ASSESSMENT OF Pb, Cd, Cu AND Zn AVAILABILITY FOR PLANTS IN BAIA MARE MINING REGION

In order to evaluate the mobility of heavy metals in soil from Baia Mare mining region, the total, water and DTPA extractable metal contents were determined. The results showed that despite the high total metals contents and the high percentages of plant available metals only a low percent was water soluble, indicating a potential accumulation of metals in trophic chain and a potential risk for public health. Among the investigated metals, the plant available Pb and Cd species are the most severe contaminants. Significant correlations between total and DTPA extractable metals were found for Cu (r=0.510) and Pb (0.418), and also an affinity between total and water extractable metals were identified for Cu (0.366), Pb (0.502) and Zn (0.597)

Progress, Challenges and Opportunities in Divalent Transition Metal-Doped Cobalt Ferrites Nanoparticles Applications

Engineered nanomaterials with tailored properties are highly required in a wide range of industrial fields. Consequently, the researches dedicated to the identification of new applications for existing materials and to the development of novel promising materials and cost effective, eco-friendly synthesis methods gained considerable attention in the last years. Cobalt ferrite is one of the nanomaterials with a wide application range due to its unique properties such as high electrical resistivity, negligible eddy current loss, moderate saturation magnetization, chemical and thermal stability, high Curie temperature and high mechanical hardness. Moreover, its structural, magnetic and electrical properties can be tailored by the selection of preparation route, chemical composition, dopant ions and thermal treatment. This chapter presents the recent applications of nanosized cobalt ferrites doped or co-doped with divalent transition ions such as Zn2+, Cu2+, Mn2+, Ni2+, Cd2+ obtained by various synthesis methods in ceramics, medicine, catalysis, electronics and communications

Hydrometallurgical Recovery of Gold from Mining Wastes

Gold is a highly required material for a wide range of personal and industrial applications. The high demand for gold, together with the shortage of natural resources and high pollution potential of wastes generated during mining and ore processing activities led to search for alternative sources of gold. A possible source is represented by mine wastes resulting from the processing of polymetallic or sulfidic ores. The reprocessing of wastes and old tailings with moderate to low content of gold offers not only a business opportunity, but also enhances the quality of the surrounding environment, changes the land use and offers a wide range of socio-economic benefits. Cyanidation, the most widespread Au leaching option, is progressively abandoned due to the high risk associated with its use and to the low public acceptance. Therefore, alternative methods such as thiocyanate, thiourea, thiosulphate and halide leaching gained more and more interest. This chapter presents the most important features of some Au leaching methods, emphasizing their advantages, limitations and potential applications

Emission factors for PM10 and PAHs from illegal burning of different types of municipal waste in households

It is a common practice in the developing countries and in some regions of Europe that solid wastes generated in the households (e.g. plastic beverage packaging and other plastic wastes, textile wastes, fibreboards, furniture, tyres, and coloured paper waste) are burned in wood- or coal-fired stoves during the winter months. In Europe, the types and volume of municipal waste burned in households is virtually unknown because these activities are illegal and not recorded, with the exception of a few media reports or court cases. Even though particulate emissions from illegal waste burning pose an unprecedented hazard to human health due to the combination of excessive emission factors (EFs) and uncontrolled chemical composition, there is scarce information on the specific emission factors for PM10 and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the scientific literature. In this work, controlled combustion tests were performed with 12 different types of municipal solid waste and particulate emissions were measured and collected for chemical analysis. Absolute emission factors for PM10 and PAHs as well as the benzo(a)pyrene toxicity equivalent of the latter are reported for the first time for the indoor combustion of 12 common types of municipal solid waste that are frequently burned in households worldwide

Emission factors for PM10 and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from illegal burning of different types of municipal waste in households

It is a common practice in developing countries and in some regions of Europe that solid wastes generated in households (e.g. plastic beverage packaging and other plastic wastes, textile wastes, fibreboards, furniture, tyres, and coloured-paper waste) are burned in wood- or coal-fired stoves during the winter months. In Europe, the types and volume of municipal waste burned in households is virtually unknown because these activities are illegal and not recorded, with the exception of a few media reports or court cases. Even though particulate emissions from illegal waste burning pose a significant hazard to human health due to the combination of excessive emission factors (EFs) and uncontrolled chemical composition, there is scarce information on the specific EFs for PM10 and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the scientific literature. In this work, controlled combustion tests were performed with 12 different types of municipal solid waste, and particulate emissions were measured and collected for chemical analysis. Absolute EFs for PM10 and PAHs as well as the benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) toxicity equivalent of the latter are reported for the first time for the indoor combustion of 12 common types of municipal solid waste that are frequently burned in households worldwide. It was found that the PM10 emission factors from the combustion of wood-based waste samples were about twice that of firewood, whereas EFs in the range of 11–82 mg g−1 (a factor of 5–40 times higher than that of dry firewood under the same conditions) were obtained for different types of plastic waste. The latter were also found to emit exceptionally high quantities of PAHs, by a factor of 50–750 more than upon the combustion of dry firewood under the same conditions. Since the more toxic 4–6 ring PAHs were predominant in the particulate emission from plastic waste burning, BaP equivalent toxicity was up to 4100 times higher than that from wood combustion

Bioethanol Production from Vineyard Waste by Autohydrolysis Pretreatment and Chlorite Delignification via Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation

