Search results for: contamination of soils

Authors: C. T. Eze, I. N. E. Onwurah

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An important hydrogeologic problem in areas of high faults formations is high environmental health hazard occasioned by microbial and heavy metals contamination of ground waters. Consequently, we examined the microbial load and heavy metals concentration of hospital wastewater discharged into the environment at Park Lane General Hospital Enugu Urban, Nigeria. The microbial counts, characteristics and frequency of occurrences of the isolated microorganisms were determined by cultural, morphological and biochemical characteristics using established procedure while the varying concentrations of the identified heavy metals were determined using the spectrophotometric method. The microbiological analyses showed a mean total aerobic bacteria counts from 13.7 ± 0.65 × 107 to 22.8 ± 1.14 ×1010 CFU/ml, mean total anaerobic bacteria counts from 6.0 ± 1.6 × 103 to 1.7 ± 0.41 ×104 CFU/ml and mean total fungal counts from 0 ± 0 to 2.3 ± 0.16 × 105 CFU/ml. The isolated micro-organisms which included both pathogenic and non-pathogenic organisms were Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Bacillus subtilis, Proteus vulgaris, Klesbsiella pneumonia and bacteriodes sp. The only fungal isolate was Candida albican. The heavy metals identified in the leachate were Arsenic, Cadmium, Lead, Mercury and Chromium and their concentrations ranged from 0.003 ± 0.00082 to 0.14 ± 0.0082 mg/l. These values were above WHO permissible limits while others fall within the limits. Therefore, hospital waste water can pose the environmental health risk when not properly treated before discharge, especially in geologic formations with high fault formations.

Keywords: bacterial isolates, fungal isolates, heavy metals, hospital wastewater, microbial counts

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Authors: Cora Bulmău

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Soil polluted with hydrocarbons spills is a major global concern today. As a response to this issue, our experimental study tries to put in evidence the option to choose for one environmentally friendly method: use of the biochar, despite to a classical procedure; incineration of contaminated soil. Biochar represents the solid product obtained through the pyrolysis of biomass, its additional use being as an additive intended to improve the quality of the soil. The positive effect of biochar addition to soil is represented by its capacity to adsorb and contain petroleum products within its pores. Taking into consideration the capacity of the biochar to interact with organic contaminants, the purpose of the present study was to experimentally establish the effects of the addition of wooden biomass-derived biochar on a soil contaminated with oil. So, the contaminated soil was amended with biochar (10%) produced by pyrolysis in different operational conditions of the thermochemical process. After 25 days, the concentration of petroleum hydrocarbons from soil treated with biochar was measured. An analytical method as Soxhlet extraction was adopted to estimate the concentrations of total petroleum products (TPH) in the soil samples: This technique was applied to contaminated soil, also to soils remediated by incineration/adding biochar. The treatment of soil using biochar obtained from pyrolysis of the Birchwood led to a considerable decrease in the concentrations of petroleum products. The incineration treatments conducted under experimental stage to clean up the same soil, contaminated with petroleum products, involved specific parameters: temperature of about 600°C, 800°C and 1000°C and treatment time 30 and 60 minutes. The experimental results revealed that the method using biochar has registered values of efficiency up to those of all incineration processes applied for the shortest time.

Keywords: biochar, biomass, remediaton, soil, TPH

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Authors: Christopher Leung, Assad Zahid

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Mesenteric vasculitis can often mimic abdominal sepsis in a postoperative setting leading to a predicament where steroids could improve mesenteric vasculitis whilst worsening abdominal sepsis. Here this study presents a unique and rare case of perforated sigmoid diverticulitis secondary to systemic vasculitis. A 68-year-old gentleman presented with perforated sigmoid diverticulitis requiring an emergency Hartmann’s procedure. Early in his postoperative course, he had painful and asymmetrical neuropathy that, after a careful history and examination, revealed a patient with mono neuritis multiplex on a background history of longstanding rheumatoid arthritis. On day seven of his postoperative course, he had rising inflammatory markers and a CT abdomen and pelvis showing fluid around the mesentery. Whilst contamination from sigmoid perforation was somewhat congruent with these signs, a diagnosis of polyarteritis nodosa, a common cause of mononeuritis multiplex, is also possible, although involvement of the large bowel in polyarteritis nodosa is extremely rare. The histopathology from the initial Hartmann’s procedure was re-examined, showing medium vessel disease vasculitis. Given his lack of fevers, absence of abdominal pain, and worsening neurology, he was given a provisional diagnosis of polyarteritis nodosa and was treated successfully, not on IV antibiotics but on steroids. Large bowel involvement of polyarteritis nodosa is extremely rare and this is the first case of polyarteritis nodosa causing perforated diverticulitis. The learning point here is to obtain a good clinical picture of a patient to identify mesenteric vasculitis as compared to abdominal sepsis as the treatment of one worsens the other.

