degrading a commercially available compostable film and oxodegradable polyethylene, with and without previous abiotic oxidation, is assessed in a home composting system. Reactors (200 L) were used to degrade the plastic films along with a mixture of organic food waste (50 %), mulch (25 %), and dry leaves (25 %), amended with yeast and a solution of brown sugar to increase the speed of the process. The presence of the plastic film did not affect the composting process, which showed an initial increase in temperature and typical profiles for moisture content, pH, with a final C/N of 17.4. After 57 days, the compostable plastic has decreased its mechanical properties in more than 90 %, while the oxodegradable film did not show significant degradation if it was not previously degraded by UV radiation. The use of these plastics should be assessed against the prevailing waste management system in each city or country. In the case of Mexico, which lacks the infrastructure for industrial composting, home composting could be an option to degrade compostable plastics along organic waste. However, more testing is needed in order to set the optimal parameters of the process.

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) are the two best-known perfluorinated chemicals and have received much attention due to their ubiquity in the environment. In the present study, we evaluated the effects of PFOS and PFOA on acute toxicity, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and cellulase activities in Eisenia fetida. The results of acute toxicity testing using a filter paper contact test and a natural field soil test showed that PFOA and PFOS exhibited acute toxicity in earthworms, and the toxic effect of PFOS was greater than that of PFOA. The results also showed that avoidance behavior is a more sensitive and easy operation biomarker than acute toxicity and will give us information for early diagnosis of soil pollution, well before the lethal effect becomes apparent. Subchronic exposure to PFOA or PFOS resulted in changes in SOD and cellulase activities in E. fetida, and SOD activity was more sensitive than cellulase activity during early exposure. Based on these findings, we suggest that avoidance behavior and SOD activity in earthworms are suitable biomarkers for evaluating the toxicity of PFOA- and PFOS-contaminated soils. These results indicate that exposure to PFOA and PFOS has a potential impact on soil animals and their environment.

In order to investigate the distribution, transfer, and human health risks of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the soil-wheat systems, soil samples from 20 farmlands and corresponding wheat tissues were collected from selected regions of Henan Province in June 2013 and were analyzed to estimate the concentration of PAHs. The total concentrations of 15 PAHs (∑₁₅ PAHs) in soils from Henan Province varied from 6.91 to 72.4 ng/g. Moreover, two-ring to three-ring PAHs (1.59–29.1 ng/g) were the major species in soils, occupying 56.2% of total PAHs. Principal component analysis (PCA)-multiple linear regression (MLR) revealed that fossil fuel burning dominated the input of PAHs in agricultural soils of Henan Province. The range of ∑₁₅ PAHs concentrations in wheat tissues was 13.9–50.9 ng/g, which decreased along the root-straw-grain. Positive correlation among PAHs of soil and wheat tissues showed that PAHs in wheat mainly came from soil and then migrated along root-straw-grain. Moreover, PAHs were accumulated highest in root and lowest in grain. Two-ring to three-ring PAHs were easier to transfer from soil to wheat than five-ring to six-ring PAHs. Consumption of wheat grain created potential risk of cancer in Henan Province.

In this study, a modeling framework based on the theory of SPAtially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) model was developed to identify impaired river reaches with respect to total nitrogen (TN) and estimate the TN sources in the Xin’anjiang River basin, which had limited monitoring sites. A Bayesian approach was applied to estimate the mean values and uncertainties of parameters, including land use export coefficients and in-stream attention rates. Based on the parameters, the midranges (25–75 %) of annual TN concentrations were assessed by the model and 4.5 % of river reaches in the basin were found to be with higher impaired probabilities (namely [TN] > 1.5 mg/l) than other reaches. The amount and yields of TN discharged from diffuse sources were estimated for each county in the basin. The results suggested that Tunxi City had the highest TN yields from farm land and population, while the highest TN yields in Huangshan City were from tea plantations. The outcomes of this study will guide the implementation of practical management measures to reduce TN loads.

The performances of different 5Cu/CoₓMg₆₋ₓAl₂ (x = 0; 2; 4; 6) catalysts prepared by the wet impregnation method were investigated in the ethanol steam-reforming reaction (ESR) at 450 °C during 4 h under a steam/ethanol ratio of 3 (S/E = 3). The best catalyst among the prepared solids was 5Cu/Co₆Al₂ as it showed a complete ethanol conversion and the highest hydrogen and carbon dioxide productivities. However, following 50 h of aging, the catalyst deactivated due to the formation of a high amount of carbonaceous products detected by differential scanning calorimetry/thermogravimetry. On the other hand, the 5Cu/Co₂Mg₄Al₂ catalyst showed a much lower quantity of coke deposition with no deactivation due to the basic character conferred by the magnesium oxide phase.