Heavy metal removal from acid mine drainage by calcined eggshell and microalgae hybrid system.

Choi, Hee-Jeong,Lee, Seung-Mok Ecomed 2015 Environmental Science and Pollution Research Vol.22 No.17

<P>This study investigates the use of calcined eggshells and microalgae for the removal of heavy metals from acid mine drainage (AMD) and the simultaneous enhancement of biomass productivity. The experiment was conducted over a period of 6?days in a hybrid system containing calcined eggshells and the microalgae Chlorella vulgaris. The results show that the biomass productivity increased to ~8.04 times its initial concentration of 0.367?g/L as measured by an optical panel photobioreactor (OPPBR) and had a light transmittance of 95?% at a depth of 305?mm. On the other hand, the simultaneous percent removal of Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn, As, and Cd from the AMD effluent was found to be 99.47 to 100?%. These results indicate that the hybrid system with calcined eggshells and microalgae was highly effective for heavy metal removal in the AMD.</P>

1H-NMR-based profiling of organic components in leachate from animal carcasses disposal site with time.

Kwon, Yong-Kook,Bae, Hyun-Whee,Shin, Sun Kyoung,Jeon, Tae-Wan,Seo, Jungju,Hwang, Geum-Sook Ecomed 2014 Environmental Science and Pollution Research Vol.21 No.17

<P>Leachate, generated by the decomposition of animal carcasses, presents many environmental, sanitary, and food safety hazards. However, research on the characteristics of leachate is lacking. In this study, we performed biochemical profiling of leachate from two animal species (pig and cattle) in two soil types (sandy loam and sandy soil) using (1)H-NMR-based profiling, followed by multivariate data analysis. The leachate was collected from a well-controlled artificial burial site over a 31-week period. Principal components analysis (PCA) of the NMR data showed similar patterns between species and soil types. Organic components, including organic acids and phenols, predominated, and their levels increased with time. The methylamine level in leachate from pig carcasses 18 weeks following burial was significantly higher than that from cattle carcasses; leachate from cattle carcasses in sandy soil 1 week after burial contained unique components (specifically ethanol, formate, alanine, N-methylation, and taurine), in contrast with those from sandy loam soil. This study suggests that a NMR-based profiling approach is useful to characterize the organic components in leachate from animal carcasses over time.</P>

Impacts of shape and height of upstream roof on airflow and pollutant dispersion inside an urban street canyon.

Huang, Yuan-Dong,He, Wen-Rong,Kim, Chang-Nyung Ecomed 2015 Environmental Science and Pollution Research Vol.22 No.3

<P>A two-dimensional numerical model for simulating flow and pollutant dispersion in an urban street canyon is firstly developed using the FLUENT code and then validated against the wind tunnel results. After this, the flow field and pollutant dispersion inside an urban street canyon with aspect ratio W/H?=?1 are examined numerically considering five different shapes (vaulted, trapezoidal, slanted, upward wedged, and downward wedged roofs) as well as three different roof height to building height ratios (Z H /H?=?1/6, 1/3, and 1/2) for the upstream building roof. The results obtained reveal that the shape and height of an upstream roof have significant influences on flow pattern and pollutant distribution in an urban canyon. A large single clockwise vortex is generated in the canyon for the vaulted upstream roof at Z H /H?=?1/6, 1/3, and 1/2, the trapezoidal and downward wedged roofs at Z H /H?=?1/6 and 1/3, and the slanted and upward wedged roofs at Z H /H?=?1/6, while a main clockwise vortex and a secondary counterclockwise vortex are established for the trapezoidal and downward wedged roofs at Z H /H?=?1/2 and the slanted and upward wedged roofs at Z H /H?=?1/3 and 1/2. In the one-vortex flow regime, the clockwise vortex moves upward and grows in size with increasing upstream roof height for the vaulted, trapezoidal, and downward wedged roofs. In the two-vortex flow regime, the size and rotational velocity of both upper clockwise and lower counterclockwise vortices increase with the upstream roof height for the slanted and upward wedged roofs. At Z H /H?=?1/6, the pollution levels in the canyon are close among all the upstream roof shapes studied. At Z H /H?=?1/3, the pollution levels in the canyon for the upward wedged roof and slanted roof are much higher than those for the vaulted, trapezoidal, and downward wedged roofs. At Z H /H?=?1/2, the lowest pollution level appears in the canyon for the vaulted upstream roof, while the highest pollution level occurs in the canyon for the upward wedged roof.</P>

Assessment of natural and calcined starfish for the amelioration of acidic soil.

