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Environmental Chemical: Pollution, Analysis and Restoration

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A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 14982

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Maris Klavins

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Guest Editor

Head of Environmental Science Department, Faculty of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Latvia, Raina bulv. 19, LV 1586 Riga, Latvia
Interests: environmental pollution analysis methods; emerging pollutants; remediation of contaminated environment; element speciation; toxicology of environmental pollution
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Environmental pollution is one of major types of pollution in contemporary society, since it includes the emission of chemical substances into the environment in amounts exceeding the self-purification capacity of the environment, which has an adverse impact on human health and ecosystems. The environmental pollution concept can be related to substances emitted in thousands of tons (for example, oil products, CO₂) as well as in gram quantities (for example nanomaterials, dioxins, and pharmaceuticals appearing in waste streams). The adverse impacts of some pollutants have been known since antiquity, for example those of arsenic or mercury, however, the adverse impacts of others have only been recognized in recent years—so-called emerging pollutants. Studies considering the significance of environmental chemicals or related to all aspects of the origin or future of pollutants in the environment and dedicated to revealing their impacts on humans and ecosystems will be welcome. The activities necessary to restore environmental quality in the case of environmental pollution, including the development of remediation technologies resulting in case studies and demonstrating the efficiency of elaborated approaches will be another major focus of this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Maris Klavins
Guest Editor

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Keywords

environmental pollution
emerging pollutants
nanomaterials
microplastics
heavy metals
oil products
remediation
pollution with pharmaceuticals

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 6913 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Construction and Degradation Performance Study of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) Degrading Bacterium Consortium

by Long Zhang, Bo Yang, Chengtun Qu, Gang Chen, Feng Qi, Tao Yu and Azlin Mustapha

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(5), 2354; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app12052354 - 24 Feb 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1987

Abstract

PAHs are widely distributed in the environment and pose a serious threat to ecological security and human health. The P&A (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Alcaligenes faecalis) bacterium consortium obtained in this study comes from oily sludge and is reused for the degradation of PAHs mixture in oily sludge. Few articles pay attention to the PAHs mixture in oily sludge and reuse the bacterium consortium for its degradation. The PAHs solution degradation efficient of P&A bacterial consortium under different environmental conditions, bioaugmentations, and exogenous stimulations were studied by ultraviolet visible spectrophotometer and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The result shows that, after 8 days of degradation under 35 °C, pH 7, with 5% (volume percent) of the inoculation amount, the degradation rate of NAP, PHE, and PYR solution could higher than 90%, 80%, and 70%, respectively. The additional crude oil could further improve the NAP, PHE, and PYR degradation efficiency. The minimum inhibitory concentration of Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, and Pb²⁺ to bacterium were 2.002, 17.388, and 9.435 mM, respectively. The addition of surfactants had negative or limited positive effect on the PAHs degradation rate. Furthermore, the average degradation rates of NAP, PHE, and PYR, in oily sludge of local petroleum polluted area by P&A bacterial consortium, could all reach above 80%. Based on gas chromatography–mass spectrometry test results before and after incubation, P&A bacterial consortium also provides more opportunities for other organic compounds’ degradation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Chemical: Pollution, Analysis and Restoration)

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18 pages, 5315 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experiment and Mechanism Analysis on the Solidification of Saline Dredger Fill with Composite Slag Solidifying Agent: A Case Study in Caofeidian, China

by Yupeng Shen, Ping Li, Peng Jing, Ying Liu, Ruiling Feng and Xin Liu

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(4), 1849; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app12041849 - 11 Feb 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1238

Abstract

Most areas of Caofeidian (Tangshan Caofeidian New District in Hebei Province, China) were formed by land reclamation, where the dredger fill has a high water content and a high salt content. The solidification of Caofeidian’s dredger fill is difficult because of salinisation, as well as environmental and economic factors. This article proposes a composite slag solidifying agent. The optimal proportion of various additives was determined by an unconfined compression test and orthogonal design. Next, a microanalysis was carried out by SEM and XRD tests to characterise the solidification mechanism of the composite slag solidifying agent. The results reveal that the composite slag solidifying agent can substantially improve the unconfined compressive strength of Caofeidian’s saline dredger fill by imparting a good microstructure: a compact overall structure was obtained and few voids were observed in the solidified soil. The optimal proportion was determined as 10% slag + 1.0% quicklime + 0.8% sodium silicate + 1.5% gypsum powder. In addition, the composite slag solidifying agent can effectively reduce the content of soluble salts in saline dredger fill and substantially improve the engineering characteristics of solidified soil. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Chemical: Pollution, Analysis and Restoration)

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13 pages, 1836 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fast UHPLC-MS/MS for the Simultaneous Determination of Azithromycin, Erythromycin, Fluoxetine and Sotalol in Surface Water Samples

by Mira Azzi, Sylvain Ravier, Assem Elkak, Bruno Coulomb and Jean-Luc Boudenne

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(18), 8316; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11188316 - 08 Sep 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2357

