clay and pyrene

Evaluation of the bioavailable fractions of organic contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is extremely important for assessing their risk to the environment. This available fraction, which can be solubilised and/or easily extracted, is believed to be the most accessible for bioaccumulation, biosorption and/or transformation. Sediment organic matter (OM) and clay play an important role in the biodegradation and bioavailability of PAHs. The strong association of PAHs with OM and clay in sediments has a great influence not only on their distribution but also on their long-term environmental impact. This paper investigates correlations between bioavailability and the clay and OM contents in sediments. The results show that OM is a better sorbent for pyrene (chosen as a model PAH) and that increasing the OM content reduces the bioavailable fraction. A mathematical model was used to predict the kinetic desorption, and these results showed that the sediment with the lowest content of OM had an F

Topics: Adsorption; Aluminum Silicates; Biodegradation, Environmental; Biological Availability; Clay; Geologic Sediments; Humic Substances; Models, Theoretical; Pyrenes; Water Pollutants, Chemical

Sorption-desorption processes control soil-pollutant interactions. These processes determine the extent of pyrene transport in soils. Understanding sorption characteristics of pyrene is necessary in ascertaining its fate in soil. Laboratory batch experiments were conducted to study the sorptions-desorption of pyrene on eight soils from varying tropical agro-ecological zones (AEZs). The results showed that pyrene sorptions equilibria were attained within 720 min. Solution pH had a reciprocal effect on pyrene sorptions. Sorption was exothermic and increased with pyrene concentration in solution. The quantities of pyrene sorbed by each soil as well as the hysteresis were proportional to the percentage organic matter, and to some degree, the clay mineralogy. Sorption isotherms showed distributed reactivity involving several linear and non-linear isotherms. The present investigation showed that pyrene is likely to be more available to biota and reach the aquifer faster in low organic matter soils than those with relatively higher organic matter and more so in warmer climes.

Topics: Adsorption; Aluminum Silicates; Clay; Kinetics; Models, Chemical; Nigeria; Pyrenes; Soil; Soil Pollutants; Thermodynamics; Tropical Climate

Pyrene removal by polycation-montmorillonite (MMT) composites and granulated activated carbon (GAC) in the presence of humic acid (HA) was examined. Pyrene, HA, and sorbent interactions were characterized by FTIR, fluorescence and zeta measurements, adsorption, and column filtration experiments. Pyrene binding coefficients to the macromolecules were in the order of PVPcoS (poly-4-vinylpiridine-co-styrene) > HA > PDADMAC (poly diallyl-dimethyl-ammonium-chloride), correlating to pyrene-macromolecules compatibility. Electrostatic interactions explained the high adsorption of HA to both composites (∼100%), whereas HA adsorption by GAC was low. Pyrene removal by the composites, unlike GAC, was enhanced in the presence of HA; removal by PDADMAC-MMT increased from ∼50 (k(d) = 2.2 × 10(3) kg/L) to ∼70% (k(d) = 2.4 × 10(3) kg/L) in the presence of HA. This improvement was attributed to the adsorption of pyrene-HA complexes. PVPcoS-MMT was most efficient in removing pyrene (k(d) = 1.1 × 10(4) kg/L, >95% removal) which was explained in terms of specific π donor-π acceptor interactions. Pyrene uptake by column filters of GAC reached ∼50% and decreased to ∼30% in the presence of HA. Pyrene removal by the PVPcoS-MMT filter was significantly higher (100-85% removal), exhibiting only a small decrease in the presence of HA. The utilization of HA as an enhancing agent in pollutant removal is novel and of major importance in water treatment.

