This diploma thesis deals with the issue of pollution of the generated gas during gasification. It consists of two parts. The first part is theoretical, where there is a search describing the course of gasification. There is also an overview of impurities in the generated gas and a description of methods suitable for gas purification. The second part of the work is focused experimentally, where various fillings of the barrier filter are tested during gas cleaning.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第23181号 / 工博第4825号 / 新制||工||1754(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科都市環境工学専攻 / (主査)教授 高岡 昌輝, 教授 橋本 訓, 准教授 大下 和徹 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

<p>Fokus ove doktorske disertacije je bilo izučavanje sorpcionog pona&scaron;anja tri herbicida koji se nalaze na listi prioritetnih supstanci prema Okvirnoj Direktivi o vodama EU (2000/60/EC) sa generalnim ciljem dobijanja podataka korisnih za prioritizaciju na osnovu novog fundamentalnog znanja o efikasnosti (ad)sorpcije za uklanjanje ovih<br />supstanci iz&nbsp; vode u lokalno specifičnim uslovima. Odabrani su ksenobiotici različite rastvorljivosti, hidrofobnosti i donorsko-akceptorskih osobina, koji&nbsp; pripadaju&nbsp; različitim klasama&nbsp; herbicida (dinitroanilinski-trifluralin, hloroacetamidni-alahlor i triazinski-&nbsp; atrazin). Prva faza je obuhvatala karakterizaciju sorbenata i vodenih matriksa .U sintetičkom matriksu, trifluralin pokazuje veći afinitet na ispitivanim sedimentima u odnosu na alahlor i atrazin. I u slučaju organoglina, sorpcija je najizraženija za trifluralin. Alahlor i atrazin pokazuju slične sorpcione kapacitete na TMA-K, dok je na TMA-B, sorpcija izraženija za alahlor u odnosu na atrazin. U&nbsp; zavisnosti od prirodnog matriksa, na oba sedimenta, najveće&nbsp; Kd vrednosti su dobijene za trifluralin, dok su Kd vrednosti za atrazin i alahlor&nbsp; bile veoma slične ili&nbsp;pak veće za atrazin. U slučaju organoglina, vrednosti&nbsp; K_d su rasle sa porastom log&nbsp; K_OW vrednosti herbicida na TMA-K u oba prirodna matriksa. Kada je u pitanju TMA-B, rast K_dvrednosti sa rastom log&nbsp; K_OW vrednosti uočava se u povr&scaron;inskom matriksu pri C_e&nbsp; = 0,05 mg/l i 0,5 mg/l, i podzemnom matriksu pri najvećoj ravnotežnoj koncentraciji C_e&nbsp; = 0,5 mg/l. Kao najefikasniji sorbenti su se pokazali&nbsp; TMA-B&nbsp;(Kd&nbsp; = 10,5 -&nbsp; 483 l/kg) i model sediment (Kd = 16,4 -&nbsp; 761 l/kg). Odsustvo jasne linearne korelacije izmeĎu&nbsp; Kd i&nbsp; % TOC upućuje na važnost interakcija mineralne faze i herbicida. U slučaju sedimenata nisu utvrđene korelacije K_d sa log&nbsp; K_OW&nbsp;vrednostima, dok kod organoglina one postoje. K<span id="cke_bm_184S" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span>_d<span id="cke_bm_184E" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span> /K_OW odnosi su najveći kod atrazina na svim sorbenti<span id="cke_bm_185E" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span>ma pa se pretpostavlja da on najvi&scaron;e učestvuje u&nbsp; uspostavljanju specifičnih interakcija zbog svojih donorsko-akceptorskih osobina. &Scaron;to se tiče uticaja DOC,&nbsp; zaključuje se da poreĎenje efikasnosti sorbenata treba sprovoditi u prirodnim matriksima jer sorpcioni koeficijenti variraju u zavisnosti od&nbsp;koncentracije polutanata, tipa i sadržaja DOC. Kolonskim eksperimentima je pokazano da atrazin i alahlor prolaze kroz kolonu sedimenta, dok je trifluralin skoro u potpunosti adsorbovan i u vrlo maloj koncentraciji detektovan u efluentu &scaron;to je u saglasnosti sa rezultatima &scaron;aržnih eksperimenata na ovom sorbentu. Procenjeni faktor retardacije pomoću modela TransMod za atrazin je veći u prirodnim matriksima (R <span id="cke_bm_190S" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span>_d<span id="cke_bm_190E" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span> = 54 i R_d = 55 u podzemnoj i povr&scaron;inskoj vodi, redom) nego u sintetičkoj&nbsp;vodi (R_d = 40). Kod alahlora nisu uočene značajne promene faktora retardacije meĎu matriksima (R_d = 30-35). Ovi rezultati su suprotni očekivanjima na osnovu hidrofilnosti ksenobiotika i mogu biti&nbsp; rezultat upravo interakcija sa organskim materijama koje su bile izražene u kolonskim testovima, verovatno i vi&scaron;e nego u &scaron;aržnim testovima gde se nije pojavilo povećanje R_d vrednosti u prirodnim matriksima u odnosu na sintetički matriks.&nbsp; Bez obzira &scaron;to je&nbsp; alahlor hidrofobniji od atrazina, u uslovima datog matriksa i sorbenta ispoljava slične (&scaron;aržni testovi) ili<br />slabije sorpcione karakteristike&nbsp; (kolonski testovi)&nbsp; koje upućuju na mobilnost kroz prvi za&scaron;titini sloj.