Anthropogenic pollutants and biomarkers for the identification of 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami deposits (Japan)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Schwarzbauer ◽  
Piero Bellanova ◽  
Mike Frenken ◽  
Bruce Jaffe ◽  
Witold Szczuciński ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Organic Geochemistry ◽  
Environmental Pollutants ◽  
Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Tsunami Deposits ◽  
Transport Pathways ◽  
Main Compound ◽  
Geochemical Parameters ◽  
Anthropogenic Markers ◽  
Sendai Plain

<p>Organic geochemistry is commonly used in environmental studies. In tsunami research, however, its application is in its infancy and rarely used. Tsunami deposits may also be able to be characterized by organic-geochemical parameters as tsunami transports not only particulate sedimentary material from marine to terrestrial areas (and vice versa), but also associated organic material. Recently, more attention has been given to the usage of natural organic substances (biomarkers) for tsunami identification. We present results of biomarkers and anthropogenic markers detected in deposits of the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami on the Sendai Plain, Japan (Bellanova et al., 2020). As the tsunami inundated the coastal lowland up to 4.85 km inland, sediments from various sources were eroded, transported and deposited across the area. This led to the distribution of biomarkers from different sources across the Sendai Plain creating a unique geochemical signature in the tsunami deposits. The tsunami also caused destruction along the Sendai coastline, leading to the release of large quantities of environmental pollutants (e.g., fossil fuels, tarmac, pesticides, plastics, etc.) that were distributed across the inundated area. Corresponding anthropogenic markers, represented by three main compound groups (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides, and halogenated compounds), were preserved in tsunami deposits (at least until 2013, prior to land clearing). Organic compounds from the tsunami deposits (Tohoku-oki tsunami) were extracted from tsunami sediment and compared with the organic signature of unaffected pre-tsunami samples using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GS/MS) based analyses. Their concentrations differed significantly from the pre- and post-tsunami background contamination levels. Organic proxy concentrations differ also for sandy and muddy tsunami deposits due to various factors (e.g., preservation, dilution, microbial alteration).</p><p>As tsunami research advanced over the last decades so did the methods used to gain more and more information on the past events. Developing new methods for the identification and characterization of tsunami deposits for recent, historic or paleo events is crucial. Every piece of additional information we gain from event deposits leads us a step further to a better understanding of mechanisms acting during a tsunami. This will help to improve countermeasures and relief efforts. Anthropogenic markers and biomarkers, because of their high source specificity and good preservation potential, have the potential to be a valuable proxy in future studies of tsunami deposits and provide information about sediment sources and transport pathways.</p>

scholarly journals Torrefaction of Agricultural Residues: Effect of Temperature and Residence Time on the Process Products Properties

2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Jagodzińska ◽  
Michał Czerep ◽  
Edyta Kudlek ◽  
Mateusz Wnukowski ◽  
Marek Pronobis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Calorific Value ◽  
Barley Straw ◽  
Effect Of Temperature ◽  
Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Toxicity Tests ◽  
Main Compound ◽  
Flame Ionization ◽  
Polycyclic Aromatic ◽  
The Impact

Abstract To date, few studies on the potential utilization of agricultural residue torrefaction products have been performed. Thus, torrefaction product characterization aimed at its potential utilization was performed. Wheat–barley straw pellets and wheat–rye chaff were used in the study. The impact of the torrefaction temperature (280–320 °C) on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) content in the biochar and noncondensable gas (noncondensables) composition was investigated. The impact of the torrefaction time (30–75 min) on the composition of the condensable volatiles (condensables) and their toxicity were also studied. The torrefaction process was performed in a batch-scale reactor. The PAH contents were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and the noncondensables composition was measured online using a gas analyzer and then gas chromatograph with flame ionization detector (GC-FID). The condensables composition and main compound quantification were determined and quantified using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Three toxicity tests, for saltwater bacteria (Microtox® bioassay), freshwater crustaceans (Daphtoxkit F magna®), and vascular plants (Lemna sp. growth inhibition test), were performed for the condensables. The PAHs content in the biochar, regardless of the torrefaction temperature, allows them to be used in agriculture. The produced torgas shall be co-combusted with full-caloric fuel because of its low calorific value. Toxic compounds (furans and phenols) were identified in the condensable samples, and regardless of the processing time, the condensables were classified as highly toxic. Therefore, they can be used either as pesticides or as an anaerobic digestion substrate after their detoxification.