Topics: Adsorption; Aluminum Silicates; Bentonite; Charcoal; Clay; Filtration; Fluorescence; Humic Substances; Kinetics; Minerals; Polyamines; Polyelectrolytes; Polyethylenes; Pyrenes; Quaternary Ammonium Compounds; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; Static Electricity; Styrene; Temperature; Water; Water Pollutants, Chemical

Microbial degradation is the dominant pathway for natural attenuation of PAHs in environmental compartments such as sediments, which in turn depends on the bioavailability of PAHs. The bioavailability of PAHs has seldom been studied at the sediment particle size scale. We evaluated biodegradation of pyrene by Mycobacterium vanbaalenii PYR-1 as a function of sediment particle sizes, and investigated the relationship between the rate of degradation on sand, silt and clay particles with their individual desorption kinetics measured with the Tenax extraction method. Regression analysis showed that the total organic carbon (TOC), black carbon (BC), and specific surface area (SSA) of the specific particle size fractions, instead of the particle size scale itself, were closely related (P<0.01) with the mineralization rate. While the fraction in the rapid desorption pool (F (rapid)) ranged from 0.11 to 0.38 for the whole sediments and different size groups, the fractions mineralized after 336-h incubation (0.52 to 0.72) greatly surpassed the F (rapid) values, suggesting utilization of pyrene in the slow desorption pool (F (slow)). A biodegradation model was modified by imbedding a two-phase desorption relationship describing sequential Tenax extractions. Model analysis showed that pyrene sorbed on silt and clay aggregates was directly utilized by the degrading bacteria. The enhanced bioavailability may be attributed to the higher chemical concentration, higher TOC or larger SSA in the silt and clay fractions, which appeared to overcome the reduced bioavailability of pyrene due to sorption, making pyrene on the silt and clay particles readily available to degrading microbes. This conjecture merits further investigation.

Topics: Aluminum Silicates; Biodegradation, Environmental; Clay; Geologic Sediments; Mycobacterium; Polymers; Pyrenes; Silicon Dioxide

Removal of pyrene, a representative PAH, was studied using laboratory tests in two different types of solid media: an organic matter collected on the surface of a vertical flow constructed wetland (VFCW) and a formulated clay silicate sand (inorganic matter). The aim of this study was to evaluate the capacity of pyrene biodegradation in these media in order to use them for treating run-off water. The sorption process, the kinetics of pyrene biodegradation and the influence of selected bacteria were also investigated. The sorption process was evaluated by adsorption isotherms and desorption kinetics using a batch equilibration method. The adsorption coefficient values of 28.8 and 2.1 for the organic and the inorganic matter respectively, confirmed the relationship of adsorption with organic carbon content. A small proportion of the sorbed pyrene was available for desorption (8% and 15% for the organic and the inorganic matter, respectively), indicating that sorption was partially irreversible, with the presence of hysteresis. For the formulated clay silicate sand inoculated with a specific bacteria (Mycobacterium sp.6PY1), selected for its ability to degrade PAHs, pyrene removal was complete in 32 days. With the organic matter, these values ranged from 40% to 95% for the different experiments, following a lag time of 3 weeks before observation of a significant degradation. Indigenous bacterial species in the organic medium had the metabolic capacity to degrade pyrene, and microbial populations pre-exposed to the PAH degraded pyrene faster than similar unexposed populations. Three metabolites of pyrene degradation by Mycobacterium were found. They accumulated in both organic and inorganic matter, indicating that the enzymes catalyzing them have slow kinetics.

Topics: Adsorption; Aluminum Silicates; Biodegradation, Environmental; Biomass; Clay; Models, Biological; Mycobacterium; Organic Chemicals; Pyrenes; Water Pollutants, Chemical; Wetlands

In order to develop a new method to study the desorption and bioavailability of hydrophobic organic chemicals (HOCs) in soils, a method using semi-permeable membrane device (SPMD) to study desorption of HOCs in soils has been set up, and assisted desorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phenanthrene(PHE), pyrene(PYE), and benzo[a] pyrene (B[a]PYE) in three different kinds of soils was studied using SPMD. The results show that SPMD is a good measurement to study the desorption and bioavailability of HOCs in soils. SPMD assisted desorption of PAHs is highly dependent on the properties of the soils and the chemicals. PHE and PYE desorption percentages increase with the reduction of the content of soil organic matter (SOM), so that the desorption of the two chemicals increases from 56.45% and 48.28% to almost 100% when SOM content was reduced from 18.68% to 0.3%. However, clay has a significant holding effect on B[a]PYE, and PYE desorption is only 66.97% in Soil 3 with SOM of 0.3% and clay content of 39.05%. There is a great variety in the desorption among the different PAHs. With the reduction of SOM content and the elevation of contamination concentration, the difference between PHE and PYE decreases gradually, while B[a]PYE exhibits a significant difference from them. This could be attributed to the high lipophilicity and large molecular size of B[a]PYE, which make the molecule of B[a]PYE to be more easier to be held in the nanopores of clay and the dense region of SOM.

