Persistent organic pollutants in two reservoirs along the Paraíba do Sul-Guandu River system, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Sediment contamination is evaluated by determining organic micropollutants (organochlorine compounds - OCs and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons - PAHs) in two important Brazilian water reservoirs. Trace levels of OCs were observed in the Santana reservoir (44.8 ng g-1 d.w. of p,p'-DDT), while in the Funil reservoir the levels were below detection level. Forty-eight percent of the found sigmaocs were polychlorinated biphenyls, 29% dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), 18% Drins, and 5% other pesticides (HCB, Heptachlor, Heptachlor-epoxide, gamma-HCH and a-Endosulfan). We observed lower levels of sigmaPAH in the Funil reservoir (1 to 275 ng g-1d.w.) than in the Santana reservoir (2.2 to 26.7 µg g-1 d.w.).

Desreguladores endócrinos no meio ambiente: efeitos e conseqüências

There is an increasing interest in micropollutants in the environment that can interfere with the endocrine system, affecting health, growth and reproduction of animals and humans. These substances are known as Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) and can be found in domestic sewage, domestic wastewater treatment plant effluents, and in natural and potable waters. There are numerous chemicals classified as EDCs, such as pesticides, chemicals used and produced by chemical industries and natural and synthetic estrogens. EDCs can be related to the increase of the incidence of anomalies in the reproductive system of animals, cancer in humans and reduction of the masculine fertility.

Degradação de fármacos residuais por processos oxidativos avançados

The concern about aquatic ecosystems and the potential risk of drinking water contamination by pharmaceuticals have stimulated the study of processes for the efficient degradation of these contaminants, since the conventional treatment have been inefficient on that purpose. The advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) appear as viable alternatives due to their efficiency on the degradation of different classes of organic contaminants. This review presents an overview of the main AOP (O3, H2O2/UV, TiO2/UV, Fenton and photo-Fenton) which have been applied to the degradation of different pharmaceuticals. The main results obtained, intermediates identified and toxicity data are presented.

Degradação de poluentes emergentes por processos Fenton e foto-Fenton

A continuous photochemical treatment system was developed for aiming the treatment of aqueous solutions containing relevant micro-pollutants (microcystin-LR, sulfamethoxazole and 17-b estradiol). The continuous photo-Fenton process provided high degradation efficiency. However, contact time between samples and the irradiated region is short relative to total treatment time, indicating that observed changes are predominantly due to the Fenton process. Higher degradation efficiency was observed in systems operated using two treatment cycles, the first involving a batch Fenton process and the second a continuous photo-Fenton treatment.