Search results for: sustainable wastewater treatment

Authors: Rajoo Balaji, Omar Yaakob

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The Ballast Water Convention requires less than 5% of the world tonnage for ratification. Consequently, ships will have to comply with the requirements. Compliance evaluation and enforcement will become mandatory. Ship owners have to invest in treatment systems and shipboard personnel have to operate them and ensure compliance. The monitoring and enforcement will be the responsibilities of the Administrations. Herein, a review of the current status of the Ballast Water Management and the issues faced by these are projected. Issues range from efficacy and economics of the treatment systems to sampling and testing. Health issues of chemical systems, paucity of data for decision support etc., are other issues. It is emphasized that management of ballast water must be extended to ashore and sustainable solutions must be researched upon. An exemplar treatment system based on ship’s waste heat is also suggested.

Keywords: Ballast Water Management, compliance evaluation, compliance enforcement, sustainability

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Authors: Morlu Stevens, Bareki Batlokwa

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The use of treated wastewater is widely employed to compensate for the scarcity of safe and uncontaminated freshwater. However, the existence of toxic heavy metal ions in the wastewater pose a health hazard to animals and the environment, hence, the importance for an effective technique to tackle the challenge. A multi-templated ion imprinted sorbent (Fe,Ni,Cu-IIP) for the simultaneous removal of heavy metal ions from waste water was synthesised employing molecular imprinting technology (MIT) via thermal free radical bulk polymerization technique. Methacrylic acid (MAA) was employed as the functional monomer, and ethylene glycol dimethylacrylate (EGDMA) as cross-linking agent, azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as the initiator, Fe, Ni, Cu ions as template ions, and 1,10-phenanthroline as the complexing agent. The template ions were exhaustively washed off the synthesized polymer by solvent extraction in several washing steps, while periodically increasing solvent (HCl) concentration from 1.0 M to 10.0 M. The physical and chemical properties of the sorbents were investigated using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) were employed. Optimization of operational parameters such as time, pH and sorbent dosage to evaluate the effectiveness of sorbents were investigated and found to be 15 min, 7.5 and 666.7 mg/L respectively. Selectivity of ion-imprinted polymers and competitive sorption studies between the template and similar ions were carried out and showed good selectivity towards the targeted metal ion by removing 90% - 98% of the templated ions as compared to 58% - 62% of similar ions. The sorbents were further applied for the selective removal of Fe, Ni and Cu from real wastewater samples and recoveries of 92.14 ± 0.16% - 106.09 ± 0.17% and linearities of R2 = 0.9993 - R2 = 0.9997 were achieved.

Keywords: ion imprinting, ion imprinted polymers, heavy metals, wastewater

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Authors: Zhang Rui

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Context: The paper addresses the necessity of incorporating the principle of sustainable development into international law to guide states and international organizations towards achieving this goal. Research aim: To emphasize the importance of integrating sustainable development into international law and establishing procedures to attain this objective. Methodology: The study utilizes document analysis, comparative law analysis, and international law analysis to support the argument for including sustainable development in international legal frameworks. Findings: The findings suggest that integrating sustainable development into international law can lead to significant improvements in legal practices, treaty interpretations, and state behaviors. Theoretical importance: The paper highlights the potential impacts of the principle of sustainable development on reshaping existing legal norms and promoting sustainable practices globally. Data collection: The data is gathered through the analysis of relevant legal documents, comparative studies, and international legal frameworks. Analysis procedures: The analysis involves examining how the principle of sustainable development can influence legal outcomes, treaty interpretations, and state behaviors. Questions addressed: The study addresses how the principle of sustainable development can be integrated into international law and what implications this integration can have on legal practices and state behaviors. Conclusion: Integrating sustainable development into international law is crucial for advancing global sustainability objectives and guiding states and international organizations towards sustainable practices.

Keywords: international law, sustainable development, environmental legislation, sovereign equality

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Authors: Futoshi Kakuta, Takashi Ishida

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Sewage sludge is a biomass resource that can create a solid fuel and electricity. Utilizing sewage sludge as a renewable energy can contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gasses. In Japan, 'The National Plan for the Promotion of Biomass Utilization' and 'The Priority Plan for Social Infrastructure Development' were approved at cabinet meetings in December 2010 and August 2012, respectively, to promote the energy utilization of sewage sludge. This study investigated costs and greenhouse gas emission in different sewage sludge treatments with technologies for energy from sewage sludge. Costs were estimated on capital costs and O&M costs including energy consumption of solid fuel plants and biogas power generation plants for sewage sludge. Results showed that cost of sludge digestion treatment with solid fuel technologies was 8% lower than landfill disposal. Greenhouse gas emission of sludge digestion treatment with solid fuel technologies was also 6,390t as CO2 smaller than landfill disposal. Biogas power generation reduced the electricity of a wastewater treatment plant by 30% and the cost by 5%.

