Chlorine dioxide (ClO₂) degradation of the organophosphorus pesticides azamethiphos (AZA) and dimethoate (DM) (10 mg/L) in deionized water and in Sava River water was investigated for the first time. Pesticide degradation was studied in terms of ClO₂ level (5 and 10 mg/L), degradation duration (0.5, 1, 2, 3, 6, and 24 h), pH (3.00, 7.00, and 9.00), and under light/dark conditions in deionized water. Degradation was monitored using high-performance liquid chromatography. Gas chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass detector was used to identify degradation products of pesticides. Total organic carbon was measured to determine the extent of mineralization after pesticide degradation. Real river water was used under recommended conditions to study the influence of organic matter on pesticide degradation. High degradation efficiency (88–100% for AZA and 85–98% for DM) was achieved in deionized water under various conditions, proving the flexibility of ClO₂ degradation for the examined organophosphorus pesticides. In Sava River water, however, extended treatment duration achieved lower degradation efficiency, so ClO₂ oxidized both the pesticides and dissolved organic matter in parallel. After degradation, AZA produced four identified products (6-chlorooxazolo[4,5-b]pyridin-2(3H)-one; O,O,S-trimethyl phosphorothioate; 6-chloro-3-(hydroxymethyl)oxazolo[4,5-b]pyridin-2(3H)-one; O,O-dimethyl S-hydrogen phosphorothioate) and DM produced three (O,O-dimethyl S-(2-(methylamino)-2-oxoethyl) phosphorothioate; e.g., omethoate; S-(2-(methylamino)-2-oxoethyl) O,O-dihydrogen phosphorothioate; O,O,S-trimethyl phosphorodithioate). Simple pesticide degradation mechanisms were deduced. Daphnia magna toxicity tests showed degradation products were less toxic than parent compounds. These results contribute to our understanding of the multiple influences that organophosphorus pesticides and their degradation products have on environmental ecosystems and to improving pesticide removal processes from water.

Fuzzy comprehensive assessment was applied, for the first time, to investigate the sediment environmental quality and compare the historical variations of heavy metal pollution in Daya Bay and Jiaozhou Bay, which are representative for sub-tropical and temperate zone of China, respectively. Results shown the Daya Bay had undergone three contrasting stages in the past 100 years. Before 1980s, the sediment was not contaminated by metals and its quality generally conformed to class I of China National Standard for marine sediment quality. During from 1980s to 2000s, however, Daya Bay’s environment had experienced significant deterioration. The metal concentrations were significantly higher than the background values, suggesting that there was a sharp increase of metal input. The category of sediment quality fell to class II and class III. Copper was the dominant pollutant during that time. The good thing is sediment quality of Daya Bay has improved to class I since 2000s, and chromium turned to be the major pollutant. As for the Jiaozhou Bay, enrichment of heavy metal was generally not detected and the sediment quality strictly conformed to class I during the recent 90 years. Chromium and zinc were the major pollutants in this bay.

Metal oxide nanoparticles have wide applications, which have elevated serious alarms about their impacts on the environment. Therefore, we investigated the potential adsorptive capacity of rice husk toward Fe₂O₃ and Al₂O₃ nanoparticles to reduce their genotoxic effects. Fish were subjected to 10 mg/l of Fe₂O₃ and Al₂O₃ nanoparticles in single and combined doses with and without rice husk water treatment for 7 days. The genotoxic effects were evaluated using the micronucleus test in the peripheral blood and comet assay in liver tissues. Significant elevation of micronuclei induction in addition to eight nuclear and cytoplasmic abnormalities (P < 0.05) was observed in all fish groups compared to the control groups. Fish that exposed to Fe₂O₃ nanoparticle showed the maximum induction of all recorded anomalies. Moreover, two indices of DNA damage were evaluated by the comet assay (comet score and % tail DNA) in liver tissues. The scoring of comet cells indicated that the highest frequencies of stage 0 (undamaged DNA) were in control and Al₂O₃ exposed groups, while stage 4 (extensive DNA damage) was significantly elevated in Fe₂O₃ exposed fish. The % of DNA damage was maximized in the Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles exposed fish and minimized in Al₂O₃ nanoparticles exposed fish. Based on the frequencies of nuclear anomalies, degree, and percentage of DNA damage, all rice husk treated groups showed a marked reduction in the genotoxic damage compared with untreated groups. Finally, both nanoparticles showed genotoxic potential and the rice husk had an efficient absorptive capacity for both of them individually or combined.

