Archives of Environmental Protection

The objective of the paper is to use life cycle assessment to compare environmental impact of different technologies used in the process of water disinfection. Two scenarios are developed for water disinfection life cycle at ZUW Raba water treatment plant: (1) historical, in which gaseous chlorine is used as a disinfectant and (2) actual, in which UV radiation and electrolytically generated sodium hypochlorite are used for that purpose. Primary data is supplemented with ecoinvent 3 database records. Environmental impact is assessed by IMPACT2002+ method and its midpoint and endpoint indicators that are calculated with the use of SimaPro 8.4 software. The focus of the assessment is on selected life cycle phases: disinfection process itself and the water distribution process that follows. The assessment uses the data on flows and emissions streams as observed in the Raba plant. As the results of primal analysis show, a change of disinfectant results in quantitative changes in THMs and free chlorine in water supplied to the water supply network. The results of analysis confirm the higher potential of THMs formation and higher environmental impact of the combined method of UV/NaClO disinfection in distribution phase and in whole life cycle, mainly due to the increase of human toxicity factors. However, during the disinfection phase, gaseous chlorine use is more harmful for environment. But the final conclusion states that water quality indicators are not significant in the context of LCA, while both disinfection and distribution phases are concerned.

To investigate the adsorptive properties of a local laterite deposited in Chenzhou, Hunan province, China, the adsorptive properties of the natural laterite were investigated by batch technique in this study. The effects of contact time, pH, ionic strength, temperature, and the concentration on adsorption properties were also analyzed. The obtained experimental results show that the main mineral composition of laterite is kaolinite and montmorillonite. The adsorption process achieved equilibrium within 60 minutes and 90 minutes for Sr(II) and Cr(VI), respectively. The adsorption capacities for Cr(VI) and Sr(II) by the laterite were about 7.25 mg·g^-1 and 8.35 mg·g^-1 under the given experimental conditions, respectively. The equilibrium adsorption data were fitted to the second-order kinetic equation. The adsorption capacity for Sr(II) onto the laterite increased with increasing pH from 3–11 but decreased with increasing ionic strength from 0.001 to 1.0 M NaCl. The Sr(II) adsorption reaction on laterite was endothermic and the process of adsorption was favored at high temperature. Similarly, the adsorption capacity for Cr(VI) onto the laterite increased with increasing pH from 3–11, however, the ionic strength and temperature had an insignificant effect on Cr(VI) adsorption. The adsorption of Cr(VI) and Sr(II) was dominated by ion exchange and surface complexation in this work. Furthermore, the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm model was used for the description of the adsorption process. The results suggest that the studied laterite samples can be effectively used for the treatment of contaminated wastewaters.

In the present study, the novel quaternary ammonium salt (QAS⁺), 1-methyl-di-octyl-1 phenyl ammonium iodide (QAS₁), was synthesized by complete alkylation reaction. Sodium montmorillonite (Mt) was modified via an ion-exchange reaction with QAS₁⁺. The modified material and quarternary ammonium salt (Mt₁ and QAS₁) were analyzed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Removal capacity of hydrophobic organic pollutants such as 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) and 2,4-dinitrophenol (2,4-DNP) from solution media of synthesized organoclay was evaluated. The optimum conditions and batch kinetics of adsorption of 4-nitrophenol and 2,4-dinitrophenol from aqueous solutions are reported. It was shown that the adsorption capacity decreased in the order 4-NP> 2,4-DNP. The total mass loss during the drying process was 66% and 78%, respectively. Thermodynamic parameters enthalpy (∆H⁰) and entropy (∆S⁰) and the mean free energy (E) for the adsorption of nitrophenol compounds (NCP) were determined.

