Cr(VI) biosorption and bioreduction ability of locally isolated Cr-resistant bacteria was investigated using the shake-flask technique. A mixture of S. epidermidis and B. cereus showed the highest minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) level at 750 mg/L Cr(VI) followed by S. aureus and Bacillus sp. of 250 mg/L, and A. haemolyticus of 70 mg/L. From the Langmuir adsorption isotherm, the treatment of cells with heat-acid resulted in the highest amount of Cr(VI) adsorped (78.25 mg/g dry wt. for S. epidermidis) compared to heat-acetone (67.93 mg/g dry wt. Bacillus sp.), heat only (36.05 mg/g dry wt. S. epidermidis) or untreated cells (45.40 mg/g dry wt. S. epidermidis and B. cereus). FTIR analysis showed the involvement of amine groups in Cr(VI) adsorption. In the bioreduction study, A. haemolyticus was able to completely reduce Cr(VI) up to 50 mg/L.
Matched MeSH terms: Water Pollutants, Chemical/metabolism; Water Pollutants, Chemical/chemistry
Landfills are a source of groundwater pollution in Gaza Strip. This study focused on Deir Al Balah landfill, which is a unique sanitary landfill site in Gaza Strip (i.e., it has a lining system and a leachate recirculation system). The objective of this article is to assess the generated leachate quantity and percolation to the groundwater aquifer at a specific site, using the approaches of (i) the hydrologic evaluation of landfill performance model (HELP) and (ii) the water balance method (WBM). The results show that when using the HELP model, the average volume of leachate discharged from Deir Al Balah landfill during the period 1997 to 2007 was around, 6800 m3/year. Meanwhile, the average volume of leachate percolated through the clay layer was 550 m3/year, which represents around 8% of the generated leachate. Meanwhile, the WBM indicated that the average volume of leachate discharged from Deir Al Balah landfill during the same period was around 7660 m3/year--about half of which comes from the moisture content of the waste, while the remainder comes from the infiltration of precipitation and re-circulated leachate. Therefore, the estimated quantity of leachate to groundwater by these two methods was very close. However, compared with the measured leachate quantity, these results were overestimated and indicated a dangerous threat to the groundwater aquifer, as there was no separation between municipal, hazardous and industrial wastes, in the area.
Matched MeSH terms: Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis; Water Pollutants, Chemical/chemistry*
Application of ozonation in water treatment involves complex oxidation pathways that could lead to the formation of various by-products, some of which may be harmful to living organisms. In this work, ozonation by-products of ofloxacin (OFX), a frequently detected pharmaceutical pollutant in the environment, were identified and their ecotoxicity was estimated using the Ecological Structure Activity Relationships (ECOSAR) computer program. In order to examine the role of ozone (O3) and hydroxyl radicals (∙OH) in the degradation of ofloxacin, ozonation was performed at pH2, 7 and 12. In this study, 12 new structures have been proposed for the ozonation by-products detected during the ozonation of ofloxacin. According to the identified ozonation by-products, O3 and ∙OH were found to react with ofloxacin during ozonation. The reaction between ofloxacin and O3 proceeded via hydroxylation and breakdown of heterocyclic ring with unsaturated double-bond. The reaction between ofloxacin and ·OH generated various by-products derived from the breakdown of heterocyclic ring. Ecotoxicity assessment indicated that ozonation of OFX could yield by-products of greater toxicity compared with parent compounds.
Matched MeSH terms: Water Pollutants, Chemical/toxicity; Water Pollutants, Chemical/chemistry*
Efforts to improve water quality have led to the development of green and sustainable water treatment approaches. Herein, nitrogen-doped magnetized hydrochar (mSBHC-N) was synthesized, characterized, and used for the removal of post-transition and transition heavy metals, viz. Pb2+ and Cd2+ from aqueous environment. mSBHC-N was found to be mesoporous (BET surface area - 62.5 m2/g) and paramagnetic (saturation magnetization - 44 emu/g). Both, FT-IR (with peaks at 577, 1065, 1609 and 3440 cm-1 corresponding to Fe - O stretching vibrations, C - N stretching, N - H in-plane deformation and stretching) and XPS analyses (with peaks at 284.4, 400, 530, 710 eV due to C 1s, N 1s, O 1s, and Fe 2p) confirmed the presence of oxygen and nitrogen containing functional groups on mSBHC-N. The adsorption of Pb2+ and Cd2+ was governed by oxygen and nitrogen functionalities through electrostatic and co-ordination forces. 75-80% of Pb2+ and Cd2+ adsorption at Co: 25 mg/L, either from deionized water or humic acid solution was accomplished within 15 min. The data was fitted to pseudo-second-order kinetic and Langmuir isotherm models, with maximum monolayer adsorption capacities being 323 and 357 mg/g for Cd2+and Pb2+ at 318 K, respectively. Maximum Cd2+ (82.6%) and Pb2+ (78.7%) were eluted with 0.01 M HCl, simultaneously allowing minimum iron leaching (2.73%) from mSBHC-N. In conclusion, the study may provide a novel, economical, and clean route to utilize agro-waste, such as sugarcane bagasse (SB), for aquatic environment remediation.
