The analysis of heavy metal concentrations and forms in sewage sludge constitutes an important issue in terms of both health and environmental hazards the metals pose. The total heavy metals concentration enables only the assessment of its contamination. Hence the knowledge of chemical forms is required to determine their environmental mobility and sludge final disposal. Heavy metals speciation was studied by using four-stage sequential extraction BCR (Community Bureau of Reference). This study was aimed at determining the total concentration of selected heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Ni, Pb, Cd, Cr and Hg) and their chemical forms (except for Hg) in sludge collected at different stages of its processing at two municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants in southern Poland. Metals contents in sludge samples were determined by using flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) and electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS). This study shows that Zn and Cu appeared to be the most abundant in sludge, while Cd and Hg were in the lowest concentrations. The sewage sludge revealed the domination of immobile fractions over the mobile ones. The oxidizable and residual forms were dominant for all the heavy metals. There was also a significant difference in metals speciation between sludges of different origin which was probably due to differences in wastewater composition and processes occurring in biological stage of wastewater treatment. The results indicate a negligible capability of metals to migrate from sludge into the environment. Our research revealed a significant impact of thickening, stabilization and hygienization on the distribution of heavy metals in sludge and their mobility.

The manuscript presents an innovative and holistic approach to quantifying PAHs and BTEX emissions from the grilling process and indicates a novel driven-toxicity-based solution to recognize health effects related to BBQ emissions. The exposure scenario includes the type of grilling device, food type, and individual attitudes, but also a keen understanding of the broad health implications related to the gaseous/particulate PAHs emission, or age-related effects. The calculated incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) associated with the exposure to PAH congeners and BTEX indicates an unacceptable level in the case of charcoal and briquette grilling with the highest values for professional cooks. The sum of 15 PAH concentrations in grilled foods was highest for meat grilling over charcoal briquettes - 382,020.39 ng/m³ and lowest for meat grilling on a gas grill - 1442.16 ng/m³. The emissions of BTEX from lump charcoal grilling were 130 times higher compared to the gaseous grill. In all considered scenarios lump-charcoal and charcoal briquettes grilling derive the ILCR above the 10^-4, indicating negative effects of traditional grills on human health. The paper completes knowledge of wide-ranging health implications associated with BBQs, a topic that is almost completely unaddressed among the scientific community and policymakers.

This study aimed to assess the potential risks posed by heavy metals in sewage sludge (SS) produced by municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the most industrialized region in Poland, the Silesian Voivodeship. The ecological risk was assessed using three indices: the Geoaccumulation Index (I_geo), Potential Ecological Risk Factor (ER), and Risk Assessment Code (RAC), while the health risk was estimated by using carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk indices. The average concentrations of metals in the sludge samples were determined revealing that Zn was the predominant element, whereas Cd and Hg were present in the lowest concentrations. The study showed that the processes used in wastewater treatment plants influenced the overall metal content and chemical speciation. According to I_geo values, the dewatered sludge samples exhibited higher contamination levels of Cd and Zn, while Cu and Pb were upon to a lesser extent. The ER values suggest that Cd and Hg present the highest ecological risk. Considering the chemical forms and RAC values, Ni (26.8–37.2%) and Zn (19.8–27.0%) were identified to cause the most significant risks. The non-carcinogenic risk for adults and children was below acceptable levels. However, the carcinogenic risk associated with Ni (WWTP1) for both demographic groups and Cr and Cd (WWTP2), specifically for children, exceeded the acceptable threshold. Ingestion was the primary route of exposure. Although the dewatered SS met the standards for agricultural use, there is still a risk of secondary pollution to the environment and possible adverse health effects.

