Heavy metal toxicity of pressure treated wood leachates with MetPLATE.
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In this work we present a suitable way to release lead and polonium from sediments and other samples. Results obtained by hot-acid dissolution and cold leaching showed that while good recoveries of 210Pb were obtained in both the cases, 210Po recovery in hot dissolution was poor due to volatility of polonium, and might lead to erroneous results due to non-equilibration of added 208Po tracer and 210Po in the matrix. A Sr-resin column was used for separation of Pb and Po. We also studied the possibility of reusing columns used earlier. The most significant problem in reuse is the reduction in column capacity, resulting in a reduction to half of its initial capacity. Other natural radionuclides do not interfere in the determination of 210Pb and 210Po and we found no measurable contamination of the column on repeated usage.
The aim of this study was to conduct a number of controlled digestions to obtain easily comparable cellulose solubilisation rates and to compare these rates to those found in the literature to see which operational differences were significant in affecting cellulose degradation during anaerobic digestion. The results suggested that differences in volumetric cellulose solubilisation rates were not indicative of the true performance of cellulose digestion systems. When cellulose solubilisation rates were normalised by the mass of cellulose in the reactor at each time step, the comparison of the rates became more meaningful. Cellulose solubilisation was surface area limited. Therefore, changes in the loading rate of cellulose to the reactor altered the volumetric solubilisation rate without changing the mass normalised rate. Comparison of mass normalised solubilisation rates from this study and the literature demonstrated that differences in reactor configuration and operational conditions did not significantly impact on the solubilisation rate whereas the difference in composition of the microbial communities showed a marked effect. This work highlights the importance of using appropriately normalised data when making comparisons between systems with differing operational conditions.
Experiments have been performed to investigate the dielectric properties of contaminated sand. The separate real and imaginary parts of a dielectric constant were investigated in the frequency range of 75 kHz to 12 MHz. The contaminated soils exhibit different complex dielectric dispersion from the uncontaminated soils. The variation in the real dielectric constant can be explained by a polarization mechanism while that in the imaginary dielectric constant by ionic conductivity loss mechanism. The differences of the dielectric behavior with contaminant types suggest that the monitoring of complex dielectric constant has the potential to classify contaminants. The additional analysis for the imaginary part of the dielectric constant can be recommended to obtain the clear information about the state of ionic contaminants in subsurface.
Studies have shown that adult female perch in a freshwater lake, Molnbyggen, Sweden, have a reproductive disorder caused by unidentified endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) leaching from a local refuse dump. The adverse effects include shallow open sores, low ratio of sexually mature individuals, low gonadosomatic index and low circulating levels of androgens. We hypothesised that the low androgen levels could be a result of impaired production and/or stimulated excretion of androgens by EDCs. From October 2000 to November 2001, at time-points important in the perch reproductive cycle, adult female perch were collected in Molnbyggen and in the reference lake, Djursjön. The activities of three key enzymes in androgen biosynthesis: 17alpha-hydroxylase (17OHlase), 17,20-lyase (lyase) and 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17betaHSD) were determined in head kidney or ovary. The relationship between enzyme activities and plasma steroid concentrations was examined. Ovarian histopathology and the determination of brain aromatase activity were also included in the study. Similar 17OHlase, 17betaHSD and aromatase activities were found in Molnbyggen females and reference fish throughout the year. Head kidney 17OHlase showed a positive correlation to cortisol levels (r=0.754; p<0.001) but not to androgen levels. Molnbyggen females exhibited lower ovarian lyase activity during vitellogenesis than reference fish. Atretic oocytes were on most occasions more frequent in sexually immature than in sexually mature females. The results suggest that neither 17OHlase, 17betaHSD nor aromatase is the target for EDCs disrupting the androgen homeostasis of exposed female perch. Further investigation is needed to establish the role of decreased ovarian lyase activity in endocrine homeostasis, but the possibility of increased excretion of androgens should also be examined.