Surface sediments from the Danshui River basin were collected and analyzed for persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethanes (DDTs). The total concentrations of each category ranged from 96 to 3803 ng g⁻¹ for PAHs, 0.02 to 54.9 ng g⁻¹ for PCBs, and from below the detection limit to 10.3 ng g⁻¹ for DDTs. These values are within the ranges observed for river and estuarine sediments of industrial and urbanized areas in Taiwan and worldwide. A decreasing trend of POP levels was observed in comparison with the levels reported in previous studies. Significant correlations between the levels of compounds and black carbon (BC) were found, suggesting that these POPs and BC may have similar transport processes. Based on sediment quality guidelines (SQGs), the ecological risk posed by these POPs toward sediment-dwelling organisms in the Danshui River basin is relatively low. Long-term monitoring of contaminant levels is necessary to develop appropriate management tools due to the importance of the Danshui river basin as a water source for metropolitan areas.

As the most sensitive and typical oasis city in the arid region of China, Jiayuguan, the role of land use change and urbanization in this region is prominent, which is an important epitome of China’s urbanization process, and has certain special characteristics. Based on RS and GIS technology, this study interpreted the land use data from 1992 to 2012 and analyzed its dynamic change process according to the land use change model. Meanwhile, this study established an indicator system that included demographic, economic, and urbanization data. By analyzing the relationship between the types of land use and the main indicators of urbanization, the interaction between urbanization and land use was quantitatively studied. The results showed that in the past 20 years, the annual growth rate of woodland has reached the largest, reaching 11.39%. At the same time, the annual reduction rate of water body was 1.28%, and the annual reduction rate of unutilized land was only 0.53%. However, since the area occupied by unutilized land far exceeds the sum of other types, the minimum annual rate of change was sufficient to affect the land use pattern of the entire area. From 1992 to 2012, the R index of Jiayuguan was less than 0, indicating that the rate of change in land use during this period was small and in an adjustment period. According to the correlation analysis, the area ratios of land use types were significantly correlated with urbanization indicators. This study provided a feasible model for quantitatively analyzing the relationship between urbanization expansion and land use, which had a relatively universal applicability.

Wetlands are recognized for the importance of their hydrological function and biodiversity, and there is now a consensus to protect and restore them as well as to complete the knowledge on their functioning. Here, we studied the dissolved organic matter (DOM) of a wetland composed of the Auzon cut-off meander, the Allier River, the alluvial fluvial flow, and watershed aquifer. Water was sampled at different locations, in spring, summer, and autumn. For each sample, DOM was characterized for its chemical and optical properties and its photooxidant capacity through its ability to generate DOM triplet excited states (³DOM*) and singlet oxygen upon simulated solar light exposure. UV-visible and fluorescence indices revealed that DOM was mainly microbial-derived whatever the sampling sites with spatial and temporal variations in terms of aromaticity (5.5–22%), specific UV absorbance at 254 nm (0.28–2.82 L m⁻¹mgC⁻¹), ratio of the absorbance at 254 and 365 nm (4.6–10.8), fluorescence index (1.35–166), and biological index (0.812–2.25). All the samples generated ³DOM* and singlet oxygen, rates of formation of which showed parallel variations. Using principal component analysis (PCA), we found positive correlations between the sensitizing properties of DOM samples and parameters associated to the abundance of low molecular weight and low absorbing chromophores. Moreover, the parameter variation across the wetland reinforced the hydrological movements observed in a previous study, suggesting that these parameters could be used as water connection tracers.

Removal of arsenic from water is of utmost priorities on a global scenario due to its ill effects. Therefore, in the present study, aluminium oxide nano-particles (nano-alumina) were synthesised via solution combustion method, which is self-propagating and eco-friendly in nature. Synthesised nano-alumina was further employed for arsenate removal from water. Usually, pre-oxidation of arsenite is performed for better removal of arsenic in its pentavalent form. Thus, arsenate removal as a function of influencing parameters such as initial concentration, dose, pH, temperature, and competing anions was the prime objective of the present study. The speciation analysis showed that H₂AsO4– and HAsO₄²⁻ were co-existing anions between pH 6 and 8, as a result of which higher removal was observed. Freundlich isotherm model was well suited for data on adsorption. At optimal temperature of 298 K, maximum monolayer adsorption capacity was found as 1401.90 μg/g. The kinetic data showed film diffusion step was the controlling mechanism. In addition, competing anions like nitrate, bicarbonate, and chloride had no major effect on arsenate removal efficiency, while phosphate and sulphate significantly reduced the removal efficiency. The negative values of thermodynamic parameters ΔH° (− 23.15 kJ/mol) established the exothermic nature of adsorption, whereas the negative values of ΔG° (− 7.05, − 6.51, − 5.97, and − 5.43 kJ/mol at 298, 308, 318, and 328 K respectively) indicated the spontaneous nature of the process. The best-fitted isotherm was used to design a batch adsorber to estimate the required amount of aluminium oxide nano-particles for achieving the desired equilibrium arsenate concentration. Nano-alumina was also applied to treat the collected arsenic-contaminated groundwater from actual field. Experimental data were used to develop a neural network–based model for the effective prediction of removal efficiency without carrying out any extra experimentation.