Aerosol water is a master component of atmospheric aerosols and a medium that enables all aqueous-phase reactions occurring in the atmosphere. This integral chemical compound of suspended aerosol particles (PM) has become one of the hottest issues in recent years. To look for scientific productivity in the area of PM-bound water research a bibliometric analysis was performed. Most actual literature regarding aerosol and particulate bound water and implications of the research in this field was downloaded from WOS database using 1996–2018 timespan. Different bibliographic statistics were used to get a general profile of leading authorships, institutions, countries and mainstream journals providing most highly cited articles in the field. Using the CiteSpace software it was possible to identify past trends and possible future directions in measuring aerosol bound water. The search terms used in the database were {“aerosol” AND “water” OR “chemical mass balance”} AND {“particulate matter” OR “PM-bound water” OR “hygroscopic”}. The answers to the following questions were found: which authors, countries, institutions and aerosol journals to the greatest degree influenced PM-bound water research?. The network of co-occurring noun phrases was extracted from the set of publications, followed by co-citation analysis. The network was also clustered by top terms which gave a clear picture of topics most often undertaken. Finally the publication meeting eligibility criteria were looked for chemical compounds most frequently determined in PM-bound water research, which help to indicate works where quantitative assessment of PM-bound water was performed. Obtained results indicate that the paper with the greatest citation burst was Tang and Munkelwitz (J Geophys Res Atmos 99(D9):18801–18808, 1994). The largest number of articles in this specific field was published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. An absolute leader in the quantity of publications among all research institutions is National Aeronautics Space Administration NASA. Meteorology and Atmospheric sciences is the discipline most occupied by highly cited journals in this field. Clustering results indicate that the research has mainly focused on hygroscopic measurement of aerosol, hygroscopic growth of particles; aerosol liquid water, and hygroscopic behavior. Most articles rather points PM-bound water as an artifact in organic carbon and ions measurements without detailed analysis of its contents or probable origin. The number of publications in each cluster of the build network is relatively high, which indicate that scholars have formed a rather consistent studies in the theme of aerosol-bound water. Despite a relevant role played by aerosol-bound water in atmospheric processes a quantitative description of its contents is rather rarely found in the literature (with the total number of only 23 papers concerning PM-bound water contents). In terms of yield, USA, China and Italy ranked highest, playing a propelling role in the research on PM-bound water. Future trends in PM-bound water research should be directed to a quantitative measurements of its contents; source apportionment, chemical composition of PM—modulating its hygroscopicity and therefore cloud formation processes, and the assessment of artefacts influencing the quality of PM-bound water measurements. Those areas should be especially developed in future studies and scientific projects concerning atmospheric water.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer occurrence around the world. When exploring the geographic distribution in lung cancer incidence in Poland, we found that PM₁₀-bound benzo(a)pyrene (B(a)P) emission from domestic heating contributes to lung cancer risk mostly in areas outside the cities and agglomerations (so-called remaining areas). When averaging B(a)P concentrations within provinces, the B(a)P exposure accounts for even 31% to the total lung cancer cases. To check to which extent the concentration of B(a)P could contribute to an increase probability of lung cancer occurrence, the analysis of health risk was performed. The B(a)P concentration data were downloaded from the Polish Chief Inspectorate of Environmental Protection (CIEP) database. Those concerned the period between 2010 and 2015 and included cities, agglomerations, typically rural sites, and the remaining areas. It was found that the mean concentration of B(a)P in the mentioned period, averaged within specific geographic areas, varied from 1.39 ng/m³ at the rural sites to 4.86 ng/m³ in the remaining areas. The inhalation lung cancer risk resulting from the life-long exposure to B(a)P in most conservative (pessimistic) scenario was above the acceptable limits, i.e., E−06. On average, the highest lung cancer risk was found in Opolskie (7.33E−04) and the lowest one in Lubelskie province (1.02E−04), while in the rural areas one order of magnitude lower and amounted to (E−05). Presented results indicate the need for further research on geographic patterns of lung cancer incidence in Poland due to regional differences in air pollution. Such information could be further used for planning long-term strategies to reduce the ambient concentrations of B(a)P.