Keywords: global warming countermeasure, energy technology, solid fuel production, biogas

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Authors: Men An Pan, Ho Hsiung Huang, Jui Chuan Lin, Tsui Hsun Wu, Hsing Yuan Yen

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Pingtung County, located in the southernmost region of Taiwan, has the largest number of pig farms in the country. In the past, livestock operators in Dongpian Village discharged their wastewater into the nearby water bodies, causing water pollution in the local rivers and polluting the air with the stench of the pig excrement. These resulted in many complaints from the local residents. In response to a long time fighting back of the community against the livestock farms due to the confrict, the County Government's Environmental Protection Bureau (PTEPB) examined potential wayouts in addition to heavy fines to the perpetrators. Through helping the livestock farms to upgrade their pollution prevention equipment, promoting the reuse of biogas residue and slurry from the pig excrement, and environmental education, the confrict was successfully resolved. The properly treated wastewater from the livestock farms has been freely provided to the neighboring farmlands via pipelines and tankers. Thus, extensive cultivation of bananas, papaya, red dragon fruit, Inca nut, and cocoa has resulted in 34% resource utilization of biogas residue as a fertilizer. This has encouraged farmers to reduce chemical fertilizers and use microbial materials like photosynthetic bacteria after banning herbicides while lowering the cost of wastewater treatment in livestock farms and alleviating environmental pollution simultaneously. That is, the livestock farms fully demonstrate the determination to fulfill their corporate social responsibility (CSR). Due to the success, Eight farms jointly established a social enterprise - "Dongpian Gemstone Village Co., Ltd." to promote organic farming through a "shared farm." The company appropriates 5% of its total revenue back to the community through caregiving services for the elderly and a fund for young local farmers. The community adopted the Satoyama Initiative in accordance with the Conference of the CBD COP10. Through the positive impact of environmental education, the community seeks to realize the coexistence between society and nature while maintaining and developing socio-economic activities (including agriculture) with respect for nature and building a harmonic relationship between humans and nature. By way of sustainable management of resources and ensuring biodiversity, the community is transforming into a socio-ecological production landscape. Apart from nature conservation and watercourse ecology, preserving local culture is also a key focus of the environmental education. To mitigate the impact of global warming and climate change, the community and the government have worked together to develop a disaster prevention and relief system, strive to establish a low-carbon emitting homeland, and become a model for resilient communities. By the power of environmental education, this community has turned its residents’ hearts and minds into concrete action, fulfilled social responsibility, and moved towards realizing the UN SDGs. Even though it is not the only community to integrate government agencies, research institutions, and NGOs for environmental education, it is a prime example of a low-carbon sustainable community that achieves more than 9 SDGs, including responsible consumption and production, climate change action, and diverse partnerships. The community is also leveraging environmental education to become a net-zero carbon community targeted by COP26.

Keywords: environmental education, biogas residue, biogas slurry, CSR, SDGs, climate change, net-zero carbon emissions

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Authors: Zhaoyang Liu, Detao Qin, Darren Delai Sun

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The onshore production of oil and gas (for example, shale gas) generates large quantities of wastewater, referred to be ‘produced water’, which contains high contents of oils and salts. The direct discharge of produced water, if not appropriately treated, can be toxic to the environment and human health. Membrane filtration has been deemed as an environmental-friendly and cost-effective technology for treating oily wastewater. However, conventional polymeric membranes have their drawbacks of either low salt rejection rate or high membrane fouling tendency when treating oily wastewater. Recent years, forward osmosis (FO) membrane filtration has emerged as a promising technology with its unique advantages of low operation pressure and less membrane fouling tendency. However, until now there is still no report about FO membranes specially designed and fabricated for treating the oily and salty produced water. In this study, a novel nanocomposite FO membrane was developed specially for treating oil- and salt-polluted produced water. By leveraging the recent advance of nanomaterials and nanotechnology, this nanocomposite FO membrane was designed to be made of double layers: an underwater oleophobic selective layer on top of a nanomaterial infused polymeric support layer. Wherein, graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets were selected to add into the polymeric support layer because adding GO nanosheets can optimize the pore structures of the support layer, thus potentially leading to high water flux for FO membranes. In addition, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel was selected as the selective layer because hydrated and chemically-crosslinked PVA hydrogel is capable of simultaneously rejecting oil and salt. After nanocomposite FO membranes were fabricated, the membrane structures were systematically characterized with the instruments of TEM, FESEM, XRD, ATR-FTIR, surface zeta-potential and Contact angles (CA). The membrane performances for treating produced waters were tested with the instruments of TOC, COD and Ion chromatography. The working mechanism of this new membrane was also analyzed. Very promising experimental results have been obtained. The incorporation of GO nanosheets can reduce internal concentration polarization (ICP) effect in the polymeric support layer. The structural parameter (S value) of the new FO membrane is reduced by 23% from 265 ± 31 μm to 205 ± 23 μm. The membrane tortuosity (τ value) is decreased by 20% from 2.55 ± 0.19 to 2.02 ± 0.13 μm, which contributes to the decrease of S value. Moreover, the highly-hydrophilic and chemically-cross-linked hydrogel selective layer present high antifouling property under saline oil/water emulsions. Compared with commercial FO membrane, this new FO membrane possesses three times higher water flux, higher removal efficiencies for oil (>99.9%) and salts (>99.7% for multivalent ions), and significantly lower membrane fouling tendency (<10%). To our knowledge, this is the first report of a nanocomposite FO membrane with the combined merits of high salt rejection, high oil repellency and high water flux for treating onshore oil/gas produced waters. Due to its outstanding performance and ease of fabrication, this novel nanocomposite FO membrane possesses great application potential in wastewater treatment industry.

