Environment Index

Management of heavy metal-contaminated soil under drought and other harsh hydrological conditions is critical for protecting soil ecosystem services. In this study, we examined the effect of pig manure digestate-derived biochar as a soil amendment (15 t ha−1) with N fertilizer (180 kg ha−1) on soil and plant heavy metal levels and nutrient availability under various moisture regimes (optimal moisture ~15%, drought condition ≤5%, and flooded condition ≥35% wt.). It was observed that biochar applications significantly decreased heavy metals in the spring wheat plants, lowering Cr by 90%, Ni by 50%, Cd by 9% and Pb by 34% compared to non-biochar (control) treatments. However, the pig digestate-derived biochar increased heavy metals in soil under all moisture regimes, increasing soil Cr by 21%, Ni by 43%, Cu by 55%, Zn by 70%, and Pb by 12%. The availability of macroelements also increased with the biochar applications under the optimum moisture regimes in both soil and plants, increasing Mg2+ by 11%, P by 4%, K+ by 50%, and Ca2+ by 56% in the soil, and Mg2+ by 13%, P by 69%, K+ by 29, and Ca2+ by 39% in plants. Biochar addition also improved chlorophyll fluorescence (CF) levels in the crop for the entire season (12th to 62nd day) and the aboveground crop biomass and dry matter contents both increased. Consequently, the use of pig manure digestate-derived biochar with N fertilizer under normal moisture conditions was able to reduce heavy metal availability to plants and thus could be used in contaminated soils to maintain better crop growth and development.

The articles appearing in this special issue on Biochar as an Option for Sustainable Resource Management are mainly the extended versions of the contributions presented in Biochar COST Action meetings, especially at the International Biochar conference held September 2015 at Geisenheim University (Germany), which was the final conference of the COST Action TD1107.

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) interacts with dissolved trace metal affecting their mobility and bioavailability through the formation of DOC–metal complexes. Several types of biochar (BC) produced from slow pyrolysis of wood chips (WC), lignin (LG), and digested sewage sludge at 450 and 700°C were tested for DOC leaching via batch and up-flow percolation test methods. Trace metal (Cd, Cu, and Pb) speciation modelling in BC eluates was carried out combining measured data (i.e., DOC, pH, temperature, and dissolved trace metal concentrations) with data reported in the literature regarding fractions of DOC that are inert or active (i.e., fulvic acids (FA) and humic acids (HA)) in metal binding. BC from LG (BCLG) and WC (BCWC) at 700°C released lower cumulative amounts of DOC compared with BC at 450°C in the range 0.02–0.07% and 0.06–0.09% of total carbon content, respectively. For both pyrolysis temperatures, BCWC exhibited a higher tendency to release DOC compared to BCLG. Speciation modelling results showed the predominance of FA and HA complexes of Cd, Cu, and Pb in all the eluates from BCWC and BCLG irrespective of the inert fractions of DOC or the different fractions of active FA and HA considered.

The propagation of electromagnetic radiation was investigated a t different points, and the theory of covariance was applied to identify the main parameters by recording the max, mean and min values of density. The biggest electric field strength values are emitted by the second generation (2G) GSM mobile phones that operate in the frequency band of 900 MHz. The smaller electric field strength values are determined by the higher frequency (1800 MHz) used by mobile phones and smaller maximum power, the maximum of which reaches up to 1 W. Third generation (3G) UMTS smart phones that operate in the frequency band of 2100 MHz, emit smallest electric field strength values during the conversation. The values of digital arrays of measurement of the electromagnetic field energy flux density of interrelated covar iance functions and digital arrays of individual covariance functions were identified. Data concerning interrelated covariances and auto-covariances of electromagnetic field energy flux density in a time scale are presented by means of the Matlab 7 software package.

Organic components, widely spread in water by industrial sources become emerging Contaminants in the water. Due deficient removal in conventional wastewater treatments, advanced treatment should be considered for industrial wastewaters removing. Advance oxidation processes (AOPs) can be used as an effective subset of chemical treatment for degradation of toxic from water in industrial processing plant. Two Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods based on hybrid SWARA-WASPAS are organized to investigate efficiency of different sort of AOPs: ozonation, fenton, electrochemical Oxidation, UV/Photo-catalysis, UV/H2O2. Based on MCDM, Fenton is the most possible AOPs for application in wastewater treatment areas. In this study, SWARA is deployed in evaluating criteria that were identified in literature review, and WASPAS is used for evaluating and ranking the methods. The main point of this study is based on real data.