Abstract

Chromatographic development for the determination of pharmaceuticals in environmental water samples is particularly challenging when the analytes have significantly different physico-chemical properties (solubility, polarity, pKa) often requiring multiple chromatographic methods for each active component. This paper presents a method for the simultaneous determination of azithromycin, erythromycin (antibiotics), fluoxetine (anti-depressant) and sotalol (b-blocker) in surface waters by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with ultra-high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry. These pharmaceuticals—presenting a broad spectrum of polarity (0.24 ≤ log K_ow ≤ 4.05)—were separated on a C-18 analytical column, after a simple filtration step for freshwater samples or after a liquid–liquid extraction with Methyl-tertio-butyl ether (MTBE) for seawater samples. The optimized separation method (in terms of nature of column and eluent, elution gradient, and of mass spectrometric parameters), enable one to reach limits of detection ranging between 2 and 7 ng L⁻¹ and limits of quantification between 7 and 23 ng L⁻¹ for the four targeted molecules, within a three minute run. This method was validated using samples collected from three different surface waters in Lebanon (freshwater and seawater) and analytical results were compared with those obtained in surface waters sampled in a French river, equivalent in terms of human activities. Using this method, we report the highest concentration of pharmaceuticals found in surface water (up to 377 ng L⁻¹ and 268 ng L⁻¹, respectively, for azithromycin and erythromycin, in the Litani river, Lebanon). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Chemical: Pollution, Analysis and Restoration)

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14 pages, 6883 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Statistical Evaluation of Quantities Measured in the Detection of Soil Air Pollution of the Environmental Burden

by Erika Skvarekova, Marcela Tausova, Andrea Senova, Gabriel Wittenberger and Jana Novakova

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(7), 3294; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11073294 - 06 Apr 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1998

Abstract

The article highlights the investigation of the relationships between measured quantities during the atmospheric geochemical survey of contaminated soil and the environmental burden of the industrial establishment in eastern Slovakia. Statistical data processing was undertaken from the measured values of pollutants. The basic statistical characteristics of the monitored indicators were defined here. With the help of regressive and correlative analysis, dependency was confirmed between examined values, further expressed by a mathematical relationship. We analysed variability of the measured variables due to the influence of changed input quantities by the non-parametric Wilcox test. The statistical data processing helps us to identify the dependency between the measured values and improves valorization of the pollution of a given environmental burden. This was due to the handling of organic pollutants and the production of basic organic and inorganic chemicals stated for other industries. Chemical analysis of soil air helps us to determine the extent and amount of soil contamination by pollutants. Individual pollutants have their own characteristic properties and their negative effects on biota, the environment and humans are different. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Chemical: Pollution, Analysis and Restoration)

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17 pages, 4130 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Immobilised Humic Substances as Low-Cost Sorbents for Emerging Contaminants

by Linda Ansone-Bertina, Karina Upska, Linda Dobkevica, Jorens Kviesis, Raimonds Meija and Maris Klavins

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(7), 3021; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11073021 - 28 Mar 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1744

Abstract

Environmental pollution with contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) is a worldwide problem that is receiving increasing attention. Although these substances have been released in the aquatic environment for a long time, wastewater treatment plants are still incapable of removing emerging contaminants completely. Consequently, trace metals, metalloids and pharmaceuticals, as well as surfactant leftovers, are often found in environmental samples. Environmentally friendly and cost-effective sorbents such as humic substances can be used for purification if their sorption properties are increased by immobilization. To our knowledge, immobilized humic substances have not been widely studied as sorbents up to now. In this study, humic substances were immobilized to obtain low-cost sorbents. The chosen methods for characterization of the obtained sorbents showed successful immobilization. Traditional pollutants, such as Cr(III) (a metal), As(V) (a metalloid) and chlorpromazine (a pharmaceutical), were used as representative contaminants. Sorption experiments were conducted using the batch system, and sorption was also studied based on the sorbent dosage, initial concentration of the studied element or substance, solution pH and sorption time. The results show that all the obtained immobilized humic substances in this study can be used as sorbents to remove contaminants from water. At the same time, from these humic substances, only those immobilized using iron compounds are suitable for the removal of arsenic. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Chemical: Pollution, Analysis and Restoration)

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Review

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19 pages, 585 KiB

Open AccessReview

Microbial Life on the Surface of Microplastics in Natural Waters

by Olena Stabnikova, Viktor Stabnikov, Andriy Marinin, Maris Klavins, Linards Klavins and Ashok Vaseashta

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(24), 11692; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app112411692 - 09 Dec 2021

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 4716

Abstract

Major water-polluting microplastics (for example, polyethylene, polypropylene and others) have lower density than water. Therefore, they are concentrated in the neustonic layer near the water-air interface altogether with dissolved or colloidal natural organic matter, hydrophobic cells and spores of bacteria. This can cause environmental and public health problems because the floating micro- and nanoparticles of plastics could be coated with biofilm of hydrophobic and often putative pathogenic bacteria. Biofilm-coated microplastics are more attractive for consumption by aquatic animals than pure microplastics, and that increases the negative impacts of microplastics. So, impacts of even small quantities of microplastics in aquatic environments must be accounted for considering their accumulation in the micro-layer of water-air interphase and its interaction with bacterioneuston. Microorganisms attached to the surface of microplastic particles could interact with them, use them as substrates for growth, to change properties and biodegrade. The study of microbial life on the surface of microplastic particles is one of the key topics to understanding their role in the environment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Chemical: Pollution, Analysis and Restoration)

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