Matched MeSH terms: Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis; Water Pollutants, Chemical/chemistry*
Inadequately treated or untreated wastewater greatly contribute to the release of unwanted toxic contaminants into water bodies. Some of these contaminants are persistent and bioaccumulative, becoming a great concern as they are released into the environment. Despite the abundance of wastewater treatment technologies, the adsorption method overall has proven to be an excellent way to treat wastewater from multiple industry sources. Because of its significant benefits, i.e., easy availability, handling, and higher efficiency with a low cost relative to other treatments, adsorption is opted as the best method to be used. However, biosorption using naturally found seaweeds has been proven to have promising results in removing pollutants, such as dyes from textile, paper, and the printing industry, nitrogen, and phosphorous and phenolic compounds, as well as heavy metals from various sources. Due to its ecofriendly nature together with the availability and inexpensiveness of raw materials, biosorption via seaweed has become an alternative to the existing technologies in removing these pollutants from wastewater effectively. In this article, the use of low-cost adsorbent (seaweed) for the removal of pollutants from wastewater has been reviewed. An extensive table summarises the applicability of seaweed in treating wastewater. Literature reported that the majority of research used simulated wastewater and minor attention has been given to biosorption using seaweed in the treatment of real wastewater.
Matched MeSH terms: Water Pollutants, Chemical/isolation & purification*; Water Pollutants, Chemical/metabolism*
Today, a major issue about water pollution is the residual dyes from different sources (e.g., textile industries, paper and pulp industries, dye and dye intermediates industries, pharmaceutical industries, tannery and craft bleaching industries, etc.), and a wide variety of persistent organic pollutants have been introduced into our natural water resources or wastewater treatment systems. In fact, it is highly toxic and hazardous to the living organism; thus, the removal of these organic contaminants prior to discharge into the environment is essential. Varieties of techniques have been employed to degrade those organic contaminants and advanced heterogeneous photocatalysis involving zinc oxide (ZnO) photocatalyst appears to be one of the most promising technology. In recent years, ZnO photocatalyst have attracted much attention due to their extraordinary characteristics. The high efficiency of ZnO photocatalyst in heterogeneous photocatalysis reaction requires a suitable architecture that minimizes electron loss during excitation state and maximizes photon absorption. In order to further improve the immigration of photo-induced charge carriers during excitation state, considerable effort has to be exerted to further improve the heterogeneous photocatalysis under UV/visible/solar illumination. Lately, interesting and unique features of metal doping or binary oxide photocatalyst system have gained much attention and became favourite research matter among various groups of scientists. It was noted that the properties of this metal doping or binary oxide photocatalyst system primarily depend on the nature of the preparation method and the role of optimum dopants content incorporated into the ZnO photocatalyst. Therefore, this paper presents a critical review of recent achievements in the modification of ZnO photocatalyst for organic contaminants degradation.
Matched MeSH terms: Water Pollutants, Chemical/radiation effects*; Water Pollutants, Chemical/chemistry
The contamination of aquatic environments with microplastics (MPs) has spurred an unprecedented interest among scientific communities to investigate their impacts on biota. Despite the rapid growth in the number of studies on the aquatic toxicology of MPs, controversy over the fate and biological impacts of MPs is increasingly growing mainly due to the absence of standardized laboratory bioassays. Given the complex features of MPs, such as the diversity of constituent polymers, additives, shapes and sizes, as well as continuous changes in the particle buoyancy as a result of fouling and defouling processes, it is necessary to modify conventional bioassay protocols before employing them for MP toxicity testings. Moreover, several considerations including quantification of chemicals on/in the MP particles, choice of test organisms, approaches for renewing the test solution, aggregation prevention, stock solution preparation, and units used to report MP concentration in the test solution should be taken into account. This critical review suggests some important strategies to help conduct environmentally-relevant MP bioassays.
