Magnetic palm kernel biochar potential route for phenol removal from wastewater Abstract The pollution of water resources due to the disposal of industrial wastes that have organic material like phenol is causing worldwide concern because of their toxicity towards aquatic life, human beings and the environment. Phenol causes nervous system damage, renal kidney disease, mental retardation, cancer and anaemia. In this study, magnetic palm kernel biochar is used for removal of phenol from wastewater. The effect of parameters such as pH, agitation speed, contact time and magnetic biochar dosage are validated using design of experiments. The statistical analysis reveals that the optimum conditions for the highest removal (93.39%) of phenol are obtained at pH of 8, magnetic biochar dosage of 0.6 g, agitation speed at 180 rpm and time of 60 min with the initial concentration of 10 mg/L. The maximum adsorption capacities of phenol were found to be 10.84 mg/g and Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models match the experimental data very well and adsorption kinetic obeys a pseudo-second order. Hence, magnetic palm kernel can be a potential candidate for phenol removal from wastewater.

Relationship between infiltration, sewer rehabilitation, and groundwater flooding in coastal urban areas Abstract The aging of sewer networks is a serious issue in urban areas because of the reduced functionality of the system that can have negative impact on the urban environment. Aging pipes are not water-tight anymore and they can leak untreated sewage or allow infiltration of groundwater. In the latter case, more frequent combined sewer overflows (CSOs) may occur. Generally, prompt intervention to repair damaged conduits is envisaged. However, in low-lying coastal regions, sewer systems may provide an unplanned drainage that controls the groundwater table from flooding the urban ground. Here, a study is presented to investigate the influence of the repair of damaged sewer on the water table of an urban shallow aquifer. Sewer and groundwater models were built to describe the effect of sewer replacement. Based on a real dataset, simulations were run for a city located along an estuary. Results show that the presence of infiltration into the sewer system increases the frequency of CSOs, which trigger the discharge of untreated sewage after a minor precipitation or even in dry weather conditions. As the sewer is repaired, CSO spills diminish occurring only upon significant precipitation. However, the water table rises and eventually, during the high tide, the groundwater floods the low-lying part of the city. Overall, this work highlights the susceptibility of shallow aquifers in coastal urban areas and suggests that they should be regarded in flooding predictions.

Some comments on using of Web of Science for bibliometric studies [Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. Vol. 25]

Effects of soil amendment with PCB-contaminated sediment on the growth of two cucurbit species Abstract The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of the application of increasing proportions (0%, 10%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%) of an admixture of PCB-contaminated Hudson River sediment collected from the Upper Hudson River, near Waterford, Saratoga county (New York, USA) on soil properties, phytotoxicity, and biometric and physiological responses of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L. cv ‘Wisconsin SMR 58’) and zucchini (Cucurbita pepo L. cv ‘Black Beauty’) grown as potential phyto- and rhizoremediators. The experiment was performed for 4 weeks in a growth chamber under controlled conditions. Amendment of Hudson River sediment to soil led to a gradual increase in PCB content of the substratum from 13.7 μg/kg (with 10% sediment) to 255 μg/kg (with 100% sediment). Sediment amendment showed no phytotoxic effects during the initial stages, even Lepidium sativum root growth was stimulated; however, this positive response diminished following a 4-week growth period, with the greatest inhibition observed in unplanted soil and zucchini-planted soil. The stimulatory effect remained high for cucumber treatments. The sediment admixture also increased cucurbit fresh biomass as compared to control samples, especially at lower doses of sediment admixture, even though PCB content of the soil amended with sediment increased. Cucurbits’ leaf surface area, in turn, demonstrated an increase for zucchini, however only for 50% and 75% sediment admixture, while cucumber showed no changes when lower doses were applied and decrease for 75% and 100% sediment admixture. Chlorophyll a + b decreased significantly in sediment-amended soils, with greater inhibition observed for cucumber than zucchini. Our results suggest that admixture of riverine sediment from relatively less-contaminated locations may be used as soil amendments under controlled conditions; however, further detailed investigation on the fate of pollutants is required, especially in terms of the bioaccumulation and biomagnification properties of PCBs, before contaminated sediment can be applied in an open environment.

