Rui A.R. Boaventura

Sediments as monitors of heavy metal contamination in the Ave river basin (Portugal): multivariate analysis of data.

The concentrations of heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) were determined in river sediments collected at the Ave river basin (Portugal) to obtain a general classification scenery of the pollution in this highly polluted region. Multivariate data analysis techniques of clustering, principal components and eigenvector projections were used in this classification. Five general areas with different polluting characteristics were detected and several individual heavy metal concentration abnormalities were detected in restricted areas. A good correlation between the overall metal contamination determined by multivariate analysis and metal pollution indexes for all sampling stations was obtained. Some preliminary experiments showed that the metal concentrations normalised to the volatile matter content in the sediment fraction with grain size <63 microm seems to be an adequate method for assessing metal pollution.

Arsenic and antimony in water and wastewater: Overview of removal techniques with special reference to latest advances in adsorption

Arsenic and antimony are metalloids, naturally present in the environment but also introduced by human activities. Both elements are toxic and carcinogenic, and their removal from water is of unquestionable importance. The present article begins with an overview of As and Sb chemistry, distribution and toxicity, which are relevant aspects to understand and develop remediation techniques. A brief review of the recent results in analytical methods for speciation and quantification was also provided. The most common As and Sb removal techniques (coagulation/flocculation, oxidation, membrane processes, electrochemical methods and phyto and bioremediation) are presented with discussion of their advantages, drawbacks and the main recent achievements. Literature review on adsorption and biosorption were focused in detail. Considering especially the case of developing countries or rural communities, but also the finite energy resources that over the world are still dependent, recent research have focused especially readily available low-cost adsorbents, as minerals, wastes and biosorbents. Many of these alternative sorbents have been presenting promising results and can be even superior when compared to the commercial ones. Sorption capacities were accurately compiled for As(III,V) and Sb(III,V) species in order to provide to the reader an easy but detailed comparison. Some aspects related to experimental conditions, comparison criteria, lack of research studies, economic aspects and adsorption mechanisms were critically discussed.

Fenton oxidation of cork cooking wastewater—overall kinetic analysis

In the present work, the possibility of using chemical oxidation through Fentons reagent for the pre-treatment of cork cooking wastewaters was exploited. Aiming both the selection of the best operating conditions (pH, Fe2+:H2O2 ratio and initial H2O2 concentration) and the evaluation of the overall reaction kinetics, trials were performed in a batch reactor. Operating at pH = 3.2, H2O2 concentration = 10.6 g/L and Fe2+:H2O2 ratio = 1:5 (by weight), about 66.4% of total organic carbon (TOC), 87.3% of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and 70.2% of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) were removed and an increase of the BOD5/COD ratio from 0.27 to 0.63 was achieved. In the temperature range 20-50 degrees C, the best performance was obtained at 30 degrees C. The kinetic study was undertaken at different initial TOC concentrations and temperatures. Overall kinetics can be described by a second-order followed by a zero-order rate equation and the apparent kinetic constants at 30 degrees C are k = 2.3 x 10(-4) L/mg min and k0 = 26.0 mg/L min, respectively. The experiments performed at different temperatures confirmed the global kinetic model and allowed to calculate the global activation energy for the second-order reaction (70.7 kJ/mol).

Phenol biodegradation by Pseudomonas putida DSM 548 in a batch reactor

Phenol biodegradation in a batch reactor using a pure culture of Pseudomonas putida DSM 548 was studied. The purpose of the experiments was to determine the kinetics of biodegradation by measuring biomass growth rates and phenol concentration as a function of time in a batch reactor. The Haldane equation µ=µ(m)S/((K(s)+S+S(2))/K(i)) adequately describes cell growth with kinetic constants µ(m)=0.436h(-1), K(s)=6.19mgl(-1), K(i)=54.1mgl(-1). These values are in the range of those published in literature for pure or mixed cultures degrading phenol.

