ASSIGNMENT

Topic: Organic pollutants

Name: Janifa Akter

ID: 1811008

Department: MME
Organic pollutants:
Industrial, agricultural and other anthropogenic activities have lead to the
introduction of thousands of pollutants, most of them synthetic organic
compounds. A fraction of these organic compounds, called persistent organic
pollutants(POP), are chemicals that have become a major, concern because
of their toxicity, persistence, bioaccumulation tendency, and susceptibility to
undergo long-range atmospheric transport. Organic pollutants includes
phenols, chlorinated phenols, endocrine disrupting chemicals, azo dyes,
polyaromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, pesticides, etc.

In 2001, Under the treaty, known as the Stockholm Convention, countries

agreed to reduce or eliminate the production, use, and/or release of 12 key
POPs, and specified under the Convention a scientific review process that has
led to the addition of other POPs chemicals of global concern. Those 12 key
POPs are called The “Dirty Dozen”.

The "Dirty Dozen"

POP Global Historical Use/Source

Insecticides used on crops such as

aldrin and dieldrin
corn and cotton; also used for termite control.

Insecticide used on crops, including vegetables, small

grains, potatoes,
sugarcane, sugar beets, fruits, nuts,
Chlordane
citrus, and cotton. Used on home
lawn and garden pests. Also used extensively to control
termites.
POP Global Historical Use/Source

Insecticide used on agricultural crops, primarily cotton,

DDT
and insects that carry diseases such as malaria and typhus.

Insecticide used on crops such as

Endrin
cotton and grains; also used to control rodents.

Insecticide used to combat fire ants, termites, and

mealybugs.
Mirex
Also used as a fire retardant in plastics, rubber, and
electrical products.

Insecticide used primarily against soil insects and termites.

heptachlor
Also used against some crop pests and to combat malaria.

Fungicide used for seed treatment.

Also an industrial chemical used to make fireworks,
ammunition, synthetic rubber, and other substances.
hexachlorobenzene Also unintentionally produced during combustion and the
manufacture of
certain chemicals.
Also an impurity in certain pesticides.

Used for a variety of industrial processes and purposes,

including in electrical
transformers and capacitors, as heat exchange fluids, as
PCBs
paint additives, in
carbonless copy paper, and in plastics.
Also unintentionally produced during combustion.

Insecticide used to control pests on crops and livestock,

Toxaphene
and to kill unwanted fish in lakes.

dioxins and furans Unintentionally produced during most forms of

POP Global Historical Use/Source

combustion, including burning of municipal and medical

wastes, backyard burning of trash, and industrial
processes.
Also can be found as trace contaminants in certain
herbicides, wood preservatives, and in PCB mixtures.

Since 2001, this list has been expanded to include some polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs), brominated flame retardants, and other compounds.

Organic pollutants in soil:

In agricultural areas, because of the effort to provide adequate quantities of
agricultural products, farmers have been using an increasing amount of
organic chemicals, but the resulting pollution has enormous potential for
environmental damage. The types of organic pollutants commonly found in
soils are polychlorinated biphenyls, polybrominated biphenyls,
polychlorinated dibenzofurans, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons,
organophosphorus and carbamate insecticides, herbicides and organic fuels,
especially gasoline and diesel. Another source of soil pollution is the
complex mixture of organic chemicals, metals and microorganisms in the
effluent from septic systems, animal wastes and other sources of biowaste.
DDT was also used extensively on agricultural crops, particularly cotton.

Organic pollutants in water:

Water is a vital resource for sustaining life, however in present scenario the
access to clean safe water around the world has become a burning concern.
Organic pollutants in water mainly include algal toxins, pesticides, persistent
organic pollutants (POPs) such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins,
and furans; endocrine disruptors (EDs) such as polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs) and phthalate esters (PAEs); and humic acids, which
are precursors of disinfection by-products. In the Meiliang Bay area of Lake
Taihu, the average levels of microcystins (MCs) could reach as high as
10~18 μg/L in summer. Significant mutagenic activities have been detected in
Lake Taihu, and the estrogen-like potential of the lake has also been
estimated, with recorded estradiol equivalents in the range of 2.2~12.1 ng/L,
levels that are sufficient to affect the reproduction of aquatic life. The
concentration of PAHs and di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) in Lake
Taihu was 9.06~15.57 μg/L and 9.0~12.0 μg/L, respectively, in the years
2002-2003. Accordingly, it is quite necessary to increase dissolved organic
matter (DOC) removal performance regarding drinking water treatment.

Consequences of persistence:
Consequence of persistence can be described by two process-
Long-range transport:
POPs enter the gas phase under certain environmental temperatures
and volatize from soils, vegetation, and bodies of water into the atmosphere,
resisting breakdown reactions in the air, to travel long distances before being
re-deposited. This results in accumulation of POPs in areas far from where
they were used or emitted, specifically environments where POPs have never
been introduced such as Antarctica, and the Arctic circle. POPs can be
present as vapors in the atmosphere or bound to the surface of solid particles
(aerosols). A determining factor for the long-range transport is the fraction of
a POP that is adsorbed on aerosols.
Bioaccumulation:
Bioaccumulation is a hallmark characteristic of POPs, as POPs move up the
food chain, they increase in concentration as they are processed and
metabolized in certain tissues of organisms. The natural capacity for
animals gastrointestinal tract concentrate ingested chemicals, along with
poorly metabolized and hydrophobic nature of POPs makes such compounds
highly susceptible to bioaccumulation. ." When contaminants found in small
amounts at the bottom of the food chain biomagnify, they can pose a
significant hazard to predators that feed at the top of the food chain. This
means that even small releases of POPs can have significant impacts.

