Most regional municipal solid waste landfills in Serbia are operated without control of landfill leachate and gas or with no regard for implementation of national and European legislation. For the first time in Serbia, groundwater and soil at a landfill were subject to systematic annual monitoring according to national, European legislation and adopted methodologies. Characterisation of the groundwater and soil samples from the landfill included ten metals (Fe, Mn, As, Zn, Cd, Pb, Ni, Cr, Cu and Hg), 16 EPA PAHs, nutrients and certain physicochemical parameters, in order to assess the risks such poorly controlled landfills pose to the environment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to determine the possibility of using fly ash and combination of kaolinite and fly ash for the solidification/stabilization (S/S) of Ni and Zn contaminated sediment from the Krivaja river basin (Serbia), which represents an extraordinary risk to the environment and belongs to the last quality class in the Serbian sediment classification. Fly ash was used as a stabilising agent because it occurs as a secondary industrial product, so in this way two types of waste are immobilized. Microwave assisted BCR sequential extraction procedure was employed to assess potential of Ni and Zn mobility and risk to the aquatic environment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe performance of the laboratory scale electrocoagulation/flotation (ECF) reactor in removing high concentrations of natural organic matter (NOM) and arsenic from groundwater was analyzed in this study. An ECF reactor with bipolar plate aluminum electrodes was operated in the horizontal continuous flow mode. Electrochemical and flow variables were optimized to examine ECF reactor contaminants removal efficiency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe assessment of the quality of sediment from the Great Backi Canal (Serbia) based on the pseudo-total As and Cr content according to the corresponding Dutch standards and Canadian guidelines showed its severe contamination with these two elements. Microwave assisted BCR sequential extraction procedure was employed to assess their potential mobility and risk to the aquatic environment. Comparison of the results of sequential extraction and different criteria for sediment quality assessment has led to somewhat contradictory conclusions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFToxic action of crude oil on the living world and ecosystems in general is a global problem of both aquatic and terrestrial environments. Bearing in mind the possibility of biodegradation of this toxicant, the procedures of determining counts and activity of cultivable microorganisms, and especially of bacteria responsible for degradation processes, are of great significance. The aim of this work was to study the possibility of modifying some solid media by adding triphenyltetrazolium chloride reagent as an indicator of the dehydrogenase activity, to develop a simple screening method for a simultaneous assessment of the count and activity of cultivable hydrocarbon-oxidizing bacteria in the oil-contaminated environments.
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