&nbsp; Treća faza je obuhvatala ispitivanje adsorpcije herbicida na aktivnim ugljevima u prahu. Ispitana je kinetika adsorpcionog procesa određivanjem koeficijenta za unutarčestični prenos mase herbicida u sirovim i ozoniranim prirodnim matriksima. Određena je efikasnost uklanjanja herbicida na razlilčitim ugljevima u prahu. Efikasnost uklanjanja se kretala u različitim opsezima u zavisnosti od odabranog uglja, vodenog matriksa i doze uglja. Na komercijalnim ugljevima najveća postignuta efikasnost (doza uglja od 15 mg/l) za&nbsp; alahlor iznosi u povr&scaron;inskoj vodi 95%, a u podzemnoj 76%. Za atrazin to je u povr&scaron;inskoj vodi 58% i u podzemoj vodi 56%, a za trifluralin u povr&scaron;inskoj vodi 87%, a u podzemnom matriksu 92%. Na uglju sitnih čestica koji se koristi u kombinaciji sa membranskom filtracijom ove<br />vrednosti su&nbsp; i veće. Stepen uklanjanja DOC na komercijalnim ugljevima (pri dozi od 15 mg/l) iznosi do 57% za povr&scaron;inski matriks i do&nbsp; 51% za podzemni matriks. Slična efikasnost u uklanjanju DOC je postignuta i na uglju sitnih čestica u oba matriksa. Ozonizacija je ispoljila očekivan negativan uticaj, vi&scaron;e ili manje izražen. U slučaju ksenobiotika, uticaji ozonizacije su bili različiti, u zavisnosti od primenjenog uglja, matriksa i supstance. Najizraženiji uticaj je kod alahlora,&nbsp; i to u negativnom smislu,<br />zbog pada efikasnosti uklanjanja, verovatno zbog kompeticije sa organskom materijom ili efekta solubilizacije. U nekim slučajevima, ali mnogo manje, taj efekat je primećen i kod trifluralina. Na oba komercijalna uglja primećen je pozitivan uticaj ozonizacije na uklanjanje atrazina, ali u različitim matriksima,&nbsp; pa se može spekulisati<br />pretpostavljanjem da dolazi do favorizovane raspodele u novim oblogama&nbsp; POM na uglju formiranim nakon ozonizacije koje su i dovoljno adsorbabilne, ali i sa dovoljno reaktivnim osobinama za asociranje sa polarnim supstancama, &scaron;to je delimično i potvrđeno rezultatima adsorpcione analize.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> / <p>The focus of&nbsp; this doctoral thesis was the study of the sorption behavior of three herbicides which are on the list of priority substances according to Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC). The aim&nbsp; was&nbsp; to obtain the&nbsp; data useful for prioritization on the basis of the&nbsp; new fundamental knowledge about (ad) sorption efficiency&nbsp; for the removal of these substances from the&nbsp; locally specific water matrices. Selected xenobiotics&nbsp; were&nbsp; differing&nbsp; in&nbsp; solubility, hydrophobicity, and donor-acceptor properties, which belong to different classes of compounds(trifluralin as herbicide, alachlor as chloracetamide herbicide and atrazine as triazine herbicide).&nbsp; In the first phase&nbsp; of the thesis&nbsp; characterization&nbsp; of sorbents and water matrices&nbsp; was performed. The aim of the second phase was the testing&nbsp; of&nbsp; the sorption and<br />desorption of organic xenobiotics in the sediments and organoclays. The equilibrium&nbsp; sorption parameters and removal efficiencies of herbicides were determined in different water matrices.&nbsp; In the synthetic matrix, trifluralin showed a higher sorption affinity onto tested sediments in comparison to the alachlor and atrazine. In the case of organoclays, sorption was mostly&nbsp; pronounced for trifluralin. Alachlor and atrazine have similar sorption capacities onto the TMA-K. For the TMA-B, the sorption was more pronounced for alachlor than atrazine. Depending on the natural water matrices,&nbsp; the highest&nbsp; K_d values were obtained for trifluralin onto both sediments. The&nbsp; K_d values for atrazine and alachlor were very similar or even greater for atrazine. In the case of organoclays, K_d values increased with increasing log&nbsp; K_OW values of herbicides onto TMA-K in both natural matrices. When it comes to TMA-B,&nbsp; K_d&nbsp; valuesincreased with increasing log&nbsp; K_OW values in&nbsp; the surface matrix for<br />C_e = 0,05 mg/l and 0,5 mg/l, and in groundwater at the highest equilibrium&nbsp; concentration&nbsp; C<span id="cke_bm_506S" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span>_e<span id="cke_bm_506E" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span>&nbsp; = 0,5 mg/l. TMA-B (K_d = 10,5&nbsp; -&nbsp; 483 l/kg) and model&nbsp; sediment&nbsp; (kd= 16,4 to 761 l/kg) were the most efficient s<span id="cke_bm_507E" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span>orbents. The absence of&nbsp; the&nbsp; clear linear correlation between&nbsp; K_d and % TOC&nbsp; indicates the importance of the interaction of mineral phases and herbicides. Correlation between K<span id="cke_bm_513S" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span>_d<span id="cke_bm_513E" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span> and K_OW values did not existed in the case of sediments,&nbsp; contrary to the organoclays.