The aim of this study was to determine the impact of the temperature of wastewater in a biological reactor with activated sludge and the BOD₅/N-NH₄ ratio in the influent to the treatment plant on nitrification efficiency and the concentration of ammonium nitrogen in treated wastewater. Tests were carried out in a household wastewater treatment plant which collects and treats sewage from a school building and a teacher’s house. During the 3-year study, large fluctuations in the sewage temperature in bioreactor were noted which was closely related to the ambient temperature. There were also large fluctuations in the concentration of organic matter and the concentration of ammonium nitrogen in inflowing sewage. The influence of wastewater temperature in the bioreactor and the BOD₅/N-NH₄ ratio on the concentration of ammonium nitrogen in treated wastewater was determined using Pearson’s linear correlation. A statistical analysis showed that a 1°C decrease in the temperature of wastewater in the bioreactor increased the concentration of ammonium nitrogen in treated wastewater by 2.64 mgN-NH₄·L^-1. Moreover, it was found that nitrification depended on the ratio of BOD₅ to the concentration of ammonium nitrogen in wastewater flowing into the bioreactor. An increase in the BOD₅/N-NH₄ ratio by 1 value led to a 5.41 mgN-NH₄·L^-1 decrease in the concentration of ammonium nitrogen.

Azo dye wastewater treatment is urgent necessary nowadays. Electrochemical technologies commonly enable more efficient degradation of recalcitrant organic contaminants than biological methods, but those rely greatly on the energy consumption. A novel process of biofilm coupled with electrolysis, i.e., bioelectrochemical system (BES), for methyl orange (MO) dye wastewater treatment was proposed and optimization of main influence factors was performed in this study. The results showed that BES had a positive effect on enhancement of color removal of MO wastewater and 81.9% of color removal efficiency was achieved at the optimum process parameters: applied voltage of 2.0 V, initial MO concentration of 20 mg/L, glucose loads of 0.5 g/L and pH of 8.0 when the hydraulic retention time (HRT) was maintained at 3 d, displaying an excellent color removal performance. Importantly, a wide range of effective pH, ranging from 6 to 9, was found, thus greatly favoring the practical application of BES described here. The absence of a peak at 463 nm showed that the azo bond of MO was almost completely cleaved after degradation in BES. From these results, the proposed method of biodegradation combined with electrochemical technique can be an effective technology for dye wastewater treatment and may hopefully be also applied for treatment of other recalcitrant compounds in water and wastewater.

The article presents results of an input-output data inventory and life cycle assessment (LCA) for individual wastewater treatment plants (IWWTPs), considering their whole life cycle, including the stage of construction, use and end-of-life. IWWTPs located in the area of a medium-sized town in Poland, were assessed from a systemic perspective. The research was conducted basing on actual data concerning performance of 304 individual wastewater treatment plants in Żory. Environmental assessment was conducted with ReCiPe and TRACI methods. Greenhouse gases (GHG) emission, eutrophication, fossil fuel and metal depletion were calculated. The LCA was conducted basing on ISO 14040 standard with SimaPro 8 software and Ecoinvent 3 database. The system boundary ranged from cradle to grave. It was shown that, at the construction stage, GHG emission depends on the amount of used cement, polyethylene, concrete, PVC and polypropylene. At the use stage, the GHG emission is determined by the sewage treatment technology and application of a bio-reactor in IWWTPs. At the construction stage, the fossil fuel depletion is determined by the amount of used polyethylene, PVC, cement, polypropylene and concrete; while the metal depletion is determined by the amount of used stainless steel, copper and cast iron. Data inventory and LCA of IWWTPs are presented for the first time. Conclusions of the work may support decisions taken by local governments concerning wastewater management in their area and promote and support solutions of high ecological standards.

