15. Pollution Flashcards
3 types of organic contaminants
- industrial organics
- hydrocarbons (petro-chemicals)
- Pesticides
4 types of pesticides
- insecticides
- fungicides
- herbicides
- nematocides
6 solutions for organic contaminants
- excavate + remove soil
- phytoremediation
- bioremediation
- green waste compost
- soil washing
- in-situ oxidation: soil vapour extraction
Phytoremediation
use plants that take up contaminants, using plants in bioremediation
a. phytoextraction (remove As + Se):
accumulate chemicals, hyperaccumulators
b. phytostabilisation (phytoexclusion) (metals + As):
tying chemicals up in soils, any kind of plant cover is grown in order to stabilize the contaminant and reduce its movement into the wider environment
c. rhizodegradation of organic pollutants:
enhanced break down activities close to root system (rhizosphere), plants feeding sugars in soil for microbes that will breakdown contaminants
d. rhizodegradation (rhizofiltration) + phytodegradation of organics in constructed wetlands:
artificial pond + series of vegetation treated water so when gets to bottom of system = clean
Bioremediation
microbes degrading contaminants
technology uses enhanced plant and/or microbial action to degrade organic contaminants into harmless metabolic products
application of green waste compost: increases the…
availability of metals to plants
mixing soil with o.m./compost + heat = accelerated biogeochemical processes
high- temperature compost mixed and aerated by a special compost- turning machine in order to accelerate the breakdown of organic compounds. = accelerated degradation of organic pollutants in soil material excavated from a contaminated site, mixed with decomposable organic materials, and made into windrows.
Toxic inorganic substances (heavy metals) sources
burning fossil fuels
smelting
gasoline additives
wood preservatives
insecticides
heavy metals in sewage sludge from industrial water treatments
other processing techniques release elements in the atmosphere + deposited on vegetation/carried through rain and snow/global drift, accumulating in soils + going through food chain (ingested by humans)
Toxic inorganic substances (heavy metals) examples
Arsenic (wood preservative + insecticide + defoliant)
Lead, nickel, boron (gas additives) lead: lead-batteries
boron: detergents, fertilizers, forest fire retardants
cadmium, copper, manganese, nickel, zinc (soil amendments-phosphate fertilizer+limestone)
Cadmium: plating metals, rechargeable batteries.
ALL = specific organic substances +domestic/industrial sewage sludge.
Mercury: gold mining, chemical manufacturing industries, burning coal.
3 solutions for soil contamination by toxic inorganic compounds
- Eliminate/greatly reduce soil application of toxins (prevention)
- Immobilize toxin (soil mgmt so it doesn’t move into food/water supplies)
- Remove toxin by chemical, physical, biological remediation (for localized contamination)
Hyperaccumulator plants
Plants taking up and accumulating high concentration of metals
–> pose serious health hazard if eaten by animals/people. should harvest/bury or treated
2 types of landfills
- Natural Attenuation Landfills
- Containment/Secured Landfills
Natural attenuation landfills (for mild contamination)
letting nature slowly breakdown
soil ecosystem may be able to destroy the contaminant and heal itself, unaided, by the process of natural attenuation, may allow the soil ecosystem to recover its function and diversity over a reasonable period using any or all 8 processes
chemicals leaching to bottom of landfill:
monitoring well–> contaminants not in local groundwater
Vegetative cover (daily + final) so evaporates rain back into atmosphere (no percolation to pit because it would ass to leaching, helping contaminants getting to the bottom)
Methane recovery systems to collect gas from decomposition
–> contamination may be so serious that natural attenuation will occur too slowly to be a practical solution and more active technological interventions may be called for.
soil requirements for final cover (landfill cap)
Topsoil for vegetation (evaporates water + supports vegetation cover)
Sand layer for drainage (allows for lateral movement of water, guiding water horizontally over clay, off landfill)
Clay layer for sealing (prevents infiltration of water, minimizing leaching)
Containment landfills
designed to collect all leachate + pump it out for storage and treatment
landfill bottom is sealed with waterproof geomembrane (protected by covering of geotextile + gravel)
–> smectite clay (seals)
–>plastic geotextile (industrial)
Gravel around pipes so leachate flows easily into them
Cap/cover to keep water out of the pit
–>construction and function are much less dependent on the nature of the soils at the site.