Keywords: nanocomposite, membrane, polymer, graphene oxide

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Authors: C. W. Kan, H. F. Cheung, Y. S. Lee

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This study examines the results of colour fading of cotton fabric by plasma-induced ozone treatment, with an aim to provide learning materials for fashion designers when designing colour fading effects in fashion products. Cotton knitted fabrics were dyed with red reactive dye with a colour depth of 1.5% and were subjected to ozone generated by a commercially available plasma machine for colour fading. The plasma-induced ozone treatment was conducted with different parameters: (i) air concentration = 10%, 30%, 50% and 70%; (ii) water content in fabric = 35% and 45%, and (iii) treatment time = 10 minutes, 20 minutes and 30 minutes. Finally, the colour properties of the plasma–induced ozone treated fabric were measured by spectrophotometer under illuminant D₆₅ to obtain the CIE L*, CIE a* and CIE b* values.

Keywords: learning materials, colour fading, colour properties, fashion products

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Authors: Kharaishvili Eteri

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The article highlights the importance of small and medium-sized enterprises in achieving the goals of sustainable development of the economy and increasing the well-being of the population. The opinion is put forward that it is necessary to adapt the activities of small and medium-sized firms in Georgia to sustainable business models. Therefore, it is important to identify the challenges that will ensure compliance with the goals and requirements of sustainable development of small and mediumsized enterprises. Objectives. The goal of the study is to reveal the challenges of sustainable development in small and medium-sized enterprises in Georgia and to develop recommendations for strategic development opportunities. Methodologies The challenges of sustainable development of small and medium-sized enterprises are investigated with the following methodology: bibliographic research of scientific works and reports of organizations is carried out; Based on the grouping of sustainable development goals, the performance indicators of these goals are studied; Differences with respect to the corresponding indicators of European countries are determined by the comparison method; The matrix scheme establishes the conditions and tools for sustainable development; Challenges of sustainable development are identified by factor analysis. Contributions Trends in the sustainable development of small and medium-sized enterprises are studied from the point of view of economic, social and environmental factors; To ensure sustainability, the conditions and tools for sustainable development are established (certified supply chains and global markets, allocation of financial resources necessary for sustainable development, proper public procurement, highly qualified workforce, etc.); Several main challenges have been identified in the sustainable development of small and medium-sized enterprises, including: limited internal resources; Institutional factors, especially vague and imperfect regulations, bureaucracy; low level of investments; Low level of qualification of human capital and others.

Keywords: small and medium-sized enterprises, sustainable development, conditions of sustainable development, strategic directions of sustainable development.

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Authors: Anusha Atmakuri, R. D. Tyagi, Patrick Drogui

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Landfilling is the most familiar and easy way to dispose solid waste. Landfill is generally received via wastes from municipal near to a landfill. The waste collected is from commercial, industrial, and residential areas and many more. Landfill leachate (LFL) is formed when rainwater passes through the waste placed in landfills and consists of several dissolved organic materials, for instance, aquatic humic substances (AHS), volatile fatty acids (VFAs), heavy metals, inorganic macro components, and xenobiotic organic matters, highly toxic to the environment. These components of LFL put a load on it, hence it necessitates the treatment of LFL prior to its discharge into the environment. Various methods have been used to treat LFL over the years, such as physical, chemical, biological, physicochemical, electrical, and advanced oxidation methods. This study focuses on the combination of biological and electrochemical methods- extracellular polymeric substances and electrocoagulation(EC). The coupling of electro-coagulation process with extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) (as flocculant) as pre and\or post treatment strategy provides efficient and economical process for the decontamination of landfill leachate contaminated with suspended matter, metals (e.g., Fe, Mn) and ammonical nitrogen. Electro-coagulation and EPS mediated coagulation approach could be an economically viable for the treatment of landfill leachate, along with possessing several other advantages over several other methods. This study utilised waste substrates such as activated sludge, crude glycerol and waste cooking oil for the production of EPS using fermentation technology. A comparison of different scenarios for the treatment of landfill leachate is presented- such as using EPS alone as bioflocculant, EPS and EC with EPS being the 1st stage, and EPS and EC with EC being the 1st stage. The work establishes the use of crude EPS as a bioflocculant for the treatment of landfill leachate and wastewater from a site near a landfill, along with EC being successful in removal of some major pollutants such as COD, turbidity, total suspended solids. A combination of these two methods is to be explored more for the complete removal of all pollutants from landfill leachate.

Keywords: landfill leachate, extracellular polymeric substances, electrocoagulation, bioflocculant.

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Authors: Charles P. Mukumba, Kahilu K. Shakantu

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Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs] is a key to achieving transformational results that support Zambia’s development. Public procurement is an integral to the government’s mission to deliver goods and services, in a timely and economic manner beyond the value of money spent. This study explores the link between sustainable public procurement and the SDG targets in Zambia. And to validate the established links with the public sector procurement in Zambia. The study employed qualitative research using semi-structured interviews with 18 public procurement officials. The collected data was analysed using thematic analysis. The findings indicate that public procurement plays a fundamental role in achieving the sustainable development goals [SDGs] by helping to deliver core public services that support SDGs and also by systematising and co-delivering added value along the way. The study further established the importance of sustainable public procurement within the context of development. The interviews were limited to mainstream public sector procurement entities in Lusaka, Zambia. Sustainable public procurement actions have the potential to impact SDG goals. Promoting sustainable public procurement will enhance sustainable development and significantly improve supply chain that would benefit the economy, society and environment. Findings will inform policy-makers how to strategically design sustainable public procurement policy by attuning it to procuring entities objectives and priorities in order to contribute to the attainment of SDGs.

