Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology最新文献

In February 2023, a train derailment in Ohio caused a chemical spill and fires releasing contaminants into the air, soil, waterways, and buildings. The authors conducted a rapid response which included six field investigations and bench-scale experiments to understand the chemical identity, fate, and exposure pathways after the evacuation order was lifted. Multiple buildings were chemically contaminated and silicone wristband products inside a commercial building were found to have adsorbed derailment-related chemicals. The indoor air of this commercial building was found to be contaminated for 4.5 months after the derailment. Derailment chemicals were also found on building exteriors 5 weeks after the incident. Railcar chemicals were detected in the nearby creeks. Cleanup activities (sorbent pads, aerators) as well as creek hydraulic and environmental conditions influenced chemical fate in creeks. Creek mechanical aeration activities prompted VOC emission that contributed to human exposures and vapor intrusion. Atmospheric modeling revealed that the chemical plumes extended beyond the evacuation zone. Water was a consequential media associated with contaminant transport and human exposures found in the present study. Because the complexity, magnitude, and health threats posed to the community were not matched by efforts employed by the responding organizations, the population experienced continued exposures for months; workers as well as town visitors also experienced health symptoms. This study revealed unaddressed human exposure pathways. Also identified were crucial gaps requiring improved decision-making and technologies. Recommendations to better protect human health and the environment before and during a response to chemical incidents are provided.

Marine biofouling, which is related to the survival and reproduction of marine microorganisms, seriously limits uranium (U(VI)) extraction from seawater. In this work, the complex and varied effect of ultraviolet (UV) light on marine biofouling was revealed. Experimental results reveal that UV irradiation can influence and alter the biosynthesis pathways of amino acid, ribonucleic acid, glycoprotein and glycolipids and control the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) on the surface of the classic U(VI) extraction material poly(amidoxime) (PAO). The survival and reproduction of marine microorganisms on PAO surface can be effectively restrained by UV irradiation, and the adsorption capacities of PAO for U(VI) increase from ∼36.0 mg g⁻¹ to ∼56.0 mg g⁻¹ at pH 8.2 and 298 K. It results in the reduction of Cyanobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria phyla. The increased Proteobacteria phylum is important for the transformation of microorganisms in seawater. The change in the biological community reveals the excellent anti-biofouling effect of UV radiation in solving the marine biofouling problem during the uranium extraction task.

The increasing demand for high-quality drinking water has made the elimination of taste and odor (T&O) substances from drinking water a matter of growing importance. This study offers a comprehensive overview of research advancements in T&O compound removal from drinking water, employing bibliometric tools to visually analyze pertinent literature. A combined total of 1569 articles were collected from the Web of Science Core Citation Database and China National Knowledge Infrastructure Citation Database, covering the period from 1997 to 2023. The study identified three distinct developmental stages in this field, with a notable surge in publications since 2018. Environmental and Ecology publications make up the majority of the publications in this category. Water Research (with 50 articles and an average of 10.46 citations) emerged as the most prolific journal, while the Journal of Environmental Sciences (with 8 articles and an average of 13.38 citations) was the most frequently cited journal. China and the United States made notable contributions to the field, with China having a total citation count of 117 and a total link strength of 16, while the USA had 74 citations and a link strength of 16. Keyword clustering analysis reveals that researchers primarily concentrate on conventional water treatment processes and physical or chemical techniques for removing T&O compounds produced by algae and the impact of by-products. Finally, we suggest the following areas for future research on T&O compounds, including precise traceability, in situ treatment, combined treatment, and toxicity studies of odorants and their degradation products. Overall, this bibliometric study lays the foundation for further advancements in T&O compound treatment to ensure the delivery of safe and odor-free water to the public.

Organic micropollutants (OMPs) are now frequently found in wastewater and pose a risk to human and environmental health. This study utilizes an in-house developed plasma source and KrCl* excilamp (far UV-C at 222 nm), a conventional UV (LPUV at 254 nm) lamp and the combinations of plasma with LPUV/far UV-C for the degradation of sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and carbamazepine (CBZ). At first, the concentrations of plasma-produced long-lived (such as H₂O₂, NO₃⁻, NO₂⁻) and short-lived (such as ·HO) reactive species have been quantified. Accordingly, the role of plasma-produced reactive species in the degradation of CBZ and SMX under UV 222 has been reported. In the case of DIW/plasma + UV 222, the complete degradation of CBZ and SMX only takes 15 and 10 minutes, respectively. Furthermore, the degradation rate considerably accelerated in TW, and CBZ and SMX completely degraded in just 12 and 8 minutes, respectively. Moreover, the degradation rate of CBZ in DIW is found to be 25 times higher when using plasma + UV 222 compared to using plasma + LPUV and 114 times higher compared to LPUV alone. This is due to the abundance of ·OH (46.7 × 10⁻⁸ M s⁻¹) generated under UV 222 from plasma-produced reactive species. The required electrical energy per order for the OMP degradation from this hybrid process is relatively low (73.38 kW h m⁻³), which makes it an energy-efficient approach. This study provides a fresh perspective to broaden the application of plasma coupling with UV 222 for treating wastewater containing numerous OMPs.

