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Some cultural heritage sites in Jordan are in urban areas being exposed to anthropogenic pollution. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the contamination at these sites to protect them. Here, we considered a Roman archeological site (Nymphae- um) situated in Amman. The contamination in soil, plants, and building stones did not show spatial distribution within the site. The contamination was the highest in soil (heavy metals 104--107 ppb and sulfur ~3.5x106 ppb) whereas in plants was the least for Cr (~400 ppb) and in building stones it was the least for Cu (~860 ppb). The highest contamination in plants and building stones was found for Al (~5×104 and ~6.2×105 ppb respectively). The sulfur content in plants (~7.6x105 ppb) was higher than that in the building stones (~2.3×105 ppb). The heavy metals and sulfur contamination in the building stones were lower than what was reported elsewhere outside Jordan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Olive mill wastewater (OMW) represents a significant environmental problem in the Mediterranean region. It has extremely high concentrations of phenolic compounds, which creates an unpleasant odor and phytotoxic impact. In this study, we evaluated a developed cost effective and eco-friendly media of granular activated carbons impregnated with surface active materials. The percentage removal of phenolic compounds from OMW samples was significantly enhanced by using oxidized granular activated carbon (GAC-OX) impregnated with Span 20 soaked for 15 days, yielding a percentage removal of 97.94 + 2.30%. The maximum adsorption of phenolic compounds into impregnated media was tested under optimum conditions; 10 mM surfactant concentration, 25 °C, and 15 days of contact time. 1HNMR, 13C-NMR, and direct photometric method were used for the detection of the efficiency of the used adsorbent media in the remediation of OMW. The results of this study showed that the used adsorbent media provided an economical way for OMW remediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study the use of surfactant enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR) technology for separating phenolic compounds from olive mill wastewater (OMW) by using modified surfactant were evaluated. New proposed modified surfactant, sodium polypropylene oxides sulfate (L167-4S), combined with cationic hydrotropes tetra butyl ammonium bromide (TBAB) in 1:1 and 1:2 molar ratios, using phenol as a model sample of the phenolic compounds in the OMW, have been used to evaluate the recovery efficiency of phenolic compounds from OMW. A model ternary phase diagram was constructed for the proposed modified surfactant. The amount of the surfactant needed to extract the phenol was determined using the three-dimensional phase behavior of the phenol, water and the proposed surfactant. The result of this study suggested that the modified surfactant L167-4S might be utilized for a preliminary exploratory investigation of an OMW treatment using a modeled sample and real samples of OMW. The result of this study shows that the recovery of phenols using a mixture of 4% L167-4S and TBAB (1:2 molar ratio) was 99.5-99.8%, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) was 99.5-99.8%.1H-NMR, and direct photometric method was used to estimate the efficiency of the surfactant in the remediation of OMW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new high performance liquid chromatographic method for the separation and determination of linear and branched alkyl benzene sulfonates (LAS, BAS) in water samples was developed. LAS and BAS were separated using Thermo Hypersil Sax (250 × 4.6mm, 5μm) anion exchange column. Isocratic elution using (40/60 v/v) acetonitrile in water as a mobile phase containing 0.05 M sodium perchlorate was used, the flow rate was 1.5 ml/min and the UV detector was set at 280 nm. Detection limits obtained were 10 ppm for LAS and 25 ppm for BAS. It was found that this method can be used for the simultaneous determination of LAS and BAS surfactants in water samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]