Moon, Deok Hyun,Yang, Jae E,Cheong, Kyung Hoon,Koutsospyros, Agamemnon,Park, Jeong-Hun,Lim, Kyoung Jae,Kim, Sung Chul,Kim, Rog-Young,Ok, Yong Sik Ecomed 2014 Environmental Science and Pollution Research Vol.21 No.16

<P>Quality improvement of acidic soil (with an initial pH of approximately 4.5) with respect to soil pH, exchangeable cations, organic matter content, and maize growth was attempted using natural (NSF) and calcined starfish (CSF). Acidic soil was amended with NSF and CSF in the range of 1 to 10 wt.% to improve soil pH, organic matter content, and exchangeable cations. Following the treatment, the soil pH was monitored for periods up to 3 months. The exchangeable cations were measured after 1 month of curing. After a curing period of 1 month, the maize growth experiment was performed with selected treated samples to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment. The results show that 1 wt.% of NSF and CSF (700 and 900 C) were required to increase the soil pH to a value higher than 7. In the case of CSF (900 C), 1 wt.% was sufficient to increase the soil pH value to 9 due to the strong alkalinity in the treatment. No significant changes in soil pHs were observed after 7 days of curing and up to 3 months of curing. Upon treatment, the cation exchange capacity values significantly increased as compared to the untreated samples. The organic content of the samples increased upon NSF treatment, but it remains virtually unchanged upon CSF treatment. Maize growth was greater in the treated samples rather than the untreated samples, except for the samples treated with 1 and 3 wt.% CSF (900 C), where maize growth was limited due to strong alkalinity. This indicates that the amelioration of acidic soil using natural and calcined starfish is beneficial for plant growth as long as the application rate does not produce alkaline conditions outside the optimal pH range for maize growth.</P>

Influence of upstream land use on dissolved organic matter and trihalomethane formation potential in watersheds for two different seasons.

Hur, Jin,Nguyen, Hang Vo-Minh,Lee, Bo-Mi Ecomed 2014 Environmental Science and Pollution Research Vol.21 No.12

<P>Different land uses of upstream catchments may affect the quantity and the quality of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in watersheds, but the influence may differ by season. In this study, we examined concentrations and selected spectroscopic properties of DOM and the propensity to form trihalomethanes (THMs) for 19 different middle-sized watersheds across the Han River basin in Korea. Sampling was conducted for non-storm events during pre-monsoon (May) and monsoon seasons (July). The anthropogenic land uses including agricultural and residential areas occupied 2.3 to 49.4% of the upstream catchments of the watersheds. Non-aromatic, labile, and less condensed DOM structures were more abundant in the monsoon season. Parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) modeling with fluorescence data demonstrated that a combination of three different fluorescence components could explain the seasonal and the spatial distributions of DOM characteristics. Terrestrial humic-like fluorescence was the most abundant component for all the DOM samples, while protein-like fluorescence became more pronounced for the monsoon season. THM concentrations did not differ between the two seasons. Observed seasonal differences in the concentrations and the characteristics of DOM suggested a greater contribution of groundwater to the streams in watersheds in the monsoon versus the pre-monsoon season. Significant correlations among anthropogenic land use, microbial humic-like fluorescence, and the propensity to form THMs were found only for the pre-monsoon season. Principal component analysis (PCA) demonstrated that, regardless of the season, anthropogenic land uses increased the concentrations of DOM and nutrients but that their effects on the DOM properties were not evident for the monsoon season.</P>

Tracking the spectroscopic and chromatographic changes of algal derived organic matter in a microbial fuel cell.

Hur, Jin,Lee, Bo-Mi,Choi, Kwang-Soon,Min, Booki Ecomed 2014 Environmental Science and Pollution Research Vol.21 No.3

<P>Changes in the characteristics of algae-derived organic matter (AOM) were examined upon the operation of a microbial fuel cell (MFC) using multiple analytical methods. Temporal variations in the UV absorption and fluorescence excitation-emission matrix of the AOM revealed that less condensed humic-like components and large-sized protein-like fluorescent compounds were preferentially decomposed over the period of electricity generation. They also showed that low UV-absorbing extracellular organic matters (EOM) were produced at the end of the operation. SEC chromatograms demonstrated that smaller-sized UV-absorbing components were initially decomposed, followed by the net production of EOM with an intermediate molecular weight. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra showed that proteins and polysaccharides were the two most dominant structures of the AOM in the MFC. Two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy combined with FT-IR provided additional valuable information on the sequential changes of the AOM, which occurred in the order of proteins acidic functional groups polysaccharides amino acids/proteins.</P>

Performance and bacterial communities of successive alkalinity-producing systems (SAPSs) in passive treatment processes treating mine drainages differing in acidity and metal levels.

