The promotion of good indoor air quality in schools is of particular public concern for two main reasons: (1) school-age children spend at least 30% of their time inside classrooms and (2) indoor air quality in urban areas is substantially influenced by the outdoor pollutants, exposing tenants to potentially toxic substances. Two schools in Curitiba, Brazil, were selected to characterize the gaseous compounds indoor and outdoor of the classrooms. The concentrations of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and the isomers xylenes (BTEX); NO2; SO2; O3; acetic acid (HAc); and formic acid (HFor) were assessed using passive diffusion tubes. BTEX were analyzed by gas chromatography–ion trap mass spectrometry and other collected gasses by ion chromatography. The concentration of NO2 varied between 9.5 and 23 µg m−3, whereas SO2 showed an interval from 0.1 to 4.8 µg m−3. Within the schools, BTEX concentrations were predominant. Formic and acetic acids inside the classrooms revealed intermediate concentrations of 1.5 µg m−3 and 1.2 µg m−3, respectively.
Municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) bottom ash contains economically significant levels of silver and gold. Bottom ashes from incinerators at Amsterdam and Ludwigshafen were sampled, processed, and analyzed to determine the composition, size, and mass distribution of the precious metals. In order to establish accurate statistics of the gold particles, a sample of heavy non-ferrous metals produced from 15 tons of wet processed Amsterdam ash was analyzed by a new technology called magnetic density separation (MDS). Amsterdam's bottom ash contains approximately 10 ppm of silver and 0.4 ppm of gold, which was found in particulate form in all size fractions below 20 mm. The sample from Ludwigshafen was too small to give accurate values on the gold content, but the silver content was found to be identical to the value measured for the Amsterdam ash. Precious metal value in particles smaller than 2 mm seems to derive mainly from waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), whereas larger precious metal particles are from jewelry and constitute the major part of the economic value. Economical analysis shows that separation of precious metals from the ash may be viable with the presently high prices of non-ferrous metals. In order to recover the precious metals, bottom ash must first be classified into different size fractions. Then, the heavy non-ferrous (HNF) metals should be concentrated by physical separation (eddy current separation, density separation, etc.). Finally, MDS can separate gold from the other HNF metals (copper, zinc). Gold-enriched concentrates can be sold to the precious metal smelter and the copper-zinc fraction to a brass or copper smelter.
Airborne particulate matter (PM) extracts were investigated for their content of organic compounds and for the direct and oxidative DNA damage induced on lung epithelial cells A549. PM10 was seasonally collected at two monitoring sites (Stations 1 and 2), characterized by different traffic loads. The cells were exposed for 30 min to extracts of PM10 diluted at 0.025%, 0.05%, and 0.1% for summer samples, and at 0.05%, 0.1%, and 0.15% for winter samples. Oxidative and direct DNA damage were evaluated by formamidopyrimidine glycosylase (fpg) comet assay analyzing tail moment (TM) values from fpg-enzyme-treated cells (TMenz) and enzyme untreated cells (TM) respectively and by comet percentage analysis. Measurements relating to Station 2 showed higher levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and their methyl-(methyl-PAHs) and nitro-(nitro-PAHs) derivatives in both the seasons. Nitro-PAH concentrations were higher in summer than in winter at both the stations. We found a significant increase of comet percentages at the highest dose of extract from both stations in summer and from Station 2 in winter. The TM and TMenz values relative to the summer sampling showed an early oxidative DNA damage induction also followed by direct DNA damage more evident at Station 2, that seems to correlate with the presence of higher nitro-PAH concentrations during the warm season. At both monitoring stations, the results from winter sampling campaign showed a direct DNA damage induction at 0.1% of extract and oxidative-direct DNA damage at the highest dose (0.15%).