A review of the use of red mud as adsorbent for the removal of toxic pollutants from water and wastewater

Red mud (an aluminium industry waste) has received wide attention as an effective adsorbent for water pollution control, showing significant adsorption potential for the removal of various aquatic pollutants. In this review, an extensive list of red‐mud‐based adsorbents has been compiled and their adsorption capacities (maximum uptake value of the adsorbent for the pollutant or adsorbate being removed) for various aquatic pollutants (metal ions, dyes, phenolic compounds, inorganic anions) are presented. The review provides a summary of recent information obtained using batch studies and deals with the adsorption mechanisms involved. It is evident from the literature survey that red mud has been found to be efficient for the removal of various aquatic pollutants, especially arsenic and phosphate. However, there is still a need to investigate the practical utility of these adsorbents on a commercial scale.

Coconut-based biosorbents for water treatment — A review of the recent literature

Biosorption is an emerging technique for water treatment utilizing abundantly available biomaterials (especially agricultural wastes). Among several agricultural wastes studied as biosorbents for water treatment, coconut has been of great importance as various parts of this tree (e.g. coir, shell, etc.) have been extensively studied as biosorbents for the removal of diverse type of pollutants from water. Coconut-based agricultural wastes have gained wide attention as effective biosorbents due to low-cost and significant adsorption potential for the removal of various aquatic pollutants. In this review, an extensive list of coconut-based biosorbents from vast literature has been compiled and their adsorption capacities for various aquatic pollutants as available in the literature are presented. Available abundantly, high biosorption capacity, cost-effectiveness and renewability are the important factors making these materials as economical alternatives for water treatment and waste remediation. This paper presents a state of the art review of coconut-based biosorbents used for water pollution control, highlighting and discussing key advancement on the preparation of novel adsorbents utilizing coconut wastes, its major challenges together with the future prospective. It is evident from the literature survey that coconut-based biosorbents have shown good potential for the removal of various aquatic pollutants. However, still there is a need to find out the practical utility of such developed adsorbents on commercial scale, leading to the superior improvement of pollution control and environmental preservation.

Trout farm effluents: characterization and impact on the receiving streams

Effluents from three rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) farms located in Northern Portugal were characterized and their impact on the receiving streams was evaluated. Mean fish productions in the studied fish farms were 15, 55 and 500 t of trout per year, respectively. The feeding water was abstracted from Fornelo, Inha and Coura Rivers, at flow rates ranging from 1.2 (15 t year(-1) fish farm) to 4.8 litre s(-1) per ton annual fish production (500 t year(-1) fish farm). As the water flows through the farms, net variations in the chemical characteristics were observed: a mean reduction in the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration between 0.7 and 2.4 mg litre(-1); mean increases between 1.9 and 3.2 mg CaCO3 litre(-1) for total alkalinity, between 0.9 and 14 mg litre(-1) for BOD5, between 0.27 and 1.46 mg litre(-1) for ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N), between 0.060 and 0.579 mg litre(-1) for soluble phosphorus (PO4-P) and less than 16 mg litre(-1) for suspended solids; variations in the pH value and nitrate nitrogen concentration were not statistically significant (p<0.05). At the 500 t year(-1) fish farm it was also possible to detect net increases of total hardness (3.2 mg CaCO3 litre(-1)), electric conductivity (19 mS cm(-1)) and permanganate value (3.6 mgO2 litre(-1)). At the other farms net variations in these parameters were not significant. Net mass flow variations reported to the annual fish production are presented. The DO mass flow decreased, on average, between 255 and 549 g t(-1) of fish per day. The mean daily BOD5 increase ranged from 353 to 1510 g t(-1) of fish. The corresponding ranges for the other parameters were 105-157 g t(-1) for NH4-N, 24-62 g t(-1) for PO4-P, 348-1035 g CaCO3 t(-1) for total alkalinity and 224 x 10(6)-506 x 10(6) t(-1) for mesophilic bacteria. Daily net variations of suspended solids, total hardness, electric conductivity and permanganate value were below 1753 g t(-1), 342 g CaCO3 t(-1), 2081 mS cm t(-1) and 392 gO2 t(-1), respectively. Longitudinal concentration profiles for the most relevant parameters show the impact of the effluent discharges on the physico-chemical and bacteriological river water quality downstream from the trout farms. Analyzing the situations from a purely chemical point of view, the polluted stretches were 3, 5 and 12 km long downstream from the effluent discharges, respectively. The microbiological contamination extended over longer distances.