Jung, Sokhee Philemon,Cheong, Youngwook,Yim, Giljae,Ji, Sangwoo,Kang, Hojeong Ecomed 2014 Environmental Science and Pollution Research Vol.21 No.5

<P>Successive alkalinity-producing systems (SAPSs) is a key unit process in the passive treatment of acidic mine drainage. Physico-chemistry and pyrosequencing-based bacterial communities of two passive treatment processes in Gapjung (GJ) and Seokbong (SB) were analyzed. The influent of SB harbored higher levels of acidity and metals than that of GJ. SAPS-SB demonstrated better performance of acidity neutralization and metal removal than SAPS-GJ, despite its shorter hydraulic retention time and higher acidity. System diagnosis revealed that the capacities of SAPSs were not well predicted in the design steps. Bacterial diversity indices and composition were compared at the same sequence read number for fair evaluation. Most of the bacterial sequences were affiliated with uncultured species. A notable difference was observed in the bacterial community compositions of the SAPSs in GJ and SB. Classes of putative sulfate-reducing bacteria, Clostridia (8.3 %) and Deltaproteobacteria (6.1 %), were detected in SAPS-GJ, and Clostridia (14.6 %) was detected in SAPS-SB. Bacilli, which is not a known sulfate-reducing bacterial group, was the second largest class (12.8 %) in SAPS-GJ and the largest class (51.1 %) in SAPS-SB, suggesting that Bacilli may have a prominent role in SAPS. One hundred ninety operational taxonomic units were shared, which occupied ~10 % of each number of total operational taxonomic units in SAPS-GJ and SAPS-SB, respectively. Bacilli and Clostridia were the major shared classes, and Bacillus, Lysinibacillus, and Ureibacillus were the major shared genera. Rarefaction analysis, richness estimates, diversity estimates, and abundance rank analysis show that the sediment bacterial community of SAPS-GJ was more diverse and more evenly distributed than that of SAPS-SB.</P>

Development of freshwater sediment management standards for organic matters, nutrients, and metals in Korea

Huh, I. A.,Kim, Y. S.,Yu, S. J.,Wong, S.,Shin, W. S.,Park, H. O.,Kim, H. J.,Kim, H. W. ECOMED PUBLISHERS 2014 Environmental Science and Pollution Research Vol.21 No.1

Discovery of characteristic molecular signatures for the simultaneous prediction and detection of environmental pollutants.

Song, Mi-Kyung,Choi, Han-Seam,Park, Yong-Keun,Ryu, Jae-Chun Ecomed 2014 Environmental Science and Pollution Research Vol.21 No.4

<P>Gene expression data may be very promising for the classification of toxicant types, but the development and application of transcriptomic-based gene classifiers for environmental toxicological applications are lacking compared to the biomedical sciences. Also, simultaneous classification across a set of toxicant types has not been investigated extensively. In the present study, we determined the transcriptomic response to three types of ubiquitous toxicants exposure in two types of human cell lines (HepG2 and HL-60), which are useful in vitro human model for evaluation of toxic substances that may affect human hepatotoxicity (e.g., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon [PAH] and persistent organic pollutant [POP]) and human leukemic myelopoietic proliferation (e.g., volatile organic compound [VOC]). The findings demonstrate characteristic molecular signatures that facilitated discrimination and prediction of the toxicant type. To evaluate changes in gene expression levels after exposure to environmental toxicants, we utilized 18 chemical substances; nine PAH toxicants, six VOC toxicants, and three POP toxicants. Unsupervised gene expression analysis resulted in a characteristic molecular signature for each toxicant group, and combination analysis of two separate multi-classifications indicated 265 genes as surrogate markers for predicting each group of toxicants with 100 % accuracy. Our results suggest that these expression signatures can be used as predictable and discernible surrogate markers for detection and prediction of environmental toxicant exposure. Furthermore, this approach could easily be extended to screening for other types of environmental toxicants.</P>

Assessment of silver nanoparticle-induced physiological and molecular changes in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Nair, Prakash M Gopalakrishnan,Chung, Ill Min Ecomed 2014 Environmental Science and Pollution Research Vol.21 No.14

<P>In this study, the effect of silver nanoparticles and silver ions on Arabidopsis thaliana was investigated at physiological and molecular levels. The seedlings were grown in sublethal concentrations of silver nanoparticles and silver ions (0.2, 0.5, and 1 mg/L) in 1/4 Hoagland's medium for 14 days under submerged hydroponic conditions. Significantly higher reduction in the total chlorophyll and increase in anthocyanin content were observed after exposure to 0.5 and 1 mg/L silver nanoparticles as compared to similar concentrations of silver ions. Lipid peroxidation increased significantly after exposure to 0.2, 0.5, and 1 mg/L of silver nanoparticles and 0.5 and 1 mg/L of silver ions. Qualitative analysis with dichloro-dihydro-fluorescein diacetate and rhodamine 123 fluorescence showed a dose-dependent increase in reactive oxygen species production and changes in mitochondrial membrane potential in the roots of seedlings exposed to different concentrations of silver nanoparticles. Real-time PCR analysis showed significant upregulation in the expression of sulfur assimilation, glutathione biosynthesis, glutathione S-transferase, and glutathione reductase genes upon exposure to silver nanoparticles as compared with silver ions. Overall, based on the physiological and molecular level responses, it was observed that exposure to silver nanoparticles exerted more toxic response than silver ions in A. thaliana.</P>