&nbsp; Since K<span id="cke_bm_519S" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span>_d<span id="cke_bm_519E" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span> /K_oW ratios were the h<span id="cke_bm_520E" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span><span id="cke_bm_514E" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span>ighest for atrazine onto all sorbents, it&nbsp; was&nbsp; assumed that atrazine mostly participate in specific interactions due to its donor-acceptor properties. Regarding the&nbsp; influence of DOC on sorption, it was concluded that a comparison of sorbents efficiencies should be carried in&nbsp; native matrices as sorption coefficients vary depending on the concentration of pollutants, the type and content of DOC. Column&nbsp; experiments showed that atrazine and alachlor passed through the column of the sediment, while the trifluralin almost completely was adsorbed and in very low concentrations detected in the effluent which is in accordance with the results of the&nbsp; batch experiments.&nbsp; Estimated retardation factors of atrazine were higher in natural matrices (R<span id="cke_bm_525S" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span>_d<span id="cke_bm_525E" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span>= 54 and R_d = 55 in groundwater and surface water, respectively) than in&nbsp; the synthetic water (R_d= 40_{). I}n the case of alachlor, retardation factors were similar among water matrices (R_d = 30-35). These results are in the opposition&nbsp; based on the xenobiotic hydrophilicity, and they could be the consequence of interaction with the organic matter&nbsp; present&nbsp; in the column tests, probably more than in the batch tests. Estimations of&nbsp; R_d based on batch tests&nbsp; did not show an increase of R_d values in natural matrices, in comparison to the synthetic matrix. More hydrophobic alachlor, in the circumstances of the sorbent matrix exerts similar&nbsp; (batch&nbsp; tests) or lower sorption (column tests) characteristics that indicate mobility through the first protective layer.<span id="cke_bm_526E" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span> The third phase&nbsp; included herbicide adsorption tests onto powdered activated carbons. The adsorption kinetics was examined by determining the intraparticle mass transfer coefficients for herbicides in raw and ozonated natural water matrices. The removal efficiencies of herbicides for different powdered activated carbons were determined. Removal efficiencies were in different ranges depending on the selected carbon, water matrix and carbon dose. The highest removal efficiencies&nbsp; for commercial carbons (for carbon dose of 15&nbsp; mg/l)&nbsp; for&nbsp; alachlor were 95% and 76% in surface and groundwater, respectively. The highest&nbsp; removal of atrazine was&nbsp; 58% in surface water and 56% in groundwater. In thecase of trifluralin, removal efficiencies were&nbsp; 87% in surface water and 92% in groundwater. The removal efficiencies for the carbon with fine particles&nbsp; (usually&nbsp; used in combination with a membrane filtration)&nbsp; were greater. The removal of DOC&nbsp; &nbsp; by&nbsp; commercial carbons (at the dose of 15 mg/l) was less than 57% in the surface water and 47% in groundwater. A similar efficiency in DOC removal was achieved for the carbon with fine particles in both water matrices. Ozonation showed the expected &nbsp; negative influence on&nbsp; DOC&nbsp; removal efficiencies, more or less pronounced. In the case of xenobiotics, ozonation influence was different, depending on the applied carbon and xenobiotic. The most important negative influence was&nbsp; in the case of alachlor probably due to competition with organic matter or solubilization effect. The&nbsp; same, but less pronounced effect was observed for trifluralin. The positive influence of ozonation was observed in removal of atrazine&nbsp; by&nbsp; both commercial carbons but in &nbsp; different water matrices.&nbsp; One can speculate that it comes to the favorable distribution in new NOM coatings on carbons formed upon ozonation, which are sufficiently adsorbable, but with enough reactive qualities for association with polar substances, which is partly confirmed by the results of adsorption analysis.</p>

