From Reactor to Receptor: Coupled Chemical Cycles of Industrial Pollutants across Atmospheric, Pedologic, and Groundwater Systems

Abstract

This review is based on the synthesis of the movement and transformation of industrial pollutants between the sources of emissions and the human and ecological receptors based on the tight-knit chemical processes involving the atmosphere, soil, and groundwater. Instead of taking linear source-pathway-receptor routes, several contaminants are subjected to repetitive partitioning, reaction, retention, and remobilization among environmental compartments. We define the reactor-to-receptor continuum based on the idea of connecting attributes of sources (speciation, phase state, volatility, and reactivity) to atmospheric effects (processing, deposition, and exchange). There is atmospheric oxidation, photochemistry, and gas-particle partitioning, which change the composition of the pollutants and dictate the chemical form that is deposited on the land surfaces. Soil sorption to organic matter and minerals, pH, and redox-specified reactions, and reactions facilitated by microorganisms control mobility, persistence, and bioavailability, and provide environments of secondary emissions and retarded leaching. Through vadose zone transport and aquifer transport, underground transport provides long-term retention and selective redox conditions capable of neutralizing the contaminants by precipitation and biodegradation, or producing mobile and toxic daughter products. We focus on feedback from the emphasized system, the nonexposure to the underlying induction of the disturbance, and, for the example of legacy contamination, we refer to the predominance of long-term risk as the dominant driver. Lastly, we assess combined modeling and monitoring solutions that can solve cross-media fluxes and transformations, and also, we talk about their implications for exposure assessment, regulation, and sustainable industrial design.