Organic solvent and water extracts of fly ash from a Milan (Italy) municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) were analyzed by large volume injection-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (LVI-GC-MS) with programmable temperature vaporizer (PTV). Using injection volumes of 10-100 microl, typically over a hundred compounds were detected in organic solvent extracts and ca. 35% of them could be tentatively identified from their electron impact ionization mass spectra. A protocol for the determination of the maximum amount of a potential environmental pollutant available for leaching (availability test) was developed for four selected target compounds: pentachlorobenzene (PeCB), hexachlorobenzene (HxCB), o-terphenyl (o-TPH) and m-terphenyl (m-TPH). Key parameters, extraction time and liquid-to-solid ratio (L/S), were studied in more detail. Recoveries of PeCB, HxCB and o-TPH spiked into the fly ash samples at two concentration levels ranged from 38% to 53% for freshly spiked and from 14% to 40% for 40-day aged fly ash. Recoveries of m-TPH were 8% to 11% from freshly spiked and less than 3% from aged spiked fly ash. The native amounts in Milan MSWI fly ash, determined in an interlaboratory exercise using the developed protocol, were 31 ng/g PeCB, 34 ng/g HxCB, 72 ng/g o-TPH and 4.4 ng/g m-TPH. A separate methodology was developed for the determination of compounds extracted from fly ash by water (leaching test). Following 8-h sonication at L/S 20, the leached amounts of PeCB, HxCB and o-TPH were 1.1, 3.1 and 6.0 ng/g fly ash, respectively.
14C-labelled simazine was composted together with biowaste on a pilot (m3) scale. The herbicide was quickly bound to the compost matrix. By aqueous extraction of 29 and 200 days old compost (equivalent to thermophilic and mesophilic phase of composting) only 4.2% and 3.1% respectively of the radioactivity in the compost samples could be extracted with water. Analysis of the extracts using high-performance size exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) revealed that the dissolved organic matter (DOM) had molecular weights ranging between 2 and 28 kDa. The amount of DOM-associated radioactivity increased from 53% (day 29) to 65% (day 200) of total extractable radioactivity. The type of binding of the 14C-labelled residues and the DOM was elucidated by silylation of humic matter and subsequent HPSEC. The data demonstrated that besides polar metabolites also intact simazine was bound to the DOM. A distinct shift from rather weak interactions to strong covalent linkages of simazine and its metabolites with increasing age of the compost was observed. The results showed that only low amounts of free simazine and its degradates can be extracted with water. We concluded that the shift towards stable covalent linkages is equivalent to a detoxification of the contaminant in aged compost. Consequently, the use of the analysed compost in its mature stage should not pose an environmental risk to the groundwater or the subsoil.
The bacterial community structure of anaerobic enrichment cultures that are capable of degrading both cis-1,2-dichloroethylene (cis-DCE) and vinyl chloride (VC) and isolation of the organism responsible for the degradation were investigated. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of a PCR-amplified 16S rRNA gene from the cultures showed the possible predominance of Clostridium species. One isolate, designated strain DC1, was closely related to members of Clostridiaceae, based on 16S rRNA gene analysis, and the highest sequence similarity (98.9%) was obtained for Clostridium saccarobutylicum. In culture experiments, strain DC1 was shown to degrade cis-DCE and VC during the stationary phase of growth without accumulation of VC and/or ethene. The bacterial growth was not linked to the degradation of cis-DCE and VC. Stoichiometric analysis revealed that two moles of chloride ions as released from one mole of cis-DCE during the incubation period, indicating that cis-DCE was fully dechlorinated. The results appear consistent with the presence of a mechanism of oxidative dechlorination rather than respiratory reductive dechlorination; the latter is accompanied by transient formation of dechlorinated ethenes from cis-DCE and VC.
