Constructed wetlands are largely used for water treatment both in agricultural land and for treating water from municipal and industrial waste. These wetlands need to be managed in order to work properly. How to deal with the large amount of vegetation harvested in the wetlands has withdrawn a great concern. The application of using wetland biomass as the co-substrates in anaerobic digestion was studied in this project. Plant materials, mostly Phragmites australis (common reed) from three different wetlands were used as raw material to produce biogas. The methane production using reed material harvested from municipal wastewater, industrial wastewater and an agricultural wetland are 66, 106, 144 ml/g VS respectively, which were lower than the suggested number 180ml/g VS. The gas potential remains a lot to be improved such as harvesting at summer to reduce the lignin content and changing the co-digestion mixing level to adjust to the optimal C/N ratio. Chemical analyses were performed concerning the gas yield and the residue quality. The digested residues showed a low concentration of cadmium, providing a non-toxic possibility to be spread on farm land as fertilizers, and closing the nutrient circle from land into water and back to land again. Pretreatments in the biogas process are usually focusing on the reduction of the lignocellulosic content in the raw material. Assessment of costs and benefits is needed for using wetland reed in the biogas production and applying any pretreatment methods.

Abstract At Saltvikens copperindustry, which is located in the municipality of Oskarshamn, copper was refined from sulphiteore some hundred years ago. The ore underwent several steps in the process before the final product was received. These steps all had an influence on the environment through discharge of heavy metals. The area where the copper industry was located is today considered to be of specific national interest due to its valuable nature and cultural values, as well as its value for recreational outdoor activities. Therefore, it is important to determine the present level of contamination and if any transport of contaminants have occurred, and to identify the risks that are associated with the site both at present and in a longer time perspective. Thirtynine soil samples and 16 sediment samples have been analyzed. All samples have undergone two different leaching procedures before the analyis; one with nitric acid for determination of total concentration and one with acidic acid to analyze the plant available part. The analysis was perfomed through Atomicabsorptionsspectrofotometry. In addition, pH and loss on ignition have been measured on all samples. The chemical values were then compared to reference values in order to establish the level of contamination. Within the risk assessment framework where then also a exposure modelling conducted. This was made both for an average exposure situation, and for a reasonable maximum exposure. For both these scenarios, one calculation was made based on the soil use of today and one was made based on an assumed future usage of the area for establishment of residential buildings. The results show that both the land area and sediment have been affected by the copper industry. From 48 sediment samples, 46 generated concentrations above the assumed effect level levels given by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. The results also indicated that a significant contaminant transport has occurred, and is still occurring. This is supported by high metal concentrations in deep soil layers and by high concentrations in the sediment. The condition is considered to be very much serious in the case of copper and zinc and serious to less serious for lead, depending on the ground use. Some of the metals are very easy to leach and can thus contaminate adjacent areas for a long time. Already at the present ground use, there is a risk for children to become exposed to  zinc and lead in doses that can generate negative health effects. At the potential future ground use the TDI for both copper, zinc and lead will be exceeded if a child is exposed. For adults, however, the TDI value for zinc and lead is exceeded only in the scenario with the potential future ground use.

The purpose of this research is to develop a rapid determination method for heavy metals in soil. Using X-ray fluorescence to obtain soil metals decision limit (CC£\) and detection capability (CC£]), to establish the scope of soil metal concentration selection. Then aqua regia digestion digestion and ICP-OES analysis of Pb, Cd, Zn, Ni, Cr, Cu area to check the accuracy of screening. Operating conditions; First, the soil standard samples for the Establishment and assessment of the applicability of the standard. Finally,using of the soil near the control standard establish methods and explore ways to establish the applicability and potential impact. I hope this research can provide a fast, accurate, and sensitivity of soil heavy metal screening, to achieve savings of cost. The results show that the standard reference soil Cu: screening rate was 79.7%, sensitivity was 43.6% and an specificity of 87.7%; reference standard soil Pb: screening rate was 91.5%, a sensitivity of 8.3% specificity 91.5%;reference standard soil Cr:screening rate was 100%, sensitivity was 0%, 100% specificity; reference standard soil Ni: screening rate was 96.1%, sensitivity was 0%, specificity 92.4%; reference standard soil Zn: screening rate was 82.4%, sensitivity was 69.2%, specificity 87.1%; reaching control values of soil Cu: screening rate was 83.0%, sensitivity was 30.8%, specificity of 84.3%. Screening rate and specificity with 80%, the sensitivity poor areas, water was the major disturbance factor.

