Odor Perception and Descriptions of Rose-Scented Geranium Pelargonium graveolens 'Dr. Westerlund'-Sensory and Chemical Analyses

A recent study found that the natural scent from the rose-scented geranium Pelargonium graveolens 'Dr. Westerlund' had positive effects on stress reduction. Essential oils from many pelargonium species are known to have phytochemical properties and pharmacological activities. No study has, so far, explored and identified the chemical compounds and the sensory perception of these compounds in 'Dr. Westerlund' plants. Such knowledge would be an important contribution to an increased understanding of the effects of plants' chemical odor properties on human well-being, and link this to the expressed perceived scents. This study aimed to identify the sensory profile and suggest responsible chemical compounds of Pelargonium graveolens 'Dr. Westerlund'. The sensory and chemical analysis results revealed sensory profiles of Pelargonium graveolens 'Dr. Westerlund's and provided suggestions for the chemical compounds attributed to the sensory profiles. Further studies are recommended to investigate the correlation between volatile compounds and possible stress reduction in humans

Hollow-fibre supported liquid membrane extraction for determination of fluoxetine and norfluoxetine concentration at ultra trace level in sewage samples

In this study, a method was developed for determining the concentration of the pharmaceutical fluoxetine and its metabolite, norfluoxetine, in sewage water samples. Sample preparation was performed by hollow-fibre supported liquid membrane (HF-SLM) extraction with final analysis using liquid chromatography with UV detection. Several parameters were studied including type of organic solvent, sample and acceptor pH, and salt and humic acid content. The optimised method allowed determination of the analyte at the ng/L level in sewage water. A linear plot gave a correlation coefficient better than 0.991 for both analytes and resulted in limits of detection in sewage water of 11 and 12 ng/L, for fluoxetine and norfluoxetine, respectively. The enrichment factor was over 1700 for both analytes in sewage water. The repeatability and reproducibility were better than 8% and 17%, respectively. The developed methodology was used to study daily variations of fluoxetine and norfluoxetine in municipal sewage streams. Norfluoxetine has been detected for the first time in sewage water and a preliminary analysis gave average concentrations of 150 and 225 ng/L for norfluoxetine and fluoxetine, respectively

Improved spectrophotometric vitellogenin determination via alkali-labile phosphate in fish plasma - a cost effective approach for assessment of endocrine disruption

Vitellogenin (VTG) is a well known protein biomarker for exposure to environmental estrogens and possible endocrine disruption in fish. VTG is very dominant in plasma after the onset of vitellogenesis and the protein is heavily phosphorylated. This enables indirect quantification through measurement of alkali-labile protein bound phosphate (ALP) as an alternative to the more expensive enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Good correlation has previously been shown between ALP and actual VTG levels but little effort has been made to investigate the method in an analytical way e.g., to assure the origin of the measured phosphate. During this method development care has been taken to rule out non-VTG sources of phosphate such as phospholipids and free phosphate in the blood plasma. Sample preparation has been simplified and unnecessary steps have been omitted. The common spectrophotometric measurement for ALP involves measurement at two wavelengths and calculation of corrected absorbance values. With a quick phase separation step the spectrophotometric phosphate determination using molybdic acid and ascorbic acid has been improved and all matrix interference has been eliminated. The final ALP method presented here has a detection limit of 3.2 mu g PO43-/ml plasma which is six times lower than similar methods and it also has less variability. A high sample throughput in comparison to previous ALP methods is possible after scaling down sample and reagent volumes to fit in a 96 well microtiter plate. The cost for buying all chemicals and plastic consumer goods for setting up the indirect protocol for the analysis of 1000 samples is only circa 350 euro. This is only 1% of the material cost for buying commercially available test kit for direct quantification of VTG in the same number of samples. The ALP method should thus be of interest also for applied scientists outside advanced research laboratories