Measurements and model simulations of air pollution in urban agglomerations and industrial places have shown high concentrations of gaseous and particulate matter pollutants such as photochemical gaseous pollutants and particulate matter. The world’s urban population increased over the past 50 years with an average rate of 2.7% year. By contrast, the total world population increased with an average rate of only 1.8% year. This illustrates the increasing global importance of urban agglomerations and industrial activities, thus their growing significance for the world’s air quality and climate problems. Air quality degradation in urban agglomerations and industrial sites has significant effects to human health leading to increased morbidity and mortality, to urban and regional air quality degradation and consequently to the earth’s climate. The sustainable development is the second focus of the current special issue. The usual assumption is that it is difficult to achieve the growth of enterprise in an environmentally friendly manner. This paradigm usually associated with developed countries is now affecting all other regions of the globe. The main question is if the development of enterprise is compatible with environmental protection. An important research area is that which deals with development and growth finding its way, in accordance with the principles of sustainability, considering social and environmental impacts as well. The present special issue of the Journal Water Air and Soil Pollution—Focus contains 14 selected papers that were presented at the 1st International Conference on Environmental Management, Engineering, Planning and Economics (CEMEPE), which was held together with a special conference of the Society for Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety (SECOTOX) and took place on the Greek island of Skiathos from June 24 to 28, 2007. The papers presented in the Conference covered a wide range of scientific disciplines related to environment. The guest editors decided to present a special issue that focuses mainly on urban air quality and sustainable development. The papers study the air quality in urban and industrial sites with measurements and modeling tools and the related health effects, as well as papers that deal with important factors that lead to sustainable development. The papers presented here are based on those given at the Conference but have been subjected to peer review by at least two independent referees. The 14 papers that successfully passed the review process are presented here. We are grateful to the reviewers for their careful and objective evaluation of the submitted papers and the Organizing Committee of the CEMEPE Conference. Water Air Soil Pollut: Focus (2009) 9:1 DOI 10.1007/s11267-008-9203-9
The use of inks containing organic solvents by the offset printing process implies in the release of volatile organic compounds to the work environment. Many of these compounds such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and the xylene isomers (well known by the acronym BTEX) are extremely toxic. In this study, the BTEX concentrations were determined in two different printing plants that use distinct types of inks: the conventional and the so-called ecological, which is manufactured based on vegetal oil. Concentration ranges were 43–84, 15–3,480, 2–133, 5–459, and 2–236 μg m−3 for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, m + p-xylene, and o-xylene, respectively, for the conventional printing plant. At the ecological printing plant, concentration ranges were below limit of detection (<LD)-31, <LD-618, <LD-1,690, <LD-10,500, <LD-3,360 μg m−3 for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, m + p-xylene, and o-xylene, respectively. BTEX concentrations are lower at the ecological printing environment than in the conventional, where mineral oil-based inks are used. However, the worker who cleans the printing matrices is exposed to high concentrations of ethylbenzene and xylenes, due probably to the cleaning product’s composition (containing high amounts of BTEX). Although the BTEX concentrations found in both printing work environments were below the limits considered by the Brazilian Law for Activities and Unhealthy Operations (NR-15), the exposure to such vapors characterizes risk to the workers’ health for some of the evaluated samples, mainly the personal ones.
A comprehensive study on biodiversity and environmental characteristics of three different selected study sites located on different estuarine networks viz. Matla, Saptamukhi, and Hooghly on eastern, central, and western regions, having different environmental features of Sundarbans Mangrove Ecosystem, India, a World Heritage Site, was conducted through six seasons of consecutive 2 years. The different sites understudy have shown variable species composition. Special emphasis was made to record the population structure of benthic fauna, which exhibited maximum density during pre-monsoon followed by monsoon and post-monsoon. Physicochemical parameters displayed a wide range of fluctuation through different seasons and also revealed differences among different study sites. Biotic community structures of different study sites have been analyzed using different community indices like similarity index, dominance index, diversity index, and evenness index. Moreover, in order to evaluate the environmental stress on the environmental health of this dynamic mangrove ecosystem of global importance, species pollution value and community pollution value have been deduced as a new model of biotic indices based on the distribution patterns of both zooplanktons and benthic fauna. Canonical correspondence analysis revealed the cumulative influence of a group of environmental parameters on the abundance of different components of biodiversity. The study site II (Saptamukhi), encircled by undisturbed mangrove islands, revealed the least pollution stress and higher biological diversity followed by Jharkhali (study site I), which is in the process of eco-restoration and Bokkhali (study site III), which has been under anthropogenic stress especially from ecotourism.
Deji Reservoir is situated in the middle of Taiwan on the upstream catchment of the Dajia stream with an area of over 60,160 ha. The embankment stands 180 m high and is the tallest concrete arch dam in Taiwan. This dam stores 1.7 billion cubic meters of valid volume water. It provides over 370 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. It is also an important facility for operating flood control, hydroelectricity, irrigation, public water supply, etc. Seventy-two percent of the terrain is at 2,000- to 3,000-m altitude, and 5.2% is above 3,200-m altitude. More than 59% of the area is covered with steep topography of 55% slope. Only 7.9% of the area is shown with gentle slopes of less than 30% slope, which are located among the two banks of main streams with the altitudes ranging from 1,500 to 2,500 m. Most of the gentle slopes are used for temperate zone fruit, vegetable, and tea plantations. This land-use immediately adjoins a reservoir catchment region, resulting in an enormous impact on the mountainous environment. This study reviewed human-developed land-use area to properly address and evaluate norms for mitigating the impacts on the reservoir. The initial investigation brought up the parameters of gradient, slope movement types and processes, distance to the reservoir, location of developed area and distance with the farm road, etc. Local investigation and global information system technology were conducted in this research. We focused on segregating the terrain types of indisposed land-use. A different land-use management strategy is also analyzed.
