0000000000341393
AUTHOR
Ruta ŠVinka
Interaction of Oily Water with Floating Porous Ceramic and Immobilized Microorganisms
Oily water was treated with porous ceramic granules and immobilized microorganisms. Floating granules with bulk density of 0.63-0.66 g cm-3were used. The sorption of motor oil was investigated for dry and wetted granules. Respiration experiments showed that microorganisms immobilized on floating ceramic carrier and treated with oily water were influenced by agitation of liquid. The treatment of oily water with low salinity (1-9 g L-1) showed that oil removal efficiency decreased after increasing water salinity. Likewise, oil removal efficiency decreased from 12 to 9% per gram of ceramic carrier after increasing the spill of oil from 9 to 35 g per square meter. Porous granules with immobiliz…
Natural Radioactivity in Clay Ceramics and their Raw Materials in Latvia
Natural radionuclides K-40, and Th-232, U-238 (Ra-226) decay chain products contained in building materials are the main source of radiation dose received by population and the only source of indoor radiation exposure. Present work contains results of the study of natural radionuclide activity level in clay, clay ceramics and silica bricks used in Latvia. Obtained data show that radionuclide content in different clay products can differ up to five times. However, determined activity index values for all tested materials, except fireproof bricks, were below radionuclide concentration level permitted by EU and Latvian national regulations. Comparison with analogous data from other North Europ…
Natural Radioactivity in Clay and Building Materials Used in Latvia
Abstract This paper presents the results of natural radionuclide concentration and activity index study in materials used for construction in Latvia. Special attention is given to clay and clay ceramics. Concentrations of K-40 and Th- 232, U-238 radioactivity were determined using gamma-spectrometry method. In some building ware, maximal concentration of K-40 was 1440 Bq/kg, and of U-238 - 175 Bq/kg. In granite, the determined maximum concentration of Th-232 was 210 Bq/kg. It was found that radionuclide content in different period clay deposits can differ by more than two times, and up to five times in different clay ceramics. The results obtained are compared with analogous data from the o…
Evaluation of Glyphosate Ecotoxicity and Biodegradability in the Municipal Wastewaters
Glyphosate (G) is a broad-spectrum systemic organophosphate herbicide being widely used to control weeds in agricultural fields and urban areas. Its safety for both human health and aquatic biomes is a subject of wide debate. This study was aimed at evaluating the removal efficiency and ecotoxicity of G based herbicide (GBH) Klinik® (Nufarm, Austria) added to the raw municipal wastewater (WW) in a lab-scale model column system. The effect of oxide ceramics as a filtering medium (treatment „B”), as well as activated sludge and nutrients (treatment „C”) was compared with the control columns, which contained only WW (treatment „A”). After 72h treatment of WW spiked with 100 mg/L G, the lowest …
The Matrix Effect and Application of the Multi-Parameter Optimization Method for X-Ray Spectrometric Determination of the Quantitative Composition of Clays
Determining the quantitative composition of clay samples with X-ray fluorescent spectrometry is complicated because of the matrix effect, in which any element can increase or decrease the analytical signals of other elements. In order to predict the properties of clays, it is essential to know their precise chemical composition. Therefore, using the standard addition method was determined calibration and empirical influence coefficients, as well as the true composition of the elements. Farther, these coefficients were used to correct the matrix effect and develop a multi-parameter optimization method. It was determined that in clay samples, consisting of Si, Al, Fe, K, Mg, Ca, Na and Ti oxi…
Investigations of Latvian Illite/Kaolinite Clays Irradiated Under Action of Accelerated Electrons
Natural clay is a perspective material for application as sorbents for wastewater treatment as well as for sorption of radionuclides, where the properties of the clays can be changed under influence of ionizing radiation. For application of Latvian illite/kaolinite clays for isotope sorption it is important to characterize the physic-chemical properties of pre-prepared air dried clays. Two fractions of the illite clays were selected. A fraction with grain size 100 μm (SiO2 content 60.9 ± 1.5 wt.%, specific surface area 35 m2/g) and a sand free fraction – 2 μm (SiO2 47.7 ± 1.9 wt.%, specific surface area 38 m2/g). Selected fractions were irradiated with accelerated electrons (5 MeV, ELU-4, S…
Distinguishing the roles of carrier and biofilm in filtering media for the removal of pharmaceutical compounds from wastewater
Abstract Pharmaceutical compounds (PCs) represent a large group of micropollutants in wastewaters (WW) worldwide. Many PCs are resistant to conventional WW treatment. Moreover, for some PCs the removal process is reversible. The aim of this study was to test three newly developed ceramic carriers for biofilm formation and PCs removal. The testing of untreated WW samples by liquid chromatography coupled to Orbitrap mass spectrometry allowed to detect the occurrence of 18 PCs in the range from 26 ng/L to 20,688 ng/L, with the highest concentrations found for caffeine. Besides, among PCs with concentrations above 1,000 ng/L, ibuprofen (19,234 ng/L), naproxen (1,405 ng/L), xylazine (1,366 ng/L)…