Topics: Adsorption; Aluminum Silicates; Benzo(a)pyrene; Clay; Environmental Pollution; Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; Membranes, Artificial; Organic Chemicals; Permeability; Phenanthrenes; Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; Pyrenes; Soil; Soil Pollutants

In the present study, the sorption of pyrene on two kinds of bulk paddy soils, Gleyic Stagnic Anthrosols, and Ferric accumulic Stagnic Anthrosols as well as their particle-size fractions was investigated. The sorption isotherms fitted well with Freundlich equation. For both soils, the clay fraction( < 2 microm) and coarse sand fraction(2000-250 microm) had higher sorption capacity than fine sand fraction(250-20 microm) and silt fraction(20-2 microm). The log Koc values obtained of each soil and its particle-size fractions were similar, proving that SOM content was a key factor affecting pyrene sorption. The Kd values showed a significant correlation with contents of dithionite-extractable Fe in both paddy soils and a good relationship with CEC in Gleyic Stagnic Anthrosols, indicating possible effects of surface properties of particle-size fractions on the sorption of pyrene.

Topics: Adsorption; Agriculture; Aluminum Silicates; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Clay; Kinetics; Pyrenes; Silicon Dioxide; Soil; Soil Pollutants

A 3 x 2 factorial experiment in a generalized randomly complete block was conducted to assess the effects of soil type, soil preparation, and solute concentration on the sorptive behavior of pyrene (PYR) and phenanthrene (PHE). Three bulk soils were treated to remove the soil organic matter (SOM) or clay fractions, then spiked with an initial PYR/PHE concentration of either 3 or 15 mg/L. On average, 98.3% PYR and 91.3% PHE were sorbed to the bulk soils in 24 h, with 4.96 mg PYR kg(-1) soil and 22.48 mg PHE kg(-1) soil desorbed after three successive 24-h desorption steps. Both clay minerals and SOM greatly contributed to the sorptive behavior. For example, an average 95.1% and 96.1% of the initial PYR sorbed to the clay-removed and SOM-removed subsoils, respectively. Conversely, 16.5 mg/kg and 12.9 mg/kg of the sorbed PYR was desorbed from the clay-removed and SOM-removed subsoils, respectively.

Topics: Adsorption; Aluminum Silicates; Biological Availability; Clay; Phenanthrenes; Pyrenes; Soil; Soil Pollutants

Batch experiments with pyrene (PYR) were conducted to quantify the effect of contact time on its sorption and desorption behavior by a sandy-loam soil. Twenty-four and 48 h contact times were chosen for the nonequilibrium conditions and 240 h for the pseudoequilibrium study. All times was selected based on the kinetic results. The nonlinear, pseudoequilibrium sorption isotherm was fit to a two-stage Freundlich model: 3-7 mg/l for the first stage and 7-15 mg/l for the second stage. A substantial fraction of the sorbed PYR was not desorbed within the given desorption time. The reason of hysteresis was found to be a sorption enhancement due to soil hydration which provided more sorption sites. A desorption enhancement at 240-h desorption steps was attributed to the increased dissolved organic matter evolution. This study also found that both soil organic matter and clay materials had an equal role in PYR sorption enhancement and desorption resistance.

Topics: Adsorption; Algorithms; Aluminum Silicates; Clay; Fluorescent Dyes; Kinetics; Pyrenes; Silicon Dioxide; Soil; Time Factors; Water