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) will be increasingly monitored by means of in situ fluorescence spectroscopy devices in order to supervise wastewater treatment plant efficiency, due to their ease of implementation and high-frequency measurement capacity. However, fluorescence spectroscopy measurements are reported to be sensitive to the sample matrix effects of temperature, the inner filter effect (IFE), and turbidity. Matrix effect estimation tests and signal correction have been developed for DOM (tyrosine-like, tryptophan-like, and humic substances-like fluorescent compounds) fluorescence measurements in unfiltered urban sewage samples. All such tests are conducted in temperature, absorbance, and turbidity ranges representative of urban sewage. For all fluorophores studied, an average of 1% fluorescence intensity decrease per degree (°C) of temperature increase could be observed. Protein-like fluorescent compound signals were found to be significantly affected by turbidity (0 to 210 NTU) and IFE (absorbance 254 nm > 0.200). Only temperature needs to be corrected for humic substances-like fluorescent compounds since other effects were not observed over the studied ranges of absorbance and turbidity. The fluorescence intensity correction method was applied first to each matrix effect separately and then combined by using a sequential mathematical correction methodology. An efficient methodology for determining the matrix effect correction equations for DOM fluorescence analysis into unfiltered urban sewage samples has been highlighted and could be used for in situ fluorescence measurement devices.

The feasibility and performance of Jicama peroxidase (JP) immobilized Buckypaper/polyvinyl alcohol (BP/PVA) membrane for methylene blue (MB) dye removal was investigated in a customized multi-stage filtration column under batch recycle mode. The effect of independent variables, such as influent flow rate, ratio of H₂O₂/MB dye concentration, and contact time on the dye removal efficiency, were investigated using response surface methodology (RSM). To capture the inherent characteristics and better predict the removal efficiency, a data-driven adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is implemented. Results indicated that the optimum dye removal efficiency of 99.7% was achieved at a flow rate of 2 mL/min, 75:1 ratio of H₂O₂/dye concentration with contact time of 183 min. The model predictions of ANFIS are significantly good compared with RSM, thus resulting in R² values of 0.9912 and 0.9775, respectively. The enzymatic kinetic parameters, Kₘ and Vₘₐₓ, were evaluated, which are 1.98 mg/L and 0.0219 mg/L/min, respectively. Results showed that JP-immobilized BP/PVA nanocomposite membrane can be promising and cost-effective biotechnology for the practical application in the treatment of industrial dye effluents.

In the present study, we characterized the phytochemical properties, which were specifically associated with phenolic compounds and antioxidant activities in six distinct ecotypes of Umbilicaria aprina Nyl. from Iran (including Kivarestan, Mishan, Takht-e Nader, Tochal, Sabalan, and Sahand) to detect diversities within the species. Total phenolic concentration (TPC) and radical scavenging capacities of U. aprina ecotypes were evaluated. Moreover, qualitative differences between chemical profiles were surveyed using liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS). Relatively moderate TPCs (Kivarestan = 36.12 ± 2.1, Mishan = 41.59 ± 2.2, Takht-e Nader = 31.85 ± 1.3, Tochal = 37.55 ± 2.3, Sabalan = 28.91 ± 2.5, and Sahand = 31.59 ± 2.2) were observed for ecotypes, but a very strong correlation (r = −0/842) was obtained between TPCs and IC₅₀ values. Based on the results of LC-ESI-MS/MS, the following chemical substances were identified: orsellinic acid (1), lecanoric acid (2), evernic acid (3), gyrophoric acid (4), umbilicaric acid (5), hiascic acid (6), stictic acid (7) methyl hiascic acid (8), and an unknown substance (9). The MS/MS fragmentation scheme for each substance was determined and proposed. Wide discrepancies were observed in the chemical profiles of lichen ecotypes, which may corroborate the influence of ecological locality conditions, for example, altitude and slope aspects on secondary metabolism of lichen species U. aprina. The north-facing and east-facing ecotypes (Sabalan and Mishan, respectively) lacked depsidones (stictic acid) mainly because they receive the least direct radiation. Mishan ecotype, as the only east-facing ecotype, showed the most different chemical profile.