Activated carbon is a highly adsorbing material and has various scopes of uses depending on needs. It is used in many industries and applications e.g. to clean industrial wastewater, in medicine, discolor sugar and so on. What makes AC such a good adsorbent is its porous structure which gives it a high surface area.  This report consists of three parts; general information about Activated Carbon (AC) and its characteristics, to give the reader a sufficient background about AC for continuous understanding throughout the report, an experimental investigation in chemical activation of carbon with phosphoric acid as the chemical reagent and sawdust from both Cuban and Swedish Pine tree as precursors, and a second experimental investigation in chemical activation of carbon with Zinc Sulfate as the chemical reagent and sawdust from Cuban Pine tree as the precursor. For the first experimental part as well as for the second the objective is how to best combine the three parameters; acid concentration, impregnation ratio and activation temperature in order to get the best adsorption performance when preparing activated carbon with different precursor specimens and chemical reagents. The experiments with phosphoric acid activation show that treatment with 40% acid concentration at 400 °C produce an activated carbon with good properties for ammonia adsorption and good iodine number. If a 30% phosphoric acid is used for activation, an activation temperature of 500 °C is recommended. With an impregnation ratio of 1, good adsorption was obtained in the activated carbon produced from Swedish pine while using Cuban pine a higher adsorption was obtained with an impregnation ratio of 2. The experiments with Zinc Sulfate activation show that influence of the sulfate concentration (between 10 % and 40 %) and temperature (between 400 °C and 500°C) on the properties for ammonia adsorption in the produced activated carbon was considerable for low impregnation ratio (0.5 and 1). In general, activation conditions of 20% zinc sulfate concentration, 400 °C and impregnation ratio: 1 are enough to produce an activated carbon with good properties for ammonia adsorption. The adsorption of carbon tetrachloride was lower. Activated carbons produced with 10 % zinc sulfate concentration, 0.5 impregnation ratio and 400 °C activation temperature (the mildest studied conditions) show already good iodine number and BET surface area.  The main conclusion from the thesis work is that the optimal conditions vary widely with wanted results. Therefore a suggestion for future work is to narrow the research to fewer variables and more repetition of the samples.

The main purpose for this project was to, by varying the parameters temperature (400 ˚C and 500 ˚C), acid concentration (10%, 25% and 40%), relative impregnation (0.75, 1.35 and 2.0) and impregnation time (1 h, 2 h and 3 h), evaluate which parameters that affect the product. Also, an investigation was made to determine the interaction of the different parameters. This was done by analysing the properties of the AC with gas adsorption of gasoline and ammonia. Liquid adsorption was analysed with iodine number and the yield of the AC was calculated with two different methods. In general an increasing of the temperature and the impregnation time results in a higher iodine number and higher capacity to absorb gasoline in the produced activated carbon. When the conditions were too strong the iodine number and the capacity to absorb gasoline decreased. The pore structure of the activated carbon is destroyed by too strong conditions. The results were also analysed with a computer program to establish statistical evidence of influence from the parameters indicating that temperature has strong effect on iodine number of the produced activated carbon. If the AC from Caribbean Pine would be commercially produced the recommended design is to keep all parameters low. This is both cost effective and energy efficient. Based on the experimental results it was determined that the AC from Caribbean Pine is better suited for adsorbing gasoline compared with ammonia. Furthermore, the adsorption of gasoline is increasing with an increasing temperature. An industrial manufactured AC was compared with the AC produced from Caribbean Pine and it had a better liquid and gas adsorption showing that more research and optimization of AC from Caribbean Pine must be done before commercializing the product. A suggestion for further research is to use the time in the oven as a parameter to be varied in the experimental setup. This could be valuable in order to determine the influence of the time in the oven both concerning the yield but also the adsorption ability of the AC.