Matched MeSH terms: Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis*; Water Pollutants, Chemical/toxicity
Alkylphenols and most pesticides, especially organochlorine pesticides are endocrine-disrupting chemicals and they usually mimic the female hormone, estrogen. Using these chemicals in our environment would eventually lead us to consume them somehow in the food web. Several rivers in the State of Selangor, Malaysia were selected to monitor the level of alkylphenols and pesticides contamination for several months. The compounds were extracted from the water samples using liquid-liquid extraction method with dichloromethane and ethyl acetate as the extracting solvents. The alkylphenols and pesticides were analyzed by selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode using the quadrapole detector in Shimadzu QP-5000 gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GCMS). Recovery of most alkylphenols and pesticides were in the range of 50% to 120%. Trace amounts of the compounds were detected in the river water samples, mainly in the range of parts per trillion. This technique of monitoring the levels of endocrine-disruptors in river water is consistent and cost effective.
Matched MeSH terms: Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis
This study proposed an oil palm by-product as a low-cost adsorbent for the removal of hexavalent chromium [Cr (VI)] from aqueous solution. Adsorption of Cr (VI) by sulphuric acid and heat-treated oil palm fibre was conducted using batch tests. The influence of pH, contact time, initial chromium concentration and adsorbent dosage on the removal of Cr (VI) from the solutions was investigated. The optimum initial pH for maximum uptake of Cr (VI) from aqueous solution was found to be 1.5. The removal efficiency was found to correlate with the initial Cr (VI) concentration, adsorbent dosage as well as the contact time between Cr (VI) and the adsorbent. The adsorption kinetics tested with pseudo first order and pseudo second order models yielded high R(2) values from 0.9254 to 0.9870 and from 0.9936 to 0.9998, respectively. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant difference between the R(2) values of the two models at 99% confidence level. The Freundlich isotherm (R(2)=0.8778) described Cr (VI) adsorption slightly better than the Langmuir isotherm (R(2)=0.8715). Difficulty in desorption of Cr (VI) suggests the suitability of treated oil palm fibre as a single-use adsorbent for Cr (VI) removal from aqueous solution.
Matched MeSH terms: Water Pollutants, Chemical/isolation & purification*
The direct determination of toxic metal ions, in environmental samples, is difficult because of the latter's presence in trace concentration in association with complex matrices, thereby leading to insufficient sensitivity and selectivity of the methods used. The simultaneous removal of the matrix and preconcentration of the metal ions, through solid phase extraction, serves as the promising solution. The mechanism involved in solid phase extraction (SPE) depends on the nature of the sorbent and analyte. Thus, SPE is carried out by means of adsorption, ion exchange, chelation, ion pair formation, and so forth. As polymeric supports, the commercially available Amberlite resins have been found very promising for designing chelating matrices due to its good physical and chemical properties such as porosity, high surface area, durability and purity. This review presents an overview of the various works done on the modification of Amberlite XAD resins with the objective of making it an efficient sorbent. The methods of modifications which are generally based on simple impregnation, sorption as chelates and chemical bonding have been discussed. The reported results, including the preconcentration limit, the detection limit, sorption capacity, preconcentration factors etc., have been reproduced.
Matched MeSH terms: Water Pollutants, Chemical/chemistry*
Chitosan-magnetic-graphene oxide (CMGO) nanocomposite was prepared for arsenic adsorption. The nanocomposite was characterized through BET, FTIR, FESEM, EDX, and VSM analyses. These characterizations confirmed the formation of CMGO nanocomposites with high specific surface area (152.38 m2/g) and excellent saturation magnetization (49.30 emu/g). Batch adsorption experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of the nanocomposite in the adsorption of arsenic from aqueous solution. The effects of operational parameters, adsorption kinetic, equilibrium isotherm and thermodynamics were evaluated. The removal efficiency of arsenic increased with increasing adsorbent dosage and contact time. However, the effect of pH followed a different pattern, with the removal efficiency increasing from acidic to neutral pH, and then decreasing at alkaline conditions. The highest adsorption capacity (45 mg/g) and removal efficiency (61%) were obtained at pH 7.3. The adsorption kinetic followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The analysis of adsorption isotherm shows that the adsorption data fitted well to Langmuir isotherm model, indicating a homogeneous process. Thermodynamic analysis shows that the adsorption of As(III) is exothermic and spontaneous. The superparamagnetic properties of the nanocomposite enabled the separation and recovery of the nanoparticles using an external magnetic field. Thus, the developed nanocomposite has a potential for arsenic remediation.
