Chemical and microbiological monitoring of air in two waste incineration plants.

The study evaluated emissions from two incinerator plants and occupational exposure of workers during a six-year monitoring period (2004-2009). Chemical and microbiological analyses were performed by collecting environmental and staff individual air samples. Inspirable and respirable particulate and metals were measured in both environmental and staff samples; concentrations of Volatile Organic Compounds and the presence of microorganisms were investigated only in environmental samples.

Influence of weight on the content of trace metals in tissues of Mytilus galloprovincialis (Lamarck, 1819): a forecast model.

Fifty seven samples of Mytilus galloprovincialis (Lamarck, 1819) collected along the breakwater barriers of Fano (station 1) and Pesaro (station 2), Adriatic Sea, Marche Region, central Italy, were analyzed by atomic absorption spectrometry and Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn concentrations in the soft tissues were measured. The aims of this work were the statistical analysis of Cd-weight, Cu-weight, Pb-weight, Zn-weight relationships, and the building of a tendency function that allows assessing with a good approximation the concentrations of a metal in different weight organisms. In Mytilus galloprovincialis the content of Cd proportionally grew with the weight and therefore its concentration was independent from this factor; while the concentration of Pb decreased as the weight increased.

Asbestos reclamation at a disused industrial plant, Bagnoli (Naples, Italy).

Asbestos reclamation works were carried out at a disused industrial plant (157,000 m(2)) in Bagnoli, a high population density area of Naples. The case-study here presented recommends a new reclamation procedure that is not usually provided for by current international standards. To this purpose, a specific innovative cleaning machine (Safecar) was built in order to control the reclamation procedures also in non-confined areas.

A biomonitoring study: trace metals in algae and molluscs from Tyrrhenian coastal areas.

Marine organisms were evaluated as possible biomonitors of heavy metal contamination in marine coastal areas. Concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn were measured in the green algae Ulva lactuca L., the brown algae Padina pavonica (L.