Keywords: sustainable public procurement, sustainable development goals, target, Zambia

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Authors: Muhammad Atif, M. Samsul Alam

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The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of board room gender diversity on firm sustainable investment. We test the extent to which sustainable investment is affected by the presence of female directors on U.S. corporate boards. Using data of S&P 1500 indexed firms collected from Bloomberg covering the period 2004-2016, we estimate the baseline model to investigate the effects of board room gender diversity on firm sustainable investment. We find a positive relationship between board gender diversity and sustainable investment. We also find that boards with two or more women have a pronounced impact on sustainable investment, consistent with the critical mass theory. Female independent directors have a stronger impact on sustainable investment than female executive directors. Our findings are robust to different identification and estimation techniques. The study offers another perspective of the ongoing debate in the social responsibility literature about the accountability relationships between business and society.

Keywords: sustainable investment, gender diversity, environmental proctection, social responsibility

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Authors: Vivek B. Ravindran, Aravind Surapaneni, Rebecca Traub, Sarvesh K. Soni, Andrew S. Ball

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Parasitic diseases have a devastating, long-term impact on human health and welfare. More than two billion people are infected with soil-transmitted helminths (STHs), including the roundworms (Ascaris), hookworms (Necator and Ancylostoma) and whipworm (Trichuris) with majority occurring in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Despite its low prevalence in developed countries, the removal of STHs from wastewater remains crucial to allow the safe use of sludge or recycled water in agriculture. Conventional methods such as incubation and optical microscopy are cumbersome; consequently, the results drastically vary from person-to-person observing the ova (eggs) under microscope. Although PCR-based methods are an alternative to conventional techniques, it lacks the ability to distinguish between viable and non-viable helminth ova. As a result, wastewater treatment industries are in major need for radically new and innovative tools to detect and quantify STHs eggs with precision, accuracy and being cost-effective. In our study, we focus on the following novel and innovative techniques: -Recombinase polymerase amplification and Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (RPA-SERS) based detection of helminth ova. -Use of metal nanoparticles and their relative nanozyme activity. -Colorimetric detection, differentiation and enumeration of genera of helminth ova using hydrolytic enzymes (chitinase and lipase). -Propidium monoazide (PMA)-qPCR to detect viable helminth ova. -Modified assay to recover and enumerate helminth eggs from fresh raw sewage. -Transcriptome analysis of ascaris ova in fresh raw sewage. The aforementioned techniques have the potential to replace current conventional and molecular methods thereby producing a standard protocol for the determination and enumeration of helminth ova in sewage sludge.

Keywords: colorimetry, helminth, PMA-QPCR, nanoparticles, RPA, viable

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Authors: M. Farhaoui, M. Derraz

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In the drinking water treatment processes, the optimization of the treatment is an issue of particular concern. In general, the process consists of many units as settling, coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration and disinfection. The optimization of the process consists of some measures to decrease the managing and monitoring expenses and improve the quality of the produced water. The objective of this study is to provide water treatment operators with methods and practices that enable to attain the most effective use of the facility and, in consequence, optimize the of the cubic meter price of the treated water. This paper proposes a review on optimization of drinking water treatment process by analyzing all of the water treatment units and gives some solutions in order to maximize the water treatment performances without compromising the water quality standards. Some solutions and methods are performed in the water treatment plant located in the middle of Morocco (Meknes).

Keywords: coagulation process, optimization, turbidity removal, water treatment

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Authors: S. Hasan, I. Beshara

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Infrastructure maintenance is a great challenge facing sustainable development of infrastructure assets due to the high cost of passive implementation of a sustainable maintenance plan. An assessment model of sustainable maintenance for highway infrastructure projects in Egypt is developed in this paper. It helps in improving the implementation of sustainable maintenance criteria. Thus, this paper has applied the analytical hierarchy processes (AHP) to rank and explore the weight of 26 assessment indicators using three hierarchy levels containing the main sustainable categories and subcategories with related indicators. Overall combined weight of each indicator for sustainable maintenance evaluation has been calculated to sum up to a sustainable maintenance performance index (SMI). The results show that the factor "Preventive maintenance cost" has the highest relative contribution factor among others (13.5%), while two factors of environmental performance have the least weights (0.7%). The developed model aims to provide decision makers with information about current maintenance performance and support them in the decision-making process regarding future directions of maintenance activities. It can be used as an assessment performance tool during the operation and maintenance stage. The developed indicators can be considered during designing the maintenance plan. Practices for successful implementation of the model are also presented.