–> The principal soil-related concerns are the requirement for suitable sources of sand and gravel, of soil for daily cover, for clayey material to form the final cover, and for topsoil to support protective vegetation.
3 major conclusions about soils in relation to environmental quality
- soils = valuable resources–>should be protected from environmental contamination (especially that which does permanent damage)
- Soils = promising mechanisms for disposal + processing + utilization of wastes (otherwise would contaminate enviro.)
–> soils = vastness and remarkable capacities to absorb, bind, and break down added materials
–> using soil ecosystem to digest/recycle materials - soil contaminants + breakdown products can be toxic to humans/animals (go into food chain)
–>ingested
–>moving from soil into plants, soil fauna, air, water supplies
Most promising advances: bioremediation: biological processes of the soil harnessed to effect soil cleanup BUT must know:
a. chemical properties (Kd, Koc, solubility, adsoprtion, density)
b. soil properties (depth, clay, O.M. content, hydraulic properties–how readily water flows through soil)
c. climate (leaching pulse, rain vs dry)
d. depth to groundwater (space for contaminants to move?)
e. aquifer properties (how quickly water moves through aquifers, if contaminated = BAD)
f. knowledge of bacterias, fungi, plants (which contaminants they can breakdown, how much, etc.)
4 types of plant responses to metal contamination
- sensitive: accumulate metals, but no tolerance for high levels
–> show immediate signs of toxicity - indicator (of soil metal concentrations):
steadily take up the metal in proportion to how much is available in the soil, tolerate moderately high levels of metal . sequestering the metal nonsensitive plant parts or by binding the metals in organic compounds that reduce the toxicity.
–> bioremediation: phytostabilization
- Excluder:
does not pick up contaminants, survive despite it
can tolerate quite high levels of metal contamination, may exhibit a high bioconcen- tration factor in the root (BCF root > 1), but not in the shoot (BCF shoot = 1). useful in stabilizing the metal in the soil, but does not facilitate the removal of the metal altogether.
–> bioremediation: phytostabilization
–> rhizosphere remediation - Hyperaccumulator:
tolerate extremely high metal concentrations in soils, efficiently extract the metal from the soil, translocate the metal to aboveground parts from their roots, and continue to grow unimpaired with ex- tremely high metal concentrations in their shoot tissues
–> bioremediation : phytoextraction
Effects of pH on metal adsorption
different pH = different pH-dependent charges
–> free them up = higher CEC (more adsorbed)
In-situ bioremediation of soil/groundwater contaminated with volatile organic solvents:
adding nutrients, oxygen, cometabolites that improve soil enviro. for growth of native bacteria that can metabolize contaminant (stimulation of organic contaminant breakdown)
–> assume knowledge of groundwater system + microbes = complex, $$
6 types pollution
- spills
- industrial sites
- industrial/commercial properties
- agricultural lands
- brownfields
- organic/inorganic pollutants
8 important processes affecting the dissipation of organic
chemicals (OC) in soils
- Volatilization (soil to atmosphere)
–> transfer process, OC remains intact - Absorption
–> transfer process, OC remains intact - Leaching
–> transfer process, OC remains intact - Chemical decomposition
–> altering o.c. - Aerobic biological degradation
–> destroy o.c. - Anaerobic biological degradation
–> destroy o.c. - Runoff
–> transfer process, OC remains intact - Absorption + exudation
–> transfer process, OC remains intact
–> then = detoxication with plants
*Photo-decomposition (light + chemical rx)
–> alters o.c.
- Capillary flow
–> transfer process, OC remains intact
*Crop removal
–> transfer process, OC remains intact
and degradation by microorganisms, indicating that
these processes alter or destroy the organic chemical. In transfer processes, the
OC remains intact
Organic compounds (e.g. petroleum product or
pesticide) each have characteristic tendency to
adsorb to soil.
- Kd (humus most important) + Koc
- Low Kd or Koc indicates high leaching risk
- Also a risk of bio-molecules being sorbed but still
active
Distribution coefficient, Kd
(mass sorbed/kg soil) / (conc. chemical)
ratio between the sorbed and solution portions of the organic compound
–> indicates degree of sorption of organic compounds by soil colloids
The Kd for the adsorption of many nonpolar organic compounds on untreated clays = very low (clays =hydrophilic (water-loving), their adhering water films repel the hydrophobic, nonpolar organic compounds.
Koc
- Koc = (mass adsorbed / mass of o.c.) / (initial conc.)