Obtaining a superhydrophobic surface is key for constructing membrane distillation systems for desalination. Although perfluoroalkyl materials have been proven to be good candidates for membrane distillation, the lack of a friendly approach to treat waste perfluoroalkyl-based membranes has attracted significant concern. Herein, we propose a simple strategy for the preparation of superhydrophobic polylactic acid (PLA) nanofibre membranes. PLA nanofibres were coated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) via coaxial electrostatic spinning technique, and 0.1% fluorine-modified silica (F-SiO₂) nanoparticles were embedded in the nanofibres to form nanoscale projections, which can increase roughness. Results showed that the coating of the low-surface-energy material PDMS and the nanoscale projections of F-SiO₂ endowed the membrane with excellent superhydrophobicity. The presence of the biodegradable material PLA and only 0.1% fluorine-containing substances made the membrane environment friendly. In addition, a large-pore-size high-flux support layer could maximize transmembrane vapor transfer while a small-pore-size high-rejection selective layer could avoid brine wetting and exhibited excellent salt rejection. The flux of the membrane reached 6.87 L m⁻² h⁻¹ and rejection was higher than 99%. Therefore, the PPF-AS membrane, as a superhydrophobic membrane, has wide potential for application in the field of MD.

The work examined the effect of seawater passivation on microbially influenced corrosion (MIC) of CuNi 70/30 alloy when tested with sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB). The experiments were performed in two stages. In stage I, CuNi 70/30 samples were passivated in natural filtered and pasteurized seawater for 35 days. Electrochemical tests showed that passivated samples had improved corrosion resistance compared to non-passivated samples, as demonstrated by higher linear polarization resistance, lower corrosion current densities, and higher charge transfer resistance values. In stage II, the MIC performance of 35 days seawater passivated samples was investigated and compared with control non-passivated samples. Samples were immersed in modified Baar's medium with and without SRB for 28 days under anaerobic conditions. The results showed that the passivated samples experience greater MIC susceptibility as compared to the non-passivated samples. This unexpected susceptibility is attributed to the existence of a copper oxide film on the surface of the passivated samples, which converted into copper sulfide film in the presence of SRB, leading to film cracking driven by structural changes at the oxide/sulfide film interface. The defective and porous surface film significantly contributes to the accelerated corrosive attack of the exposed base metal.

Reduced graphene oxide modified CoFe₂O₄ (CoFe₂O₄/rGO) magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were synthesized by employing an in situ crystallization microwave irradiation method. The morphology and textural properties of CoFe₂O₄/rGO were characterized using SEM, TEM, BET/BJH and XPS. GO was reduced to rGO via the thermal catalysis of Co(acac)₂, which contributed to expanding the effective microwave absorption bandwidth of carbon-based materials. The lattice stability of CoFe₂O₄ effectively improved Snoek's limit and protected the catalytic active site distribution of CoFe₂O₄/rGO nanoparticles. The CoFe₂O₄/rGO composites were selected as a heterogeneous catalyst to initiate the activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and degrade 2-aminobenzothiazole (ABT) in a water sample. Under optimal conditions, the coupling of CoFe₂O₄/rGO and PMS can completely degrade ABT in aqueous solutions within 90 minutes. The effect of inorganic anions, metal cations and humic acid (HA) on the degradation efficiency of ABT was explored. Experimental results showed that the presence of HA and low concentrations of Cu²⁺ enhanced the process performance remarkably, while the addition of NO₃⁻, SO₄²⁻, Zn²⁺, Cd²⁺ and high concentrations of Cu²⁺ suppressed the degradation of ABT. Meanwhile, the absence of Cl⁻ and HCO₃⁻ presented no significant influence on the degradation. Radical quenching experiments indicated that SO₄⁻·, ·OH and non-free radicals of ¹O₂ were involved in the CoFe₂O₄/rGO-PMS system, with the former two being the dominating radical species. A degradation efficiency of 100% was obtained when the proposed method was applied to the degradation of ABT in actual water samples. The CoFe₂O₄/rGO catalyst-activated PMS processes offered a reference to eliminate refractory organics in water.

