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We examined the temporal profiles of many organic micropollutants analysed in a sediment core sampled from a highly anthropized tributary of the Po River, the Lambro River. Analysed for extractable organic halogens (EOX), total petroleum hydrocarbons (C

DDE (2,2-bis (p-chlorophenyl)-1,1-dichloroetylene) is a very persistent and bioaccumulative pesticide and its residues are continuously found in the environment. Among the green remediation strategies for soil recovery, terrestrial Microbial Fuel Cells (MFC) are arousing great interest in scientific community. MFCs transform energy stored in the chemical bonds of organic compounds into electrical energy thanks to exo-electrogen microorganisms naturally occurring in soil, which catalyse oxidation and reduction reactions in the area between two graphite electrodes. This work reports preliminary data on the use of MFCs for promoting soil decontamination from DDE. Several experimental conditions (e.g. addition of compost and open/closed circuit) were applied for assessing how to improve MFC performance in favouring DDE removal. MFCs promoted a significant DDE removal (39%) after 2 months, while at the same time any pesticide decrease was observed in the batch condition. Compost addition stimulated microbial activity and improved MFC performance for a longer time.

A key concern of microplastic pollution is whether they represent a risk to ecosystems and human health. However, there is a lot of uncertainty associated with this issue. To evaluate the risk of microplastics to aquatic environments, data on the exposure and effect levels of microplastics are required. The adverse effects on aquatic organisms exposed to microplastics can be separated into two categories: physical effects and chemical effects. The former is related to the particle size, shape, and concentration of microplastics, and the latter is related to hazardous chemicals associated with microplastics. Although data on microplastic exposure levels in marine environments and organisms have rapidly increased in recent decades, limited information is available on chemicals associated with microplastics.

BACKGROUND: The Monviso clone previously tested successfully to remediate a lindane‐contaminated soil in central Italy was then applied in a historically heavy metal contaminated area in southern Italy. RESULTS: The results obtained at 900 days from the poplar planting showed a strong decrease below Italian national legal limits (D.Lgs 152/06) for most heavy metals (HMs). The highest reduction of HM concentrations was observed in soil samples collected near the trunk (25 cm distant from poplar) and in the rhizosphere. The values of the HM bioaccumulation factor (BAF, considering roots and leaves) and of the translocation factor (TF) suggest that poplar trees were able to phytostabilize HMs. The soil organic carbon content increased compared to the previous sampling in all plots planted. The highest values were observed for the rhizosphere soils of each target tree, while the phosphorous available strongly decreased. Microbial results showed an overall increase in cell viability, dehydrogenase activity and microbial abundance of some bacterial groups. CONCLUSION: Overall results showed that the poplar‐based phytoremediation strategy was able to promote the phytostabilization of the HMs and to improve the soil quality in terms of both organic carbon content and microbial community structure and activity. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry

We report the results of a visual survey of floating natural (NML) and anthropogenic (AML) macro-litter (>2.5 cm) performed in the central part of the Mediterranean Sea during a dual-use campaign onboard the Italian Navy tall ship “Amerigo Vespucci” which circumnavigated the Italian peninsula during May-June 2016. The distribution, abundance and composition of floating marine litter were assessed using a 10 m fixed-width strip transect method. Over 88 h of transect counts were performed, for a total of 168 transects, covering an overall survey length of 1026.35 km. 4756 anthropogenic litter items were counted during the transects, 96.9 % of which were classified as plastic items. Floating litter was found throughout the entire study area with densities ranging from 0 to 9205 items/km2 and with a mean abundance of 492 AML items/km2 and 77 NML items/km2 across all surveyed locations. Maximum AML densities (>3500 items/km2) were recorded in the Adriatic Sea, while the lowest densities (

Soil contamination with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) is one the most relevant environmental problem in the SIN (Site of National Interest) of Taranto (Apulia Region, Southern Italy) and the surrounding area. Evaluation of PCB contents and their spatial distribution is an essential pre-requisite for soil remediation. Conventional laboratory analyses, although useful and irreplaceable for a precise and detailed evaluation of these contaminants, are costly and time-consuming, thus not very suitable for investigation over large areas. Then, there is a need to develop/validate alternative, rapid and cost-effective techniques, to use as substitutive of integrative to conventional analytical approaches. In this study, the usefulness of soil colour, based on spectrometric measurements, coupled with regression analysis, was assessed. Until now, never an analogous investigation has been realised. Twenty-eight soil samples, previously collected within an area (the ex-MATRA) highly contaminated by the disposal of oil used as dielectric fluid, composed by a mixture of PCB congeners, were used in the investigation. Colour coordinates in different colour systems were calculated from spectroradiometric measurements over the soil samples. Eighteen PCB congeners (i.e. 12 dioxin-like PCBs and six non-dioxin-like "indicator" PCBs), their sum (PCBs ) and the extractable organic halogen content (EOX)--which is an expression of the total content of halogen in organochlorine compounds, including the PCBs--were determined through conventional laboratory analysis. Simple linear regression analysis was carried out to predict the values of PCBs and EOX on the basis of colour variables. Excellent predictive models (R > 0.80) for PCBs and EOX, as well as for some of the individual PCB congener, resulted from the regression analysis. Thus, spectroscopic determination of soil colour can be considered as a promising tool for a rapid screening of PCBs in contaminated soils. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].

