European stakeholders' perspectives on implementation potential of precision weed control: the case of autonomous vehicles with laser treatment.

Weed control is a basic agricultural practice, typically achieved through herbicides and mechanical weeders. Because of the negative environmental impacts of these tools, alternative solutions are being developed and adopted worldwide. Following recent technical developments, an autonomous laser-based weeding system (ALWS) now offers a possible solution for sustainable weed control.

Using pre-screening methods for an effective and reliable site characterization at megasites.

This paper illustrates the usefulness of pre-screening methods for an effective characterization of polluted sites. We applied a sequence of site characterization methods to a former Soviet military airbase with likely fuel and benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) contamination in shallow groundwater and subsoil. The methods were (i) phytoscreening with tree cores; (ii) soil gas measurements for CH4, O2, and photoionization detector (PID); (iii) direct-push with membrane interface probe (MIP) and laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) sensors; (iv) direct-push sampling; and (v) sampling from soil and from groundwater monitoring wells.

Geochemical and microbiological characteristics during in situ chemical oxidation and in situ bioremediation at a diesel contaminated site.

While in situ chemical oxidation with persulfate has seen wide commercial application, investigations into the impacts on groundwater characteristics, microbial communities and soil structure are limited. To better understand the interactions of persulfate with the subsurface and to determine the compatibility with further bioremediation, a pilot scale treatment at a diesel-contaminated location was performed consisting of two persulfate injection events followed by a single nutrient amendment. Groundwater parameters measured throughout the 225 day experiment showed a significant decrease in pH and an increase in dissolved diesel and organic carbon within the treatment area.