The paper presents results of research on cobalt and nickel ions removal from monocomponent solutions

using Purolite ion exchange resins. It has been shown that C 160 ion exchange resin has the best

sorption properties for both ions (Qe – 72.5 mg Co/g and 88.2 mg Ni/g). Regeneration process of this

ion exchanger has high efficiency, achieving about 93% for cobalt ions and about 84% in case of nickel

ions. It has been shown that the use of ion exchange method with suitable ion exchange resins guarantees

effective removal of cobalt and nickel ions from solutions with very high concentrations corresponding

to contents of these metals in industrial wastewaters (e.g. galvanic). In case of C 160 ion exchange resin,

after the sorption process is carried out in one 50 minute cycle, the cobalt concentration decreased from

about 30 000 mg/L to about 9 500 mg/L (approx. 68%), whereas nickel concentration reached about

6 300 mg/L (approx. 79%). Studied chelating resins don’t have such high sorption capacities. In their

case, it is required to convert cobalt and nickel ions into complex forms. The kinetics of studied processes

were described by pseudo-second order equations.

At present, industrial development is increasing pollution of soils, air and natural waters. These

pollutants have a negative effect on the health and life of living organisms. Metals which interfere with

the natural biological balance and inhibit self-cleaning processes in water bodies have particularly

toxic effects. Cobalt, which gets into the environment from industrial sewage from electrochemical

plants and the metallurgical industry, also belong to this group. This is also relatively rare and precious

element, so it is important to look for additional sources of its recovery. Chemical and physicochemical

methods such as: precipitation, extraction, membrane processes – nanofiltration, reverse

osmosis, sorption and ion exchange are used to recover cobalt. The choice of method depends on: the

kind and composition of wastewaters as well as on form and concentration of the pollutants.

Ion exchange resins produced by Purolite which were used to remove cobalt ions from solutions

with concentrations corresponding to its contents in galvanic wastewater was the subject of the study.

It has been shown that the C 160 ion exchange resin has the best the sorption properties for Co2+ ions

(54.7 mg/g). In case of this ion exchange resin, after sorption process carried out in one 50 minute cycle,

cobalt concentration decreased from about 30 g/L to about 9 g/L. The values of the sorption capacity

do not depend on the method of introducing the solution into an ion exchange column (pouring or dropping).

E ach of the tested ion exchange resins is characterized by a high degree of cobalt concentration

after regeneration using mineral acids, which can be advantageous in selecting the recovery method for

this metal.

In the last decade a growing interest was observed in low-cost adsorbents for heavy metal ions. Clinoptilolite is a mineral sorbent extracted in Poland that is used to remove heavy metal ions from diluted solutions. The experiments in this study were carried out in a laboratory column for multicomponent water solutions of heavy metal ions, i.e. Cu(II), Zn(II) and Ni(II). A mathematical model to calculate the metals' concentration of water solution at the column outlet and the concentration of adsorbed substances in the adsorbent was proposed. It enables determination of breakthrough curves for different process conditions and column dimensions. The model of process dynamics in the column took into account the specificity of sorption described by the Elovich equation (for chemical sorption and ion exchange). Identification of the column dynamics consisted in finding model coefficients β, KE and Deff and comparing the calculated values with experimental data. Searching for coefficients which identify the column operation can involve the use of optimisation methods to find the area of feasible solutions in order to obtain a global extremum. For that purpose our own procedure of genetic algorithm is applied in the study.

In this paper the overview of the recent study on the rare-earth activated waveguides performed in the Optoelectronic Department of IMiO is presented. We reported on the development of rare earth-doped fluorozirconate (ZBLAN) glass fibers that allow a construction of a new family of visible and ultraviolet fiber lasers pumped by upconversion. Especially the performance of holmium devices is presented. The properties of laser planar waveguides obtained by the LPE process and the growth conditions of rare earths doped YAG layers are presented. In this paper we present also the theoretical study of the nonlinear operation of planar waveguide laser, as an example the microdisk Nd:YAG structure is discussed. We derived an approximate formula which relates the small signal gain in the Nd:YAG active medium and the laser characteristics, obtained for whispering-gallery modes and radial modes, to the output power and real parameters of the laser structure

The present studies aimed at comparing the effect of the potassium monoionic form (prepared from a model spent ion exchanger) and a conventional potassium fertilizer (KCI) on plant vegetation after addition to depleted soil. To achieve the study aim a pot experiment using orchard grass (Dacrylis glomerata L.) as the test plant was carried out. The vegetation cycle lasted seven weeks. The plants were grown on four series of media: on untreated soil, on soil with added monoionic K form, on soil with added KCI and on soil with Biona-312 substrate added (2% v/v). Biona-312 served as the control fertilizer containing all macro- and microelements. The application of monoionic potassium form positively influenced orchard grass vegetation. The addition of K form into soil increased stem wet and dry biomass, root dry biomass and total dry yield by 15, 10, 13 and 12%, respectively. Bearing in mind that the amount of dry plant matter as source material for humus formation is crucial in soil reclamation, the effectiveness of potassium monoionic form was found to be similar to that of the mineral fertilizer - KCI. Biona-312 was the most efficient fertilizer used in the study, resulting in the greatest yield of Dactylis glomerata L.