Protective effects of hesperidin and diosmin against acrylamide-induced liver, kidney, and brain oxidative damage in rats Abstract Acrylamide (AA) is a heat-induced toxin formed during thermal processing of many commonly consumed foods, including meat products, French fries, potato crisps, bread, cereals, cookies, and coffee. There is thus potentially high dietary exposure of humans to AA, which can induce significant oxidative stress. Hesperidin (HS) and diosmin (DS) are flavone glycosides that have antioxidant properties. The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effects of HS and DS against AA toxicity. Fifty-six adult male Wistar albino rats were divided into seven groups. The first group was orally administered 0.5% (w/v) dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and considered as the control group. The second and third groups were orally administered 10 mg/kg/day of HS or DS, respectively. The fourth group received 20 mg/kg/day of AA orally for 14 days. The fifth and sixth groups were given 10 mg/kg/day of HS or DS, respectively, followed by AA. The seventh group was given both HS and DS after AA administration. AA intoxication significantly (p ≤ 0.05) increased serum levels of liver function enzymes (ALT, AST, and ALP), kidney function products (urea and creatinine), oxidative DNA damage marker (OHdG), proinflammatory markers (TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6), lipid peroxidation marker (malondialdehyde), and nitric oxide (NO). On the other hand, it significantly (p ≤ 0.05) decreased levels of reduced glutathione (GSH) in the liver, kidney, and brain. The activities of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) in the liver, kidney, and brain tissues were also reduced. HS and DS supplementation prevented lipid peroxidation, normalized the serum parameters altered by AA, and enhanced the tissue concentrations and activities of antioxidant biomarkers. It could be concluded that HS and DS have potent protective effects against oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, and DNA damage induced by AA toxicity in rats.

Novel approach for connecting real driving emissions to the European vehicle laboratorial certification test procedure Abstract Vehicle emission certification is evaluated under laboratorial conditions, where vehicles perform a standard driving cycle in controlled conditions leading to several critics, which have resulted in the implementation of the Worldwide harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) and the Real Driving Emissions (RDE) testing procedure, as a complementary certification procedure. RDE is still under debate since boundary conditions; evaluation and trip selection methods are still being studied to allow test reproducibility. Currently, the official data analysis method uses the moving average window (MAW_EC), based on the WLTP CO2 emissions for trip validity evaluation (RDE package 4) and emissions (RDE package 3). However, this does not consider the impact of vehicle dynamics. Consequently, this work focuses on developing a novel method to relate certification driving cycle dynamics and on-road test vehicle dynamics, to evaluate RDE tests fuel use and exhaust emissions in a comparable way to certification driving cycles, indicating how close, or far, real-world driving is from the laboratorial certification test. For this, a new method was developed called road vehicle evaluation method (ROVET), which relies on the cycle vehicle dynamic and on-road trip dynamics for assessing if both tests are comparable. Results from 5 measured vehicles with a portable emissions measurement system (PEMS) through reproducibility tests and 2 case studies, show that the ROVET provides results closer to the certification calculated reference than the most commonly used method in Europe (1% avg. difference for ROVET while 8% avg. difference for MAW_EC, regarding CO2 emission, for example). The use of vehicle dynamics on construction and references of a method could be used to incentivize the regulators to review the references used by the current used methods, which suffers several criticisms since their release. As the regulated methods are in constant update, this study could be useful for helping to improve or to be used as additional method for future vehicle certification procedures. Graphical abstract

Study on the effects of alcohol-enhanced air sparging remediation in a benzene-contaminated aquifer: a new insight Abstract In this study, the effects of medium carbon chain alcohol (1-heptanol)-enhanced air sparging (AS) on the remediation of benzene-contaminated aquifers in different media (medium sand, channelized flow; gravel, bubbly flow) were investigated by comparison with a commonly used surfactant (sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS)). The results showed that the addition of 1-heptanol and SDBS significantly increased the air saturation in AS process under different airflow modes. Combined with water retention curves, 1-heptanol had the same effect on reducing the surface tension of groundwater and stabilizing bubbles as SDBS. In the study of benzene pollution removal, when the removal efficiency of the benzene pollutant exceeded 95%, the time required for surfactant-enhanced AS (SEAS) and alcohol-enhanced AS (AEAS) in medium sand was shortened by 28.6% and 52.4%, respectively, and the time required for SEAS and AEAS in gravel media was shortened by 16.7% and 58.3%, respectively, compared with the time required for AS. This finding indicated that the addition of SDBS or 1-heptanol could significantly increase the removal rate of benzene pollutants. Under the same surface tension conditions, the removal effect of 1-heptanol on the benzene pollutant was better than that of SDBS. This difference was due to the disturbance of the flow field during AEAS process causing the 1-heptanol on the gas-liquid interface to volatilize in the carrying gas, thereby inducing Marangoni convection on the interface, enhancing the gas-liquid mass transfer rate, and increasing the removal rate of benzene on the interface. Therefore, 1-heptanol is promising as a new reagent to enhance AS to remediate groundwater pollution.