Keywords: analytical hierarchy process, assessment performance Model, KPIs for sustainable maintenance, sustainable maintenance index

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Authors: Bifeng Zhu, Zhekai Wang, Chaoyang Sun, Bart Dewancker

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Under the tide of promoting sustainable development in the world, American universities that have been committed to sustainable practice and innovation, not only have its sustainable campus construction been in the forefront of the world, but also have developed STARS (The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System), which is widely used in the world and highly recognized. At the same time, in the process of global sustainable campus construction, energy problem is often regarded as one of the most important sustainable aspects, even equivalent to the sustainability of campus. Therefore, the relationship between campus energy and sustainability is worth discussing. In this study, four American universities with the highest level evaluated by STARS are selected as examples to compare and analyze the campus energy consumption and the use of new energy, GHG emissions and the overall sustainability of the campus, in order to explore the relationship between campus energy and sustainable construction. It is found that the advantages of sustainable campus construction in the United States are mainly focused on the "software" of management, education, activities, etc. Although different energy-saving measures have been taken in campus energy, the construction results are quite different. Moreover, as an important aspect of sustainable campus, energy can not fully represent the sustainability of campus, but because of the various measures it takes, it can greatly promote the sustainable construction of the whole campus. These measures and construction experiences are worthy of summary and promotion, and have positive reference significance for other universities even communities around the world.

Keywords: sustainable campus, energy consumption, STARS assessment, GHG emissions

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Authors: Paolo Boscaro, Vasile Hulea, François Fajula, Francis Luck, Anne Galarneau

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TiO2 based monoliths with hierarchical macropores and mesopores have been synthesized following a novel one pot sol-gel synthesis method. Taking advantage of spinodal separation that occurs between titanium isopropoxide and an acidic solution in presence of polyethylene oxide polymer, monoliths with homogeneous interconnected macropres of 3 μm in diameter and mesopores of ca. 6 nm (surface area 150 m2/g) are obtained. Furthermore, these monoliths present some carbon and nitrogen (as shown by XPS and elemental analysis), which considerably reduce titanium oxide energy gap and enable light to be absorbed up to 700 nm wavelength. XRD shows that anatase is the dominant phase with a small amount of brookite. Enhanced light absorption and high porosity of the monoliths are responsible for a remarkable photocatalytic activity. Wastewater treatment has been performed in closed reactor under sunlight using orange G dye as target molecule. Glass reactors guarantee that most of UV radiations (to almost 300 nm) of solar spectrum are excluded. TiO2 nanoparticles P25 (usually used in photocatalysis under UV) and un-doped TiO2 monoliths with similar porosity were used as comparison. C,N-doped TiO2 monolith allowed a complete colorant degradation in less than 1 hour, whereas 10 h are necessary for 40% colorant degradation with P25 and un-doped monolith. Experiment performed in the dark shows that only 3% of molecules have been adsorbed in the C,N-doped TiO2 monolith within 1 hour. The much higher efficiency of C,N-doped TiO2 monolith in comparison to P25 and un-doped monolith, proves that doping TiO2 is an essential issue and that nitrogen and carbon are effective dopants. Monoliths offer multiples advantages in respect to nanometric powders: sample can be easily removed from batch (no needs to filter or to centrifuge). Moreover flow reactions can be set up with cylindrical or flat monoliths by simple sheathing or by locking them with O-rings.

Keywords: C-N doped, sunlight photocatalytic activity, TiO2 monolith, visible absorbance

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Authors: Hossam El-Sayed Emam

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As an essential issue for life, water while it’s important for all living organisms. However, the world is dangerously facing the serious problem for the deficiency of the sources of drinking water. Within the aquatic systems, there are various gases, microbes, and other toxic ingredients (chemical compounds and heavy metals) occurred owing to the draining of agricultural and industrial wastewater, resulting in water pollution. On the other hand, fuel (gaseous, liquid, or in solid phase) is one of the extensively consumable energy sources, and owing to its origin from fossil, it contains some sulfur-, nitrogen- and oxygen-based compounds that cause serious problems (toxicity, catalyst poisoning, corrosion, and gum formation andcarcinogenic effects), to be ascribed as undesirable pollutants.MOFs as porous coordinating polymers are superiorly exploited in the adsorption and separationof contaminants for wastewater treatment and fuel purification. The inclusion of highly adsorbent materials like MOFs to be immobilized within cellulosic materialscould be investigated as a new challenge for the separation of contaminants with high efficiency and opportunity for recyclability. Therefore, the current approach ascribes the exploitation of different MOFsimmobilized within cellulose (powder, films, and fabrics)for applications in environmental. Herein, using cellulose containing MOFs in dye removal (degradation and adsorption), pharmaceutical intermediates removal, and fuel purification were summarized.

Keywords: cellulose, MOFs, dye removal, pharmaceutical intermediates, fuel purification

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Authors: Emine Yılmaz, Serap Fındık

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Baker’s yeast industry uses molasses as a raw material. Molasses is end product of sugar industry. Wastewater from molasses processing presents large amount of coloured substances that give dark brown color and high organic load to the effluents. The main coloured compounds are known as melanoidins. Melanoidins are product of Maillard reaction between amino acid and carbonyl groups in molasses. Dark colour prevents sunlight penetration and reduces photosynthetic activity and dissolved oxygen level of surface waters. Various methods like biological processes (aerobic and anaerobic), ozonation, wet air oxidation, coagulation/flocculation are used to treatment of baker’s yeast effluent. Before effluent is discharged adequate treatment is imperative. In addition to this, increasingly stringent environmental regulations are forcing distilleries to improve existing treatment and also to find alternative methods of effluent management or combination of treatment methods. Sonochemical oxidation is one of the alternative methods. Sonochemical oxidation employs ultrasound resulting in cavitation phenomena. In this study, decolorization of baker’s yeast effluent was investigated by using ultrasound. Baker’s yeast effluent was supplied from a factory which is located in the north of Turkey. An ultrasonic homogenizator used for this study. Its operating frequency is 20 kHz. TiO2-ZnO catalyst has been used as sonocatalyst. The effects of molar proportion of TiO2-ZnO, calcination temperature and time, catalyst amount were investigated on the decolorization of baker’s yeast effluent. The results showed that prepared composite TiO2-ZnO with 4:1 molar proportion treated at 700°C for 90 min provides better result. Initial decolorization rate at 15 min is 3% without catalyst, 14,5% with catalyst treated at 700°C for 90 min respectively.

