Current Pollution Reports最新文献

Purpose of Review

Packaged reverse osmosis (RO) systems are often synonymous with industrial water supply and high quality water reuse. These RO systems can satisfy specific industries with stringent water quality specifications. They are also compact for deployment in basement of commercial buildings for sewer mining. Increasing applications of packaged RO systems opens the door for digital transformation of their design, operation, and maintenance for a quantum leap in system performance (energy consumption, treatment efficiency, and cost). This review summarises opportunities and challenges associated with the digitalisation of packaged RO systems and guide the industry to take advantage of these opportunities.

Recent Findings

Digital connectivity and machine learning offer a game changing capability to packaged RO systems. With digital capability, it is more cost-effective to design, operate, and manage these RO systems. Performance can be optimised via a range of approaches that are not possible with traditional human intervention. For example, hybrid systems that require sophistication control and prediction can benefit from big data analytics. On the other hand, other system that needs less intervention can work autonomously with little human intervention.

Summary

Automatic high-quality water treatment systems have attracted significant attention in recent years. This review identified a gap in understanding variable possibilities that machine learning and prediction can be successfully utilized by RO systems. This review confirms that artificial intelligence and machine learning can improve the way these systems work. Future research should strive to achieve a better way to apply these applications in packaged RO systems.

Abstract

Algae, as a low-impact aquatic feedstock, is regarded as a promising biomass for producing valuable biofuel, syngas, and biochar. Algae, on the other hand, are mostly composed of lipids, proteins, and carbohydrates, as opposed to lignocellulosic biomass. Algal species have a faster growth rate and higher photosynthetic efficiency than terrestrial plants, making them an excellent alternative for a sustainable environment. Algal biomass has shown great promise as a raw material for biochar production in recent years. Algae biochar has a high potential for use as a material for contamination remediation and energy application. This review paper summarizes the applicability of algal biochar, algal biochar modification strategies, fabrication methods, and algal biochar properties. Carbon sequestration, sediment and water treatment, and energy applications are all thoroughly discussed. More emphasis should be placed on practical applications, and more research should be conducted to address existing problems.

Purpose of Review

Global warming and pollution are among the five major causes of global biodiversity loss, particularly in aquatic invertebrates which are highly diverse but understudied. In this review, we highlight advancements in current environmental studies investigating the interactive effects between warming and contaminants in freshwater and marine invertebrates. We not only focused on temperate regions but also synthesized information on the less studied Arctic/Antarctic and tropical regions.

Recent Findings

In general, the same combination of warming and contaminants may result in either additive or non-additive interactive effects depending on taxa, the response variable, life stage, genotype, exposure level, duration and order of exposure, and the number of exposed generations. For traditional contaminants such as metals and pesticides, combined effects with warming at the individual level were generally synergistic. Growing evidence suggests that multigenerational exposure can shift the interaction between warming and contaminants toward antagonism, while contemporary evolution may change the interaction type.

Summary

Our synthesis highlights the importance of temporal aspects in shaping interaction type, including order of exposure, ontogenetic effects, transgenerational effects, and evolution. The combination of laboratory experiments (to advance mechanistic understanding) and outdoor mesocosm studies or field observations (to increase realism) is needed to obtain comprehensive assessments of interactive effects of warming and pollutants from genes to ecosystems.

Purpose of Review

Ionic liquids (ILs) are organic salts composed of organic cations and organic/inorganic anions that are liquid at room temperature. ILs are considered “green” solvents; however, with the widespread application of ILs in the chemical industry, research has determined that ILs may persist in the soil environment and exert toxicological impact on ecological receptors. This paper reviews the status of ILs residues in soil, their effect on soil biota, limitations of current studies, and emerging research areas for ILs.

Recent Findings

The ILs change the physical and chemical properties of soil by reducing pH and improving electrical conductivity. Ionic liquids may be absorbed by plants and animals, causing oxidative stress and DNA damage. Exposure to ILs may also impact soil microorganisms, changing the structure of soil microbial community, and impacting their functionality.

Summary

This review highlights that IL fate and transport are influenced by the size of the alkyl chain. Those with longer carbon chains with the same anion, normally have smaller median lethal concentrations (LC₅₀) to earthworms, which indicates that IL toxicity increases with increasing carbon chain length. As such, the relationship between structure, mobility, and toxicity should be considered in the development and application of ILs. In the future, long-term monitoring of ILs residues and distribution in the environment will be required. Degradation products and the toxicity of degradation products should also be further identified.

Graphical Abstract

This paper summarized the ways in which ILs enter the soil environment, identified methods for the detection of ILs in environmental matrices, and detailed the environmental behavior (absorption, transfer/biological uptake, and degradation) of ILs in soil including ecological impacts on invetebrates, plants, and microorganisms.

Purpose of Review

In countries such the USA, Iran, and Turkey, pistachio nut is considered one of the most economically valuable agricultural products. Pistachio production and related dehulling processes generate a large quantity of organic waste, containing green hull, cluster woody part, shells, and leaves. The inadequate conventional management of such wastes calls for sustainable and economical strategies not only to enhance resource efficiency but also to create value.

Recent Findings

Pistachio residues have a high content of total extractives and essential oils and a considerable amount of phenolic compounds that explain their good antioxidant activities and other potential human health benefits. Furthermore, considering the generation volume (about 660,000 tons) and lignocellulosic structure, pistachio residues can also be sustainably used to produce value-added products, such as biofuels, phytochemicals, activated carbon, and other potential bioproducts such as filamentous fungi as protein enriched biomass, single-cell protein (SCP), and volatile fatty acids. In general, recent studies have not  comprehensively investigated all value-added potential products.

