Differentiation of carbon black from black carbon using a ternary plot based on elemental analysis.

Carbon black (CB) is composed of engineered nanoparticles that are commercially produced by partial combustion of hydrocarbons. It is mainly used as a reinforcing agent in vehicle tires. Although the potential health effects of CB have been investigated extensively, some toxicological reports interchange CB with black carbon (BC), which has similar features, thereby misusing the term. BC is an undesirable byproduct of the incomplete combustion of fuels. Therefore, there is a need to differentiate CB from the unintentionally produced nanomaterials (BC) in nano-toxicity, environmental, and human health studies. To distinguish clearly CB from BC, it is important to find the key parameters from several characteristics of two substances. The fundamental physicochemical properties of commercial CB and naturally formed BC were conducted. Based on the elemental analysis, we found three key factors, which could be used to differentiate the CB from BC. And thus, herein, we propose a ternary plot of the aH/C-log(C/b)-1/H combination for use in differentiating CB from BC. The plot of the 100H/C-log(C/10)-1/H combination of elemental ratios separated the CB domain from the BC domain symmetrically. The effectiveness of the ternary chart was validated using 37 samples (nine samples in this work, 25 sample results taken from references studies, and three samples from the field). Therefore, the ternary plot could be used as a prescreening tool for distinguishing CB from BC.

Effect of dissolved organic matter on the growth of algae, Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata, in Korean lakes: the importance of complexation reactions.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of dissolved organic ligands, such as EDTA, humic acids, hydrophobic and hydrophilic fractions of dissolved organic matter (DOM), on the growth of Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata in cultured media and natural lake waters. The growth of algae was gradually increased on the addition of dissolved organic ligands, but markedly declined at high concentrations, due to reduced bioavailable iron concentrations (e.g., Fe3+ and Fe'--inorganic ferric iron). The results demonstrated that the high growth rates of P. subcapitata were correlated with the hydrophobic, but not hydrophilic, DOM from five lakes, spiked under the nutrients-controlled conditions. This was attributed to the role of DOM in controlling the bioavailable iron due to complexation of Fe(III) with -COOH and -OH functional groups on the hydrophobic DOM. Therefore, the hydrophobic DOM, as chelating agent, is a biologically important component in the lake waters, which affects the algal growth by interacting with bioavailable iron in the lake water and can change the results of bioassay experiments.

Development of a new biomonitoring method to detect the abnormal activity of Daphnia magna using automated Grid Counter device.

The aim of the present study was to develop a biological early warning system (BEWS), equipped with six monitoring channels to individually observe the activity of Daphnia magna, using a digital 'Grid Counter', which would trigger an alarm within an appropriate time, and examine the functional performance of the newly developed BEWS for detecting unusual water quality. In order to detect the changes in the activity of D. magna, six relative activity parameter values (Z(a)) were computed from the 6 individual monitoring channels; with the activity data for D. magna calculated every 5 min. The Student's t-test was used to verify the difference between the mean value of the system in a steady state, as a control, and the exposure values during a sudden pollution event. The test results illustrate that the threshold value for the alarm can be at p=0.0093 for 3 consecutive detections. The time period, defined as the average time taken from the detection of hyper to retarded activity of the organism, for Cu concentrations of 50, 100, 200 and 400 ppb were 7.17+/-1.75, 3.94+/-2.02, 1.85+/-0.49 and 1.00+/-0.18 h, respectively. Based on the results of this study, it is proposed that p values from the t-test, with Z(a), are more accurate, stable and predictable parameters for the detection of chemical exposures than the other values, such as the swimming speed and trajectory, etc. Consequently, it would be possible to reduce the number of false alarms and achieve confidence for a system, with the ability of highly accurate detection, such as with the six-channel monitoring system developed in this study.

The effect of suspended particles coated by humic acid on the toxicity of pharmaceuticals, estrogens, and phenolic compounds.

The sorption characteristics of 10 organic chemicals, categorized as pharmaceuticals, estrogens and phenols, onto synthetic suspended particle (i.e., alumina) coated with humic acid were investigated according to their octanol-water partition coefficient (K(ow)). Chemical analyses were performed with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The effects of particles on the toxicity reduction were evaluated using bioassay tests, using Daphnia magna and Vibrio fisheri for phenols and pharmaceuticals, and the human breast cancer cell MCF-7 for estrogens. Sorption studies revealed that 22 and 38% of octylphenol and pentachlorophenol, respectively, were removed by suspended particle, whereas 2,4-dichlorophenol was not removed, which was directly proportional to the logK(ow) value. Similar to the sorption tests, suspended particles significantly reduced the acute toxicities of octylphenol and pentachlorophenol to D. magna and V. fisheri (p<0.01), but there was no significant difference in the toxicity of 2,4-dichlorophenol to D. magna (p=0.8374). Pharmaceuticals, such as ibuprofen, gemfibrozil and tolfenamic acid, showed no discernible sorption to the suspended particle, with the exception of diclofenac, which revealed 11% sorption. For estrogens, such as estrone, 17beta-estradiol and 17alpha-ethynylestradiol, the results indicated no reduction in the sorption test. This may be attributed to the polar interaction by functional groups in sorption between pharmaceuticals and estrogens and suspended particles. In the bioassays, presence of suspended particles did not significantly modify the toxicity of pharmaceuticals (regardless of their K(ow) values) to D. magna, V. fisheri or E-screen.