Recently, a lot of attention was paid to the improvement of methods which are used to air quality forecasting. Artificial neural networks can be applied to model these problems. Their advantage is that they can solve the problem in the conditions of incomplete information, without the knowledge...

Wastes originating from copper mining, particularly generated during the ore enrichment process constitute a considerable percentage of industrial wastes in Poland, which theoretically are supposed to provide a raw material base but remain wholly unmanaged. Wastes from copper flotation are deposited on the waste dumps which pose a significant eco-toxicological hazard. The paper discussed the results of analysis of selected post-floatation waste properties deposited in the Żelazny Most and Gilów reservoirs from the perspective of their environmental management.

Combustion in fluidised bed boilers is one of the most commonly used methods of treatment of municipal sewage sludge. Fly ash (FA) and air pollution control (APC) residues are the solid by-products generated by flue gas treatment. There are significant differences in the chemical composition of these wastes. FA is composed of mainly SiO₂, P₂O₅, CaO and metals such as Zn, Ti, Cu, Cr, Pb and Ni. APC residues mainly contain SO₃ and Na₂O. The leachability tests that were carried out indicate that these wastes display very low leachability of heavy metals (for example leachability of Pb was equal 0.0004 mg·dm⁻³ in both wastes, leachability of Cd was equal 0.0012 mg·dm⁻³ in FA an 0.00004 mg·dm⁻³ in APC). On the other hand, very high sulphate concentrations (49,375 mg·dm⁻³) were found in water extract for the APC residues. In order to determine the toxicity of these wastes for plants, pot experiments with different additions of waste to the soil were carried out (on Lepidium sativum and Sinapis alba). Tests based on seeds germinations (on Lepidium sativum) in water extracts from waste (in different concentrations) were also performed. The results obtained indicate the very high toxicity of APC residues. Complete inhibition of germination and growth of the test plants was found for all concentrations of the tested waste in water extract and for all additions of waste to the soil in pot experiments. Seed germination tests on water extracts from FA did not show any toxicity of this waste. Pot tests with FA showed their toxicity only with a high (30%) addition in soil.