Algal blooms, driven by nutrient enrichment from nitrogen and phosphorus, pose significant challenges to water treatment processes, particularly due to the accumulation of extracellular organic matter (EOM). This study investigates the impact of EOM accumulation on the growth of Chlorella sp. and Microcystis aeruginosa—during a 36 day cyclic cultivation period, focusing on the effects of bound EOM (bEOM) and dissolved EOM (dEOM) on nutrient uptake and disinfection by-product (DBP) formation. The cultivation period was divided into three phases (R1, R2, and R3), with algal cell counts measured every 4 days using a flow cytometer, while changes in bEOM and dEOM were quantified. Nutrient uptake rates for nitrogen (N) and phosphate (P) were also evaluated per cycle, alongside analysis of critical organic precursors for disinfection by-products (DBPs). Results showed that the N and P uptake rates remained relatively stable for both alga types across all cycles. However, Chlorella sp. cell growth decreased to 20% after the third cycle, whereas M. aeruginosa maintained approximately 80% growth. This significant difference in growth inhibition between Chlorella sp. and M. aeruginosa was closely linked to the rate of bEOM accumulation. M. aeruginosa exhibited a three times faster accumulation rate of bEOM per cell compared to Chlorella sp. after the third cycle, which resulted from fewer remaining nutrients and the significant increase in pH during cyclic culturing. Further analysis revealed that DBPs derived from intracellular organic matter (IOM) were consistently higher than those from dEOM regardless of the cultivation phase. However, the formation potential of trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) decreased by approximately 62% and 37%, respectively, for M. aeruginosa, while the formation potential of THMs and HAAs showed a minimal variation for Chlorella sp. In conclusion, bEOM accumulation on the algal cell surface following cultivation significantly impacts phosphate uptake and cell proliferation, particularly in Chlorella sp.

Developing a facile preparation method to construct separable and recyclable Fenton-like catalysts holds great significance in the field of environmental remediation. Herein, a rapid dopamine (DA) polymerization strategy to modify melamine foam (MF) was proposed for the construction of bulk foam catalytic materials, which was further utilized for peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation to degrade organic pollutants. Taking advantage of the chelation between dopamine's catechol group and Fe³⁺, as well as the oxidative environment provided by H₂O₂, DA could encapsulate and polymerize on the surface of MF within 2 h to obtain the MF@Fe@PDA catalyst. Detailed experimental results demonstrated that MF@Fe@PDA could efficiently activate PMS to achieve almost 100% removal of bisphenol A (BPA) in 20 min, and the corresponding turnover frequency (TOF) value was one order of magnitude higher than that of the homogeneous (Fe²⁺, Fe³⁺) and nanoparticle (Fe⁰) catalysts. The high activity of the MF@Fe@PDA/PMS system stemmed from the Fe sites and carbonyl group (CO), which could induce the activation of PMS for the rapid generation of singlet oxygen (¹O₂), sulfate radical (SO₄˙⁻) and hydroxyl radicals (˙OH). Meanwhile, the coexisting bicarbonate ions (HCO₃⁻) in the MF@Fe@PDA/PMS system could enhance the generation of ¹O₂, thereby accelerating the degradation of BPA. Moreover, a flow-through system assisted by the bulk MF@Fe@PDA catalyst was constructed for organic pollutant degradation. Overall, these findings may open up new possibilities for developing highly efficient catalysts for wastewater remediation.

Four different CuO particles were synthesized, with no surfactant (CuO/NS) and with three surfactants: Triton X-100 (CuO/TX100), cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CuO/CTAB) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (CuO/SDS). The filtration behavior of these particles at different concentrations with two UF membranes (PAN and PES), was studied. More than 99% CuO removal was obtained in all experiments, while the membrane fluxes showed variations. At 50 and 100 mg L⁻¹ CuO concentrations, the normalized flux values were either 1.0, indicating no change, or were greater than 1.0, suggesting that the filtration of CuO particles improved the membrane flux. However, at 50 mg L⁻¹, CuO/TX100 showed a significant flux decline for PES by 10%, while at 100 mg L⁻¹ a 15% flux decline was observed for CuO/CTAB with PAN. At lower CuO/NS particle concentrations (<50 mg L⁻¹), PAN showed a much larger flux decline of up to 27%, whereas the PES performance was more stable with a maximum decline of 5%. When the Cu²⁺ mass distribution was studied in the membrane system, the copper mass within the membrane for all types of particles was considerably larger for the PAN membrane than for the PES membrane. FT-IR results confirmed the appearance of new functional groups on PAN after the filtration of CuO/NS, indicating a possible interaction between Cu²⁺ and the membrane.