Evaluation based on Distance from Average Solution (EDAS) is a new multicriteria decision making (MCDM) method, which is based on the distances of alternatives from the average scores of attributes. Classical EDAS has been already extended by using ordinary fuzzy sets in case of vague and incomplete data. In this paper, we propose an interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy EDAS method, which is based on the data belonging to membership, nonmembership, and hesitance degrees. A sensitivity analysis is also given to show how robust decisions are obtained through the proposed intuitionistic fuzzy EDAS. The proposed intuitionistic fuzzy EDAS method is applied to the evaluation of solid waste disposal site selection alternatives. The comparative and sensitivity analyses are also included.

Wastewater treatment loadings with total nitrogen can increased by introducing fugate that is saturated with ammonium ions, generated when dewatering wastewater treatment sludge. In this article the possibility to reduce the concentration of ammonium ions in the fugate by the use of natural zeolite (Transcarpatian clinoptilolite) has been analysed. Lab-scale experiments were carried out with different particle sizes zeolite: 0.8–1.6 mm, 1.6–2.5 mm and 2.5–3.2 mm. At the first stage of the experiments, zeolite particles were mixed with fugate and left to settle until a 99% efficiency of ammonium ion removal was achieved. At the second stage, ammonium ions were removed from the fugate by filtering this liquid through zeolite where the 70–92% efficiency was achieved. Zeolite saturated with ammonium ions possibly can be used in agriculture as nitrogenous fertilizers. Obtained fertilizer grade of zeolite saturated with fugate can also be produced from the high ammonium nitrogen concentration side-streams separated from wastewater flow from sludge digestion processes.

The paper deals with the different environmental discourses and the question whether the city is a creative environment. The theses have been developed as follows: 1) there are different environmental discourses including technological, sociological, ecological, religious, philosophical (ethical), urban, and discourse of creativity; 2) a novelty of a discourse follows from the interdisciplinary character, i.e. from a combination of the discourses; 3) a city both attracts and turns away the creative workers: here there are many occasions of creative activities and spreading of creation, however at the same time there is an anti-ecological environment that also uniforms creation; 4) although cosmopolitanism and globalism are intimately connected, they could be evaluated as two contrary principles: the first one is to be connected with the principle of difference, the latter – with the principle of unification; 5) although there are many debates concerning such social formation as the creative class, it is the main element and engine of a creative society.

The aim of this research is to determine metal leaching from concrete specimens containing different quantities of waste recovered from copper indium selenide (CIS) solar module by replacing a certain share of sand aggregate. During the first stage of research the CIS solar module was shredded and leaching tests were performed on recovered waste by analysing six metals – Na, Mg, Fe, Cd, Cu and Zn. It has been determined that out of all metals analysed, the highest leaching was observed for sodium, while the highest leaching out of the heavy metals was found for zinc. In Phase II of the study concrete specimens with shredded CIS module waste were made and the physical properties of these specimens as well as the leaching of the same metals was determined. The results have shown that three metals, namely Fe, Cd, Zn, were successfully immobilised and did not leach from the specimens.

Urban storm water runoff (USWR) often transports various trace metals, affecting the quality of receiving waters. Metal concentration and speciation in USWR were investigated by analysing data collected during a storm event on 19 July 2012. USWR samples were taken from a low–traffic intensity road, a pathway in a car–free pedestrian zone, and a galvanized metal roof located in the area of Vingio Park in the city of Vilnius, Lithuania. The metals were mostly in the insoluble form at all three sites, being more than 80% of the total amount measured, irrespective of the water quality characteristics and types of surface area. The partitioning coefficient (log Kd) of trace metals decreases in the order Zn > Cu ≈ Mn ≈ Pb >> Cd. The USWR types characterized by a higher pH or dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration produced a higher fraction of Cd, Mn, Pb, and Zn bound to fulvic acids (FA).