New uses of treated urban waste digestates on stimulation of hydroponically grown tomato (Solanum lycopersicon L.)

One strategy to re-use solid urban wastes is the production of energy by anaerobic digestion. This process also generates high volume of digestates, which are frequently disposal in landfills. The aim of this work is to assess anaerobic digestates as agricultural inputs. Three different biomethanation wastes from different plants were collected. Firstly, a complete physico-chemical characterization of the wastes was done according to the Spanish regulation, showing that the materials had the 90% of the particles below 25 mm, high values of pH, electric conductivity, organic matter, humic acids and soluble nutrients such as NO3−, SO42−, Ca2+, Mg2+, PO43− and K+. Total concentrations of heavy metals and microbiological parameters were below the threshold levels allowed for agricultural use. The wastes were then treated with a strong acid and a strong base having two different solutions (ATr and BTr, respectively) which were evaluated as biostimulants for tomato plants in hydroponic culture. Those liquid extracts, ATr and BTr, demonstrated their biostimulant ability towards root system of tomato enhancing the hair root density and plant biometric parameters including plants weight and chlorophyll content. This work demonstrates the re-use feasibility of treated digestates in agriculture as fertilizers and more over as feedstock for biostimulants productio

Impact of a tire fire accident on soil pollution and the use of clay minerals as natural geo-indicators

Following the occurrence of a fire at a tire landfill in the surrounding area of Madrid City (Spain), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and trace elements present in soils were analyzed to assess the impact of the fire. The capacity of the soils’ clay mineral fraction to reflect this air pollution incident was studied. Fourteen soil samples were collected at different distances under the smoke plume, and they were subjected to high-performance liquid chromatography–photodiode array detection, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and X-ray diffraction analyses. Clay minerals content showed a strong correlation with the pollutants potentially released in the tire fire, acenaphthene, pyrene, benzo(a)pyrene and benzo(a)fluoranthene. Trace metals Zn and Se were related to the proximity of the tire fire without any relationship with clay minerals content. This work suggests the use of natural clay minerals as potential PAHs geo-indicators in response to air pollution, complementary to current air and biological analysesThis work has been economically supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain, Project AGL2016-78490-

Evaluation of the sorption potential of mineral materials using tetracycline as a model pollutant

Tetracycline (TC) is among the most used antibiotics in animal feedstock in the EU. Antibiotics’ persistence as emerging pollutants in the environment is evidenced by their long half-life in residual organic-mineral sediments and waters. The risk associated with this persistence favours antibiotic-resistant microbiota, affecting human health and ecosystems. The purpose of the present work is to assess the adsorption of TC into natural clay minerals, synthetic iron hydroxides and calcined sewage sludge. TC adsorption isotherms were performed in three replicated batch tests at three di erent pH values (4, 6, 8) and TC concentrations (33–1176 mg.L−1). X-Ray di raction (XRD) mineralogy, cation exchange capacity (CEC), Brunauer, Emmett and Teller specific surface area (BET-SSA) and point of zero charge salt effect (PZSE) were determined for the characterization of materials. Sorption was analysed by means of fitting Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models, which showed good fitting parameters for the studied materials. Low-charge montmorillonite (LC Mnt) is displays the best sorption capacity for TC at maximum TC concentration (350–300 mgTC.g−1) in the whole range of pH (4–8). Sepiolite and smectites adsorbed 200–250 mgTC.g−1, while illite, calcined sludge or iron hydroxides present the lowest adsorption capacity (<100 mgTC.g−1). Nevertheless, illite, sepiolite and ferrihydrite display high adsorption intensities at low to medium TC concentrations (<300 mg.L−1), even at pH 8, as is expected in wastewater environmental conditionsThis work has been economically supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain (CTM2013-47874-C2-2-R and AGL2016-78490-R)

Ready for O4 II: GRANDMA Observations of Swift GRBs during eight-weeks of Spring 2022