The term “microplastics” was first used in 2004 to describe very small fragments of plastic (~50 μm) in the water column and in sediments. In 2009, Arthur et al. (Proceedings of the International Research Workshop on the Occurrence, Effects and Fate of Microplastic Marine Debris, Sep 9–11, 2008. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS-OR&R-30. 49 p, 2009) proposed that microplastics should include all fragments

La contaminazione dei suoli da policlorobifenili (PCB) è un problema di grande rilevanza in diverse aree indu- striali d'Italia. La valutazione del contenuto e della distribuzione spaziale di questi composti organici è un prerequisito essenziale per le attività di caratterizzazione e riquali cazione di siti contaminati. Le analisi convenzionali di laboratorio, sebbene utili e praticamente insostituibili per una precisa e dettagliata valutazione della presenza di questi contaminanti, sono costose e richiedono tempi lunghi, quindi sono poco idonee per indagini su aree vaste; da qui, la necessità di sviluppare/validare tecniche alternative rapide e a basso costo da utilizzare come sostitutive o integrative delle analisi convenzionali. Nel presente studio sono state valutate le potenzialità del colore del suolo, basato su misure spettroradiometriche, combinato con l'analisi statistica di regressione, per la predizione del contenuto di PCB. A tal fine, sono stati utilizzati 28 campioni di suolo, prelevati in un'area industriale dismessa della provincia di Taranto (ex-MATRA), fortemente contaminata dallo sversamento di oli utilizzati come fluidi dielettrici, composti da una miscela di diversi congeneri di PCB. Per i predetti campioni sono state determinate le coordinate del colore in differenti sistemi colorimetrici. Attraverso analisi convenzionali di laboratorio, per gli stessi campioni sono stati determinati i contenuti di PCB (diciotto congeneri e la loro somma) oltre che di alogeni organici estraibili (Extractable Organic Halogens, EOX). Per predire i valori di PCB e di EOX in funzione delle variabili del colore del suolo, è stata condotta un'analisi statistica di regressione lineare semplice, dalla quale sono stati ottenuti modelli predittivi eccellenti (R2>0.80).

Monitoring studies have quantified microscopic plastic debris, so-called microplastics, in freshwater systems, including banks, surface waters and sediments. However, there is a lack of knowledge of freshwater and terrestrial environments. When microplastics are released in freshwater environments, they will be transported and will not remain stationary. Moreover, their transport from sink to source (land-based to river systems) may depend on several factors such as weather conditions and river hydrology. The present study aims to investigate the abundance and composition of microplastics in the most important river of Apulia Region (Southeast Italy) evaluating the main drivers and possible input sources of microplastic debris. The following work is the first study showing an Italian river context. For this research five sampling campaigns have been conducted west of the Ofanto river mouth. Microplastics were collected by three surface plankton nets fixed in the middle of the river in order to reduce the spatial and temporal variability. For each campaign, a total of six replicates were sampled during two time slots. Microplastic concentrations ranged from 0.9 ± 0.4 p/m3 to 13 ± 5 p/m3 showing comparable values to or greater than those ones reported in other studies. A statistically significant difference in the average microplastic concentrations in different campaigns of this study has been observed, suggesting thus a temporal variation in plastic abundances. These significant differences could be explained by the hydrology of the river that influences the particle concentration with its physical forces such as flow velocity, water level and seasonal variability. Microplastics were found at higher concentrations during wet periods indicating a land-based origin probably connected to waste produced by the surroundings agricultural areas. In fact, Spearman's correlation results show a strong positive statistically significant correlation between the concentration of microplastics and the water level (R = 0.8475, p

A robust analytical method is presented for the direct determination of polychlorinated biphenyls in soil samples by thermal desorption/gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The method is simple to perform (thermal desorption and analysis are performed in-line employing a limited amount of sample, 2mg) and eliminates the need for any solvent and time-consuming extraction. The analytical procedure was optimized using a soil sample spiked with Aroclor 1254 and Aroclor 1260 and validated with a certified industrial soil sample for which the concentration of thirteen PCB congeners are known. Limits of detection were sensitive to matrix effects and varied substantially among analytes. The matrix effect resulted in a reduction of the limits of detection by 1.5-10 times. However, it was found that the matrix effect is not due to ion suppression but to the increase of the noise of selected ion monitoring (SIM) traces, indicating that no limitation exists with using a single surrogate standard. By employing a 13C-labelled PCB internal standard, limits of detection in the range of 0.8 to 10 mu gg(-1) of soil were obtained. The obtained experimental results demonstrated that the proposed analytical method can be conveniently applied for screening a large number of heavily contaminated soil samples thus avoiding the employment of harmful solvents and time-consuming extraction procedures.

Amorphous titanium hydroxide and boron-doped (B-doped) sodium titanates hydrates were synthetized and used as adsorbents for the removal of Pb 2+ from water. The use of sodium borohydride (NaBH 4 ) and titanium(IV) isopropoxide (TTIP) as precursors permits a very easy synthesis of B-doped adsorbents at 298 K. The new adsorbent materials were first chemically characterized (XRD, XPS, SEM, DRIFT and elemental analysis) and then tested in Pb 2+ adsorption batch experiments, in order to define kinetics and equilibrium studies. The nature of interaction between such sorbent materials and Pb 2+ was also well defined: besides a pure adsorption due to hydroxyl interaction functionalities, there is also an ionic exchange between Pb 2+ and sodium ions even working at pH 4.4. Langmuir model presented the best fitting with a maximum adsorption capacity up to 385 mg/g. The effect of solution pH and common ions (i.e. Na + , Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ ) onto Pb 2+ sorption were also investigated. Finally, recovery was positively conducted using EDTA. Very efficient adsorption (>99.9%) was verified even using tap water spiked with traces of Pb 2+ (50 ppb).

Amorphous titanium hydroxide and boron-doped (B-doped) sodium titanates hydrates were synthetized and used as adsorbents for the removal of Pb