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Fluoride has both beneficial and detrimental effects on human health. Concentrations of fluoride less than 1.0 mg/L in ingested water are beneficial for the rate of tooth decay, especially in children. The aims of the paper are as follows: (i) to monitor fluoride concentrations in drinking water samples (well water and tap water from the rural district of Valea Râmnicului, Romania); (ii) to study and select the optimal buffer solution and the optimal volume used in the analyses and (iii) to validate the potentiometric method for determining fluoride ions with a selective ion electrode. The values of fluoride ion concentrations in the groundwater samples and in tap water varied from 0.01 to 0.138 mg / L. The values for the hazard quotient for the studied samples varied from 0.01 to 0.13.

The complex composition of grapes as well as the quite large variations of each component affect the processing thereof differently and at the same time influence the yield in must, its quality and the wine product; they also influence production losses, along with the quality and quantity of by-products. Vinification wastes cause ecological problems because the neutralization and use of fermentative wastes mixed with different compounds present a danger to the environment and to the health of the population. The ecological measures of protection of the environmental factors are very important, especially the economic efficiency obtained through the recovery of the by-products. This paper focuses on the possibilities of using the by-products obtained from the wine making process, based on the fact that this drink is the most widely known in the world, with the highest percentage in terms of beverage production and implicitly with the largest quantity of by-products obtained. The valorization of these by-products leads to obtaining very valuable products both from a nutritional and industrial point of view. Experimentally, the aim was to determine the physical and chemical characteristics of different types of grape pomace and must sampled from a winery in Romania. Thus, the determination of total acidity, conductivity, pH, total content of phenolic compounds, total nitrogen and total content of pectic substances was aimed. The experimental values obtained have shown that grape pomace is a valuable by-product of the wine industry and its valorization demonstrates an important economic efficiency., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)