Summary

This review provides a thourough insight into the present pistachio processing industries, and pistachio waste chemical composition and characteristics. Furthermore, the applications of pistachio residues as a renewable source for the production of potential value-added products by various thermochemical (pyrolysis, gasification, and liquefaction), physicochemical (solvent extraction, ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), and extraction by pressurized liquids (PLE)), and biological (anaerobic digestion (AD) and fermentation (solid-state and submerged)) processes are presented including an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of such methods. In this regard, production of new products such as edible filamentous fungi and antioxidant, and their market appeal has been briefly considered.

Purpose of Review

This review aims to analyze the effects of the pandemic on the world’s sound environment.

Recent Findings

The confinements associated with the pandemic led to a reduction in sound levels worldwide and a change in the perception of soundscapes in the absence of traffic noise and human-generated noise.

Summary

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries and regions around the world adopted a series of interventions in 2020 that have been referred to as “lockdown” or “confinement.” These sets of restrictions had a clear and obvious consequence derived from the absence of people in the streets and the reduction of daily activity and commuting, which caused an unprecedented silencing on a large scale. Along with the silence that ensued, the pandemic and the confinements affected acoustics and our relationship with sounds on different scales. In the cities, this phenomenon had a strong reduction in acoustic intensity due to the absence of vehicles on the streets. Perhaps this was more perceptible in our neighborhoods, with notable changes in their soundscapes, first due to the absence of people in the streets and later due to more outdoor activity derived from the fear of the spread of the virus in indoor spaces. The longer periods of time spent in our homes during the lockdowns also highlighted the importance of sound insulation in buildings and the acoustic conditioning of our schools or homes.

Biochar is a stable carbonaceous material obtained on pyrolysing biomass. Although it possesses crucial properties of high surface area, porosity, surface functionality, and sorption capacity, there is immense scope to augment these properties for effective contaminant sorption. Physical and chemical modifications enhance surface area, porosity, and contents of oxygen-containing functional groups. While acidic modifications augment surface functional groups and cation exchange capacity, alkaline modifications increase aromaticity, hydrophobicity, and π-π interactions. Impregnation with metals amplifies magnetic properties, availability of active sites, chemisorption, electrostatic attraction, and complexation. These modifications assist in sorption of cationic and anionic contaminants. Accordingly, the present study reviews modified biochars which promote eco-friendly contaminant removal. Moreover, various biomass and modification methods utilised for modified biochar production have been elaborated along with the changes in physico-chemical properties. Importantly, mechanistic insights into the functional role of modified biochars for removal of contaminants have been provided. Further, the impact of ageing on modified biochars and their contaminant adsorption performance have been discussed. Lastly, the feasibility and limitations of various biochar modification methods in addition to different research gaps have been presented to create a road map for future investigations. Waste management and contaminant remediation are the need of the hour for planet survivability, which could be achieved by precise biochar modification.

Graphical abstract

Purpose of Review

In recent years, anthropogenic activities have caused metal pollution in the sediments of stagnant water bodies, and thus threatening aquatic ecosystems and human health. Therefore, determining the potential ecological risks, contamination degree, and possible sources of metals in sediment of stagnant water bodies is essential for effective management of metal pollution. In this study, we used contamination and risk assessment indices together with multivariate statistics to determine ecological risks and contamination degree of 14 metals in sediments of three important stagnant water bodies (Ladik Lake and Yedikır and Değirmendere dam lakes) in northern Turkey. In addition, the effects of organic matter (OM) and pH on metal accumulation in the sediments were also investigated.

Recent Findings

The mean contents of Al, V, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, and Pb did not differ significantly among the water bodies studied (p > 0.05). The Ladik Lake sediments had significantly lower pH level and higher OM content (p < 0.05). Contamination indices indicated that there was no significant metal contamination in the sediments of all water bodies. Similarly, ecological risk indices indicated that metals posed low ecological risks in the water bodies. According to the sediment quality guidelines, metals would not cause harm to benthic organisms. The accumulation of most metals in the Yedikır Dam Lake was controlled by OM, while the distribution of some metals was affected by both OM and pH in the Değirmendere Dam Lake. According to the factor analysis, all metals in the sediments of the water bodies studied mainly originated from natural sources.

Summary

The results of this study revealed that sediment contamination indices, ecological risk assessment methods, sediment quality guidelines, and multivariate statistics can be used as effective approaches in determining the environmental and ecological risks and pollution sources of metals in the sediments of stagnant water bodies. Thus, this study can provide important information for the ecological risk assessment and management of metals in the sediments of stagnant water bodies.

Purpose of Review

Estimating the associations between health effects and source-specific particulate matter (PM) exposure is critical to understand how PM exposure impacts health and to develop effective policies in protecting public health against PM pollution. In this paper, global studies in the past 6 years (07/27/2016 to 06/30/2022) on the associations between source-specific PM exposure and health effects were reviewed to understand the development of source apportionment (SA) technology in the epidemiological studies on PM and health effects. We searched the PubMed database and finally obtained 51 articles.

Recent Findings

The combinations of SA models and epidemiological models were conducted in these studies to address the source-specific health effects. A systematic review of these studies revealed that PM emitted from different sources contributed to those health effects, and these effects varied greatly with regions. Moreover, we discussed the effects of secondary aerosols on health outcomes, the consistency of source and its marker constituents in the effects on health outcomes, exposure error and spatial misclassification of the source exposure, and future applications of the SA technologies in epidemiological studies.

Summary

More studies in the different regions on health effects associated with source-specific PM are required to determine how source-specific exposure impacts health.