To accommodate for human population growth along the Texas I-35 corridor, land is becoming increasingly urban and decreasingly pervious, modifying the infiltration and runoff rates in the Edwards Aquifer, especially to its spring fed Upper San Marcos River (USMR). Contaminants like heavy metals and organic chemicals can accumulate on impervious surfaces and with runoff, enter into the USMR at potentially harmful levels. The objective of this study was to determine how the population of an endangered Edwards Aquifer species, the fountain darter (Etheostoma fonticola), might respond to potential water quality changes associated with urbanization. I developed a stochastic, sex and stage-structured population dynamics simulation model that represents the relationships between urbanization, springflow variations, contamination levels, and natural history of the fountain darter. Future fountain darter population trends (2008-2040) were simulated under 10 treatments of nine scenarios. A simulation scenario (n=50) corresponded to one of three variations of springflow (random, high and low flow) and one of three variations in percentage of runoff entering the river (100, 50 or 30). The 10 treatments were variations on water quality: uncontaminated (1), contaminated by Cu (2), Zn (3), Cd (4), Cr (5), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) (7), bifenthrin (8), carbaryl (9) and dicamba (10) and an additive affect of Cu, Cr, Cd, and Zn (6). Simulating ideal conditions, the average darter population from 2008-2040 was 54155+2969 (mean+SE) individuals. Contaminant treatments that caused a significant (p<0.001) decline in the population by 2040 under 100% runoff conditions were the all metal (650 plus/minus 640), Cu (3141 plus/minus 265), PAH (4621 plus/minus 475), Zn (6169 plus/minus 5406), and Cd (27987 plus/minus 6751) scenarios. With 50% runoff, the all metals (15740 plus/minus 5455), Cu (16815 plus/minus 6263), PAH (19675 plus/minus 995), and Zn (15585 plus/minus 3097) treatments simulated significantly lower populations (p less than 0.001). At 30% runoff, Cu (23976 plus/minus 6787), the all metal (25853 plus/minus 7404) and PAH (28167 plus/minus 1194) treatments decreased the population significantly (p less than 0.001). Over all scenarios, copper, zinc and PAHs caused >50% decline in the population. Assuming 100% or 50% of all San Marcos sub-basin runoff is directly entering USMR, there could currently be levels of Cu, Zn, and PAHs higher than what darters can withstand.

The distribution, enrichment, and accumulation of heavy metals in the sediments, especially those at the vicinity of tributary estuaries of Kaohsiung Harbor, Taiwan were investigated. Sediment samples from six locations in the Kaohsiung Harbor were collected quarterly in the period from 2002 to 2005 and characterized for metal content (e.g., Hg, Pb, Cd, Cr, Cu, Zn and Al), water content, organic matter, total nitrogen, total phosphorous, total grease, and grain size. Results showed that metal concentrations varied from 0.58 mg kg-1 for Cd to 596 mg kg-1 for Zn. Metal concentrations at the vicinity of river mouths were higher than those at other locations. All heavy metals studied, except Cr, had relatively high enrichment factors and geo-accumulation indices in the estuaries. Moreover, metal concentrations correlated closely to the physical-chemical properties of the sediments, which strongly suggested the influence of industrial and municipal wastewaters discharged from the neighboring industrial parks and river basins. Results would help develop strategies for pollution control and sediment remediation of Kaohsiung Harbor. Ocean disposal of wastes such as dredged sediments causes the concentrations of contaminants and some other water quality parameters in the water column to change. In this study, the STFATE (Short-term Fate) system, a model developed by the US Corps of Engineers for managing automatic dredging and disposal of the dredged materials, was used to model and simulate the deposition, dispersion and accumulation of the dredged material disposed at an ocean site. Additionally, aerial photographs taken from a helicopter on dispersion of the disposed sediments were used to calibrate and verify the modeling results for evaluating its applicability in predicting the influence of disposing dredged sediments on the surrounding seawater quality. Simulation results indicate that after 4 h of ocean disposal, the dredged sediment showed negligible adverse influence on the seawater quality (SS = 3 ¡V 4 mg/L). Results of simulating the dispersion of dredged sediments revealed that 20 seconds disposal duration resulted in smaller influence distance and range but a longer time for the seawater to recover to its original state. A longer disposal time of 1,200 seconds would cause a larger distance and range of influence but a shorter recovery time. The verification results demonstrate that simulated values on the dispersion length, width, area and shape generally comfort to the trends of monitored data; the average error is around 27.8%.