The International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology is an annual conference meeting of engineering and science professionals from academia, government, and industry from around the globe. The fourth conference was held in Houston, Texas, on July 28–31, 2008. The objective of the International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology is to provide a major interdisciplinary forum for presenting new approaches from relevant areas of environmental science and engineering, to foster integration of the latest developments in scientific research into engineering applications, and to facilitate technology transfer from well-tested ideas into practical products, waste management, remedial processes, and ecosystem restoration. Environmental humanity and sociality such as environmental ethics, environmental law, environmental economy, and environmental management were also included in the scope of the conference. Researchers, engineers, site managers, regulatory agents, decision-making officials, consultants, and vendors benefited from the opportunity to exchange information on recent research trends, to examine ongoing research programs, and to investigate worldwide public and regulatory acceptance of environmental protection and remediation technologies. Environmental disturbance and pollution are complex problems worldwide. The current development of modern science and technology combined with management on social and economic activities are contributing more and more to solution of the problems. Although considerable environmental protection work has been and is presently being conducted, a multidisciplinary platform for environmental scientists, engineers, management professionals, and governmental officials to discuss the latest developments in environmental research and applications is very helpful for protecting our global village. During the Fourth International conference, presentations from the following countries were presented: Americas: Brazil, Mexico, Canada, and USA; Europe: France, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Italy, Russia, and Switzerland; Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Cameron, Zambia, Botswana, and South Africa; Asia: China, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Japan, Korea, Israel, Turkey, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. We also had attendees from Australia and New Zealand. The conference started by four plenary presentations given by well-known professors in selected areas of research and then parallel sessions were conducted to accommodate the various accepted Water Air Soil Pollut: Focus (2009) 9:159–161 DOI 10.1007/s11267-009-9207-0
The general public, government regulators, and environmental organizations are increasingly demanding industries to reduce their environmental impacts and report progress. This in turn resulted in numerous requirements for reporting environmental data. Environmental assessments are a useful tool in gathering and documenting this data. The assessments also assist decision makers to quantify impacts of their activities and plan for appropriate mitigation measures. There are different types of environmental assessments, each having specific purpose(s) and addressing specific audience(s). This paper gives an overview of common environmental concerns associated with oil and gas industry and shares insights on types of environmental assessments that are widely used. It discusses general methodologies to define the scope, approach, measurement standards, and reporting. Potential challenges encountered in conducting these assessments in an international arena and under a wide variety of regulatory requirements are addressed. Practical approach in execution of these assessments is described here, and strategy in dealing with the challenges is presented.
This paper discusses safety culture in the petrochemical sector and the causes and consequences of safety culture. A sample of 520 responses selected by simple random sampling completed questionnaires for this survey, the return rate was 86.75%. The research instrument comprises four sections: basic information, the safety leadership scale (SLS), the safety climate scale (SCS), and the safety performance scale (SPS). SPSS 12.0, a statistical software package, was used for item analysis, validity analysis, and reliability analysis. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that (1) SLS abstracted three factors such as safety caring, safety controlling, and safety coaching; (2) SCS comprised three factors such as emergency response, safety commitment, and risk perception; and (3) SPS was composed of accident investigation, safety training, safety inspections, and safety motivation. We conclude that the SLS, SCS, and SPS developed in this paper have good construct validity and internal consistency and can serve as the basis for future research.
