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Background. PM2.5 emission is known as a major challenge to environmental health and is the cause of approximately 7 million deaths annually. This study aimed at investigating the main patterns of PM2.5 trend changes among European countries. Methods. The annual exposure to PM2.5 pollutants was retrieved from the World Bank for 41 countries during 2010 to 2017, and a latent growth model was applied to identify the main patterns using Mplus 7.4 software. Results. Monitoring the overall mean annual exposure to PM2.5 in the Europe showed a downward pattern with an annual decrease of 2.48% during the study period. Turkey had the highest PM2.5 exposure with 43.82 μg/m3 in 2010, reaching 44.31 μg/m3 in 2017. Likewise, with 7.19 μg/m3 in 2010, Finland had the lowest exposure level which decreased to 5.86 μg/m3 in 2017. Two main patterns for the mean annual PM2.5 exposure were identified via the latent growth model. Countries in the first pattern, including Turkey and Ukraine, had experienced a slow annual increase in the mean exposure of PM2.5 pollutant. Likewise, the other 39 countries belonged to the second pattern with a moderate falling trend in the mean exposure to PM2.5. Conclusion. Although the trend changes of mean annual exposure to PM2.5 in Europe were falling, Turkey and Ukraine had experienced a slow annual increase. It is advisable to take appropriate measures to curb the current raising exposure to PM2.5 in Turkey and Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, advanced oxidation processes, particularly photocatalyst process and catalytic ozonation by ZnO nanoparticles, are the most efficient method of eliminating pharmaceuticals. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficiency of ultraviolet/zinc oxide (UV/ZnO) and ozone/zinc oxide (O3/ZnO) techniques as advanced oxidation processes in the removal of trimethoprim (TMP) from aqueous solutions. The process consisted of 0.6 g/L of ozone (O3), pH = 7.5 ± 0.5, TMP with a concentration of 0.5–5 mg/L, ZnO with a dose of 50–500 mg/L, 5–30 min reaction time, and 30–180 min contact time with UV radiation (6 W, 256 nm) in a continuous reactor. The high removal efficiency was achieved after 25 minutes when ZnO is used in 1 mg/L TMP under an operational condition at pH 7.5. When the concentration of the pollutant increased from 0.5 to 1, the average removal efficiency increased from 78% to 94%, and then, it remained almost constant. An increase in the reaction time from 5 to 25 minutes will cause the average elimination to increase from 84% to 94%. The results showed that the efficiency of O3/ZnO process in the removal of TMP was 94%, while the removal efficiency of UV/ZnO process was 91%. The findings exhibited that the kinetic study followed the second-order kinetics, both processes. With regard to the results, the photocatalyst process and catalytic ozonation by ZnO nanoparticles can make acceptable levels for an efficient posttreatment. Finally, this combined system is proven to be a technically effective method for treating antibiotic contaminants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trifluralin is one of the most widely used herbicides, being accounted as the cause of cancer in human. In the present research, the UV/S2O82− and ZnO/UV processes' efficiency in the removal of trifluralin was investigated. A lab scale equipped with a UV lamp was applied. The parameters were studied, including initial trifluralin concentration (0.4–1.2 mg/L), contact time (20–60 min), S2O82− concentration (20–60 μM), and ZnO concentration (50–150 mg/L). The remained trifluralin concentration was measured by HPLC. This study proved the trifluralin removal of 92.90 ± 1.6% and 87.91 ± 19.22% for UV/S2O82− and UV/ZnO processes in the best operation conditions (contact time of 60 min, the persulfate concentration of 40 μM, and the ZnO concentration of 100 mg/L). The optimal trifluraline concentrations were 1.2 mg/L and 0.6 mg/L for UV/S2O82− and UV/ZnO processes, respectively. In both processes, the removal efficiency of trifluralin increased significantly with increasing contact time. The findings exhibited that both processes UV/S2O82− and UV/ZnO followed the zero-order kinetic. The electrical energy consumed of UV/S2O82 and UV/ZnO was about 43.95 and 20.41 Kwh/kg, respectively. The results show that UV/S2O82− and ZnO/UV processes were appropriate as the effective treatment method for trifluralin removal. Therefore, it is proposed to study the performance of these processes as an environmentally friendly practice in full scale with real wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

17β-Estradiol (E2) has a significant health risk to humans, even at the ng/L level, and is discharged to the aqueous environment through wastewater. Advanced oxidation processes were proposed as an efficient process for the removal of E2. In this study, a combination of ultraviolet-C (UV-C) and KMnO4 was applied for the removal of E2. Results have shown that the removal efficiency of E2 in pH 4 (acidic condition) was 93.80 ± 0.42%. But, removal efficiency in neutral (7) and alkaline (10) conditions was 78.3 ± 2.12% and 84 ± 0.71%, respectively. The effect of Fe+2, Ca+2, Mg+2, Mn+2, and Fe+3 ions (1 mg/L) was investigated in optimized pH (4). Mn+2, Fe+2, and Ca+2 ions enhanced the removal efficiency to 94.8 ± 0.84%, 95.55 ± 0.07%, and 94.7 ± 0.14%, respectively p > 0.05 , while Mg+2 and Fe+3 ions decreased the removal efficiency significantly to 76.15 ± 1% and 83.91 ± 0.3% p < 0.05 . The efficiency of E2 removal in the presence of 5 mg/L of PAC reduced significantly to 85 ± 4.24% p < 0.05 . Also, humic substances like humic acid, fulvic acid, and a combination of them could enhance the efficiency to 99.87 ± 0.01%, 99.9 ± 0.06%, and 99.93 ± 0.014%, respectively p > 0.05 . The result indicates that the rate of oxidation of E2 is related to the second exponent of the initial concentration of E2 for optimum pH and the presence of all ions. But, in the presence of humic substances, the first-order kinetic reaction was best applicable in describing oxidation of E2. Removal of chemical oxygen demand for E2 after 120 minutes' of contact time at optimum pH (86 ± 4.2%) demonstrated mineralization of these compounds at acceptable levels. Results presented that the UV-C/KMnO4 process is efficient for the removal of hormones from the aqueous solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]