We present a campaign designed to train the GRANDMA network and its infrastructure to follow up on transient alerts and detect their early afterglows. In preparation for O4 II campaign, we focused on GRB alerts as they are expected to be an electromagnetic counterpart of gravitational-wave events. Our goal was to improve our response to the alerts and start prompt observations as soon as possible to better prepare the GRANDMA network for the fourth observational run of LIGO-Virgo-Kagra (which started at the end of May 2023), and future missions such as SM. To receive, manage and send out observational plans to our partner telescopes we set up dedicated infrastructure and a rota of follow-up adcates were organized to guarantee round-the-clock assistance to our telescope teams. To ensure a great number of observations, we focused on Swift GRBs whose localization errors were generally smaller than the GRANDMA telescopes' field of view. This allowed us to bypass the transient identification process and focus on the reaction time and efficiency of the network. During 'Ready for O4 II', 11 Swift/INTEGRAL GRB triggers were selected, nine fields had been observed, and three afterglows were detected (GRB 220403B, GRB 220427A, GRB 220514A), with 17 GRANDMA telescopes and 17 amateur astronomers from the citizen science project Kilonova-Catcher. Here we highlight the GRB 220427A analysis where our long-term follow-up of the host galaxy allowed us to obtain a photometric redshift of $z=0.82\pm0.09$, its lightcurve elution, fit the decay slope of the afterglows, and study the properties of the host galaxy

Efectos de la fertirrigación con agua urbana regenerada sobre el suelo, la producción y calidad de pimiento (Capsicum annuum L.) y contenidos de contaminantes

The effects, in greenhouse conditions, of Purified Urban Wastewater (PW) from Almería (Spain), in the fertigation of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) on sandy mulch soil, were evaluated. Primary, secondary (active sludges) and tertiary (Chlorination + ozonation) purification treatments were applied to wastewater. Irrigation treatments applied were PW, natural Ground Water (GW), Fertilizer PW (FPW) and Fertilizer GW (FGW). The vegetal biomass, yield and fruit quality were controlled. Heavy metals (Cr, Cd, Pb, Ni, Mn, Cu and Zn), arsenic (As) and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) in water, soil, leaf, and fruit were analysed. The PW presented heavy metal, As and PAH contents acceptable for its use in drip irrigation. In the soil, fertigated with PW, the concentration of heavy metals and As did not increase, whilst the PAH concentration decreased. The PW treatment supplied enough nutrients to obtain yield and fruit quality equal to that of GW with fertilization. A significant saving on N, P and K fertilizers (37%, 66% and 12% respectively) was achieved by using PW. The Cd, Pb and As contents of the fruit did not show risk for human consumption. The total PAH concentrations in the fruit were low, the highest of which was phenathrene, with no carcinogenic signification.Se han evaluado los efectos de la utilizaci&oacute;n de un agua residual urbana purificada (PW) procedente de la ciudad de Almer&iacute;a (Espa&ntilde;a) para la fertirrigaci&oacute;n del cultivo de pimiento (Capsicum annuum L.) en invernadero sobre enarenado. Al agua residual se le aplic&oacute; tratamiento de depuraci&oacute;n primario, secundario (lodos activados) y terciario (cloraci&oacute;n + ozonizaci&oacute;n). Los tratamientos de fertirrigaci&oacute;n fueron: PW, agua natural de origen subterr&aacute;neo (GW), agua residual urbana depurada con fertilizaci&oacute;n (FPW) y agua natural de origen subterr&aacute;neo con fertilizaci&oacute;n (FGW). Se controlaron la biomasa vegetal, la producci&oacute;n y la calidad del fruto. En las aguas, suelos, hojas y frutos, se analizaron metales pesados (Cr, Cd, Pb, Ni, Mn, Cu and Zn), arsenico (As) e hidrocarburos arom&aacute;ticos polic&iacute;clicos (PAH). El PW se consider&oacute; apta para uso en riego localizado atendiendo a sus niveles de metales pesados, As y PAH. El tratamiento PW suministr&oacute; nutrientes suficientes para obtener producci&oacute;n y calidad de pimiento iguales al tratamiento FGW. En suelo, no se observ&oacute; acumulaci&oacute;n de metales pesados ni As y disminuyeron las concentraciones de PAH. Se obtuvieron ahorros significativos de fertilizantes nitrogenados, fosf&oacute;ricos y potasicos (37, 66 y 12% respectivamente) al utilizar PW. Los contenidos de metales pesados, As y PAH en el fruto no representaron riesgo para el consumo humano. En cuanto a PAH, la mayor concentraci&oacute;n registrada fue de fenantreno, compuesto no clasificable como carcinog&eacute;nico para humanos