This book describes the present state of knowledge regarding the impact of cyanobacteria on health through the use of water. It considers aspects of risk management and details the information needed for protecting drinking water sources and recreational water bodies from the health hazards caused by cyanobacteria and their toxins. It also outlines the state of knowledge regarding the principal considerations in the design of programmes and studies for monitoring water resources and supplies and describes the approaches and procedures used.
The development of this publication was guided by the recommendations of several expert meetings concerning drinking water (Geneva, December 1995; Bad Elster, June
1996) and recreational water (Bad Elster, June 1996; St Helier, May 1997). An expert meeting in Bad Elster, April 1997, critically reviewed the literature concerning the toxicity of cyanotoxins and developed the scope and content of this book. A draft manuscript was reviewed at an editorial meeting in November 1997, and a further draft was
reviewed by the working group responsible for updating the Guidelines for Drinkingwater Quality in March 1998.

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Toxic cyanobacteria in water: a guide to their public health consequences, monitoring and management.

Advanced oxidation processes (AOP) for water purification and recovery

Soil microorganisms as controllers of atmospheric trace gases (H2, CO, CH4, OCS, N2O, and NO).

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in finding innovative solutions for the efficient removal of contaminants from water, soil and air. The present tutorial review summarizes the results of an extensive selection of papers dealing with electrochemical oxidation, which is proposed as an alternative for treating polluted wastes. Both the direct and indirect approaches are considered, and the role of electrode materials is discussed together with that of other experimental parameters. Apart from discussing the possibility of removing selected contaminants from water using different anodes, efficiency rates for pollutant removal have been collected, the dependence of these rates on operational conditions advantages and disadvantages determining the further full-scale commercial application.

Electrochemical oxidation of organic pollutants for the wastewater treatment: direct and indirect processes

Recent advances in molecular biology have extended our understanding of the metabolic processes related to microbial transformation of petroleum hydrocarbons. The physiological responses of microorganisms to the presence of hydrocarbons, including cell surface alterations and adaptive mechanisms for uptake and efflux of these substrates, have been characterized. New molecular techniques have enhanced our ability to investigate the dynamics of microbial communities in petroleum-impacted ecosystems. By establishing conditions which maximize rates and extents of microbial growth, hydrocarbon access, and transformation, highly accelerated and bioreactor-based petroleum waste degradation processes have been implemented. Biofilters capable of removing and biodegrading volatile petroleum contaminants in air streams with short substrate-microbe contact times ( 2 S and sulfoxides from petrochemical waste streams. Microbes also have potential for use in removal of nitrogen from crude oil leading to reduced nitric oxide emissions provided that technical problems similar to those experienced in biodesulfurization can be solved. Enzymes are being exploited to produce added-value products from petroleum substrates, and bacterial biosensors are being used to analyze petroleum-contaminated environments.

Recent Advances in Petroleum Microbiology

A review of the occurrence, analyses, toxicity, and biodegradation of naphthenic acids.

Characterization of naphthenic acids in oil sands wastewaters by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

https://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/documents_staticpost/59540/82534/Naphthenic_Acids_article.pdf

Naphthenic acids and other acid-extractables in water samples from Alberta: what is being measured?

Naphthenic acids (NAs) are natural constituents in many petroleum sources, including bitumen in the oil sands of Northern Alberta, Canada. Bitumen extraction processes produce tailings waters that cannot be discharged to the environment because NAs are acutely toxic to aquatic species. However, aerobic biodegradation reduces the toxic character of NAs. In this study, four commercial NAs and the NAs in two oil sands tailings waters were characterized by gas chromatography−mass spectrometry. These NAs were also incubated with microorganisms in the tailings waters under aerobic, laboratory conditions. The NAs in the commercial preparations had lower molecular masses than the NAs in the tailings waters. The commercial NAs were biodegraded within 14 days, but only about 25% of the NAs native to the tailings waters were removed after 40−49 days. These results show that low molecular mass NAs (C ≤ 17) are more readily biodegraded than high molecular mass NAs (C ≥ 18). Moreover, the results indicate that biodegra...

Naphthenic acids in athabasca oil sands tailings waters are less biodegradable than commercial naphthenic acids.

Organic acids, similar in structure to naphthenic acids, have been associated with the acute toxicity of tailings produced by the oil sands industry in northeastern Alberta, Canada. Bacterial cultu...

Phillip M. Fedorak

Papers

A review of the occurrence, analyses, toxicity, and biodegradation of naphthenic acids.

Characterization of naphthenic acids in oil sands wastewaters by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Naphthenic acids and other acid-extractables in water samples from Alberta: what is being measured?

Naphthenic acids in athabasca oil sands tailings waters are less biodegradable than commercial naphthenic acids.

Biodegradation of naphthenic acids by microbial populations indigenous to oil sands tailings