In this study, the impact of three different types of activated carbon (AC) on the bioaccessibility of 14C-phenanthrene in non-sterile and sterile soils was investigated. A single dose (1%) of each of the different AC (CB4, CP1 and AQ5000) was blended with soil spiked with 50 mg·kg−1 of 12C/14C-phenanthrene. The mineralisation of the 14C-phenanthrene was monitored over a 14 day incubation perio...

Excess aluminum (Al) in soils due to acid rain leaching is toxic to water resources and harmful to soil organisms and plants. This study investigated adverse impacts of Al levels upon earthworms (Eisenia fetida) from the latosol (acidic red soil). Laboratory experiments were performed to examine the survival and avoidance of earthworms from high Al concentrations and investigate the response of...

The saccharification process is essential for bioethanol production from woody biomass including celluloses. Cold-adapted cellulase, which has sufficient activity at low temperature (<293 K), is capable of reducing heating costs during the saccharification process and is suitable for simultaneous saccharification and fermentation. Endo-1,4-β-glucanase from the earthworm Eisenia fetida (EF-EG2) ...

Earthworm is widely used in Chinese traditional medicine. Previous studies on earthworm extracts have demonstrated its ability to improve haemostatic disorders[5] and stimulate wound healing[6]. In addition, higher concentrations of earthworm extracts are nontoxic and have excellent antiinflammatory and antipyretic properties[7]. Further researches have revealed the potential for using earthwor...

The environmental contaminants mercury and methylmercury cause teratogenic, nervous, and renal damage in mammals (Venugopal and Luckey 1978). Methylmercury interferes with the normal development of tadpoles (Chang et al. 1974) and with the regeneration of fins in fish (Weis and Weis 1978) and limbs in crabs (Callahan and Weis 1983). Because mercury is highly toxic, it has been measured in a wid...

This study was conducted in France within the context of waste classification (Hazardous Waste Council Directive 91/689/EEC), and focused on "ecotoxic" property (H14). In 1998, an experimental test strategy was developed to assess ecotoxicological properties of wastes using a battery of six standardized bioassays. This combined direct and indirect approaches integrating two solid-phase tests: e...

An ecotoxicity test with Eisenia fetida was performed to monitor the removal of diesel and toxicity variation during the ozonation process. The three-dimensional (3-D) cell test was introduced for the monitoring of the ozonation process, and the removal rate based on total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) mass was about 95% near the ozone inlet ports. This high removal rate might be caused by the ...

Domestic sewage sludge and cattle manure are rich in nutrition elements, but without proper disposal, are harmful to the environment. Here with an indoor culture method, we used Eisenia fetida to dispose different ratios of sewage sludge and cattle manure, and thereby investigated the effects and acting rules of these sludge-manure mixtures on the growth and reproduction of E. fetida. We find t...