Landfilling is the most common method that is used in the final disposal of sludge all around the world as well as in Turkey. However increasing sludge quantities and limited landfilling areas make this method invalid. Use of sludge in agriculture presents a possible alternative for disposal. However, it also poses some risks to be evaluated. In this respect, it is important to identify heavy metal and pathogen content of sewage sludges because of their adverse health effects. This study aims to determine the heavy metal contents and pathogen levels of sludges from four different wastewater treatment plants of Turkey. The selection of plants was done according to the different treatment technologies applied to wastewater and sludge in those plants. Heavy metal analysis of sludges was conducted by using microwave assisted digestion procedure and pathogen levels were done by methods from Standard Methods (SM), ISO and USA EPA. After sampling and analysis, the results show that all the related metal concentrations are below the values that are set in the Soil Pollution Control Regulation of Turkey. However in sludges from Ankara and Kayseri wastewater treatment plants, Zinc and Nickel concentrations should be tracked carefully. The results related with pathogen levels in sludges show that dewatered sewage samples taken from Ankara, Kayseri and Kemer wastewater treatment plants do not meet neither Class A nor Class B fecal coliform limits set by USA EPA however lime stabilized dewatered sludge from izmir wastewater treatment plant meet the requirement. In addition, Salmonella levels in Kayseri dewatered sludges exceed the limit value.

Alginates are copolymers of &beta / -D-mannuronic (M) and &alpha / -L-guluronic acids (G). In this study, Azotobacter vinelandii ATCC&reg / 9046 was used to produce alginate in a fermentor. The effect of parameters such as dissolved oxygen tension (DOT), agitation speed, initial concentrations of sucrose and calcium on the properties of alginate were examined. Changes of DOT in the range of 1 and 10 % affected alginate production. The optimum DOT giving high alginate yield (4.51 g/L) and maximum viscosity was observed as 5 % yielding moderate GG-blocks of 55 %. Both high and low agitation levels reduced alginate production, but these conditions increased GG-block alginates as 76 and 87 % at 200 and 700 rpm, respectively. Moderate sucrose and calcium concentrations, 20 g/L and 50 mg/L, respectively were found better since further increase in their concentrations did not lead to a considerable improvement in alginate production and quality. Sodium alginates produced in this work were investigated for maximum heavy metal uptake with a special focus on copper ion and the highest copper uptake was around 1.9 mM Cu2+/g alginate. Findings showed that the block distribution of alginate was not as important as expected for copper removal. Alginate together with calcium ions was used for the removal of turbidity. The amount of GG-block was found to be important in turbidity removal. Alginate having 55 % GG block and 8.9 cP viscosity resulted in a final turbidity lower than 1 NTU at 2 mg/L of alginate with 60 mg/L of calcium ion.