In this paper, the production of a second-generation bioethanol from lignocellulosic vineyard cutting wastes was investigated in order to define the optimal operating conditions of the autohydrolysis pretreatment, chlorite delignification and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF). The autohydrolysis of vine-shoot wastes resulted in liquors containing mainly a mixture of monosaccharides, degradation products and spent solids (rich in cellulose and lignin), with potential utility in obtaining valuable chemicals and bioethanol. The autohydrolysis of the vine-shoot wastes was carried out at 165 and 180 °C for 10 min residence time, and the resulted solid and liquid phases composition were analysed. The resulted liquid fraction contained hemicellulosic sugars as a mixture of alpha (α) and beta (β) sugar anomers, and secondary by-products. The solid fraction was delignified using the sodium chlorite method for the separation of lignin and easier access of enzymes to the cellulosic sugars, and then, converted to ethanol by the SSF process. The maximum bioethanol production (6%) was obtained by autohydrolysis (165 °C), chlorite delignification and SSF process at 37 °C, 10% solid loading, 72 h. The principal component analysis was used to identify the main parameters that influence the chemical compositions of vine-shoot waste for different varieties

Spatio-temporal insights into microbiology of the freshwater-to-hypersaline, oxic-hypoxic-euxinic waters of Ursu Lake

Ursu Lake is located in the Middle Miocene salt deposit of Central Romania. It is stratified, and the water column has three distinct water masses: an upper freshwater-to-moderately saline stratum (0–3 m), an intermediate stratum exhibiting a steep halocline (3–3.5 m), and a lower hypersaline stratum (4 m and below) that is euxinic (i.e. anoxic and sulphidic). Recent studies have characterized the lake's microbial taxonomy and given rise to intriguing ecological questions. Here, we explore whether the communities are dynamic or stable in relation to taxonomic composition, geochemistry, biophysics, and ecophysiological functions during the annual cycle. We found: (i) seasonally fluctuating, light-dependent communities in the upper layer (≥0.987–0.990 water-activity), a stable but phylogenetically diverse population of heterotrophs in the hypersaline stratum (water activities down to 0.762) and a persistent plate of green sulphur bacteria that connects these two (0.958–0.956 water activity) at 3–3.5 to 4 m; (ii) communities that might be involved in carbon- and sulphur-cycling between and within the lake's three main water masses; (iii) uncultured lineages including Acetothermia (OP1), Cloacimonetes (WWE1), Marinimicrobia (SAR406), Omnitrophicaeota (OP3), Parcubacteria (OD1) and other Candidate Phyla Radiation bacteria, and SR1 in the hypersaline stratum (likely involved in the anaerobic steps of carbon- and sulphur-cycling); and (iv) that species richness and habitat stability are associated with high redox-potentials. Ursu Lake has a unique and complex ecology, at the same time exhibiting dynamic fluctuations and stability, and can be used as a modern analogue for ancient euxinic water bodies and comparator system for other stratified hypersaline systems

Effect of Transition Metal Doping on the Structural, Morphological, and Magnetic Properties of NiFe₂O₄

Sol-gel route followed by thermal treatment was used to produce NiFe2O4 doped with transition metal ions (Zn2+, Mn2+, Co2+). The structural, morphological, and magnetic properties of the doped NiFe2O4 were compared with those of virgin NiFe2O4. The metal-glyoxylates’ formation and decomposition as well as the thermal stability of the doped and virgin ferrites were assessed by thermal analysis. The functional groups identified by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the decomposition of metal nitrates, the formation and decomposition of precursors, and the formation of the SiO2 matrix. The X-ray diffraction indicated that the sol-gel synthesis produced single-phase crystalline ferrites in case of virgin, Zn2+ and Co2+-doped Ni-ferrites. By doping with Mn2+, several secondary phases derived from the SiO2 matrix accompanied the crystalline spinel ferrite. The crystallite sizes depended on the annealing temperature and type of doping ion. The gradual increase of lattice parameters suggested the uniform distribution of doping metal ions in the NiFe2O4 lattice. The saturation magnetization, remanent magnetizations, coercivity, and anisotropy were found to depend on the doping ion, annealing temperature, and particle size. The high saturation magnetization values of the obtained nanocomposites make them suitable for a wide range of applications in the field of sensors development and construction

Formation, Structure and Magnetic Properties of MFe2O4@SiO2 (M = Co, Mn, Zn, Ni, Cu) Nanocomposites

The formation, structure, and thermal and magnetic properties of MFe2O4@SiO2 (M = Co, Mn, Zn, Ni, Cu) (60% MFe2O4/40% SiO2) nanocomposites produced by a modified sol-gel method, followed by annealing at 300, 600, 900 and 1200 °C, were studied. The thermal analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed the formation of metal-glyoxylates below 210 °C and their decomposition into the corresponding ferrite around 300 °C. The evolution of crystalline phases and variation of crystallite sizes differs from ferrite to ferrite and depends on the annealing temperature. The magnetic measurements revealed the dependence of saturation and remanent magnetization, coercivity, and anisotropy on ferrite type, annealing temperature, and particle size. By annealing the nanocomposites (NCs) at 1200 °C paramagnetic MnFe2O4, CoFe2O4, NiFe2O4 and CuFe2O4 and antiferromagnetic ZnFe2O4 are obtained