Highly sensitive devices such as the SHRIMP IIe/MC ion microprobe help scientists to make precise measurements of past time-scales, paleoclimatic temperatures, and much more.

The report presents the results of selected heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Cd, Ni, Pb) removal from industrial wastewater sludge collected from metallurgy industry. As washing solutions two chelating agents were used: EDTA and citric acid. The study was focused on 0.000 (deionized water), 0.010, 0.050, 0.075, 0.100 M and 0.000, 0.050, 0.100, 0.500, 1.000 M, EDTA and citric acid solutions, respectively.

Efficiency of EDTA and citric acid solutions for metal removal was studied by extraction of sludge samples with chelators. Chemical extraction of selected metals was effective for both types of solution. Optimal concentration of EDTA was 0.100M for Zn, Ni and Cd, 0.075 M for Cu and Pb. Optimal concentration of citric acid was 0.500 M for all analyzed metals

The adsorption of lead ions onto a zeolite bearing tuff (stilbite) from synthetic acid aqueous solution and

acid mine drainage taken from Sasa mine, Macedonia, is elaborated in this paper. The results present that adsorption

occurs effi ciently in both of cases.

The physical and chemical properties of the used natural material, zeolite bearing tuff, are characterized by X-ray

diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy. The concentration of metal ions in solution

before and after treatment is obtained by AES-ICP.

The effectivity of zeolite bearing tuff is determined through a series of experiments under batch conditions from

single ion solutions, whereby the main parameters are the effects of initial pH of solution, mass of adsorbent, initial

metal concentration in solution, contacting time and competing cations. The maximum capacity of zeolite bearing tuff

for removal of lead ions from solution is determined by equilibrium studies.

The experimental obtained data are fi tted with Freundlich and Langmuir adsorption models. The experimental

data are better fi tted with Langmuir adsorption isotherm.

Zeolite bearing tuff is effective adsorbent for treating acid mine drainage. The results showed that 99% of lead ions

are removed from acid mine drainage, i.e. the concentration of lead ions from 0.329 mg/dm3

decrease to 0.002 mg/dm3

.

The pH value of acid mine drainage from 3.90 after treatment with zeolite bearing tuff increases to 5.36.

Product quality tests require accurate and precise analytical techniques. Fertilizers belong to a group

of products whose chemical composition is of great importance due to health, environmental and economic

reasons. The following paper presents the results of the research into the content of selected substances in several mineral fertilizers manufactured in Poland. Ion chromatography (IC) was employed to determine selected

inorganic anions and cations, whereas energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (EDXRF) was used

to determine the content of selected elements.

In recent years, the increasing threat to ground water quality due to human activities has become a matter of great con-cern. The ground water quality problems present today are caused by contamination and by over exploitation or by combination of both. Reverse osmosis (RO) desalination is one of the main technologies for producing fresh water from sea water and brackish ground water.

Algeria is one of the countries which suffer from the water shortage since many years, so desalination technology becomes inevitable solution to this matter.

In this study, a comparison is provided of results of reverse osmosis desalination for three different qualities of brack-ish water from the central-east region of Algeria (Bouira and Setif Prefectures), wherein they cannot use it as human drink-ing or in irrigation systems. The main objective of our study is to establish a comparison of the reverse osmosis membrane TW30-2540 performances in the term of (permeate flow, recovery rate, permeate total dissolved solids – TDS and salts re-jection) under different operation pressures (each one takes a time of 720 second for pilot scaling). In order to make an overview comparison between the experimental and the simulated results we used ROSA (Reverse Osmosis System Analy-sis) software.

At the end of this study we noted that, the simulated results are lower than the pilot scaling values and the most re-moved salts are the sodium chlorides with 99.05% of rejection rate.

The paper presents an impact of the metallurgical wastes dumping site on the following parts of the environment: air, soil and surface waters. Some of the methods used to prevent wastes interactions were showed. The results of the metallurgical wastes leachate samples research, in which toxic metal ions have been found, are presented results of examinations performed on water extracts derived from two types of metallurgical wastes were given. The chemical analysis of water extracts indicate exceeded concentration of toxic metals, such as: lead, arsenic, barium and others. Preliminary results of some metals elimination from the water extracts with PUROLITE ion-exchangers were also presented. The utilised acidous cationit with Na+ groups exchanges the Ba2+ ions in almost 90%, similar to S 930 ionit with chelating groups (Table 5 and 7). Whereas the anionit with hydroxyl groups removes the arsenic ions(V) from the solution with the 60% efficacy (Table 7).