Activated carbon (AC) systems and reverse osmosis (RO) systems are commonly used point-of-use (POU) water filtration systems as the last barrier to remove trace-level contaminants in tap water to protect human health. Limited studies have been done to evaluate trace-level manganese and uranium removal in tap water. Additionally, undesired microbial growth in POU systems may reduce treatment efficiencies of POU systems and limited studies have been done to evaluate microbial growth potential in POU systems. The overall research objective of this study was to systematically evaluate the removal of metals and assimilable organic carbon in POU systems. AC systems were operated to 200% of their designed treatment capacities and RO systems were operated for three weeks. The results indicated that AC systems were generally ineffective to remove metals in drinking water, while metals were effectively removed in RO systems. The results showed that calcium and magnesium were not effectively removed in AC systems with removal efficiencies of less than 1%. Various factions of iron were removed with its removal efficiencies in AC systems ranged between 61% and 84%. Copper was effectively removed in AC systems with removal efficiencies greater than 95%, which was possibly related to its low influent concentration in drinking water (<30 μg/L). Both manganese and uranium were ineffectively removed from AC systems. Different from AC systems, RO systems were consistently effective to remove all metals. Calcium, magnesium, iron, and copper were all removed with removal efficiencies greater than 98%, while removal efficiencies of manganese and uranium in RO systems were above 95%. Assimilable organic carbon was effectively removed from all AC and RO systems and high variability of AOC removal efficiencies were observed, which may be attributed to the heterogenicity of biofilm and microbial growth in POU systems. The new knowledge generated from this study can help improve our understanding of emerging contaminant removal in POU systems and develop better strategies for the design and operation of POU systems to remove emerging contaminants in drinking water and mitigate their health risks to humans.

Photocatalysis is an advanced oxidation process for the purification and remediation of contaminated waters and wastewaters, and is advantageous over conventional treatment technologies due to its ability to degrade emerging and recalcitrant pollutants. In addition, photocatalytic disinfection is less chemical-intensive than other methods such as chlorination, and can inactivate even highly resistant microorganisms with good efficacy. Process sustainability and cost-effectiveness may be improved by utilizing solar irradiation as the source of necessary photons for photocatalyst excitation. However, solar-induced activity of the traditionally-used titania is poor due to its inefficient visible light absorption, and recombination of photo-excited species is problematic. Additionally, mass transfer limitations and difficulties separating the catalyst from the post-treatment slurry hinder conversions and efficiencies obtainable in practice. In this research, various strategies were explored to address these issues using novel visible light active photocatalysts. Two classes of carbon-enhanced photocatalytic materials were studied: activated carbon adsorbent photocatalyst composites, and carbon-doped TiO2. Adsorbent photocatalyst composites based on activated carbon and plasmonic silver/silver chloride structures were synthesized, characterized, and experimentally investigated for their photocatalytic activity towards the degradation of model organic pollutants (methyl orange dye, phenol) and the inactivation of a model microorganism (Escherichia coli K-12) under visible light. The adsorptive behaviour of the composites towards methyl orange dye was also studied and described according to appropriate models. Photocatalytic bacterial inactivation induced by the prepared composites was investigated, and the inactivation mechanisms and roles of incorporated antimicrobial silver on disinfection were probed and discussed. These composites were extended towards magnetic removal strategies for post-use separation through the incorporation of magnetic nanoparticles to prepare Ag/AgCl-magnetic activated carbon composites, and the effect of nanoparticles addition on the properties and photoactivities of the resulting materials was explored. Another silver/silver halide adsorbent photocatalyst composite based on activated carbon and Ag/AgBr exhibiting visible light absorption due to both localized surface plasmon resonance and optical band gap absorption was synthesized and its photocatalytic activity towards organics degradation and microbial inactivation was studied. Carbon-doped mixed-phase titania was also prepared and experimentally investigated.