This present research aims to synthesize and investigate the adsorption potential of sugarcane bagasse (SCB) impregnated with iron oxide (Fe3O4) for dye removal. The surface morphology and functional groups of the newly developed adsorbent (ISCB) were studied using Scanning Electron Microscopy/Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDX), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) analysis. The effects of the operating parameters, including initial dye concentration, adsorbent dosage, contact time and initial pH of the dye solution on the adsorption efficiency were investigated to identify an optimal condition. The characterization of SEM-EDX and FTIR analyses shows that ISCB has a porous structure and carbon-containing functional groups. The adsorption result revealed that ISCB removed 93.7% of dye, 88.8% of color and had a dye adsorption capacity of 7.2 mg/g within 6 h of contact time using 0.7 g/L of ISCB at pH 8.4. The result obtained fitted well for Langmuir isotherms, and adsorption process followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. In conclusion, this study proved that ISCB has the potential to be used as an effective and low-cost adsorbent to remove dyes from wastewater.
In this work, landfill leachate treatment by electrocoagulation process with a novel rotating anode reactor was studied. The influence of rotating anode speed on the removal efficiency of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total dissolved solids (TDS), and total suspended solids (TSS) of raw landfill leachate was investigated. The influence of operating parameters like leachate pH, leachate temperature, current, and inter-distance between the cathode rings and anode impellers on the electrocoagulation performance were also investigated. The results revealed the optimum rotating speed is 150 rpm and increasing the rotating speed above this value led to reducing process performance. The leachate electrocoagulation treatment process favors the neutral medium and the treatment performance increases with increasing current intensity. Furthermore, the electrocoagulation treatment performance improves with increasing leachate temperature. However, the performance reduces with increasing inter-electrode distance.
The assessment of surface water quality is often laborious, expensive and tedious, as well as impractical, especially for the developing and middle-income countries in the ASEAN region. The application of the water quality index (WQI), which depends on several independent key parameters, has great potential and is a useful tool in this region. Therefore, this study aims to find out the spatial variability of various water quality parameters in geographical information system (GIS) environment and perform a comparative study among the ASEAN WQI systems. At present, there are four ASEAN countries which have implemented the WQI system to evaluate their surface water quality, which are (i) Own WQI system-Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam-and (ii) Adopted WQI system: Indonesia. A spatial distribution of 12 water quality parameters in the Selangor river basin, Malaysia, was plotted and then applied into the different ASEAN WQI systems. The WQI values obtained from the different WQI systems have an appreciable difference, even for the same water samples due to the disparity in the parameter selection and the standards among them. WQI systems which consider all biophysicochemical parameters provide a consistent evaluation (Very Poor), but the system which either considers physicochemical or biochemical parameters gives a relatively lenient evaluation (Fair-Poor). The Selangor river basin is stressed and impacted by all physical, biological and chemical parameters caused by both the aridity of the climate and anthropogenic activities. Therefore, it is crucial to include all these aspects into the evaluation and corresponding actions should be taken.
Matched MeSH terms: Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis*
In this study, a novel rotating anode-based reactor (RAR) was designed to investigate its effectiveness in removing dissolved salts (i.e., Br-, Cl-, TDS, and SO42-) from saline water samples. Two configurations of an impeller's rotating anode with various operation factors, such as operating time (min), rotating speed (rpm), current density (mA/cm2), temperature (°C), pH, and inter-electrode space (cm), were used in the desalination process. The total cost consumed was calculated on the basis of the energy consumption and aluminum (Al) used in the desalination. In this respect, operating costs were calculated using optimal operating conditions. Salinity was removed electrochemically from saline water through electrocoagulation (EC). Results showed that the optimal adjustments for treating saline water were carried out at the following conditions: 150 and 75 rpm rotating speeds for the impeller's rod anode and plate anode designs, respectively; 2 mA/cm2 current density (I), 1 cm2 inter-electrode space, 25 °C temperature, 10 min operation time, and pH 8. The results indicated that EC technology with impeller plates of rotating anode can be considered a very cost-effective technique for treating saline water.