<p>Equilibrium isotherms and the adsorption kinetics of heavy metals onto chitosan were studied experimentally. Chitosan, a biopolymer produced from crustacean shells, has applications in various areas, particularly in drinking water and wastewater treatment due to its ability to remove metallic ions from solutions. The adsorption capacity of chitosan depends on a number of parameters: deacetylation degree, molecular weight, particle size and crystallinity. The purpose of this work was to study the adsorption of copper, zinc, mercury, and arsenic on chitosan produced from shrimp shells at a laboratory level.</p><p>The experimental work involved the determination of the adsorption isotherms for each metallic ion in a batch system. The resulting isotherms were fitted using the Langmuir model and the parameters of the equation were determined. Kinetic studies of adsorption for different metallic ions at different concentrations and with different particle sizes were performed in batch and column systems. Simplified models such as pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, and intra-particle diffusion equations were used to determine the rate-controlling step. Some preliminary studies were carried out to address the application of chitosan as an adsorbent in the removal of heavy metals or other metallic ions from natural water and wastewater. The regeneration of chitosan was also studied.</p><p>The results showed that the adsorption capacity depends strongly on pH and on the species of metallic ions in the solution. The optimum pH value for the metallic cation adsorption was between 4 and 6, whereas for arsenic adsorption it was about 3. When the pH is not controlled, the adsorption capacity is independent of the initial pH with the solution reaching a final pH of about 7. It was also found that the Langmuir equation described very well the experimental adsorption data for each metallic ion. The adsorption capacity for the metals on chitosan follows the sequence Hg>Cu>Zn>As.</p><p>The study of the adsorption kinetics of these metallic ions shows that the particle size has a significant influence on the metal uptake rate for copper; but that it has only a slight influence on the adsorption rate of zinc and mercury in the range studied. Arsenic adsorption exhibited an interesting behaviour which depends strongly on the pH of the solution; the uptake increased at short adsorption times and then decreased at long times. The analysis of kinetic models showed that the pseudo-second-order adsorption mechanism is predominant, and the overall rate of the metallic ion adsorption process is therefore controlled by adsorption reactions and not by mass transfer for the range of particle sizes examined in this study.</p><p>With regard to the regeneration of chitosan, it was found that sodium hydroxide is a good agent for zinc and arsenic desorption, whereas ammonium sulphate and sodium chloride were the most suitable for copper and mercury desorption, respectively. The ability of chitosan to remove arsenic from natural water, and copper and zinc from mining waste water was verified. The use of these results for designing purposes is a subject for future work.</p>

