Heavy metal content of bottom ashes from a fuel oil power plant and oil refinery in Cuba

Characterization of soils from an industrial complex contaminated with elemental mercury

“…Currently, field portable x-ray fluorescence (XRF) has been used as a rapid and nondestructive technique to analyze metals in soils (Chou et al, 2010;Jang, 2010;Lu et al, 2010;Radu and Diamond, 2009;Saini et al, 2002;Vanhoof et al, 2004;Weindorf et al, 2012); and this method has been employed to analyze Hg contaminated soils, although it is unclear whether Hg(0) l was present in the soils being analyzed (Alonso-Hernandez et al, 2011;Kodom et al, 2010). This technique was also examined as part of the Monitoring and Measurement Technology (MMT) program facilitated by the United States EPA (2003).…”

Improvement of simultaneous Cr(VI) and phenol removal by an immobilised bacterial consortium and characterisation of biodegradation products

“…For this reason, International organisations for environmental protection have set permissible limits, in the order of some micrograms per liter, for their discharge into the environment [3]. Nevertheless, phenol and its derivatives have been found at concentrations over 1,000 mg/l in diverse industrial effluents, which are also known to contain prohibited levels of Cr(VI) [4,5]. Therefore, developing efficient methods for simultaneous detoxification of these chemicals is a priority challenge in environmental sciences.…”

Neutron activation analysis of thermal power plant ash and surrounding area soils

“…These annual release rates require attention, because the released BA and FA may contain hazardous trace elements, which have a negative impact on the environment with time (Alonso-Hernandez et al 2011). There are numerous scientific publications regarding the elemental concentrations (ECs) of coal ash and its environmental effects (Agrawal et al 2010;Güleç et al 2001;Mandal and Senguta 2006), whereas there are a few publications regarding HO and NG ash.…”