Olive mill wastewater treatment by a pilot-scale subsurface horizontal flow (SSF-h) constructed wetland

Performances of a pilot-scale reed bed for the olive mill wastewater (OMW) treatment were investigated, by monitoring influent and effluent pH, total suspended solids (TSS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), total phosphorus and polyphenols. In order to reduce the suspended matter concentration and to avoid clogging, OMW was pre-treated by adding lime putty, calcium hydroxide and hydraulic lime. The best results were obtained with 2 g/L of hydraulic lime. Pre-treated OMW was dosed in the reed bed at dilution ratios of 1/3 and 1/10 (v/v), pointing up that the latter only did not give rise to reed suffering and allowed to obtain good and durable removal efficiencies, above all for COD (74.1+/-17.6%) and polyphenols (83.4+/-17.8%). Recycling of the effluent was quite effective for the improvement of the wastewater quality, allowing a further removal of 26-70%, depending on the parameter taken into account. A post-dosage study, carried out by feeding the reed bed with the effluent of an activated sludge plant, pointed up a rapid decreasing of the outlet concentrations of the investigated parameters to values compatible with Italian regulations concerning wastewater discharge in surface water. Polyphenols were the exception, being their outlet concentration at the end of post-dosage study around 2 mg/L.     

A new apparatus for the extraction of organic compounds from aqueous solutions

A new apparatus for the extraction of organic compounds from sea water is described. With this apparatus it is possible to extract 54 standard compounds with high recovery percentages from 9 1 of sea water with 3 ml ofn-hexane. The analysis time (about 1 h) is appreciably lower than those of the extraction methods based on RP-18 and Carbopack-B adsorption (about 15 h). Furthermore, it is possible to analyze samples without filtration. An application of this method to the analysis of Tirreno sea water is reported.     

Organic Compounds in Surface and Deep Antarctic Snow

Abstract

Eight surface snow samples taken during the 1987/88, 1988/89 and 1990/91 Italian Antarctic Expeditions and six samples collected at different depths from two dissimilar sites during the 1990/91 Expedition, were analyzed for the non-chlorinated organic content using the GC capillary columns technique and GC-MS. Several biogenic and anthropogenic classes of organic compounds were identified and quantitatively determined. The data obtained give a more complete picture of the pollution level in Antarctica.     

Analysis of Organic Compounds in Antarctic Snow and Their Origin

Abstract

Organic compounds extractable with n-hexane were identified and quantitatively determined in pack, surface and deep snow samples taken at different depths and collected at several altitudes above sea level from Antarctica during the 1993/94 Italian expedition. The comparison between the composition of organic compounds in snow and the ones in pack and sea-water samples pointed out that the three matrices substantially contain the same biogenic and anthropogenic organic compounds. The contribution of marine aerosol to organic content in the snow is confirmed by the enrichment ratios calculated for the more representative classes of identified compounds (n-alkanes, phthalates and low molecular weight alkylbenzenes). The changes in the composition of organic compounds in snow as the altitude increases seem to depend on the dimensional spectrum of the aerosol. Thus, smallest particles, richest in surfactant material, reach the highest altitudes.     

Nonequilibrium invariant measure under heat flow

We provide an explicit representation of the nonequilibrium invariant measure for a chain of harmonic oscillators with conservative noise in the presence of stationary heat flow. By first determining the covariance matrix, we are able to express the measure as the product of Gaussian distributions aligned along some collective modes that are spatially localized with power-law tails. Numerical studies show that such a representation applies also to a purely deterministic model, the quartic Fermi-Pasta-Ulam chain.     

Determination of phosphorus, sulfur and the halogens using high-temperature molecular absorption spectrometry in flames and furnaces—A review

The literature about the investigation of molecular spectra of phosphorus, sulfur and the halogens in flames and furnaces, and the use of these spectra for the determination of these non-metals has been reviewed. Most of the investigations were carried out using conventional atomic absorption spectrometers, and there were in essence two different approaches. In the first one, dual-channel spectrometers with a hydrogen or deuterium lamp were used, applying the two-line method for background correction; in the second one, a line source was used that emitted an atomic line, which overlapped with the molecular spectrum. The first approach had the advantage that any spectral interval could be accessed, but it was susceptible to spectral interference; the second one had the advantage that the conventional background correction systems could be used to minimize spectral interferences, but had the problem that an atomic line had to be found, which was overlapping sufficiently well with the maximum of the molecular absorption spectrum. More recently a variety of molecular absorption spectra were investigated using a low-resolution polychromator with a CCD array detector, but no attempt was made to use this approach for quantitative determination of non-metals. The recent introduction and commercial availability of high-resolution continuum source atomic absorption spectrometers is offering completely new possibilities for molecular absorption spectrometry and its use for the determination of non-metals. The use of a high-intensity continuum source together with a high-resolution spectrometer and a CCD array detector makes possible selecting the optimum wavelength for the determination and to exclude most spectral interferences.     

Reversed-phase planar chromatography of some enantiomeric amino acids and oxazolidinones

The resolution of two enantiomeric amino acids and four structurally related oxazolidinones was evaluated by reversed-phase planar chromatography using both home-made microcrystalline cellulose triacetate (MCTA) layers and mobile phase additivies, such as beta-cyclodextrins (beta-Cy), modified alpha, beta, gamma cyclodextrins and bovine serum albumin (BSA), on commercially available RP-18W/F254 and SilC18-50/UV254 plates. All the enantiomers were partially or baseline resolved by at least one of the chiral phases tested. Densitograms of optical antipodes and their mixtures were measured on MCTA layers developed with hydroalcoholic solvents.