One of the consequences of the dynamic technological development is the rapidly increasing amount of electro-waste (WEEE, e-waste). Because there are no uniform legal regulations regarding the ways of collecting such waste, the separate-collection systems used in various areas are not homogeneous, and they usually also differ in effectiveness. The aim of this study was to evaluate the electro-waste collection system implemented in Lublin (the largest city in Eastern Poland). Taking into account the fact that the reliability of a collection system depends on the degree of its adaptation to the functions it performs, the evaluation consisted in determining how big a problem improper electro-waste segregation was. The article presents the results of a study of the causes of citizens’ failure to properly manage e-waste and indicates what measures should be taken to amend the problem. During two research steps, 347 pieces of e-waste with a total weight of 77.218 kg were found in the analyzed waste samples (0.33% of all samples). This means that the mechanisms of selective e-waste collection still do not work correctly, despite the ten years of Poland’s membership in the EU and implementation of European legislation in this area. The fact that residents throw away electric waste into municipal mixed waste containers poses a serious problem for proper waste management – even if only a part of the e-waste is disposed in this illegal way. This indicates the necessity of improving waste collection (more frequent waste reception, convenient access to e-waste containers, raising public awareness, etc.).

The aim of the study was to determine the impact of selected factors on the reduction of organic pollutants, expressed in BOD₅ and COD_Cr, in wastewater treated in a laboratory scale model of moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR). The factors included in the experiment: the degree of filling the fluidized bed with biomass carriers, hydraulic load, and aeration intensity. The tested model of the bioreactor consisted of five independent chambers with diameter D = 0.14 m and height H = 2.0 m, which were filled with biomass carriers at 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 70% of their active volume. During the test period, hydraulic loads at the level of Q_h1 = 0.073 m³·m^-2·h^-1 and Q_h2 = 0.036 m³·m^-2·h^-1 were applied, which ensured one-day and two-day sewage retention, respectively.The said reactors were subjected to constant aeration at P₁ = 3.0 dm³·min^-1 and P₂ = 5.0 dm³·min^-1. The highest efficiency of the reduction of the analysed indicators was demonstrated by reactors filled with carriers in the degree of 40–60%. Based on the statistical analyses (the analyses of the ANOVA variations and the Kruskal-Wallis test) carried out, it was found that the studied factors significantly modified the mutual interaction in the process of reducing BOD₅ in treated wastewater of the reactors tested. The significance of the impact of the discussed factors on the values of the studied indicators in treated wastewater depends on mutual interactions between the investigated factors.

The aim of this work was to determine the influence of various variants of bioleaching on effectivity of releasing chosen critical metals: rhodium, cadmium, indium, niobium and chromium from ashes which are a byproduct of municipal waste and sewage sludge thermal processing. The research was conducted in 3 variants that considered different process factors such as temperature (24ºC and 37ºC), mixing intensity and aeration. After 5 days of the process the analyses were made of metals content, sulfate concentration, pH, general number of bacteria number, index of sulfur oxidizing bacteria. The best results of bioleaching were achieved by running the process at the temperature of 24ºC with aeration. The efficiency of rhodium and cadmium release from the byproduct of municipal waste thermal processing was above 90%. The efficiency of indium and chromium release reached 50–60%. Only niobium leached better in mixing conditions. The byproduct of sewage sludge thermal processing was far less susceptible to bioleaching. The highest effectivity (on a level of 50%) was reached for indium in temperature of 24°C with aeration. The efficiency of bioleaching depended on waste’s physiochemical properties and type of metal which will be released. Aeration with compressed air had a positive influence on the increase of sulfur oxidizing bacteria what corresponded with almost double increase of sulfate concentration in leaching culture. Such conditions had a positive influence on the increase of the efficiency of bioleaching process. Heightening the temperature to 37°C and slowly mixing did not impact bioleaching in a positive way.

