Occurrence of polycyclic musks in pore water of the sediment-freshwater system: passive sampler application

Polycyclic musks are aroma compounds used worldwide as substitutes for natural musks, which have become ubiquitous pollutants in the environment. The land-based input and partition behavior of musks in sediments and fresh water are important for understanding their fate in the aquatic environment. In this study, a 10 sediment samples were collected and used to determine three polycyclic musks: tonalide, galaxolide and cashmeran. All three pollutants were detected in the sediment of the Danube River, but in very low concentrations (< 2 ng/L). In the article, the ex-sity passive methodology of sediment sampling was applied. For this purpose, silicone rubber sheets were used so that, after establishing equilibrium relations between sediment and polymer, the concentration of musk could be determined. Relations of two important parameters for risk assessment- freely dissolved concentration (Cw) in the pore water and the accessible (releasable) concentration in the sediment (CAOC) were deviated the most in the Belegiš locality, with total Cw values of 0.003 ng/L for Galaxolide and Tonalide, and 0.02 ng/L for Cashmeran. The highly significant linear isotherms for musks obtained by the method of equilibrium passive sampling confirmed the partition driven nature of their exchange between water and sediment for the investigated sediments

Inventory of meat industry polluters in Vojvodina region

Inventory of Polluters is the register of information and data on environmental polluters and represents a major starting point for identifying and monitoring of pollution sources. One of the objectives of the National project of the Ministry of Education and Science no 46009: Improvement and development of hygienic and technological procedures in production of animal originating foodstuffs with the aim of producing high-quality and safe products competitive on the global market, is to establish the Inventory of Polluters from the meat industry acquiring all the data required by the Serbian legislation. The meat industry sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global. Inventory of Polluters will include the information and data from polluters identified on the territory of AP Vojvodina from the meat industry sector. According to the obtained results, the total number of potential water pollutants within this sector totals up to 94 legal entities

Wastewater characterisation of screen printing

The paper presents a preliminary investigation of wastewater quality in screen printing facilities in Novi Sad. The experimental research includes two selected parameters: pH value and BOD. The measured pH values were in the range of maximum allowed values, but very high BOD values indicate dominant organic pollution. Determined BOD values of collected samples were in the range from 36 - 206 mg/1. These BOD values show great organic pollution of wastewater from screen printing facilities with biodegradable organic matter

Pseudo-persistent pollutant in the environment : emerging substances

In the recent time, considerable interest has grown concerning the presence of the emerging substances, EmS. These are contaminants that have been recently detected in the environment due to their long-term, pseudo-persistent and increased use. Most of EmS are wide spread and applied in different fields using as pharmaceuticals, for both human and animal uses, household chemicals, personal care products, nanomaterial, anticorrosive and agriculture chemicals and others. European legislation did not regulate the status and the maximum allowed concentration of most EmS. EmS might jeopardize surface water and ground water resources, particularly, drinking water production. The preliminary results of Danube surface water in vicinity of Novi Sad show presence of benzotriasole and caffeine. These newly recognized contaminants represent a shift in traditional thinking of protection scenario and eco status of environment and water bodies

Efficient removal of priority, hazardous priority and emerging pollutants with Prunus armeniaca functionalized biochar from aqueous wastes: Experimental optimization and modeling

This paper investigates the ability of the phosphoric acid functionalized Prunus armeniaca stones biochar (AsPhA) prepared by thermochemical activation to remove lead (Pb2+), cadmium (Cd2+), nickel (Ni2+), naproxen and chlorophenols from aqueous wastes. The engineered biochar was characterized using the Scanning Electron Microscopy, Energy-dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Brunauer, Emmett and Teller technique. The batch studies were performed by varying the initial pH of the solution (2-9), adsorbent dosage (0.2-10 g L-1), contact time (5-60 min), temperature (22, 32 and 42 degrees C) and initial adsorbate concentration (5-500mg L-1). With the optimal process conditions, the adsorption efficiency was over 95% (100 mg L-1). The results were fitted with three kinetic and three equilibrium theoretical adsorption models. The adsorption process has good correlation with pseudo-second-order reaction kinetics. Adsorption mechanism was found to be controlled by pore, film and particle diffusion, throughout the entire adsorption period. The monolayer adsorption capacities were found to be 179.476, 105.844 and 78.798mg g(-1) for Pb2+, Cd2+ and Ni2+, respectively. Thermodynamic parameters such as Gibbs energy, enthalpy and entropy were also calculated. Additionally, preliminary results indicated a strong affinity of the biochar for selected organic micropollutants: naproxen and chlorophenols. Based on desorption study results, biochar was successfully regenerated in 3 cycles with diluted phosphoric acid produced as a waste stream during washing of the biochar after thermochemical activation. The experimental results were applied in a two-stage completely stirred tank reactor design. Cost estimation of AsPhA production substantiated its cost effectiveness and adsorption costs of selected pollutants were 5 times lower than with the commercial activated carbons. Based on the low-cost and high capacity, engineered biochar can be used as a highly efficient eco-friendly adsorbent for removal of heavy metal and organic micropollutants from wastewaters systems