Keywords: baker’s yeast effluent, decolorization, sonocatalyst, ultrasound

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Authors: M. S. Tajul Islam, Md. Zahangir Alam

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To enhance biogas production through anaerobic digestion, the application of various type of pre-treatment method has some limitations in terms of sustainable environmental management. Many studies on pretreatments especially chemical and physical processes are carried out to evaluate the anaerobic digestion for enhanced biogas production. Among the pretreatment methods acid and alkali pre-treatments gained the highest importance. Previous studies have showed that although acid and alkali pretreatment has significant effect on degradation of biomass, these methods have some negative impact on environment due to their hazard in nature while enzymatic pre-treatment is environmentally friendly. One of the constrains to use of enzyme in pretreatment process for biogas production is high cost which is currently focused to reduce cost through fermentation of waste-based media. As such palm oil mill effluent (POME) as an abundant resource generated during palm oil processing at mill is being used a potential fermentation media for enzyme production. This low cost of enzyme could be an alternative to biogas pretreatment process. This review is to focus direct application of enzyme as enzymatic pre-treatment on POME to enhanced production of biogas.

Keywords: POME, enzymatic pre-treatment, biogas, lignocellulosic biomass, anaerobic digestion

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Authors: Sherine El Sakka

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Sustainable urban development (SUD) is influenced by social, cultural, economic and environmental sustainability (ES) of developing and developed countries. Our paper will focus on the challenge confronted by the developing countries in sustainable urban development as an application on Egypt, which will clarify current situation and future challenge and assess the impact of a developing country on sustainable development to propose some possible directions for the future because new solution of improving sustainability of developing cities (SDC) should be found.

Keywords: sustainable urban development (SUD), environmental sustainability (ES), sustainability of developing cities (SDC), Egypt

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Authors: Rachid Dris, Robin Treilles, Max Beaurepaire, Minh Trang Nguyen, Sam Azimi, Vincent Rocher, Johnny Gasperi, Bruno Tassin

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Microplastic sources and fluxes in urban catchments are only poorly studied. Most often, the approaches taken focus on a single source and only carry out a description of the contamination levels and type (shape, size, polymers). In order to gain an improved knowledge of microplastic inputs at urban scales, estimating and comparing various fluxes is necessary. The Laboratoire Eau, Environnement et Systèmes Urbains (LEESU), the Laboratoire Eau Environnement (LEE) and the SIAAP (Service public de l’assainissement francilien) initiated several projects to investigate different urban sources and flows of microplastics. A systemic approach is undertaken at the scale of Paris Megacity, and several compartments are considered, including atmospheric fallout, wastewater treatments plants, runoff and combined sewer overflows. These investigations are carried out within the Limnoplast and OPUR projects. Atmospheric fallout was sampled during consecutive periods ranging from 2 to 3 weeks with a stainless-steel funnel. Both wet and dry periods were considered. Different treatment steps were sampled in 2 wastewater treatment plants (Seine-Amont for activated sludge and Seine-Centre for biofiltration) of the SIAAP, including sludge samples. Microplastics were also investigated in combined sewer overflows as well as in stormwater at the outlet suburban catchment (Sucy-en-Brie, France) during four rain events. Samples are treated using hydroperoxide digestion (H₂O₂ 30 %) in order to reduce organic material. Microplastics are then extracted from the samples with a density separation step using NaI (d=1.6 g.cm⁻³). Samples are filtered on metallic filters with a porosity of 14 µm between steps to separate them from the solutions (H₂O₂ and NaI). The last filtration was carried out on alumina filters. Infrared mapping analysis (using a micro-FTIR with an MCT detector) is performed on each alumina filter. The resulting maps are analyzed using a microplastic analysis software simple, developed by Aalborg University, Denmark and Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany. Blanks were systematically carried out to consider sample contamination. This presentation aims at synthesizing the data found in the various projects. In order to carry out a systemic approach and compare the various inputs, all the data were converted into annual microplastic fluxes (number of microplastics per year), and extrapolated to the Parisian agglomeration. PP, PE and alkyd are the most prevalent polymers found in storm water samples. Rain intensity and microplastic concentrations did not show any clear correlation. Considering the runoff volumes and the impervious surface area of the studied catchment, a flux of 4*107–9*107 MPs.yr⁻¹.ha⁻¹ was estimated. Samples of wastewater treatment plants and atmospheric fallout are currently being analyzed in order to finalize this assessment. The representativeness of such samplings and uncertainties related to the extrapolations will be discussed and gaps in knowledge will be identified. The data provided by such an approach will help to prioritize future research as well as policy efforts.