The aim of the paper is to improve the phytoremediation features of the metallophyte Silene vulgaris through photo-stimulation of seeds using a semi-conductive laser. Seeds of two Silene vulgaris ecotypes were used in the experiment. One type of seeds – “Wiry” ecotype – originated from a site contaminated with heavy metals (a serpentinite waste heap), and the other ecotype – “Gajków” – was collected on a site with naturally low heavy metal content. The seeds of both types were preconditioned with laser light with previously fixed doses: C(D0), D1, D3, D5, D7, D9. The basic radiation dose was 2.5·10^-1 J·cm^-2. The soil for the experiment was serpentinite weathering waste. The seeds and plants were cultivated in the controlled conditions of a climatic chamber. Laser light indeed stimulated seed germinative capacity but better effects were obtained in “Wiry” ecotype, originating from a location contaminated with heavy metals. In the case of morphological features, a significant differentiation of stem length was found for different ecotypes, dosages and the interactions of these factors. The study showed a strong influence of laser radiation on selected element concentrations in above-ground parts of Silene vulgaris, though “Wiry” ecotype clearly accumulated more heavy metals and magnesium than the “Gajków” ecotype.

The aim of the study was verification of the response of chamomile (Matricaria recutita (L.) Rauschert), peppermint (Mentha x piperita) lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.), and sage (Salvia officinalis L.) on the elevated contents of inorganic As species in soils. The ability of herbs to accumulate arsenic was tested in pot experiment in which soils were contaminated by As(III) and As(V). The As(III), As(V), AB (arsenobetaine), MMA (monomethylarsonic acid) and DMA (dimethylarsinic acid) ions were successfully separated in the Hamilton PRP-X100 column with high performance-liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS) techniques. The study examined total arsenic contents in soil and plants, as well as the mobility of the arsenic species from the soil into the studied plants. Peppermint demonstrated the highest arsenic concentration and phytoaccumulation among studied plants. The sequential chemical extraction showed that arsenic in the contaminated soil was mainly related to the oxide and organic-sulfide fractions. The results showed that the oxidized arsenic form had a greater ability to accumulate in herbs and was more readily absorbed from the substrate by plants. Research has shown that soil contaminated with As(III) or As(V) has different effects on the arsenic content in plants. The plant responses to strong environmental pollution varied and depended on their type and the arsenic species with which the soil was contaminated. In most cases it resulted in the appearance of the organic arsenic derivatives.

The substrates to biogas production in anaerobic digestion, except plant materials, can also be animal feces and manure. It should be highlighted that Poland is one of leaders in the European Union in animal breeding. However, there is no precise data in the literature on the potential of biogas production from animal feces in this country. The aim of the paper was to analyze the biogas production potential from manure in Poland. The aim of work included anaerobic digestion research following materials: cow manure, pig manure, poultry manure and sheep manure. In the next step, based on the obtained results of the biogas yield, energy potential calculations were made. The methane yield for the investigated feedstock materials in the batch culture technology was performed following the internal procedures developed based on the adapted standards, i.e. DIN 38 414-S8 and VDI 4630. Animal wastes were obtained from the Agricultural Experimental Stations of Poznan University of Life Sciences (Poznan, Poland). On a base of achieved results it was concluded that tested substrates have a high energy potential (approx. 28.52 GWh of electricity). The largest potential for electricity production was found in chicken manure (about 13.86 GWh) and cow manure (about 12.35 GWh). It was also shown which regions of Poland have the best chance for development of agriculture biogas plants (Wielkopolskie and Mazowieckie voivodships) and where the potential is the least (Lubuskie and Opolskie voivodeships).

The issue of air pollution, resulting to a large extent from the use of fossil fuels for energy purposes, is one of the most serious environmental threats in several Polish cities, but also outside of them. The amount of pollutants emitted into the atmosphere translates into the living conditions of the inhabitants. The utilization of geothermal energy, which is a renewable and ecological source of energy, brings noticeable improvement in the quality of atmospheric air, as evidenced by significant ecological effects achieved by working geothermal district heating plants. The paper presents results of comprehensive considerations focused on assessing the effects of utilization of geothermal water and energy in Poland. Issues related to the implementation of exploration works aimed at acquiring geothermal water resources, as well as environmental aspects of the use of geothermal waters and energy were discussed. The undertaken considerations have been directed at assessing whether the use of such a kind of renewable energy resources could have an impact on improving the living conditions of the local community.