Size-classified aerosol-bound heavy metals and their effects on human health risks in industrial and remote areas in Japan.

Airborne aerosols were collected in six size classes (PM, PM, PM, PM, PM and PM) to investigate aerosol health risks in remote and industrial areas in Japan. We focused on heavy metals and their water-dispersed fractions. The average concentration of heavy metals was 18 ± 25-86 ± 48 ngm for PM, 46 ± 19-154 ± 80 for PM ngm, 98 ± 49-422 ± 186 ngm for PM, 321 ± 305-1288 ± 727 ngm for PM and 65 ± 52-914 ± 339 ngm or PM, and these concentrations were higher in industrial areas.

Reversible adsorption of iridium in lyophilized cells of the unicellular red alga .

Iridium (Ir) is one of the rarest elements in the Earth's crust and is valuable in industry due to its high corrosion resistance. In this study, we used lyophilized cells of a unicellular red alga, for the selective recovery of small amounts of Ir from hydrochloric acid (HCl) solutions. The Ir recovery efficiency of the lyophilized cells was higher than that of activated carbon and comparable to that of an ion-exchange resin in up to 0.