Concentrations of NO2, NO, and O3 from a rooftop monitoring station in Gothenburg, Sweden (2002–2006) were analysed to characterise NO2 pollution. [NO2] was shown to correlate strongly and non-linearly with [NO x ] (NO x = NO + NO2), in line with observations in other cities. The [NO2] to [NO x ] fraction fell initially with increasing [NO x ]. At [NO x ] levels >200 ppb, the decline in [NO2]/[NO x ] with increasing [NO x ] levelled out and [NO2]/[NO x ] converged towards approximately 0.15–0.16, independent of [NO x ]. Data from a traffic route site showed the same pattern. This value of [NO2]/[NO x ] at high [NO x ] can be interpreted as the NO2 fraction of the NO x emissions from vehicle exhaust. Situations with high NO x pollution and minimum [NO2]/[NO x ] were always associated with [O3] close to zero. Plotting [Ox] (Ox = NO2 + O3) vs. [NO x ] provided a strong linear correlation for situations dominated by local pollution ([NO]/[NO2]>1). The slope of the regression, a measure of the primary NO2 fraction in NO x emissions, was 0.13 during the day and 0.14 during the night. With stronger winds, the rooftop monitoring station became more similar, in terms of NO2 pollution, to a city street site and a traffic route site, although [NO2] was almost always higher at the street/traffic route locations. The EU standard for the annual average of [NO2] (40 μg m−3) was exceeded, while the hourly standard (200 μg m−3, not to be exceeded more than 18 times per year by 2010) was not exceeded at any of the sites.
The adsorption of two taste- and odor-causing compounds, namely MIB (2-methyl isoborneol—C11H20O) and geosmin (C12H22O) on activated carbon was investigated in this study. The impact of adsorbent pore size distribution on adsorption of MIB and geosmin was evaluated through single solute and multicomponent adsorption of these compounds on three types of activated carbon fibers (ACFs) and one granular activated carbon (GAC). The ACFs (ACC-15, ACC-20, and ACC-25) with different degrees of activation had narrow pore size distributions and specific critical pore diameters whereas the GAC (F-400) had a wider pore size distribution and lesser microporosity. The effect of the presence of natural organic matter (NOM) on MIB and geosmin adsorption was also studied for both the single solute and binary systems. The Myers equation was used to evaluate the single solute isotherms as it converges to Henry’s law at low coverage and also serves as an input for predicting multicomponent adsorption. The single solute adsorption isotherms fit the Myers equation well and pore size distribution significantly influenced adsorption on the ACFs and GAC. The ideal adsorbed solute theory (IAST), which is a well-established thermodynamic model for multicomponent adsorption, was used to predict the binary adsorption of MIB and geosmin. The IAST predicted well the binary adsorption on the ACFs and GAC. Binary adsorption isotherms were also conducted in the presence of oxygen (oxic) and absence of oxygen (anoxic). There were no significant differences in the binary isotherm between the oxic and anoxic conditions, indicating that adsorption was purely through physical adsorption and no oligomerization was taking place. Binary adsorptions for the four adsorbents were also conducted in the presence of humic acid to determine the effect of NOM and to compare with IAST predictions. The presence of NOM interestingly resulted in deviation from IAST behavior in case of two adsorbents, ACC-15 and F-400.
Nitrogen removal in wetlands is achieved through two pathways: (a) N cycling and (b) storage. N cycling is a permanent removal pathway. There has been an increasing interest in the development of technologies to alleviate permanent nitrogen removal limitation in constructed wetlands by ensuring prevalence of conditions enhancing N cycling. The purpose of this study is to review an emerging technology of vegetated submerged bed constructed wetland system aimed at improving nitrogen removal in wetlands through rational system design. The design and performance of this system type is evaluated. The oxygen transfer capacity and nitrogen removal mechanisms on system performance are evaluated. Constructed wetland combinations most commonly consist of vertical flow (VF) and horizontal flow (HF) beds where VF and HF are aimed at nitrification and denitrification, respectively. Nitrate nitrogen accumulation is the most limiting factor in typical VF based systems.
This paper describes the possible inundation scenarios under sea level rise conditions due to global climate change with particular reference to Nagoya, Japan. The study was carried out by using a two-dimensional sea model integrated with one-dimensional river flow model and two-dimensional overland flow model. For the connections of models, the upstream discharge or downstream water level in each grid is considered as the boundary conditions. The governing equations used for the analysis have been solved by finite volume method. The analysis results implicate that some parts of densely populated coastal area of Nagoya city will be vulnerable to inundation if the sea level rise due to global warming by 1 m. Moreover, the performances of existing sewer system and inundation scenario under various conditions have been analyzed.
In Russia in 1950–1960 solutions for the localization and storage of large volumes of liquid radioactive waste produced during defensive tasks were accomplished using natural and man-made water objects. At present, they are non-isolated from the environment and radioactive waste storage facilities constitute a serious potential menace. These objects are not allowed by the current legislation of the Russian Federation on environmental protection and safety. However, they do exist and there are no definite and approved engineering solutions regarding their removal. One of these objects is the Techa Cascade of Reservoirs (TCR) of the Mayak plant. In this article, TCR protection requirements are based on and formalized taking into account the legislation of the Russian Federation and the biospheric approach to the radiation protection of humans and the environment. Special safety requirements are needed because the standard argument “from human exposure to discharge standards” is invalid owing to the fact that the possibility of using water objects that have had contact with the TCR is restricted by law.
