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The (partial) replacement of synthetic polymers with bioplastics is due to increased production of conventional packaging plastics causing for severe environmental pollution with plastics waste. The bioplastics, however, represent complex mixtures of known and unknown (bio)polymers, fillers, plasticizers, stabilizers, flame retardant, pigments, antioxidants, hydrophobic polymers such as poly(lactic acid), polyethylene, polyesters, glycol, or poly(butylene succinate), and little is known of their chemical safety for both the environment and the human health. Polymerization reactions of bioplastics can produce no intentionally added chemicals to the bulk material, which could be toxic, as well. When polymers are used to food packing, then the latter chemicals could also migrate from the polymer to food. This fact compromises the safety for consumers, as well. The scarce data on chemical safety of bioplastics makes a gap in knowledge of their toxicity to humans and environment. Thus, development of exact analytical protocols for determining chemicals of bioplastics in environmental and food samples as well as packing polymers can only provide warrant for reliable conclusive evidence of their safety for both the human health and the environment. The task is compulsory according to legislation Directives valid to environmental protection, food control, and assessment of the risk to human health. The quantitative and structural determination of analytes is primary research task of analysis of polymers. The methods of mass spectrometry are fruitfully used for these purposes. Methodological development of exact analytical mass spectrometric tools for reliable structural analysis of bioplastics only guarantees their safety, efficacy, and quality to both humans and environment. This study, first, highlights innovative stochastic dynamics equations processing exactly mass spectrometric measurands and, thus, producing exact analyte quantification and 3D molecular and electronic structural analyses. There are determined synthetic polymers such as poly(ethylenglycol), poly(propylene glycol), and polyisoprene as well as biopolymers in bags for foodstuffs made from renewable cellulose and starch, and containing, in total within the 20,416–17,495 chemicals per sample of the composite biopolymers. Advantages of complementary employment in mass spectrometric methods and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy is highlighted. The study utilizes ultra-high resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometric and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic data on biodegradable plastics bags for foodstuffs; high accuracy quantum chemical static methods, molecular dynamics; and chemometrics. There is achieved method performance |r| = 0.99981 determining poly(propylene glycol) in bag for foodstuff containing 20,416 species and using stochastic dynamics mass spectrometric formulas. The results highlight their great capability and applicability to the analytical science as well as relevance to both the fundamental research and to the industry.
Utilising mycoremediation for treatment of petroleum-contaminated soils and sediments from Ogoniland, Niger Delta, Nigeria: A kinetic insight
Vol 6, Issue 1, 2025
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Abstract
The high prospect of mycoremediation and the lingering issues of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPHs), associated with crude oil pollution in Ogoniland, Niger Delta, Nigeria, necessitate investigations for sustainable remediation options. Therefore, mycoremediation of different contaminated soils (clayey, sandy, and loamy) and sediments collected within the study area was carried out using Pleurotus ostreatus and fermented palm wine, both optimized with Tween 80, for a period of 90 days. Results revealed variation in soils and sediments TPHs content, in the range of 120 to 525 g/kg dry soil (about 12% to 50% of TPHs contamination), which far exceeded the soil threshold value of 10 g/kg dry soil or 1%. Also, the TPHs concentrations in the soils and sediments, and the remediation efficiency were directly related to the textural properties, with the highest TPHs concentrations in clayey soils and the highest remediation efficiencies in loamy soils. Both mycoremediation agents, enhanced with Tween 80, achieved TPHs remediation above 98% in all the treatments (except in sandy soil). In all cases, the mycoremediation proceeded via pseudo second-order kinetics, and the removal rates peaked at 45–75 days. The kinetic insights also establish the initial TPHs concentration as one of the key factors influencing the remediation efficiency. This study further revealed that mycoremediation of TPHs works best in loamy soils; therefore, shifting soil properties towards those of loamy during mycoremediation is highly recommended. Consequently, with the abundant mycoremediation resources in the Niger Delta, mycoremediation can provide a sustainable option in the clean-up of the petroleum-contaminated soils and sediments.
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