Keywords: abdominal sepsis, diverticulitis, mesenteric vasculitis, polyarteritis nodosa

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Authors: Frantisek Odvarka

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Based on the data from the Moravian Karst, the influence of the calcite speleothem growth by selected meteorological factors was evaluated. External temperature was determined as one of the main factors influencing speleothem growth in Moravian Karst. This factor significantly influences the CO₂ concentration in soil/epikarst, and cave atmosphere in the Moravian Karst and significantly contributes to the changes in the CO₂ partial pressure differences between soil/epikarst and cave atmosphere in Moravian Karst, which determines the drip water supersaturation with respect to the calcite and quantity of precipitated calcite in the Moravian Karst cave environment. External air temperatures and cave air temperatures were measured using a COMET S3120 data logger, which can measure temperatures in the range from -30 to +80 °C with an accuracy of ± 0.4 °C. CO₂ concentrations in the cave and soils were measured with a FT A600 CO₂H Ahlborn probe (value range 0 ppmv to 10,000 ppmv, accuracy 1 ppmv), which was connected to the data logger ALMEMO 2290-4, V5 Ahlborn. The soil temperature was measured with a FHA646E1 Ahlborn probe (temperature range -20 to 70 °C, accuracy ± 0.4 °C) connected to an ALMEMO 2290-4 V5 Ahlborn data logger. The airflow velocities into and out of the cave were monitored by a FVA395 TH4 Thermo anemometer (speed range from 0.05 to 2 m s⁻¹, accuracy ± 0.04 m s⁻¹), which was connected to the ALMEMO 2590-4 V5 Ahlborn data logger for recording. The flow was measured in the lower and upper entrance of the Imperial Cave. The data were analyzed in MS Office Excel 2019 and PHREEQC.

Keywords: speleothem growth, carbon dioxide partial pressure, Moravian Karst, external temperature

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Authors: Ovanes Chakoyan

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MOH (mineral oil hydrocarbons), which consist of mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons(MOSH) and mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons(MOAH), are present in various products such as vegetable oils, animal feed, foods, and infant formula. Contamination of foods with mineral oil hydrocarbons, particularly mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons(MOAH), exhibiting carcinogenic, mutagenic, and hormone-disruptive effects. Identifying toxic substances among the many thousands comprising mineral oils in food samples is a difficult analytical challenge. A method based on an offline-solid phase extraction approach coupled with gas chromatography-triple quadrupole(GC-MS/MS) was developed for the determination of MOSH/MOAH in various products such as vegetable oils, animal feed, foods, and infant formula. A glass solid phase extraction cartridge loaded with 7 g of activated silica gel impregnated with 10 % silver nitrate for removal of olefins and lipids. The MOSH/MOAH fractions were eluated with hexane and hexane: dichloromethane : toluene, respectively. Each eluate was concentrated to 50 µl in toluene and injected on splitless mode into GC-MS/MS. Accuracy of the method was estimated as measurement of recovery of spiked oil samples at 2.0, 15.0, and 30.0 mg kg -1, and recoveries varied from 85 to 105 %. The method was applied to the different types of samples (sunflower meal, chocolate ships, santa milk chocolate, biscuits, infant milk, cornflakes, refined sunflower oil, crude sunflower oil), detecting MOSH up to 56 mg/kg and MOAH up to 5 mg/kg. The limit of quantification(LOQ) of the proposed method was estimated at 0.5 mg/kg and 0.3 mg/kg for MOSH and MOAH, respectively.

Keywords: MOSH, MOAH, GC-MS/MS, foods, solid phase extraction

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Authors: Ameer A. Jebur, William Atherton, Rafid M. Alkhaddar, Edward Loffill

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Understanding the behaviour of the piles under the action of the independent lateral loads and the precise prediction of the capacity of piles subjected to different lateral loads are vital topics in foundation design and analysis. Moreover, the laterally loaded behaviour of deep foundations penetrated in cohesive and non-cohesive soils is basically analysed by the Winkler Model (beam on elastic foundation), in which the interaction between the pile embedded depth and contacted soil is simulated by nonlinear p–y curves. The presence of many approaches to interpret the behaviour of soil-pile interaction has resulted in numerous outputs and indicates that no general approach has yet been adopted. The current study presents the result of numerical modelling of the behaviour of steel tubular piles (25.4mm) outside diameter with various embedment depth-to-diameter ratios (L/d) embedded in a sand calibrated chamber of known relative density. The study revealed that the shear strength parameters of the sand specimens and the (L/d) ratios are the most significant factor influencing the response of the pile and its capacity while taking into consideration the complex interaction between the pile and soil. Good agreement has been achieved when comparing the application of this modelling approach with experimental physical modelling carried out by another researcher.