Two different waste-derived by-products were examined and compared. Based on the thermogravimetric tests performed, it was proved that their decomposition occurs in two weight loss steps represented by two shoulders in the derivative thermogravimetric curves. The first shoulder is attributed to the devolatilisation of hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin and the second one to the plastic fraction of the waste. Similarities in the degradation behaviour were observed for both wastes, despite of their different origin. Increased plastic fractions resulted in slightly higher conversions and lower pyrolysis rates. Enhanced lignocellulosic fractions led to higher rates during combustion. The lignocellulosic fraction was increased proportionally to the inorganic residue that remained after combustion. A wide variation of weight losses was attained even in refuse-derived fuel (RDF) samples of the same origin, whilst stronger deviations were observed in the decomposition of the plastic fraction. The independent parallel, first-order, reactions model was elaborated for the kinetic analysis of the pyrolysis results. The thermal degradation of the RDF samples was modelled assuming four parallel reactions corresponding to the devolatilisation of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and plastics. Increased activation energies were calculated for the plastics fraction, whilst lignin presented the lowest contribution in the pyrolysis of the samples. Generally, both RDF samples presented similar kinetic constants despite their heterogeneity.
Measurements of indoor and outdoor aerosol concentrations and their gaseous precursors (O3, NO and NO2) as well as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) concentrations were performed at two houses in the Oslo metropolitan area. The variability of the concentration of gaseous compounds was studied in respect to their sources in the indoor and outdoor environments. Domestic heating during the winter and photochemical production during the summer were the main sources for outdoor NOx and O3. In the indoor environment infiltration of outdoor air, candle burning, smoking and indoor chemical reactions were the main sources affecting their concentrations. The concentrations of VOCs outdoors were enhanced during the summer due to biogenic emissions whereas in the indoor environment their values were affected mostly by emissions from materials used during the recent refurbishing of the houses (>0.4 mg/m3).
Deep drainage technique utilised for flood mitigation in low-land coastal areas of Australia during the late 1960s has resulted in the generation of sulphuric acid in soil by the oxidation of pyritic materials. Further degradation of the subsurface environment with widespread contamination of the underlying soil and groundwater presents a major and challenging environmental issue in acid sulphate soil (ASS) terrains. Although several ASS remediation techniques recently implemented in the floodplain of Southeast Australia including operation of gates, tidal buffering and lime injections could significantly control the pyrite oxidation, they could not improve the long-term water quality. More recently, permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) filled with waste concrete aggregates have received considerable attention as an innovative, cost-effective technology for passive in situ clean up of groundwater contamination. However, long-term efficiency of these PRBs for treating acidic groundwater has not been established. This study analyses and evaluates the performance of a field PRB for treating the acidic water over 2.5 years. The pilot-scale alkaline PRB consisting of recycled concrete was installed in October 2006 at a farm of southeast New South Wales for treating ASS-impacted groundwater. Monitoring data of groundwater quality over a 30 month period were assessed to evaluate the long-term performance of the PRB. Higher pH value (~pH 7) of the groundwater immediately downstream of the PRB and higher rates of iron (Fe) and aluminium (Al) removal efficiency (>95%) over this study period indicates that recycled concrete could successfully treat acidic groundwater. However, the overall pH neutralising capacity of the materials within the barrier declined with time from an initial pH 10.2 to pH 7.3. The decline in the performance with time was possibly due to the armouring of the reactive material surface by the mineral precipitates in the form of iron and aluminium hydroxides and oxyhydroxides as indicated by geochemical modelling.
Studies concerning mycotoxins involve activities of relevant potential for furthering knowledge in the fields of toxicology and environmental analysis. Using bioanalytical methods (biosensors, histochemistry), the conducted research aims at contributing to raising the awareness of local, national, and international media in relation to the safety of obtaining and processing vegetal and animal foods, by analyzing the possible effects of aflatoxins and ochratoxins, promoting animal health, food hygiene, in view of ensuring animal and human health. The study using laboratory animals (mice) while being part of one of the current national research directions, also holds international priority, by its contribution to a better understanding of several fundamental mechanisms of life at molecular level and to the characterization of certain biological processes that appear in mycotoxicosis.