If released in significant amounts, products formed by reactions between ozone (O3) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) sorbed on activated carbon (AC) filters could degrade indoor air quality (IAQ). Heterogeneous reactions were investigated in laboratory experiments aimed at characterizing reaction products. Effluent air of AC loaded with limonene and exposed to O 3 (5.8 ppm) yielded unreacted limonene (501 ± 197 μg/m 3), low levels of 4-acetyl-1-methylcyclohexene (AMCH) (20 ± 2 μg/m3), and limonene oxides (25 ± 7 μg/m3). Most of the O3-limonene products remained on the AC, and most (58%) of the limonene remained unreacted on the AC after exposure to a stoichiometric excess of O3 for 48 h. Thus, in addition to known homogenous reactions, O3-limonene reactions occur heterogeneously on AC but to a much lesser extent. However, the fate of 95% of the depleted limonene was not determined; much of the missing portion was attributed to desorption from the AC, but the formation of other secondary indoor air pollutants is possible. VOC-loaded AC air filters exposed to O3 seem unlikely, however, to constitute a significant emission source of reaction products. More studies are necessary to investigate other pollutants, effects of environmental conditions, and VOC releases from AC that may be enhanced by O3 exposure.

Thesis (DPhil (Chemistry))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2019 / Occurrence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in freshwater systems may aggravate the water crisis currently being experienced in the Western Cape province of South Africa. However, there is dearth of data on the levels of PAHs, necessary for effective assessment of water quality as well as remediation strategies. This study therefore assessed levels of PAHs in two important freshwater systems in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. The potential of grape leaf litter for PAH abatement was also investigated. A solid-phase extraction - gas chromatography - flame ionisation detection (SPE-GC-FID) method was developed to simultaneously determine the 16 United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) priority PAHs in environmental samples. Levels of 16 US EPA priority PAHs were assessed in water, sediment and plants from seven selected sites on the Diep and Plankenburg Rivers. Seasonal variations of some water quality parameters and PAHs levels in water and sediment samples were determined from the selected sites. Activated carbons produced from Vitis vinifera (grape) leaf litter were utilised for PAH-remediation. The SPE-GC-FID method developed for the 16 US EPA priority PAHs determination gave acceptable linearity (R2 > 0.999). Instrument detection limits ranged between 0.02 and 0.04 µg/mL and instrument quantification limits of between 0.06 and 0.13 µg/mL. Recovery studies were also acceptable (70.35 - 100.83%) with the exception of naphthalene that had lower recoveries. The average ∑16 PAHs detected in water samples at a given site, over a one-year period ranged from 73.90 to187.11 µg/L. The highest PAHs levels were detected in water samples from industrial areas of both rivers; chrysene (Chy) followed by benzo[a]anthracene (BaA) were the most abundant PAHs detected in water samples. Higher PAHs levels were detected in sediment samples relative to water samples; the average ∑16 PAHs detected in sediment samples at a given site, over a one-year period ranged from 6.048 to 39.656 µg/g. PAHs levels were also highest in sediment samples from industrial areas of the two rivers; benzo[b]fluoranthene (BbF) followed by benzo[k]fluoranthene (BkF) were the most abundant PAHs detected in sediment samples. The average ∑16 PAHs detected in plant samples [Phragmites australis (common reed) and Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth)] at a given site, ranged between 62.11 and 226.72 µg/g. Highest levels of PAHs were therefore detected in plant samples, suggesting possible bioaccumulation of PAHs in plant tissues. The bioaccumulation of PAHs by the plants also indicates the phytoremediation potential of these plants for PAHs remediation. The levels of PAHs measured in water and sediment samples were subjected to probabilistic risk assessment to predict the possibility of regulatory values being exceeded. The average percentage exceedence of 63.26 and 42.81 were obtained for PAHs in water samples of the Diep and Plankenburg Rivers respectively, while the corresponding average percentage exceedence obtained for sediment samples were 63.71 and 77.20. Vitis vinifera (grape) leaf litter showed enormous prospect as precursor for activated carbon. The yield of activated carbons obtained from grape leaf litter ranged from 44.65 to 58.40% and the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of up to 616.60 m2/g was obtained for activated carbons. The estimated adsorption capacities of the ZnCl2 and H3PO4 activated carbons for phenanthrene removal from aqueous solutions were 94.12 and 89.13 mg/g respectively. The environmental samples analysed were heavily contaminated with the 16 US EPA priority PAHs and the probabilistic risk assessment suggested risks of the carcinogenic PAHs at the levels measured in the environment. Vitis vinifera leaf litter, showed enormous potential as renewable precursor for activated carbon production, capable of removing varied contaminants from wastewater.

No description available.