Detection of Alcanivorax spp., Cycloclasticus spp., and Methanomicrobiales in water column and sediment samples in the Gulf of Mexico by qPCR Abstract Water column and sediment samples were collected in the southern Gulf of Mexico (GoMex) during 3 oceanographic cruises: XIXIMI-04 (September 2015), XIXIMI-05 (June 2016), and XIXIMI-06 (August 2017). DNA that was extracted from the samples was analyzed by qPCR to detect and quantify bacterial groups that have been reported to metabolize alkanes (Alcanivorax) and aromatic hydrocarbons (Cycloclasticus) and are involved in methane production (Methanomicrobiales). The results were then analyzed with regard to the water masses that are currently detected in the GoMex. Generally, we observed a decrease in the proportion of Alcanivorax and a rise in those of Cycloclasticus and Methanomicrobiales in samples from the surface to deep waters and in sediment samples. Scatterplots of the results showed that the relative abundance of the 3 groups was higher primarily from the surface to 1000 m, but the levels of Cycloclasticus and Methanomicrobiales were high in certain water samples below 1000 m and in sediments. In conclusion, oil-degrading bacteria are distributed widely from the surface to deep waters and sediments throughout the southern GoMex, representing a potential inoculum of bacteria for various hydrocarbon fractions that are ready for proliferation and degradation in the event of an oil spill from the seafloor or along the water column.

Removal of Al, Ga, As, V and Mo from alkaline wastewater using pilot - scale constructed wetlands Abstract The study was initiated to evaluate constructed wetland technology as a method for treating alkaline (pH 8.0–8.6) drainage high in Al, Mo, V, As and Ga originating from bauxite residue storage areas. Pilot-scale horizontal flow constructed wetlands were operated over a 40-week period using three filter materials (granitic gravel, bauxite and alum water treatment sludge), and half of the wetlands were planted with Phragmites australis and the other half left unplanted. Gravel was the least effective medium for removing the target elements, while of the two active media, water treatment sludge was more effective than bauxite. Plants removed only small amounts of elements into their above- and below-ground dry matter (0.4–4.9% of that added). Nonetheless, the presence of plants greatly increased the effectiveness of all three media since their presence decreased effluent pH values by 0.5–1.3 pH units and that of the filter media by 0.4 pH units. Removal of elements followed the order Al > Ga > V > As > Mo. For planted wetlands, total elemental removal ranged from 18 to 98% for gravel, 80 to 99% for bauxite, and 93 to 99% for water treatment sludge. The lowest removal was for Mo (ranging from 18% for gravel to 93% for water treatment sludge) and the highest for Al (ranging from 98% in gravel to 99% in water treatment sludge). A sequential fractionation scheme for As, V and Mo on filter material at the end of the experiment showed that for bauxite and water treatment sludge, V and As were concentrated in the NaOH extractable fraction while Mo was concentrated in the less strongly adsorbed NaHCO3 extractable fraction. It was concluded that a constructed wetland with water treatment sludge as an active filter material is an effective technology for removal of the target elements from the alkali drainage.

The distributions, contamination status, and health risk assessments of mercury and arsenic in the soils from the Yellow River Delta of China Abstract The surface soils were collected from four areas in the Yellow River Delta (YRD), including three functional areas in the natural reserve of the YRD (the core area, buffer area, and experimental area) and a neighboring area of the natural reserve. The total concentrations, speciations, contamination status, and health risk assessments of the mercury (Hg) and arsenic (As) in surface soils of the YRD were investigated. The average Hg concentration was about three times that of the background value, while As was just slightly higher than the background. Hg levels in the sites of experimental area were significantly higher than those in the core area and buffer area, which was consistent with the human activity intensities of the three functional areas. However, no significant differences of As levels were observed across different areas. According to the sequential extraction experiments, only less than 5% of Hg and As were associated with the exchangeable fraction, while over 80% of them were found in the residual fraction, indicating low mobility and bioavailability of both Hg and As. The soil contamination status assessments suggested a “good state,” and the health risk assessments indicated a “low risk” of Hg and As in the soils of YRD.