Plastics and plastic-bound toxic metals in municipal solid waste compost from Sri Lanka.

This study examined plastics and toxic metals in municipal solid waste compost from various regions in Sri Lanka. Plastics were extracted using density separation, digested using wet peroxidation, and identified using Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy in Attenuated Total Reflection mode. Compost and plastics were acid-digested to quantify total Cd, Cu, Co, Cr, Pb, and Zn concentrations and analyzed for the bioavailable fraction using 0.01 M CaCl2. Notably, plastics were highly abundant in most compost samples. The main plastic types detected were polyethylene, polypropylene, and cellophane. However, the average Cd, Cu, Co, Cr, Pb, and Zn levels were 0.727, 60.78, 3.670, 25.44, 18.95, and 130.7 mg/kg, respectively, which are well below the recommended levels. Zn was the most bioavailable (2.476 mg/kg), and Cd was the least bioavailable (0.053 mg/kg) metal associated with compost. The Contamination factor data show that there is considerable enhancement of Cd and Cu, however, Cr, Cu, Co, and Pb are at low contamination levels. Mean geo accumulation index values were 1.39, 1.07, - 1.06, - 0.84, - 0.32, and 0.08 for Cd, Cu, Co, Cr, Pb, and Zn. Therefore, the contamination level of compost samples with Cd and Cu ranges from uncontaminated to contaminated levels, whereas Co, Cr, Pb, and Zn are at uncontaminated levels. Despite no direct metal-plastic correlation, plastics in compost could harm plants, animals, and humans due to ingestion. Hence, reducing plastic and metal contamination in compost is crucial.

Fluoride adsorption on γ - Fe2O3 nanoparticles.

BACKGROUND: Fluoride contamination of groundwater, both anthropogenic and natural, is a major problem worldwide and hence its removal attracted much attention to have clean aquatic systems. In the present work, removal of fluoride ions from drinking water tested using synthesized γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles. METHODS: Nanoparticles were synthesized in co-precipitation method. The prepared particles were first characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations on molecular cluster were used to model infrared (IR) vibrational frequencies and inter atomic distances. RESULTS: The average size of the particles was around 5 nm initially and showed a aggregation upon exposure to the atmosphere for several hours giving average particle size of around 5-20 nm. Batch adsorption studies were performed for the adsorption of fluoride and the results revealed that γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles posses high efficiency towards adsorption. A rapid adsorption occurred during the initial 15 min by removing about 95 ± 3 % and reached equilibrium thereafter. Fluoride adsorption was found to be dependent on the aqueous phase pH and the uptake was observed to be greater at lower pH. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) was used for the identification of functional groups responsible for the adsorption and revealed that the direct interaction between fluoride and the γ-Fe2O3 particles. CONCLUSIONS: The mechanism for fluoride removal was explained using the dehydoxylation pathway of the hydroxyl groups by the incoming fluoride ion. FT-IR data and other results from the ionic strength dependence strongly indicated that formation of inner-spherically bonded complexes. Molecular clusters were found to be good agreement with experimental observations. These results show direct chemical interaction with fluoride ions.