The aim of the research was to evaluate the quality of drinking water from five private wells (W1 -W5) located in Negresti-Cobadin, Constanta County, Romania. The evaluation consisted in determination of some specific parameters as pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total hardness (TH), ammonium, nitrate and nitrite concentrations and oxidisability index. The results were compared with quality standards for drinking water imposed by Council Directive 98/83/EC and also with Romanian legislation. The pH, EC, nitrite and ammonium levels for all water samples are within recommended ranges. The TH values are higher and range between 27.41 and 47.14 mg CaO/L. Concerning nitrate levels, it is noteworthy to mention that excepting W4 sampling point, all water samples exceeded (as average) maximum admitted level. Oxidisability parameter indicates for wells W1 -W4 values were below 5 mg O2/L, meanwhile in the case of W5 found value exceeded slightly limit value.

The research presented in this paper aim to analyze the effects of cement replacement by fly ash in 10 vol. %, 20 vol. %, and 30 vol. % and, afterwards, the effects of mineral aggregates substitution by 50 vol. % with vegetal aggregates. The used vegetal aggregates were shredded corn cobs, and were investigated the density, the compressive and split tensile strength of concrete. The results revealed that fly ash, as cement partial replacement, decreased the compressive strength comparing to the reference concrete, meanwhile, the splitting tensile strength was improved when were used 10% and 20% vol. of fly ash. Fly ash had a positive effect on the compressive strength of the vegetal concrete, in the case of the composition with 10% and 30% vol. of industrial waste, and also on splitting tensile strength in the case of 10% and 20% vol. of replacement rate. The concrete density diminished with 1.67%, 3.12% and 3.82% in the case of 10%, 20% and 30% vol. cement replacement by fly ash, respectively. Corn cob aggregates led to a concrete density decreasing with almost 25% compared to reference concrete.

The adsorption of methylene blue and kinetics of its adsorption from aqueous solutions on activated carbon CAN-9, obtained from walnut shells by chemical activation with orthophosphoric acid were studied. It has been shown that methylene blue adsorption isotherm from aqueous solutions on CAN-9 in the linear coordinates of the Langmuir model is a straight line (R = 0.99427) and is of Langmuir type. The kinetics of methylene blue adsorption on CAN-9, measured at two initial concentrations, showed an increase in Kint and C values with the increase of the initial concentrations. The process of intra-particular diffusion occurs in only one stage and takes place in the mesopores.

The Material Flow Cost Accounting (MFCA) is a management tool that can help the organizations from any industry to better understand what are the environmental and financial potential consequences of their practices using materials and energy. Applying such methodology, that aims and quantifies the flows and stocks of materials within organization in physical units to which are associated the related costs, can give to managers the information needed to generate simultaneously the reduction of the environmental impacts and financial benefits. This poster presents the methodology of continuous improvement of environmental performance and the results of its application in an organization, providing cleaning products, with implemented environmental management system.

In this paper, we evaluated the distribution of heavy metals (Pb, Cu, Zn and Fe) in the topsoil and plants collected from an area contaminated by mine tailings from SW Romania (Ocna de Fier). Soils and plants samples collected were analyzed using a Varian Spectra AAS. The results indicated that the soils affected by mining activities contain the high concentrations of phytotoxic metals. At the same time, our study showed that spontaneous plant species growing on contaminated sites may have the potential for phytoremediation.

The capacity to accumulate metal in the lichen communities has been used to identify the level of air pollution due road traffic. Several analyses have been conducted in the study, on tissue from lichens collected from six areas: the park of a town, various sites on the town’s freeway and on a county road segment with moderate traffic. The analyzed lichens were from the Parmelia spp. species which grow naturally on trees found in borderline lanes of motorways. Based on the degree of heavy metal accumulation such as Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe Mn, Pb, Ni and Zn in the Parmelia spp. lichens, a correlation has been made, with the road traffic. According to the metal bioaccumulation degree in lichens tissue, it has been established that the sources such as traffic from the outskirts of cities, from the perimeter of gas stations and of county roads continuously spread products which contain these elements, into the atmosphere. The fast information regarding the quality of the air in the environment allows the use of lichens as organism which can indicate environmental conditions and their modification by accumulating substances.

