Search Results
You are looking at 1 - 9 of 9 items for
- Author or Editor: Magdalena Balintova x
- Refine by Access: All Content x
The conception of environmental risk assessment caused by physical, chemical and biological factors rise from human health hazards approaches. The conception consists of ecological and health risks assessment. While in the health risks case the human is the object of the evaluation, in the case of ecological risk assessment the probability of undesirable influences on more species and also on real ecosystems is studied. The evaluation of physical factors risks is delimited by methods useful for evaluation of danger of each factor. In present the finding of suitable method is the subject of research. The contribution deals with describing the methods of environmental risk assessment in European Union focused on water management.
The abandoned Smolnik mine is regarded as an environmental loading in the Central Europe region, where acid mine drainage (AMD) is generated and discharged from abandoned mine and contaminates the Smolnik creek catchments. The whole mine complex produces large amounts of AMD with the pH 3–4 that contain high metal concentrations, fluctuating depending on rainfall intensity.The main aim of this work is to compare and to interpret the method of adsorption for the heavy metals (Cu, Fe, Al, Mn and Zn) removal from AMD out-flowing from the shaft Pech of the deposit Smolnik (Slovak Republic).
Heavy metals, including copper, are a serious environmental problem today. As an essential part of acid mine drainage they cause degradation of surface and subsurface water quality, including drinking water. Significant character of acid mine drainage is low value of pH, as a result of hydrogen cations releasing into aqueous environment during the process of pyrite oxidation and high concentration of heavy metals. Sorption techniques are widely used to remove heavy metal ions from large volumes of aqueous solutions. The fact of low pH must be taken in consideration because it has a relevant impact on the behavior of the sorbent during the sorption process.In order to study the optimal parameters of the sorption process of Cu(II) from acid mine drainage (pH=3–4), two sorbents under model conditions in solutions with pH of 4 were studied. For this purpose low cost natural sorbents turf brush PEATSORB and natural zeolite were selected. Different contact time and various initial concentrations of ions were tested as variables. The properties of the tested sorbents were compared from the point of view of their efficiency and sorption capacity. The impact of sorption on the pH change in solution was also studied.
The adsorption properties of natural zeolite (clinoptilolite) has been studied in order to determine its applicability for copper and zinc removal in acid mine drainage treatment process. For purpose of these experiments the determination of the sorption equilibrium and removal efficiencies were performed under batch conditions using single and dual-component solutions. The experiments were carried out under acidic conditions (pH approx. 4). In general, the obtained results from kinetic experiments showed rapid decrease of the metal concentration during the first 10 min, corresponding to ~80% total removal of ions from both single and dualcomponent solutions. This initial rapid period was followed by a further slow drop in metals concentration caused by ion-exchange in deeper structure of zeolite.Preliminary tests on the real samples of acid mine drainage from Smolnik mine, Slovakia, showed that natural zeolite has a potential as an alternative low cost adsorptive material for acid mine drainage treatment.
Pollution of the natural environment by heavy metals is a universal problem because these metals are indestructible and most of them have toxic effects on living organisms, when permissible concentration levels are exceeded. The degree of contamination in the sediments of the Smolnik creek, for the metals Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Al, Cu, Zn, As, Cd and Pb, has been evaluated using Enrichment factor (EF), Pollution load index (PLI) and Geo-accumulation index (Igeo). The sediments have been found to be contaminated with Pb, Cu and As which has been attributed mainly acid mine drainage from abandoned shaft Pech (the mine Smolnik) since no major industrial establishments are present in the area.
Silting of water reservoirs by bottom sediments is one of the major problems of their service. Industrial wastes, geochemical structure and metals mining create a potential source of heavy metal pollution in the aquatic environment especially in sediment. Water reservoir Ruzin located in east Slovakia is one of the most contaminated sites by heavy metals originating from mining activity. The paper deals with the study of sediment quality from three different deep sampling sites from Ruzin reservoir by using of XRF, XRD analysis and the determination of the effect of pH on the redistribution of metals in sediment-water system.
The remains of human activities may be seen in several places of the landscape in positive or negative form. Probably the most common phenomenon that fundamentally impacts the country is mining activity. The environmental problems caused by mining have attracted a great deal of research attention and led to development of numerous sediment heavy metal contamination assessment methods, including the index method, the dynamic method, the synthesis methods in chemistry, ecology and toxicology, etc.
This research was undertaken in order to determine and analyze selected heavy metals present in sediment samples collected from different sampling localities inside and around water reservoir Ruzin, Slovakia. Reservoir and its inflows are located in the vicinity of region with historical Cu, Fe, Ag, Au-deposit, which was exploited from the 14th century to 1990 and currently causing environmental burden. For the determination of sediments quality different methods (XRD and XRF analysis) have been used.
Based on the obtained data of analysis, potential ecological risk indices were used to study the pollution status of heavy metals in sediments and assess their potential ecological risk to environment.
The calculated potential ecological risk indicates the level of water environment pollution by heavy metals in the sampling localities in the studied area.
Cements are one of the building product groups in Slovak republic for which the required criteria are stated and the national eco-label is possible to obtain. One of the criteria for an award eco-label for cements is the limitation of the occurrence of chromium (VI) in cements. The selected types of cements were assessed and average values of soluble chromium (VI) for each type of cements were compared to the requirement in Slovak eco-labeling process — 1.8 mg chromium (VI) per 1 kg of cement (1.8 ppm). The measured values of soluble chromium (VI) content in common used types of cements were higher than eco-labeling limit at almost of 60% of evaluated cements.
Mesoporous silica SBA-15 without and with modification of surface by grafting with aminoalcoxysilanes is prepared is the experiment. The prepared samples are characterized by adsorption/desorption of nitrogen. Results confirms the prepared materials having a specific surface area up to 846m2/g, which are improved for the capture of metals by grafting with the amino group. The sorption of Cu2+ cations as well as SO4 2− anions from the acidic solution is investigated. The modified mesoporous silica is confirmed to have better sorption capacity than unmodified mesoporous silica.
