Stuart Cairns

Swansea University | SWAN · Department of Geography

Plastic is a material that has become ubiquitous since entering the marketplace in the 1930s and 1940s; as a result, the presence of nano and microplastics (NMPs) are pervasive in natural environments affecting air, soil and water ecosystems. These NMPs are varied in size (categorised as either microplastics at 5 mm–1 µm or nanoplastics at < 1 µm),...

The abandoned copper mine Parys Mountain has large areas of unconsolidated mine waste, lagoons of polluted water, and substantial subterranean workings. It annually discharges 34 t of metals into the Irish Sea. Wood ash amended biochar has the potential to be deployed to remediate Acid Mine Discharge (AMD). This study demonstrated that biochar can...

Correction for ‘Treatment of mine water for the fast removal of zinc and lead by wood ash amended biochar’ by Stuart Cairns et al. , Environ. Sci.: Adv. , 2022, 1 , 506–516, https://doi.org/10.1039/d2va00085g.

Lead and zinc mines are a primary source of environmental (post)-transition metal contamination resulting in major water pollution. In this study, the use of biochar amended with wood ash (WAS) was evaluated as a method to remediate zinc and lead contaminated mine water. Water from Nantymwyn lead mine, with zinc and lead concentrations as high as 1...

Biochar is a relatively low cost, sustainable product which can be utilized in the removal of both inorganic and organic contaminants from aqueous media. This chapter outlines the mechanisms of immobilization for both inorganic and organic contaminants and summarizes the key properties that underpin these processes. Immobilization as a result of ca...

The pollution of aqueous environments by metals has continued to increase due to anthropogenic activities such as mining, waste disposal, industrial activities and the use of motor vehicles. Globally, vehicle...

Heavy metals in motorway adjoined aqueous environments have increased at an alarming rate over recent years. This increase has been primarily attributed to anthropogenic activities such as the increase of motor vehicle use. Current remediation techniques, such as balancing ponds have the potential to leave toxic residue with the associated removal...

The exponential growth in the use of motor vehicles is a key contributor to freshwater degradation. Current remediation techniques require prohibitively expensive contaminant treatment and extraction. Biochar represents an inexpensive option to ameliorate contaminants from motorway runoff. Biochar from Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) was pr...