Biostimulation effect of different amendments on Cr(VI) recovering microbial community.

The present study used Cr(VI)-polluted microcosms amended with lactate or yeast extract, and nonamended microcosms as control, to investigate how a native bacterial community varied in response to the treatment and during the pollutant removal. Results suggested that providing electron donors resulted in a proliferation of a few bacterial species, with the consequent decrease in observed species richness and evenness, and was a driving force for the bacterial compositional shift. Lactate promoted, in the first instance, the enrichment of fermentative bacteria belonging to Chromobacteriaceae, including Paludibacterium, and Micrococcaceae as observed after 4 days.

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy to Assess the Degree of Alteration of Artificially Aged and Environmentally Weathered Microplastics.

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) is a spectroscopy technique widely used to identify organic materials. It has recently gained popularity in microplastic (MP) pollution research to determine the chemical composition of unknown plastic fragments. However, it could also be used to evaluate the degree of ageing of MPs collected from the environment.

Assessment of metals associated with virgin pre-production and freshwater microplastics collected by an Italian river.

Recently, microplastics (MPs) have been detected in almost all environmental matrices (water, soil, air, biota). Their presence is of concern due to high environmental persistence and their ability to release or bind pollutants. In light of this, the present work aimed to quantify a poorly studied pollutant category associated with MPs: metals.

Enhanced Natural Attenuation of Groundwater Cr(VI) Pollution Using Electron Donors: Yeast Extract vs. Polyhydroxybutyrate.

Remediation interventions based on the native bacteria's capability to reduce Cr(VI) represent a valid strategy in terms of economic and environmental sustainability. In this study, a bioremediation test was carried out using viable microcosms set with groundwater and deep soil (4:1), collected from the saturated zone of an industrial site in Southern Italy that was polluted by ~130 µg L of Cr(VI). Conditions simulating the potential were compared to the induced by supplying yeast extract or polyhydroxybutyrate.

Effects and Impacts of Different Oxidative Digestion Treatments on Virgin and Aged Microplastic Particles.

Although several sample preparation methods for analyzing microplastics (MPs) in environmental matrices have been implemented in recent years, important uncertainties and criticalities in the approaches adopted still persist. Preliminary purification of samples, based on oxidative digestion, is an important phase to isolate microplastics from the environmental matrix; it should guarantee both efficacy and minimal damage to the particles. In this context, our study aims to evaluate Fenton's reaction digestion pre-treatment used to isolate and extract microplastics from environmental matrices.