Black Gold: An Alchemist’s Guide to Petroleum

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan M. Gaines ◽  
Geoffrey Eglinton ◽  
Jürgen Rullkötter
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Organic Geochemistry ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Energy Crisis ◽  
Environmental Disaster ◽  
Scientific Curiosity ◽  
The Right ◽  
Source Of Pollution

For many of us who studied and came of age in the last two decades of the twentieth century, there was nothing more prosaic, lacking in romance, and less worthy of our scientific curiosity than petroleum. The basic questions about its composition and origin had been answered, and it was no longer one of Nature’s secrets luring us to discovery, but rather the dull stuff of industry and business, money and technology. Some of us even imagined, naively, that we would witness the end of the age of fossil fuels: they were the bane of modern man, the source of pollution, environmental disaster, and climate change that threatened to disrupt ecosystems and civilizations around the entire globe. Finding new reserves, we reasoned, would only forestall the inevitable, or exacerbate the havoc. But when Jürgen joined Germany’s government-funded Institute of Petroleum and Organic Geochemistry in 1975, there was still a sense of mission in finding new reserves. The energy crisis of the early 1970s had created a heightened awareness of the value of fossil fuels and the need for conservation, but the accepted wisdom remained that oil was the key to the future and well-being of civilization. And the chemistry, it seems, was anything but banal—it was, in fact, leading not just to a better success rate in finding new reserves of oil, but also to a new understanding of life that no one had foreseen. Certainly for Geoff and the generations of organic chemists that came before him, the oils that occasionally seeped out of a crack in a rock, or came spouting out of the earth if one drilled a hole in the right place, were as intriguing as the life some said they came from. Liquid from a solid, organic from mineral, black or brown or dark red, it was as if blood were oozing from stone, an enigma that inspired inquiry from scientists long before it found its place among man’s most coveted commodities.

scholarly journals The First Report on Chemical Composition and Antimicrobial Activity of Artemisia scoparia Waldst. et Kit. Extracts

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 1934578X2091503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordana S. Stojanović ◽  
Jovana D. Ickovski ◽  
Aleksandra S. Đorđević ◽  
Goran M. Petrović ◽  
Katarina D. Stepić ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gas Chromatography ◽  
Antimicrobial Activity ◽  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Diffusion Method ◽  
Volatile Components ◽  
Bacterial Strains ◽  
First Report ◽  
Main Compound ◽  
Artemisia Scoparia

Volatiles of diethyl ether extract (DE), ethyl acetate extract (EE), and hexane extract (HE) of Artemisia scoparia Waldst. et Kit. were analyzed by gas chromatography with flame ionization detector and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. In both DE and EE, the main compound was scoparone (24.0% and 86.1%, respectively) while in the HE, alkanes were dominant with nonacosane as the most represented (19.4%). Antimicrobial activity was tested against 4 bacterial strains and 1 fungal strain using disc-diffusion method. Tested samples were inactive against Gram-negative bacteria and they exhibited activity against Gram-positive bacteria and yeast Candida albicans. This is the first report on the chemical composition of volatile components and antimicrobial activity of DE, EE, and HE of A. scoparia Waldst. et Kit.

scholarly journals Petrography and Organic Geochemistry Characterizations of Lower Paleozoic Organic-Rich Shale in the Northwestern Upper Yangtze Plate: Niutitang Formation and Longmaxi Formation, Dabashan Foreland Belt

Minerals ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Delu Li ◽  
Rongxi Li ◽  
Di Zhao ◽  
Feng Xu
Keyword(s):  
Gas Chromatography ◽  
Organic Matter ◽  
Organic Geochemistry ◽  
Source Rocks ◽  
Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Mature Stage ◽  
Type I ◽  
Lower Paleozoic ◽  
Longmaxi Formation ◽  
Niutitang Formation

