Search results for "environmental remediation"
showing 10 items of 75 documents
Remediation Practice at a Former Missile Base in Latvia
1998
Severe environmental pollution of soil and groundwater exists in Latvia from activities that took place at former Soviet military bases. Since 1994, the former owners of these territories have retaken possession of their lands and have started to use their properties for agriculture, exploitation of forests and recreation. These activities have increased the exposure of populations to toxic substances, with subsequent effects on human health.
Hybrid Nanocarbon Doped Supramolecular Ionogels for the Removal of Pharmaceutically Active Compounds from Water
Chemical oxidation and reduction of hexachlorocyclohexanes: A review
2019
Abstract Lindane (γ-hexachlorocyclohexane) and its isomers (HCH) are some of the most common and most easily detected organochlorine pesticides in the environment. The widespread distribution of lindane is due to its use as an insecticide, accompanied by its persistence and bioaccumulation, whereas HCH were disposed of as waste in unmanaged landfills. Unfortunately, certain HCH (especially the most reactive ones: γ- and α-HCH) are harmful to the central nervous system and to reproductive and endocrine systems, therefore development of suitable remediation methods is needed to remove them from contaminated soil and water. This paper provides a short history of the use of lindane and a descri…
Responses of Lumbriculus variegatus to Activated Carbon Amendments in Uncontaminated Sediments
2012
Activated carbon (AC) amendment is a recently developed sediment remediation method. The strong hydrophobic organic contaminant sorption efficiency of AC has been shown in several studies, but effects on benthic organisms require more investigation. The AC induced effects on egestion rate, growth and reproduction of Lumbriculus variegatus were studied by applying bituminous coal based AC in three different particle size fractions, namely <63 μm (90%, AC(p)), 63-200 μm (AC(m)) and 1000 μm (AC(g)), to natural uncontaminated (HS) and artificial sediment (AS). Egestion rate, growth and reproduction decreased with increasing AC concentration and finer AC particle fractions, effects being stronge…
Photocatalytic CO<inf>2</inf> Valorization by Using Ti<inf>O2</inf>, ZrO2 and Graphitic Based Semiconductors
2018
In this century, a broad scientific interest has been devoted to fulfill sustainable industrial processes and climatic change remediation. In this prospective, various green technologies have been studied to valorize CO 2• The aim of this research is the CO 2 reduction in presence of water by using the photocatalytic technology with nanomaterials as the photocatalysts. The present work overviews the main outcomes obtained by using graphitic and oxide based photocatalysts both in gas/solid and liquid/solid batch reactors under simulated solar light. In all gas/solid regime tests the major products detected were methane, carbon monoxide, and acetaldehyde.
Electrospun TiO2 embedded nanofibers for photocatalytic applications
2019
The development of photocatalysts with low cost, high reactivity and easy recovery provides great potentials for environmental remediation. In this study, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers containing titanium dioxide ([Formula: see text]) nanoparticles were successfully fabricated using a facile electrospinning technique. The effects of [Formula: see text] content, PAN concentration and thermal treatment on the adsorption and photocatalysis properties of [Formula: see text] nanofibers have been investigated. The results indicate that the embedded [Formula: see text] nanofibers possess the property to effectively decompose rhodamine B (RhB) under simulated sunlight irradiation. The enhance…
Changes in chemical and biological soil properties as induced by anthropogenic disturbance: A case study of an agricultural soil under recurrent floo…
2006
Abstract Monitoring the environmental impact of anthropogenic disturbance on soil ecosystem is of great importance for optimizing strategies for soil use, conservation and remediation. The aim of this study was to assess whether and to what extent a long-term, human-induced disturbance could have affected main chemical and biological properties in an agricultural soil. The study site was a hazel (Corylus avellana L.) orchard located in the area surrounding the volcanic apparatus of Somma-Vesuvius (Southern Italy). For the last two decades, the site has been repeatedly subjected to floodings by wastewaters containing not only alluvial sediments but also potentially hazardous compounds from i…
Construction of simplified microbial consortia to degrade recalcitrant materials based on enrichment and dilution-to-extinction cultures
2019
AbstractThe capacity of microbes degrading recalcitrant materials has been extensively explored from environmental remediation to industrial applications. Although significant achievements were obtained with single strains, focus is now going toward the use of microbial consortia because of advantages in terms of functional stability and efficiency. While consortia assembly attempts were made from several known single strains, another approach consists in obtaining consortia from complex environmental microbial communities in search for novel microbial species, genes and functions. However, assembling efficient microbial consortia from complex environmental communities is far from trivial d…
Hydration and water holding properties of cross-linked lignite humic acids
2014
Abstract Lignite and lignite humic acids, which are used as soil amendments sometimes, are supposed to improve soil properties such as water holding capacity. The structure of those materials is composed of various organic molecules stabilized mostly by weak interactions. Therefore, excess of water causes only partial swelling, but most of the physical structure is destabilized. This accelerates the desiccation and hampers their application as natural hydrogel-like substances. In order to stabilize the structure of lignite humic acids and improve the water holding capacity, we applied formaldehyde cross-linking procedure based on covalent coupling of aromatic humic acids moieties. By combin…
Evaluation of adsorption ability of Cyclodextrin-Calixarene Nanosponges towards Pb2+ ion in aqueous solution
2021
Abstract Different cyclodextrin-calixarene nanosponges (CyCaNSs) have been characterized by means of FFC-NMR relaxometry, and used as sorbents to remove Pb2+ ions from aqueous solutions. Considering that the removal treatments may involve polluted waters with different characteristics, the adsorption experiments were performed on solutions without and with the addition of background salts, under different operational conditions. The adsorption abilities and affinities of the nanosponges towards Pb2+ ions were investigated by measuring the metal ion concentration by means of Inductively Coupled Plasma Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and Differential Pulse Anodic Stripping Voltammetry (DP-ASV…