Tämnaren är en slättsjö i östra Svealand där ammunition går att finna i bottensedimenten. Ammunitionen härstammar från övningar som Flygvapnet hade över sjön under 1950- och 1960-talen. Sjön är mycket grund och näringsrik och befinner sig i ett område som fortfarande påverkas starkt av landhöjningen orsakad av den senaste inlandsisens tillbakadragande. Detta innebär att Tämnaren växer igen i rask takt och beräknas vara i princip borta om ungefär 600 år. Sjön har ett skyddsvärde dels genom sin rikedom på olika fågelarter som håller till i närområdet men också ett rekreationsvärde för människor i området runt sjön. Detta gör att man försöker se vilka åtgärder som kan fungera för att hejda den snabba igenväxningen och muddring kan eventuellt bli aktuellt i sjön. Innan beslut om muddring tas bör halter och spridning av föroreningar från ammunitionen i sjöns sediment kartläggas.Muddring är en vanlig metod som används för att öka djupet i sjöar och vattendrag men den kan innebära vissa risker. Den här undersökningen har gjorts för att fastställa halter av tungmetallerna koppar, zink, kadmium och bly som finns i sjöns bottensediment. Vid eventuell muddring skulle dessa tungmetaller kunna spridas ut på ett större område i sjön och därför vill man veta metallhalterna och ifall sådana halter är skadliga. I den här undersökningen kunde både högre och lägre halter av tung-metaller detekteras, halterna för koppar och kadmium var de som var högst, i jämförelse med Natur-vårdsverkets, 2007, förväntade bakgrundshalter i svenska sediment. Det syntes också en tydlig trend i tungmetallshalterna då samtliga mätvärden visade upp högre halter i sydöstlig riktning i sjön. Även om inte alla halter var högre än väntat, med undantag för koppar och kadmium, så återstår risken att de kontaminerade sedimenten kan spridas vidare i sjön om man väljer att muddra den. Även om halterna är låga kan de fortfarande innebära risker att sprida dessa vidare till organismer och växtlighet i sjön.Miljöundersökningar är viktiga att göra innan man beslutar sig för att göra större ingrepp på naturen, såsom muddring, då det är viktigt att skydda den natur vi har. Tämnaren är en sjö som på många sätt är skyddad för att den har ett rikt djur- och naturliv som bör bevaras. Detta gör att det blir ännu mer aktuellt att göra ordentliga förundersökningar innan man tar sig för några större åtgärder. / Tämnaren is a lake in eastern Svealand, Sweden and it is a shallow, highly eutrophic lake that suffers from severe overgrowth and it will probably cease to exist in about 600 years due to land rise and sedimentation. The lake used to be the location for exercises for the Swedish Armed Forces during the years 1950 – 1960, and therefore old remnants of ammunition can be found on the lake bottom. There is a risk that these old remnants of ammunition could be leaking pollutants into the lake sediment and it is necessary to investigate the level of which these releases may be occurring. This thesis will focus on the four heavy metals copper, zink, cadmium and lead and analyses of these metals will be performed on the lake sediments. The goal is to determine the spatial distribution of the heavy metals and the content of them in the lake sediments since dredging might be necessary for the lake. The risks with dredging are many but in this thesis the dispersion of contaminated sediments are the primary consideration due to the conditions in the lake. The spatial distribution of heavy metals already dispersed is interesting to know because it is necessary to know if the ammunition is leaking pollutants through the lake.The results of the investigation showed some higher concentrations of heavy metals in the sediments, mainly for copper and cadmium. According to Naturvårdsverket, 2007, estimated background content of copper in sediment is 15 mg/kg and the highest measured value in Tämnaren is about ten times higher than that. For cadmium the estimated background value is 0,3 mg/kg and all measured values in this investigation were higher than that. For zink the estimated background value is 100 mg/kg and for lead 5 mg/kg and the measured values in this investigation showed lower values in general for both metals. It seems as some dispersion has already occurred, maybe due to wind and wave processes, causing resuspension of sediments. Overall the spatial distribution is showing a trend with higher heavy metal contents to south eastern direction in the investigated area which could be a consequence of wind and wave processes.Although the contents of heavy metals is a bit higher in comparison with estimated background contents in Swedish lake sediments only copper and cadmium are estimated to be higher than recom-mended for a safe environment. Due to the toxicity of copper and cadmium some caution is recommend-ed before the dredging process starts.

Heavy-metal pollution is an issue of concern in estuaries such as Biscayne Bay that are heavily influenced by agricultural, urban, and harbor activities. The goals of this study were to provide a state of the bay assessment that can be used to interpret changes that have occurred over the past 60 years in Biscayne Bay, to provide a baseline to compare changes in the ecosystems during and after execution of the Comprehensive Everglades Restorations Plan (CERP), and to determine if benthic foraminiferal assemblages in Biscayne Bay reflect heavy-metal contamination in sediments. Surficial samples were collected at 147 sites throughout the bay. Analyses included geochemical assessment of the mud fraction for 32 chemical parameters, grain-size analysis, and assessment of foraminiferal assemblages at the genus level. Geochemical analyses revealed elevated concentrations of a suite of heavy metals in the sediments of the northern bay, between Miami and Key Biscayne, and the periphery of the southern bay from Black Creek Canal south to Turkey Point. Cluster analysis, multi-dimensional scaling, and multivariate-correlation analyses revealed three distinct foraminiferal assemblages. One assemblage, characteristic of the northern bay, was defined by stress-tolerant taxa including Ammonia, Cribroelphidium, Nonion, and Haynesina, which were present in low abundances. Distribution of this assemblage correlated with the most elevated concentrations of heavy metals. The assemblage that defined the southwestern margin of the bay was dominated by Ammonia and Quinqueloculina. This assemblage is characterized by the lowest diversities and highest abundances, and is likely influenced by both reduced salinity and elevated organic-carbon concentrations.