The chemical composition of bulk deposition is an important aspect of assessing ambient air pollution. It contributes significantly to the removal of pollutants from the atmosphere and their transfer to other ecosystems. Thus, it is a reliable determinant of environmental chemistry. Therefore, bulk deposition can be considered useful for tracking the migration path of substances from different sources. The aim of the study carried out at five measurement points in Zabrze and Bytom was to assess the content of selected physico-chemical parameters in bulk deposition. Samples were collected continuously from November 2019 to November 2020. In the collected samples the following were determined: COD, pH, conductivity, dissolved organic carbon, inorganic carbon and total carbon; inorganic anions (Cl-, SO42-, NO3-, NO2-, Br-, PO43-) and cations (Li+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Na+, K+, NH4+), metals and metalloids (Mn, Ni, Co, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Pb, Cr, and Fe), and carboxylic acids (formic, acetic, oxalic). The obtained test results were statistically processed using Excel, and the normality of data distribution was verified by Shapiro-Wilk test. The results show that pollutants transported in the atmosphere and introduced with precipitation in the Zabrze and Bytom areas are a significant source of area pollution of the region.

Ultratrace analysis requires the use of extremely clean reagents, including water. Quality of water used in laboratories is crucial element of obtained reliable results. In chemical and biological laboratories, as well as industry, distilled, re-distilled and deionized waters arc used. Important factor of waler quality is the content of inorganic ions. One ofthe most competitive analytical techniques for trace analysis of inorganic anions and cations is ion chromatography. In the work ion chromatographic method for the determination of common inorganic anions (fluoride, chloride, nitrate, phosphate and sulfate) and cations (lithium, sodium, ammonium, potassium, magnesium and calcium) in distilled, re-distilled and deionized water has been developed and validated.

As a rule, nitrates are present in all natural water bodies. Their increased concentrations are connected with the discharge of insufficiently treated wastewater from industrial and communal enterprises, agricultural and livestock complexes. Recent scientific publications concerning treatment methods for nitrates removal from natural water and wastewater were analyzed in order to create effective and low-waste technology for obtaining high quality water. It has been established that the ion exchange method is quite effective for removing nitrates from water. In the paper, the processes of ion exchange removal of nitrates from water on low-axis anionite in DOWEX Marathon WBA in Сl- form were investigated. During the sorption of nitrates with a concentration of 186, 205, 223 and 2200 mg/dm3, it was established that the full exchangeable dynamic capacity was 1.075, 1.103, and 1.195, 1.698 g-eq/dm3, respectively. To regenerate anionite, solutions of ammonia as well as potassium chloride, ammonium chloride and potassium carbonate were used in this work. The choice of potassium and ammonium compounds is due to the prospect of further use of regeneration solutions for the production of liquid fertilizers.

The present study aimed at a determination of the formula allowing water content to be calculated for model degraded soil enriched with Biona-312 ion exchange substrate. To this end a mixture of sand and Biona- 312 was prepared which was monitored for water content changes. Moisture was determined both gravimetrically and reflectometrically (TOR method). To improve the reliability of the TOR method individual calibration was made. The specific calibration formula as polynomial of the third degree was found for water content determination in sand supplemented with Biona-312. The results confirmed the high potential of the TOR method in moisture monitoring, especially when individual calibration is done.

The accumulation and removal of the heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) by fibrous ion exchangers at different stages of a typical biological wastewater treatment system, have been studied. In particular, the chelating ion exchanger FIBAN X- I allows rapid and efficient sorption of the heavy metals from primary treated effluents. The degree of removal of Cu ion wa, about 17%; for both Cd and Pb the removal efficiency wa, >40%. Applied in batch process mode FIBAN X-1 should diminish the content of heavy metals in sewage and treated effluent.

Due to the increased environmental awareness, green chemistry becomes an important element of environmental protection. Unfortunately, it generate specific environmental costs, which are related to the use of toxic chemical reagents and waste generation. The most frequently determined analytes include inorganic and organic anions and cations. The methods used so far for their analysis in water, sewage and various other types of samples are increasingly being replaced by ion chromatography methods. This paper presents the most important advantages and limitations of ion chromatography in the context of “green analytical chemistry.” The progress of ion chromatography in gradient and isocratic elution, capillary and multidimensional ion chromatography, as well as miniaturization and methods of sample preparation for analysis, which allow to classify this technique as green analytical chemistry, are described

The problem of lithium-ion cells, which degrade in time on their own and while used, causes a significant decrease in total capacity and an increase in inner resistance. So, it is important to have a way to predict and simulate the remaining usability of batteries. The process and description of cell degradation are very complex and depend on various variables. Classical methods are based, on the one hand, on fitting a somewhat arbitrary parametric function to laboratory data and, on the other hand, on electrochemical modelling of the physics of degradation. Alternative solutions are machine learning ones or nonparametric ones like support-vector machines or the Gaussian process (GP), which we used in this case. Besides using the GP, our approach is based on current knowledge of how to use non-parametric approaches for modeling the electrochemical state of batteries. It also uses two different ways of dealing with GP problems, like maximum likelihood type II (ML-II) methods and the Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) sampling.

Analysis is performed of the contemporary views on the effect of ion etching (ion-beam milling and reactive ion etching) on physical properties of HgCdTe and on the mechanisms of the processes responsible for modification of these properties under the etching. Possibilities are discussed that ion etching opens for defect studies in HgCdTe, including detecting electrically neutral tellurium nanocomplexes, determining background donor concentration in the material of various origins, and understanding the mechanism of arsenic incorporation in molecular-beam epitaxy-grown films.