Anthropogenic carbon and the environment

A large number of aromatic chemicals and organohalogen compounds released from anthropogenic sources into the environment are recognized as harmful and persistent contaminants. The removal of these HOCs from water and wastewater has been and still is central to research in environmental science and technology. One of the major approaches is sorption technology using appropriate sorbents such as activated carbon, siliceous materials, alumina, zeolite, and synthetic resins [3]. In recent years, sorption behaviors of HOCs by native and chemically modified polymers... 

Murr, L.E., Garza, K.M., Soto, K.F., Carrasco, A., Powell, T.G., Ramirez, D.A., Guerrero, P.A., Lopez, D.A., and Venzorlll, J. (2005) Cytotoxicity assessment of some carbon nanotubes and related carbon nanoparticle aggregates and the implications for anthropogenic carbon nanotube aggregates in the environment. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2 (1), 31-42. 

Alicyclic hydrocarbons are saturated carbon chains that form ring structures. Naturally occurring alicyclic hydrocarbons are common (Chap. 1). For example, alicyclic hydrocarbons are a major component of crude oil, comprising 20-67 vol.%. Other examples of complex, naturally occurring alicyclic hydrocarbons include camphor (a plant terpene) and cyclohexyl fatty acids (components of microbial lipids). Anthropogenic sources of alicyclic hydrocarbons to the environment include fossil-fuel processing and oil spills, as well as the use of such agrochemicals as the pyrethrin insecticides (Chap. 1, and references therein). 

One of the major environmental issues of our time is the impact of anthropogenically generated CO2 on the environment (see Chapter 9 for discussion). The major processes associated with fossil fuel CO2 in the oceans are the uptake of fossil fuel CO2 by the upper ocean, mixing and transport within the ocean, and reaction with calcium carbonate in sediments. In addition, biologic productivity may be influenced by increased Pc02 values- The two major reactions for uptake of CO2 by the oceans, beyond those that would occur for a chemically unreactive gas, are in a simple form ... 

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