The project aimed at developing new methods for the determination of organic compounds such as potentially hazardous industrial additives from sewage sludge by LC-MS / MS. In this project, two LC-MS / MS methods were developed, one for the separation, identification and quantification of flame retardants such as α-, β- and γ- Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) diastereoisomers and the second for the determination of plasticizers (Bisphenol A) and antioxidants (Butylhydroxyanisole) from sewage sludge samples. The interest analites were isolated from the complex matrices using the ultrasonic assisted extraction method. Detection limits were between 0.07-0.14 ng/g for α-, β- and γ-HBCD diastereoisomers and 0.41 ng/g for BPA and 0.59 ng/g for BHA respectively.

Bioequivalence data for two pharmaceutical formulations (solid oral dosage forms) containing carvedilol is presented for both racemic and enantiomers of the active substance. This was achieved by on-line coupling of two liquid chromatographic separations followed by fluorescence detection. The first LC dimension was used for a fast separation of racemic carvedilol from propranolol (IS) and the endogenous matrix, by means of a reversed phase mechanism. The peak of racemic carvedilol was on-line transferred to the second enantioselective LC dimension, based on a reversed phase separation on cellulose tris(3,5-dimethyl-phenylcarbamate) stationary phase. Both stages were monitored over a single run by means of a fluorescence detector operated at an excitation wavelength of 285 nm and an emission wavelength of 355 nm. Automated shortcutting of the racemic carvedilol peak to the chiral column and simultaneous detection over the two LC dimensions have been obtained by using an experimental set-up based on two six-port rotative switching valves. Linearity was demonstrated on the interval 2–150 ng/mL for racemic carvedilol and on 1–75 ng/mL intervals for enantiomers. LLOQ fits between 0.7 and 1.4 ng/mL. Recoveries of the target compounds are 87±4 and 81±4% for the IS. Precision ranged from 0.6 to 2.5% and the mean accuracy obtained on quality control samples (measured as % bias) over the whole study falls between −0.8 and 6.3%.

Acidic mine water drainage (AMD) containing heavy metals from abandoned mine and spoil heaps is a major concern as it may generate significant surface water pollution. Research performed across the main Romanian closed mining perimeters revealed a high variability of chemico-physical characteristics of the AMD flows. Their chemical matrices show various ratios between specific chemical species. The efficiency of the AMD treatment is influenced by these ratios. The priority for the AMD treatment is the pH adjustment and heavy metals removal (most often done by oxidation and precipitation with alkaline reagents). One of the inherent issues, regardless of the treatment method, is represented by the high volumes of amorphous precipitates that are formed. After the gravitational separation – settling, these sludges can represent up to 35% (typically 10–25%) reported to the reaction tank outfow fow-rate. The solids content of the sludge is between 0.5 and 3.0% dry solids. As the generation of acidic mine water will continue for decades or even longer times, the improvement of the treatment methods is a must. Results of sludge densifcation tests using conventional high density sludge (HDS) method are discussed here, in correlation with the AMD source and the effects on the treated water quality.

The paper presents the influence of acid neutralization capacity in industrial waste samples as a decision indicator. For the analysis of the acid neutralization capacity, six samples of wastes from different sectors of activity were subjected. A successful method that can be applied to determine the properties of waste is acid-neutralizing capacity. The acid-neutralizing capacity was evaluated with HCl 1 N by neutralizing the excess with NaOH 0.5 N after 15 min stirring. From the results obtained it is found that the acid neutralization capacity can provide essential information for the subsequent management of the waste.

Sustainable materials made from recycled materials are an alternative to traditional materials (synthetic ones) and present a lower environmental impact. Due to the fact that natural fibers were successfully used to produce environmentally friendly sound adsorbing materials, biocomposites made from recycled polypropylene (PPR), feathers flour (FF) with / without compatibilizers (C) were obtained and characterized from the point of view of their acoustical behavior. Obtained materials were characterized also from the morphological and compositional point of view by scanning electron microscopy and thermal gravimetric analysis. All tested samples presented sound adsorption properties but the best results were obtained for the biocomposites with FF content of 10%-20%.