The present study was performed to analyze the bioaccumulation of heavy metals, biochemical constituents, antioxidants, and metabolic enzymes in the crab Scylla serrata from different regions of Tuticorin, Southeast Coast of India. The study area consists of Threspuram and Harbour Beach which were polluted environments due to the discharge of industrial effluents and domestic sewage into them. Punnakayal, which is a low-polluted environment where the in-situ culture of S. serrata is carried out by local fish farmers, was selected as well. The results revealed that the level of heavy metals, biochemical constituents, antioxidants, and metabolic enzymes were significantly high in the crabs collected from Threspuram and Harbour Beach compared to the crabs collected from Punnakayal. This study indicates that crabs from polluted environments have significant heavy metals bioaccumulation which leads to elevated antioxidants and metabolic enzyme levels. This implies that the crabs are under oxidative and metabolic stress.
Matched MeSH terms: Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis*
Improving the sustainability and cost-effectiveness of biochar production is crucial to meet increased global market demand. Here, we developed a single-step microwave steam activation (STMSA) as a simplified yet efficient method to produce microwave activated biochar (MAB) from waste palm shell (WPS). The STMSA recorded a higher heating rate (70 °C/min) and higher conversion (45 wt%) of WPS into highly microporous MAB (micropore surface area of 679.22 m2/g) in contrast with the conventional heating approach (≤ 12-17 wt%). The MAB was then applied as biosorbent for hazardous landfill leachate (LL) treatment and the adsorption performance was compared with commercial activated carbon under different pH, adsorbent quantity, adsorbate concentrations, and contact times. The MAB demonstrated high adsorption capacity, achieving maximum adsorption efficiency at 595 mg/g and 65 % removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) with 0.4 g/L of adsorbent amount under optimal acidic conditions (pH ≈ 2-3) after 24 h of contact time. The Freundlich isotherm and pseudo second-order kinetic models were well-fitted to explain the equilibrium adsorption and kinetics. The results indicate the viability of STMSA as a fast and efficient approach to produce activated biochar as a biosorbent for the treatment of hazardous landfill leachate.
Matched MeSH terms: Water Pollutants, Chemical/chemistry*
This paper reviews the related literature reported in 2019 about various types of wastewaters associated with chemical and allied products. The subjects comprise wastewaters produced from various activities in agricultural, chemical, dye, petrochemical, and pharmaceutical. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Bioflocculant chitosan was used for sludge dewatering and the treatment of water and wastewater, and polishing of sanitary landfill leachate. Alkaline lignin-based flocculants were used to achieve excellent color removal for paper mill sludge. Powdered activated coke was used to remove COD (chemical oxygen demand) from chemical industry wastewater effluents.
The co-existence of heavy metals and organic compounds including Cr(VI) and p-cresol (pC) in water environment becoming a challenge in the treatment processes. Herein, the synchronous photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) and oxidation of pC by silver oxide decorated on fibrous silica zirconia (AgO/FSZr) was reported. In this study, the catalysts were successfully developed using microemulsion and electrochemical techniques with various AgO loading (1, 5 and 10 wt%) and presented as 1, 5 and 10-AgO/FSZr. Catalytic activity was tested towards simultaneous photoredox of hexavalent chromium and p-cresol (Cr(VI)/pC) and was ranked as followed: 5-AgO/FSZr (96/78%) > 10-AgO/FSZr (87/61%) > 1-AgO/FSZr (47/24%) > FSZr (34/20%). The highest photocatalytic activity of 5-AgO/FSZr was established due to the strong interaction between FSZr and AgO and the lowest band gap energy, which resulted in less electron-hole recombination and further enhanced the photoredox activity. Cr(VI) ions act as a bridge between the positive charge of catalyst and cationic pC in pH 1 solution which can improve the photocatalytic reduction and oxidation of Cr(VI) and pC, respectively. The scavenger experiments further confirmed that the photogenerated electrons (e-) act as the main species for Cr(VI) to be reduced to Cr(III) while holes (h+) and hydroxyl radicals are domain for photooxidation of pC. The 5-AgO/FSZr was stable after 5 cycles of reaction, suggesting its potential for removal of Cr(VI) and pC simultaneously in the chemical industries.