Development and application of an analytical protocol for evaluation of treatment processes for landfill leachates. I. Development of an analytical protocol for handling organic compounds in complex leachate samples

A strategy is presented for evaluation of treatment procedures for landfill leachate with emphasis on organic pollutants. An analytical scheme, the LAQUA protocol, was developed as a guide for the analytical work. The protocol includes organic as well as metals,. inorganic ions, water-quality parameters, and toxicity. The proposed strategy considers the behaviour of both polar and non-polar organic substances at trace levels. For polar substances, phenols were chosen as markers and determined with an automated supported liquid membrane extraction device, coupled on-line to HPLC with a diode-array detector. For non-polar substances, PCBs and 10 unidentified compounds were chosen as markers and analysed by solid-phase extraction combined with supercritical fluid extraction with GC analysis. The chosen measurement strategy, based on the use of marker substances, difference measurements, and versatile data-handling procedures, provided essential information about complex systems at relatively low cost

Development and application of an analytical protocol for evaluation of treatment processes for landfill leachates. II. Evaluation of leachate treatment efficiency of different steps in a constructed pilot plant

Different methods for treatment of leachate from a municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill were tested in a pilot plant. Raw leachate was pre-treated with aeration and sedimentation, followed by several parallel individual steps such as bioremediation, chemical oxidation, ozonation, and geo-bed filters. The efficiency of different treatment steps was evaluated according to one previously developed protocol, which includes measurements of several parameters such as conductivity, pH, nutrients, chloride, metals, organic compounds, and acute toxicity before and after a treatment step. The treatment steps which showed the highest efficiency towards organic pollutants in leachate were ozone treatment and chemical oxidation. The use of an adsorption filter, a geo-bed with a mixture of peat and bottom ash with ca 10% remaining carbon, also had good effects. A combination of pre-treatment and a geo-bed filter with peat and carbon ash gave the best overall treatment results when water-quality parameters such as total organic carbon and ammonia-nitrogen were also considered

The performance of a natural treatment system for landfill leachate with special emphasis on the fate of organic pollutants

A natural treatment system for the treatment of leachate was Studied at Moskogen landfill in southern Sweden. This facility consists of three consecutive ponds and a soil-plant (SP)system. A test area, receiving water from the third pond with the same hydraulic load as the SP-systern, was Used for estimation of the latter system. Quality parameters including biochemical oxygen demand, total organic carbon, ammonium, nitrate, orthophosphate, and total suspended solids along the treatment line were determined as well as Soluble metals (Cu, Cd, Zn, Cr, Ni, and Pb). In addition a thorough investigation along the treatment tine has also been performed concerning volatile organic Compounds and semi-volatile organic Compounds. Non-polar organic compounds were investigated using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Quantification was based on the assumption of equal response for the compounds found in comparison with the chosen marker Substances. For polar, water-soluble Compounds the measurements were restricted to phenolic compounds using high-performance liquid chromatography. Several different types of organic compounds were found in the raw leachate including aromatics, benzene-sulfonamides, biphenyls, naphthalene, organic phosphates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, phenols and phthalates. The treatment system efficiently reduced organic Pollutants, heavy metals, and nitrogen/phosphorous compounds. Most metals and organic compounds in the leachate were already significantly reduced to a low level in the treatment ponds and ammonium-N was efficiently transformed to nitrate-N in the SP-system

