Search results for "Heavy Metal"
showing 10 items of 266 documents
Marine pollution in the Libyan costal area: environmental and risk assessment
2018
A comprehensive assessment of the potential adverse effects on environment and human health generated by the inputs of chemicals from the most important Libyan petrochemical plant is presented. Ecotoxicological risk associated with the presence of As, Hg, Ni, Zn and PAHs in marine sediments is low or moderate, with a probability of toxicity for ecosystem < 9% and < 20% for heavy metals and PAHs respectively. However, sur- face sediments result strongly enriched in Hg and As of anthropogenic origin. Investigation of metals in fish allowed to assess potential risks for human populations via fish intake. Target hazard quotients values indicate potential risk associated to toxic metals exposure by…
Environmental impact assessment on the Monza cathedral (Italy): A multi-analytical approach
2020
This research deals with the characterization of black crusts collected from the Dome of Monza (Milan, Italy). Air pollution is responsible for the degradation of historical buildings surfaces. In urban and industrial areas, the degradation process is accelerated, due to carbonaceous particles and heavy metals emitted by combustion processes which contribute to the formation of black crust (BCs). In this study the characterization of BC was performed using different analytical techniques such as: HRSEM-EDX, IC, LA-ICP/MS and digital image analysis. In particular, the research focused on the study of "heavy metals" which contribute to the identify the main sources of pollution responsible fo…
Effect of primary mild stresses on resilience and resistance of the nitrate reducer community to a subsequent severe stress
2008
International audience; The factors regulating soil microbial stability (e.g. resistance and resilience) are poorly understood, even though microorganisms are essential for ecosystem functioning. In this study, we tested whether a functional microbial community subjected to different primary mild stresses was equally resistant or resilient to a subsequent severe stress. The nitrate reducers were selected as model community and analysed in terms of nitrate reduction rates and genetic structure by narG PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism fingerprinting. Heat, copper and atrazine were used as primary stresses and mercury at a high concentration as a severe stress. None of the primary …
Sediment origin and pedogenesis in the former mill pond basin of Turznice (north-central Poland) based on magnetic susceptibility measurements
2016
Abstract This paper aims to assess the usefulness of magnetic susceptibility measurements in pedological studies of mill pond sediments. The study area includes the former Turznice mill pond basin located in the south-eastern part of the Grudziądz Basin. Four soil profiles were selected within the transect located along the longitudinal axis of the basin. The following soil properties were determined in the collected samples: bulk density, particle size distribution, pH, content of carbonates, approximate content of organic matter (LOI), total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (Nt), and the pseudo-total contents of metals (Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb, Ni, Cd). The obtained results were correlated…
Immobilisation of yeast cells on the surface of hydroxyapatite ceramics
2011
Hydroxyapatite (HAP) ceramics was tested for the first time for the possibility of being used as a new carrier for the immobilisation of yeast cells that are both model organisms for eukaryotic cell investigations and producers, which is important in classical and modern biotechnological processes. It was shown that under typical immobilisation conditions yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) has no affinity to HAP ceramics. A novel method for yeast immobilisation was developed. This new method includes the joint incubation of a carrier with the cells, the sedimentation and adhesion of cells on the carrier and the dehydration of obtained preparations. It was shown that the sedimentation and adhe…
Diffusion dialysis for HCl and heavy metals separation from highly concentrated pickling solutions
2019
Disposal of pickling waste solutions strongly affects hot-dip galvanizing industries’ economics and environmental footprint. Thus, the recovery of acid is an important step to enhance the process sustainability. Diffusion dialysis (DD) can be used to separate acids and heavy metals (e.g. iron and zinc) from pickling waters, promoting the circular use of such raw materials. In the present work, two DD modules, a laboratory scale unit operating in batch and a continuous operated large unit, equipped with Fumasep anionic exchange membranes were tested. Results obtained show that zinc and iron affect HCl recovery in opposite way, however reaching high recovery values. In particular, zinc consid…
Evaluation of the toxicity of mussels from 2 sites of the Moroccan Atlantic Coast (Jorf Lasfar and Oualidia) used as bioindicators of contamination :…
2012
Toxic substances generated by various human activities are spilled on different area of the Moroccan coast. Shellfishes can concentrate pollutants and have some adverse effects on human health through the food chain. Despite the strengthening of food safety rules, the involvement of chemical pollution of food on metabolic disorders is not known. To predict the impact of pollutants on the aquatic ecosystem and human health, the development of appropriate biomonitoring tools is required.We quantified heavy metals (Cd, Cr and Pb) in mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) from two sites of Moroccan Atlantic coast (industrial site Jorf Lasfar (JL) and touristic site Oualidia (OL)) due to the proxim…
Simultaneous detection of copper and mercury in water samples using in-situ pH control with electrochemical stripping techniques
2023
The performance of electrochemical sensors using an in situ pH control technique for detection of mercury and copper in neutral solutions is described herein. Sensors are comprised of two distinct parallel gold interdigitated microband electrodes each of which may be polarised separately. Biasing one interdigitated “protonator” electrode sufficiently positive to begin water electrolysis, resulted in the production of H+ ions, which, consequently droped the interfacial pH at the other second interdigitated “sensing” electrode. This decrease in pH permitted the electrodeposition (and consequent stripping) of metals at a sensing electrode without the need to acidify the whole test solution. In…
In vitro effect of cadmium and copper on separated blood leukocytes of Dicentrarchus labrax.
2013
The immunotoxic effects of heavy metals on blood leukocytes of sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) were examined. The cells, separated by a discontinuous Percoll-gradients, were exposed in vitro to various sublethal concentrations of cadmium and copper (10(-7) M, 10(-5) M, and 10(-3) M) and their immunotoxic effect was then evaluated by measuring neutral red uptake, MU assay, DNA fragmentation and Hsp70 gene expression. First of all, we demonstrated that the cells treated in vitro could incorporate Cd and Cu. A relationship between heavy metal exposure and dose-time-dependent alterations in responses of leukocytes from blood was found for both metals, but copper was more immunotoxic than cadmiu…
Geostatistical 3-dimensional integration of measurements of soil magnetic susceptibility.
2010
In soil magnetometry, two types of measurements are usually performed. The first type is measurements performed on the soil surface, frequently using an MS2D sensor. The second type includes measurements of magnetic susceptibility carried out in the soil profile, usually to a depth of about 30 cm. Up to now, such measurement results were analyzed separately. However, it is possible and advantageous to integrate these two types of measurements. The goal of the study was to integrate measurements of magnetic susceptibility performed on the soil surface and in the soil profile. More specifically, the goal was to obtain 3-dimensional spatial distributions of magnetic susceptibility of the topso…