Organic pollution in sediment-water systems on the Ratno Ostrvo location in Novi Sad, Serbia and Montenegro

ABSTRACT: Two-year (2001Two-year ( -2002 monitoring was conducted to determine residues of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and organochlorine pesticides in sediment-water systems of three types of watercourses on the location of Ratno Ostrvo in Novi Sad (Serbia and Montenegro). Types of watercourses were established on the basis of the flow regime: drainage ditches with 1-2 m 3 /s (four sampling points), the DTD Canal with up to 10 m 3 /s (three sampling points) and the Danube River with 1500-3000 m 3 /s (five sampling points). Water quality was compared with the requirements given by the national and Dutch regulations, and the quality of sediment with the Dutch and Canadian quality guidelines, due to the lack of national legislaton. Based on the concentrations of organic pollutants in the samples of sediments and water from selected sampling points, average annual values were computed for the three types of watercourses. Great differences regarding the level of pollution between two years of monitoring were in smaller watercourses -drainage ditches and the DTD Canal, which might be a consequence of water flow, increased anthropogenic activity, decrease of self-purification potential. Concentrations of both PAHs and pesticides were below national maximum permissible levels in water and below Dutch intervention levels in sediment. Standard deviations of average annual concentrations were very high (up to 30-300%), probably because of the increased anthropogenic effect

Clean biofuel production and phytoremediation solutions from contaminated lands worldwide

The overall objective of the H2020 Phy2Climate project is to build the bridge between the phytoremediation of contaminated sites with the production of clean drop-in biofuels. As the project aims for the production of high-quality drop-in biofuels like marine fuels (ISO 8217), gasoline (EN 228) and diesel (EN 590), a biorefinery concept is employed with the thermo-catalytic process (TCR®) at its centre. The produced biofuels will present no Land Use Change risks, thus, the phytoremediation will decontaminate lands from a vast variety of pollutants and make the restored lands available for agriculture, while improving the overall sustainability, legal framework, and economics of the process. In this way, Phy2Climate aims at significantly contributing to the Mission Innovation Challenge for sustainable biofuel production and to almost all UN Sustainable Development Goals, as well as to the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, that is part of the European Green Deal, and to the new EU Soil Strategy for 2030 adopted in 2021. On the one hand, it is unquestionable that there is a growing demand for land, which increases tensions among the different groups of users. Land is a finite resource, and the main competitors are Feed, Food & Fuel. From the available worldwide arable land, about 71% is dedicated to animal feed, about 18% to food and only about 4% to biofuels (another 7% is for material use of crops). The multiple uttered food vs fuel debate is, actually, a food vs feed debate. However, the increasing demand for biofuels and biobased products also contributes to this tension, but in a much smaller dimension. The increasing land demand for energy crops leads to direct and indirect Land Use Change (iLUC), causing deforestation, soil erosion, loss of biodiversity and vital water resources. On the other hand, there is a significant area of land which is contaminated and, therefore, unusable for any purpose. Even worse, the investigation, registration as “contaminated site”, as well as the remediation and management of such areas are very cost-intensive, adding even more fuel to the fire.[http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85142472026&partnerID=MN8TOARS