Measurements of total organic carbon, Rock-Eval pyrolysis, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, maceral examination, gas chromatography, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry were conducted on the organic-rich shale of Lower Paleozoic Niutitang Formation and Longmaxi Formation in Dabashan foreland belt to discuss the organic matter characteristic, organic matter origin, redox condition, and salinity. The results indicate that the Niutiang Formation and Longmaxi Formation organic-rich shale are good and very good source rocks with Type I kerogen. Both of the shales have reached mature stage for generating gas. Biomarker analyses indicate that the organic matter origin of Niutitang Formation and Longmaxi Formation organic-rich shale are all derived from the lower bacteria and algae, and the organic matter are all suffered different biodegradation degrees. During Niutitang Formation and Longmaxi Formation period, the redox conditions are both anoxic with no stratification and the sedimentary water is normal marine water.

Nitrogen-Bearing Emissions From Burning Corn Straw in a Fixed-Bed Reactor: Effects of Fuel Moisture, Torrefaction, and Air Flowrate

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emad Rokni ◽  
Yu Liu ◽  
Xiaohan Ren ◽  
Yiannis A. Levendis
Keyword(s):  
Moisture Content ◽  
Hydrogen Cyanide ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Environmental Pollutants ◽  
Fixed Bed ◽  
Fixed Bed Reactor ◽  
Fuel Moisture ◽  
Corn Straw ◽  
Renewable Biomass ◽  
Torrefied Biomass

Combustion-generated emissions of acid gases, such as nitrogen-bearing species, constitute environmental pollutants and some are subjected to environmental regulations. Assessment of such emissions is important to decide what systems need to be put in place for their control. This applies to both conventional fossil fuels and for alternative environmentally friendlier fuels, such as renewable biomass. This research investigated the emissions of nitrogen-bearing gases, which evolve from combustion of biomass (corn straw) in a fixed bed furnace, as a function of specific air flowrate (m˙air) through the bed and of moisture content of the fuel. The effect of torrefaction of corn straw on the combustion-generated nitrogen bearing emissions was also examined. The predominant nitrogen-bearing species in the combustion effluents were hydrogen cyanide (HCN), nitrogen oxide (NO), and ammonia (NH3). Increasing m˙air through the bed, to enhance the combustion rate, increased the emissions of HCN, NO, and NH3. As the m˙air through the bed increased by a factor of 5, the amounts of HCN, NO, and NH3 gases increased by factors of 3–4. As the moisture content of the biomass was reduced by drying, the combustion-generated emissions of NO increased mildly, whereas those of both NH3 and HCN decreased. Furthermore, the combustion-generated emissions of NO and NH3 from torrefied biomass were found to be higher than those from raw biomass. In contrast, the combustion-generated emissions of HCN from torrefied biomass were found to be lower than those generated from raw biomass.

scholarly journals Analysis of the composition of thermolysis products of ash-free concentrates obtained on the basis of oil shale of the Ayuvinskoye deposit (Komi Republic)

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 33-41
Author(s):  
N. S. Burdelnaya ◽  
◽  
D. A. Bushnev ◽  
I. N. Burtsev ◽  
D. V. Kuzmin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Gas Chromatography ◽  
Organic Matter ◽  
Oil Shale ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Komi Republic ◽  
Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Alkyl Chains

The treatment with N-methylpyrrolidone of sedimentary rocks of the Ayuvinskoye deposit allowed obtaining ash-free concentrates with different yields, depending on the Corg content in the rock. The structure of the resulting concentrates was studied by elemental analysis, thermogravimetry, and pyrolysis, followed by analysis of the products by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The TGA curves indicated similar structural features of the organic matter of the rocks and the concentrates obtained from them. The composition of the thermolysis products of the concentrate indicated the preferential extraction of aliphatic structures, represented by n-alkyl chains, relative to aromatic fragments, which was associated with the specific structure of the initial organic matter of solid fossil fuels.

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