Weathering behavior of kaolinite was studied in batch systems under geochemical conditions characteristic of tank waste released to the vadose zone at the Hanford Site, WA (0.05 M Al(T), 2 M Na+, 1 M N03-, pH approximately 14, Cs+ and Sr2+ present as co-contaminants). Time series experiments were conducted from 0 to 369 d, with initial Cs+ and Sr2+ concentrations ranging from 10(-5) to 10(-3) M. Dissolution of kaolinite increased soluble Si and Al to maximum levels at 7 d (Cs and Sr concentrations of 10(-5) and 10(-4) M) or 33 d (Cs and Sr concentrations of 10(-3) M). Subsequent precipitation of Si and Al was coupled to the formation of oxalate-extractable solids that incorporated Cs and Sr. Strontium sorption was nearly complete within 24 h for initial Sr concentrations (Sr0) < or = 10(-4) whereas Cs uptake increased over the full year of the experiment for all initial Cs concentrations. Spectroscopic analyses revealed neoformed solids including the zeolite Na-Al silicate (Al-chabazite), and feldspathoids sodium aluminum nitrate silicate (NO3-sodalite), and sodium aluminum nitrate silicate hydrate (NO3-cancrinite), which can incorporate Cs. Single-pulse 27Al solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopyyielded first-order rate constants (k)for mineral transformation that decreased from 3.5 x 10(-3) to 2 x 10(-3) d(-1) as Cs and Sr concentrations were increased from 10(-5) to 10(-3) M. Discrete strontium silicate solids were also observed. The incongruent dissolution of kaolinite promoted the sequestration of contaminants into increasingly recalcitrant solid phases over the 1-yr time period.
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An anaerobic, Fe(III)-reducing enrichment culture, which originated from a sediment sample collected at a landfill in Nanji-do, Seoul, Korea, was capable of degrading cis-1,2-dichloroethylene (cis-DCE) and vinyl chloride (VC). Although it exhibited the ability under Fe(III)-reducing conditions, the chlorinated ethenes degradation was not linked to the Fe(III) reduction. During cis-DCE degradation, no VC, ethene, or ethane was detected through the experimental period. Also, this culture did not accumulate ethene and ethane during the VC degradation. It was unlikely that cis-DCE was reductively dechlorinated to VC and then the VC formed was dechlorinated fast enough. Because the kinetic data showed that the rate of cis-DCE degradation was 3.5 times higher than that of VC. Whereas glucose supported the culture growth and the degradation, formate, acetate, butyrate, propionate, lactate, pyruvate, and yeast extract did not. The results appeared consistent with the involvement of oxidative degradation mechanism rather than reductive dechlorination mechanism. The traits of the culture described here are unusual in the anaerobic degradation of chlorinated ethenes and may be useful for searching an effective organism and mechanism regarding anaerobic cis-DCE and VC degradation.
The Refuse Hideaway Landfill (23-acre) received municipal, commercial, and industrial waste between 1974 and 1988. It was designed as a "natural attenuation" landfill and no provision was made to collect and treat contaminated water. Natural biological degradation through sequential reductive dechlorination had been an important mechanism for natural attenuation at the site. We used the concentration of hydrogen to forecast whether reductive dechlorination would continue over time at particular locations in the plume. Based on published literature, reductive dechlorination and natural attenuation of PCE, TCE, and cis-DCE can be expected in the aquifer if the concentration of molecular hydrogen in monitoring wells are adequate (> 1 nanomolar). Reductive dechlorination can be expected to continue as the ground water moves down gradient. Natural attenuation through reductive dechlorination is not expected in flow paths that originate at down gradient monitoring wells with low concentrations of molecular hydrogen (< 1 nanomolar). In three monitoring wells at the margin of the landfill and in five monitoring wells down gradient of the landfill, ground water maintained a molecular hydrogen concentration, ranging from 1.30 to 9.17 nanomolar, that is adequate for reductive dechlorination. In three of the monitoring wells far down gradient of the landfill, the concentration of molecular hydrogen (0.33 to 0.83 nanomolar) was not adequate to support reductive dechlorination. In wells with adequate concentrations of hydrogen, the concentrations of chlorinated volatile organic compounds were attenuated over time, or concentrations of chlorinated volatile organics were below the detection limit. In wells with inadequate concentrations of hydrogen, the concentrations of chlorinated organic compounds attenuated at a slower rate over time. In wells with adequate hydrogen the first order rate of attenuation of PCE, TCE, cis-DCE and total chlorinated volatile organic compounds varies from 0.38 to 0.18 per year. In wells without adequate hydrogen the rate varies from 0.015 to 0.006 per year.
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