Search results for "Pollutant"
showing 10 items of 1389 documents
Medium-term dynamics of element concentrations in a sparid fish and its isopod parasite after the Prestige oil-spill: Shifting baselines?
2019
Historically, the European Atlantic is probably the most important oil-spill hotspot worldwide. One of the most recent accidents occurred in 2002 when the oil-tanker Prestige sank over the Galician Bank causing two major oil-spills followed by several small leaks until March 2003. This resulted in contamination of virtually all types of marine habitat. Considering that parasites have proved to be good effect and accumulation bioindicators, the present study addresses the medium-term changes in trace element content after the Prestige oil-spill in a model host-parasite system, the bogue, Boops boops (Sparidae) and the isopod Ceratothoa oestroides. To our knowledge, this study is the first to…
Recommendations for ecotoxicity testing with stygobiotic species in the framework of groundwater environmental risk assessment.
2019
As a consequence of the growing global dependence on groundwater resources, environmental risk assessments (ERA) for groundwater are increasingly required and, with that, ecotoxicological studies with groundwater fauna (stygofauna). However, the literature on the ecotoxicological studies with stygobiotic species (i.e. species that complete their life cycle exclusively in groundwater) has not expanded significantly since the first paper published in this field. The limitations regarding the use of stygobiotic species for ecotoxicological testing are clear and consistent across the globe; stygobiotic species are often 1) naturally present in low numbers, 2) difficult to collect, and 3) diffic…
Estimating population size in wastewater-based epidemiology. Valencia metropolitan area as a case study.
2017
Wastewater can provide a wealth of epidemiologic data on common drugs consumed and on health and nutritional problems based on the biomarkers excreted into community sewage systems. One of the biggest uncertainties of these studies is the estimation of the number of inhabitants served by the treatment plants. Twelve human urine biomarkers —5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), acesulfame, atenolol, caffeine, carbamazepine, codeine, cotinine, creatinine, hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ), naproxen, salicylic acid (SA) and hydroxycotinine (OHCOT)— were determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) to estimate population size. The results reveal that populations calculated fr…
A preliminary study on the ecotoxic potency of wastewater treatment plant sludge combining passive sampling and bioassays.
2021
Highlights • The passive samplers collected bioavail able and bioaccessible chemicals from the WWTP sludge samples. • The sampler extracts were acutely and chronically toxic to water flea. • The sampler extracts were cytotoxic and genotoxic. • The sludge treatment such as composting and digesting diminished the toxicity. • Effect-based methods should be part of the risk assessment of sludge recycling. Sewage sludge is an inevitable byproduct produced in wastewater treatment. Reusing nutrient-rich sludge will diminish the amount of waste ending in soil dumping areas and will promote circular economy. However, during sewage treatment process, several potentially harmful organic chemicals are …
Exposure and risk assessment to arsenic species in Spanish children using biomonitoring
2018
We present a new approach to arsenic (As) risk assessment using biomonitoring. In this pilot study we determined the levels of total and speciated urinary arsenicin 109 Spanish school children aged between 6 and 11 years, and interpreted these concentrations in a risk assessment context. The geometric mean (GM) for total As (TAs) was 33.82 mu/L. The order of occurrence and average concentrations of the different species was arsenobetaine (AsB) (100%, 15 mu g/L), dimethylarsinic (DMA) (97%, 8.32 mu g/L), monomethylarsonic (MMA) (26%, 027 mu g/L) and inorganic As (iAs) (4%, 0.14 mu g/L). 18% of children presented exposures to inorganic arsenic (7.52 mu g/g creatinine) higher than guidance val…
Shadow prices of emerging pollutants in wastewater treatment plants: Quantification of environmental externalities.
2017
Conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are designed to remove mainly the organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus compounds and suspended solids from wastewater but are not capable of removing chemicals of human origin, such as pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs). The presence of PPCPs in wastewater has environmental effects on the water bodies receiving the WWTP effluents and renders the effluent as unsuitable as a nonconventional water source. Considering PPCPs as non-desirable outputs, the shadow prices methodology has been implemented using the output distance function to measure the environmental benefits of removing five PPCPs (acetaminophen, ibuprofen, naproxen…
EFFICIENT DEGRADATION OF CLOFIBRIC ACID BY HETEROGENEOUS PHOTOCATALYTIC OXIDATION PROCESS
2019
International audience; Emerging pollutants such as pharmaceutical active compounds were detected worldwide in different environmental compartments. Nowadays, multiple studies are focused on the investigation of their environmental fate, as well as to find new, efficient and sustainable removal technologies. Several studies demonstrated that heterogeneous photocatalysis is one of the most promising techniques used for water purification. Thus, the aim of our work was to evaluate the photodegradation efficiency of a refractory emergent compound, named clofibric acid, under UV light in aqueous solution. We report that photodegradation and mineralization efficiency are strongly dependent of th…
Reverse electrodialysis performed at pilot plant scale: Evaluation of redox processes and simultaneous generation of electric energy and treatment of…
2017
Abstract This paper describes the experimental campaign carried out with a reverse electrodialysis (RED) demonstration plant (Marsala, Italy) with the main aims of: (i) evaluating the effect of various operating parameters, including the redox processes, on the system performances; (ii) using the plant for the simultaneous generation of electric energy and treatment of wastewater. The prototype (44 × 44 cm2, 500 cell pairs) was tested using both real (brackish water and brine) and artificial solutions. Tests with two different electrode rinse solutions (with or without iron redox couples) were performed. In agreement with the data obtained in the laboratory, the presence of iron ions contri…
Insight into the role of the zeolitization process in enhancing the adsorption performance of kaolinite/diatomite geopolymer for effective retention …
2021
Abstract Diatomite/kaolinite-based geopolymer (GP) was synthesized and incorporated in zeolitization process (Z/GP) to investigate the role of the zeolite phases in inducing its retention capacity of the dissolved Sr (II) ions in water. The retention of Sr (II) ions using Z/GP in comparison with GP was evaluated based on both batch and fixed-bed column studies. In the batch study, the zeolitized geopolymer (Z/GP) shows enhancement in the Sr (II) retention capacity (193.7 mg/g) as compared to the normal geopolymer (102 mg/g). Moreover, the recyclability studies demonstrate higher stability for Z/GP than GP with a retention percentage higher than 90% for five reusing runs. The kinetic and the…
A comparative study on the quality of air in offices and homes.
2013
The main purpose of this study was to collect data on some of the factors that contribute to indoor air quality and to discomfort, in order to take the proper actions that can reduce the level of air pollution within houses and offices. To ascertain the contamination degree total bacterial counts, total fungal counts, suspended particulate matter, air temperature, and relative humidity have been determined. Additionally, mathematical statistical models have been elaborated for the total bacterial count, respirable particulate matter and humidity. A total number of 40 indoor air samples were collected from office and houses. The results shows that approximately 45% of the air samples from ho…