Keywords: microplastics, atmosphere, wastewater, urban runoff, Paris megacity, urban waters

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Authors: Alireza Nejadmohammad Namaghi

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Investigators have reported that mulches increase production potential in arid and semi arid lands. Mulches are covering materials that are used on soil surface for efficiency irrigation, erosion control, weed control, evaporation decrease and improvement of water perpetration. Our aim and local situation determine the kind of material that we can use. In this research we used different mulches including chemical mulch (M1), Aquasorb polymer, manure mulch (M2), Residue mulch (M3) and polyethylene mulch (M4), with control treatment (M0), without usage of mulch, on germination, biomass dry matter and cottonseed yield (Varamin variety) in Kashan area. Randomized complete block (RCB) design have measured the cotton yield with 3 replications for measuring the biomass dry matter and 4 replication in tow irrigation periods as 7 and 14 days. Germination percentage for M0, M1, M2, M3 and M4 treatment were receptivity 64, 65, 76, 57 and 72% Biomass dry matter average for M0, M1, M2, M3 and M4 treatment were receptivity 276, 306, 426, 403 and 476 gram per plot. M4 treatment (polyethylene Mulch) had the most effect, M2 and M3 had no significant as well as M0 and M1. Total yield average with respect to 7 days irrigation for M0, M1, M2, M3 and M4 treatment were receptivity 700, 725, 857, 1057 and 1273 gram per plot. Dunken ne multiple showed no significant different among M0, M1, M2, and M3, but M4 ahs the most effect on yield. Total yield average with respect to 14 days irrigation for M0, M1, M2, M3 and M4 treatment were receptivity 535, 507, 690, 957 and 1047 gram per plot. These were significant difference between all treatments and control treatment. Results showed that used different mulches with water decrease in dry situation can increase the yield significantly.

Keywords: mulch, cotton, arid land management, irrigation systems

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Authors: K. Y. Chen, Y. N. Jia, H. Chua, C. W. Kan

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In United States (US), the environmental policy went through two stages that are government control period and market mechanism period. In the government control period in the 1970s, environmental problems in U.S. are treated by mandatory direct control method, including promulgation of laws, formulation of emission standards and mandatory installation of pollution treatment equipment. After the 1980s, the environmental policy in U.S. went into the second stage, in which the government strengthened the incentives and coordination effects of market. Since then, environmental governance had been partially replaced by means of economic regulation of the market. Green Tax Policy and Marketable Pollution Permits are good examples of government's economic interventions. U.S. Federal Government regards environmental industry as high-tech industry which is promoted in this period. Therefore, in the paper, we aim to analyse the effect of environmental investment on the sustainable development in the US. Acknowledgment: Authors would like to thank the financial support from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for this work.

Keywords: United States, public environmental investment, analysis, sustainable development

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Authors: Dahiru Muhammad, Muhammad Danladi, Adamu Garba, Muhammad Yahaya

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This paper put forward the potentialities of biomass for energy as divers means of sustainable economic development. The paper explains in brief the ways or methods that are used to generate energy from biomass, such as combustion, pyrolysis, anaerobic, and gasification, and also how biomass for energy can enhance the sustainable economic development of a Nation. Currently, the nation depends on fossil fuels as a sources of generating its energy which is finite and deflectable with time, while on the other hand, biomass is an alternative and endless product which consists of a forest biomass, agricultural residues, and energy crops. Finally, recommendations and conclusion were made on the role of biomass for energy in improving sustainable economic development.

Keywords: biomass, energy, sustainable, economic, development

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Authors: Y. N. Fung, R. Liu, T. M. Choi

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Over the past decades, previous studies have explored different consumers’ attitudes towards sustainable fashion and how these attitudes affect consumer behaviors. Researchers have attempted to provide solutions for product suppliers (e.g., retailers, designers, developers, and manufacturers) through studying consumers’ attitudes towards sustainable fashion. However, based on the studies of consumer attitudes, investigations on the sales and market share of sustainable sportswear products remain under-explored. Gaps may exist between the consumers’ expectations and the developed sustainable sportswear products. In this study, a novel study has been carried out to examine the attitude gaps existing between the sustainable sportswear suppliers’ (SSSs) and the sustainable sportswear consumers (SSCs). This study firstly identifies the key attitudes towards sustainable sportswear product development. It analyses how sustainable attitudes affect the products being developed, as well as the effects of the attitude’s difference between the SSSs and the SSCs on the consumers’ satisfaction towards sportswear product consumption. A gap analysis research framework is adopted with the use of collected questionnaire survey data. The results indicate that a significant difference exists between SSSs and SSCs’ attitudes towards sustainable design, manufacture, product features, and branding. Based on in-depth interviews, the major causes of the difference in attitudes are studied to provide managerial insights for sustainable sportswear product management and business development.