Bioaccumulation and long-range transport are the reason why POPs can
accumulate in organisms like whales, even in remote areas like Antarctica.

Effect of organic pollutants on people and wildlife:

Many organic pollutants have toxic effects on the human liver, kidneys,
immune system, endocrine system, and reproductive system. Moreover, these
organic pollutants might have the potential to cause abnormalities, cancer,
and mutation. Studies have linked POPs exposures to declines, diseases, or
abnormalities in a number of wildlife species, including certain kinds of fish,
birds, and mammals. Behavioral abnormalities and birth defects in fish, birds,
and mammals in and around the Great Lakes, for example, led scientists to
investigate POPs exposures in human populations.

Endocrine disruption:

The majority of POPs are known to disrupt normal functioning of the

endocrine system. Low level exposure to POPs during
critical developmental periods of fetus, newborn and child can have a lasting
effect throughout their lifespan. In people and other mammals alike, POPs
can be transferred through the placenta and breast milk to developing
offspring. It should be noted, however, that despite this potential exposure,
the known benefits of breast-feeding far outweigh the suspected risks.

Reproductive system:

The study in 2002 with evidence of a link from POPs to endocrine

disruption also linked low dose exposure of POPs to reproductive
health effects, such as decreased sperm quality and quantity, altered sex ratio
and early puberty onset. Having high levels of DDE (a metabolite of DDT) in
certain birds of prey caused their eggshells to thin so dramatically they could
not produce live offspring.

Organic pollution leads to unhealthy aquatic conditions, high nutrient levels,

untransparent water, and smothering of sediments. These conditions are
detrimental to the survival of invertebrates and fish, and highly oxygen-
sensitive groups of insects such as beetles, caddisflies, mayflies and stone
flies, as well as salmonid fish, may disappear almost entirely.

Thus, organic pollution is accompanied by a general loss of species richness,

taxonomic diversity, and functional diversity of macroinvertebrates, in
addition to the appearance and dominance of particularly robust species (e.g.,
tubificid polychaetes and chironomids) in exchange for the loss of many
more sensitive species.

Removal of Organic pollutants:

The mechanisms responsible for removal of organic contaminants
in wetlands can be divided into two classes of processes in the aquatic
environment: transport and transformation. Individual contaminants tend to
interact with sediments, suspended particulates, water, and biota (transport
processes) and tend to be chemically and biologically transformed to
different extents due to physicochemical properties such as vapor pressure,
solubility, hydrophobicity,
and biodegradability. Sorption and volatilization are also important processes
affecting some organic molecules.

Biochemical conversions in wetlands are based on degradation

mechanisms of biodegradable organic matter. These mechanisms could
remove some organic constituents by mineralization or gasification, and
production of organic and inorganic matter. Degradation of organic
compounds involves hydrolysis and catabolic activities of both autotrophic
and heterotrophic microorganisms. Both aerobic and anaerobic degradations
of soluble organic substances are responsible for the removal of BOD.
Biodegradation by aerobic heterotrophic organisms is reflected in the
following reaction:
(CH2O)+O2→CO2+H2O
Anaerobic degradation of organics also occurs in constructed wetlands when
dissolved oxygen is diminished. This activity represents a multistep process
carried out by either facultative or obligate anaerobic heterotrophic
microorganisms. First step is the fermentation process carried out by
facultative microorganisms leading to the formation of low molecular
weight intermediates such as acetic, butyric, and lactic acids, alcohols with
escaping end product gases such as CO2 and H2. In the second step, strictly
anaerobic microorganisms utilize the group of intermediate fermentation
products, converting them mainly into methane and some hydrogen sulfide.

Efficient degradation of colorless organic pollutants by visible light is a

challenging issue, a variety of photocatalysts have been developed toward
this goal. Graphene-based composites with plasmonic and semiconductor
NPs offer unique advantage as a photocatalyst for the organic pollutants .
NPs and graphene can act as antennae for visible light. In addition, the highly
conducting graphene surface offers high mobility of photo-generated charge
carrier that in turn slows the recombination of photo-generated electron–hole
pairs.

Bhunia et al.(2014) developed a simple, low-cost, gram-scale synthesis

method for rGO–Ag and used the composite for degradation of three well-
known endocrine disruptors that are colorless.

Bhunia found that photocatalytic efficiency by rGO–Ag under visible light is

significantly higher as compared to rGO or silver NP and depends on the
optimum loading of Ag on rGO–Ag.

Activated carbon has been used extensively for remediation of various organic
pollutants from wastewater. Activated carbon prepared from biomass apricot stone
shells was found to remove of 2, 4-dinitrophenol with an adsorption capacity of
232 mg/g. Monolayer adsorption of oxamyl with adsorption capacity of
147.05mg/g was also studied using apricot stone activated carbon. Removal of
phenol using ratten saw dust activated carbon and corn grain-based activated
carbon was studied having adsorption capacity of 149.25mg/g and 256mg/g
respectively also been reported. Moreover, activated carbon prepared from
biowaste material will prove as an economical, renewable and greener source of
adsorbent for wastewater treatment.

In Conclusion, as the removal processes are time-lengthy and the effect of organic
pollutants are so devastating, current efforts are more focused on banning the
use and production of POPs worldwide rather than removal of POPs.