Microbial dustiness and particle release of different biofuels

Exposure to organic dust originating from biofuels can cause adverse health effects. In the present study we have assessed the dustiness in terms of microbial components and particles of various biofuels by using a rotating drum as a dust generator. Microbial components from straw, wood chips, wood pellets and wood briquettes were quantified by several methods. Excellent correllations (r greater than or equal to 0.85, P < 0.0001) were found: between lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (as determined by 3-hydroxy fatty acid analysis) and endotoxin (as determined by a Limulus test), cultivable bacteria, total number of bacteria and muramic acid; between endotoxin and cultivable bacteria, total number of bacteria and muramic acid; between total number of bacteria and muramic acid; between cultivable fungi and total number of fungi. Straw was dustier than the other biofuels in terms of actinomycetes, bacteria, muramic acid, endotoxin, LPS, particle mass and number of particles. One of the wood chips studied and the straws had comparatively high dustiness In terms of fungi, while both wood pellets and wood briquettes had comparatively low dustiness in terms of all microbial components. An initially high particle generation rate of straw and wood chips decreased over time whereas the particle generation rate of wood briquettes and wood pellets increased during a 5 min rotation period. Particles of non-microbial origin may be the determining factor for the health risk in handling briquettes and pellets. Straw dust contained significantly more microorganisms per particle than did wood chip dust, probably because bacteria were most abundant in straw dust. The concentrations of endotoxin and fungi were high in wood and straw dust; dust from one of the straws contained 3610 EU/mg and dust from one of the chips contained 7.3 x 10(6) fungal spores/mg. An exposure to 3 mg of straw or wood chips dust/m(3) (the Swedish and Danish OEL of unspecific inhalable dust) could cause exposures to endotoxin and fungi higher than levels were health symptoms are seen to develop. The very different levels of dustiness in terms of particles and microbial components of different biofuels shows that dustiness is an important health-relevant factor to consider when choosing among biofuels and when designing worksites for handling of biofuels

Artemia salina as test organism for assessment of acute toxicity of leachate water from landfills

Artemia salina has, for the first time, been used as test organism for acute toxicity of leachate water from three landfills (the municipal landfills at Kristianstad, Sweden and Siauliai, Lithuania, and an industrial landfill at Stena fragmenting AB, Halmstad, as well as for leachate from Kristianstad treated in different ways in a pilot plan). Artemia can tolerate the high concentrations of chloride ions found in such waters. Large differences in toxicities were found, the leachate from Siauliai being the most toxic one. To increase the selectivity in the measurements, a fractionation was done by using ion exchange to separate ammonium/ammonia and metal ions from the leachate, and activated carbon adsorbents for organic pollutants. The influence of some metals and phenol compounds on the toxicity was investigated separately. It was found that most of the toxicity emanated from the ammonium/ammonia components in the leachate. However, there was also a significant contribution from organic pollutants, other than phenol compounds, since separate experiments had in this latter case indicated negligible impact. The concentrations of metals were at a level, shown by separate experiments, where only small contribution to the toxicity could be expected

Emissions from baled municipal solid waste: II. Effects of different treatments and baling techniques on the emission of volatile organic compounds

This paper focuses on the volatile organic compound emissions from baled municipal solid waste (MSW). The analytical methodology was based on sampling with adsorbent tubes once a month during seven occasions within a time period of 1 year. Automated analyses were carried Out on-line work-up with thermal desorption directly connected to a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. The effect of different baling techniques, cylindrical and rectangular baling was compared. It was found that cylindrically baled MSW emitted larger concentration of esters than their rectangular counter parts. Conversely, aromatic compounds emissions dominated in rectangularly baled MSW This indicates that different degradation mechanisms operate in the waste bales. Cylindrical and rectangular bales are generally wrapped with six layers of 250 pm thick low density polyethylene (LDPE). It was observed that by wrapping an extra six layers of LDPE film onto the bales, the emissions from cylindrical bales increased while emissions from the rectangular counterpart decreased. Over time, the volatile organic Compound emissions from cylindrical bales decreased two orders of magnitudes from 96.2 +/- 20.8 mu g m(-3) in September 2003 to 0.80 +/- 0.07 pg m(-3) in July 2004. The rectangular bales exhibited an almost identical relative emission reduction from 54.4 +/- 4.3 pg m(-3) in September 2003 to 0.46 +/- 0.02 pg in 3 in July 2004. Future work will concentrate on full-scale storages, taking into account waste type, storage size, temperature development and the different baling techniques among other variables