Keywords: sustainability, sportswear, attitude, gap analysis, suppliers, consumers

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Authors: Chahinez Ait Si Said, Ouassila Touafek, Mohamed Reda Zahi, Smain Sabour, ‎Mohamed El Hattab ‎

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Oil mill wastewater (OMW) is a major effluent of the olive industry resulting from olive ‎oil extraction which is a great source for the development of new drugs. The present ‎study aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of seven different fractions separated ‎from OMW extract. The sample was recovered from an oil mill in the Blida region ‎‎(Algeria). A crude ethyl acetate extract was prepared from OMW according to a well-‎established protocol; the yield of the extract obtained was 4%. From the extract, ‎different fractions were prepared by fractionating the total extract with an open column ‎chromatography. The obtained fractions were submitted to antimicrobial activity ‎screening in a comparative purpose. All the fractions obtained show great antimicrobial ‎potential. ‎Phytochemical study of the different fractions was assessed by evaluating the total ‎phenolic compounds for all fractions studied as the main compounds found in OMW ‎were phenols like hydroxytyrosol, tyrosol, phenolic acids like caffeic, quinic and ferulic ‎acids which show great therapeutic activities. ‎

Keywords: olive mill wastewater, fractionation, total phenolic compound, antimicrobial activity

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Authors: Hoong C. Chin, Soon H. Chew, Zhaoxia Wang

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Work on sustainable developments and the call for action in education for sustainable development have been ongoing for a number of years. Training engineering students with the relevant competencies, particularly in sustainable development literacy, has been identified as an urgent task in universities. This requires not only a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach to education but also a suitable training environment to develop the needed skills and to inculcate the appropriate attitudes in students towards sustainable development. To demonstrate how this can be done, a module involving an overseas field trip was introduced in 2013 at the National University of Singapore. This paper provides details of the module and describes its training philosophy and methods. Measured against the student learning outcomes, stipulated by the Engineering Accreditation Board, the module scored well on all of them, particularly those related to complex problem solving, environmental and sustainability awareness, multi-disciplinary team work and varied-level communications.

Keywords: civil engineering education, socio-economically sustainable infrastructure, student learning outcome, sustainable development

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Authors: Marleen Onwezen

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It is often assumed that specific consumer groups do or do not have a sustainable lifestyle or that a specific context does or does not trigger sustainable choices. Based on goal-framing theory, this article aims to understand variation in sustainable choices across contexts. We add to the literature by showing the added value of including a moral goal frame (Study 1; N = 1,100) beyond the hedonic, gain, and normative goal frames. Moreover, we add to the literature by revealing how these goal frames are recalled in real-life consumption contexts (Study 2; N = 1,100) and how they can be activated (Study 3; N = 1,651). The results reveal that different goal frames result in different preferences and consumption choices, and that the normative frames showed the most consistent association with sustainable intentions. A contrast exists between frames currently activated in food choice contexts, mainly the gain and hedonic frames, and those associated with sustainable behaviours, the moral and social frames. This indicates the relevance of further understanding and adapting the environment to activate moral and social frames to further enforce sustainable food transitions.

Keywords: goal frames, sustainable behaviour, food choice, moral

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Authors: Tsegaye Adane Birhan

Abstract:

Recently, rapid industrialization has led to the excessive release of heavy metals such as Cr (VI) into the environment. Exposure to chromium (VI) can cause kidney and liver damage, depressed immune systems, and a variety of cancers. Therefore, treatment of Cr (VI) containing wastewater is mandatory. This study aims to optimize the removal of Cr (VI) from an aqueous solution using locally available Teff husk-activated carbon adsorbent. The laboratory-based study was conducted on the optimization of Cr (VI) removal efficiency of Teff husk-activated carbon from aqueous solution. A central composite design was used to examine the effect of the interaction of process parameters and to optimize the process using Design Expert version 7.0 software. The optimized removal efficiency of Teff husk activated carbon (95.597%) was achieved at 1.92 pH, 87.83mg/L initial concentration, 20.22g/L adsorbent dose and 2.07Hrs contact time. The adsorption of Cr (VI) on Teff husk-activated carbon was found to be best fitted with pseudo-second-order kinetics and Langmuir isotherm model of the adsorption. Teff husk-activated carbon can be used as an efficient adsorbent for the removal of chromium (VI) from contaminated water. Column adsorption needs to be studied in the future.

Keywords: batch adsorption, chromium (VI), teff husk activated carbon, response surface methodology, tannery wastewater

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Authors: Mishell Vaca, Gema Gonzales, Francisco Quiroz

Abstract:

Heavy metals present in wastewater constitute a danger for living beings in general. In Ecuador, one of the sources of contamination is artisanal mining whose liquid effluents, in many of the cases without prior treatment, are discharged to the surrounding rivers. Lead is a pollutant that accumulated in the body causes severe health effects. Nowadays, there are several treatment methods to reduce this pollutant. The aim of this study is to reduce the concentration of lead II through the use of a porous material formed by a matrix of chitosan, in which hydroxyapatite and moringa particles smaller than 53 um are suspended. These materials are not toxic to the environment, and each one adsorbs metals independently, so the synergic effect between them will be evaluated. The synthesized material has a cylindrical design that allows increasing the surface area, which is expected to have greater capacity of adsorption. It has been determined that the best conditions for its preparation are to dissolve the chitosan in 1% v/v acetic acid with a pH = 5, then the hydroxyapatite and moringa are added to the mixture with magnetic stirring. This suspension is frozen, lyophilized and finally dried. In order to evaluate the performance of the synthesized material, synthetic solutions of lead are prepared at different concentrations, and the percentage of removal is evaluated. It is expected to have an effluent whose lead content is less than 0.2 mg/L which is the limit maximum allowable according to established environmental standards.

Keywords: adsorption, chitosan, hydroxyapatite, lead, moringa, water treatment

Procedia PDF Downloads 159