Sediments and aquatic mosses as pollution indicators for heavy metals in the Ave river basin (Portugal)

Analytical data are presented for concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn in sediments and aquatic bryophytes from the Ave river basin, Portugal. The relative abundance of aquatic bryophytes species was investigated. Fontinalis antipyretica was the most abundant. Natural background levels were determined for both plants and the fine fraction of sediments (< 63 μm) collected at uncontaminated sites. Contamination factors at each site were then calculated as the ratio between metal concentrations and background levels. The highest values were found in the Selho river for Cr and in the Este river for Cd, Cu and Zn. Leather tanning, metal plating and textile industries are the main sources of toxic metal contamination in these streams. Differences in contamination factors for plants and sediments are probably related to the hydraulic conditions in the streams. Rapidly flowing waters enhance the metal uptake by plants and the quiescent waters, upstream from weirs, allow the deposition of fine particles and promote metal accumulation in the sediments. Metal pollution indexes calculated as weighted averages of the individual metal contamination factors nevertheless showed a good correlation between mosses and sediments.

Treatment of textile effluent by chemical (Fenton's Reagent) and biological (sequencing batch reactor) oxidation.

The removal of organic compounds and colour from a synthetic effluent simulating a cotton dyeing wastewater was evaluated by using a combined process of Fentons Reagent oxidation and biological degradation in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR). The experimental design methodology was first applied to the chemical oxidation process in order to determine the values of temperature, ferrous ion concentration and hydrogen peroxide concentration that maximize dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and colour removals and increase the effluents biodegradability. Additional studies on the biological oxidation (SBR) of the raw and previously submitted to Fentons oxidation effluent had been performed during 15 cycles (i.e., up to steady-state conditions), each one with the duration of 11.5h; Fentons oxidation was performed either in conditions that maximize the colour removal or the increase in the biodegradability. The obtained results allowed concluding that the combination of the two treatment processes provides much better removals of DOC, BOD(5) and colour than the biological or chemical treatment alone. Moreover, the removal of organic matter in the integrated process is particularly effective when Fentons pre-oxidation is carried out under conditions that promote the maximum increase in wastewater biodegradability.

Color removal with natural adsorbents: modeling, simulation and experimental

The adsorption in some natural materials containing chitin namely, Squid (Loligo vulgaris) and Sepia (Sepia officinalis) pens, and Anodonta (Anodonta cygnea) shells for color removal from textile wastewaters was studied. A reactive and a direct green dyestuff, the Cibacron green T3G-E (CI reactive green 12) and the Solophenyl green BLE 155% (CI direct green 26) from CIBA, respectively, were selected for this study. Continuous experiments in a packed column at 20°C with the natural materials showed a large internal resistance to mass transfer. In order to improve the adsorbents performances, the materials were submitted to chemical treatment (demineralization and/or deproteinization). Isotherms at 20°C were determined for all systems and compared with the ones using the materials after chemical treatment. These results were fitted by both Langmuir and Freundlich models. The determined parameters showed that equilibrium adsorption capacities increased at least five times. These results and the mathematical simulation of the column runs showed that there are improvements both in equilibrium and kinetic data. The adsorbents physical and chemical properties before and after chemical treatment were briefly characterized in order to investigate the changes responsible for those improvements. Biodegradation of the direct dyestuff was observed during the column operation using both the Anodonta shell and Sepia pen. For these two systems the chemical treatment of the materials did not improve the color removal. Biodegradation was included in the developed model and the influence of the model parameters on the system behavior was analyzed.