Keywords: deep foundations, slenderness ratio, soil-pile interaction, winkler model (beam on elastic foundation), non-cohesive soil

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Authors: Mohammad Reza Dousti, Yaman Boluk, Vivek Bindiganavile

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Well cementing is one of the most crucial and important steps in any well completion. Oil well cement paste is employed to fill the annulus between the casing string and the well bore. However, since the cementing process takes place at the end of the drilling process, a satisfying and acceptable job may not be performed. During the cementing process, the cement paste must be pumped in the annulus, therefore concerns arise both in the workability and the flowability associated with the paste. On the other hand, the cement paste around the casing must demonstrate the adequate compressive strength in order to provide a suitable mechanical support for the casing and desirably prevent collapse of the formation. In this experimental study, the influence of cellulose nanocrystal particles on the workability, flowability and also mechanical properties of oil well cement paste has been investigated. The cementitious paste developed in this research is composed of water, class G oil well cement, bentonite and cellulose nanocrystals (CNC). Bentonite is used as a cross contamination component. Two method of testing were considered to understand the flow behavior of the samples: (1) a mini slump test and (2) a conventional flow table test were utilized to study the flowability of the cementitious paste under gravity and also under applied load (number of blows for the flow table test). Furthermore, the mechanical properties of hardened oil well cement paste dosed with CNC were assessed by performing a compression test on cylindrical specimens. Based on the findings in this study, the addition of CNC led to developing a more viscous cement paste with a reduced spread diameter. Also, by introducing a very small dosage of CNC particles (as an additive), a significant increase in the compressive strength of the oil well cement paste was observed.

Keywords: cellulose nanocrystal, cement workability, mechanical properties, oil well cement

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Authors: Davidson E. Egirani, Nanfe R. Poyi, Napoleon Wessey

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This paper would report on the effect of solid waste on water resource quality in the Gbarain catchment of the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. The Gbarain catchment presently hosts two waste-dump sites located along the flanks of a seasonal flow stream and perennially waterlogged terrain. The anthropogenic activity has significantly affected the quality of surface and groundwater in the Gbarain catchment. These wastes have made the water resource environment toxic leading to the poisoning of aquatic life. The contaminated water resources could lead to serious environmental and human health challenges such as low agricultural yields to loss of vital human organs. The contamination is via geological processes such as seepage and direct infiltration of contaminants into watercourses. The results obtained from field and experimental investigations followed by modeling, and graphical interpretation indicate heavy metal load and fecal pollution in some of the groundwater. The metal load, Escherichia coli, and total coliforms counts exceed the international and regional recommended limits. The contaminate values include Lead (> 0.01 mg/L), Mercury (> 0.006 mg/L), Manganese (> 0.4 mg/L and Escherichia coli (> 0 per 100ml) of the samples. Land use planning, enactment, and implementation of environmental laws are necessary for this region, for effective surface water and groundwater resource management.

Keywords: aquatic life, solid waste, environmental health, human health, waste-dump site, water-resource environment

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Authors: Ghada S. Ellithy, John. W. Murphy, Maureen K. Corcoran

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Erosion rate of soils during a levee or dam overtopping event is a major component in risk assessment evaluation of breach time and downstream consequences. The mechanism and evolution of dam or levee breach caused by overtopping erosion is a complicated process and difficult to measure during overflow due to accessibility and quickly changing conditions. In this paper, the results of a flume erosion tests are presented and discussed. The tests are conducted on a coarse-grained material with a median grain size D50 of 5 mm in a 1-m (3-ft) wide flume under varying flow rates. Each test is performed by compacting the soil mix r to its near optimum moisture and dry density as determined from standard Proctor test in a box embedded in the flume floor. The box measures 0.45 m wide x 1.2 m long x 0.25 m deep. The material is tested several times at varying hydraulic loading to determine the erosion rate after equal time intervals. The water depth, velocity are measured at each hydraulic loading, and the acting bed shear is calculated. A shallow water lidar (SWL) system was utilized to record the progress of soil erodibility and water depth along the scanned profiles of the tested box. SWL is a non-contact system that transmits laser pulses from above the water and records the time-delay between top and bottom reflections. Results from the SWL scans are compared with before and after manual measurements to determine the erosion rate of the soil mix and other erosion parameters.

Keywords: coarse-grained materials, erosion rate, LIDAR system, soil erosion

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Authors: Nuzhat Sultana M. B.

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Children are high-risk population in terms of food born illnesses. Food safety and security are the most important aspect of the success of midday meal programmes. Improper holding temperatures, cross-contamination and poor personal hygiene of food handlers are the main causes for the prevalence of pathogenic microbes in the food servicing areas. Two hundred and fifty preschool children in the age of 3 to 6 years from urban and rural anganwadies (pre school center) of Beed district were selected. Nutritional status of preschool children were assessed by anthropometrical and clinical measurement. The study assessed the food safety and security with the help of personal hygiene and other safety measures maintained by the food personnel working for midday meal programme, supplying mid meals to children in govt. anganwadies (pre school center). The hygiene level, sanitary condition and microbial quality of food and water, pathological health examination of food handlers were assessed with the help of checklist. A questionnaire was designed to evaluate knowledge, attitude, and practices of food handlers. Results of the study show that the nutritional and health status of rural and urban preschool children was very poor. Many of the food handlers were not aware of general knowledge and hygiene practices to be followed during food preparation areas. An intervention programme of education and importing training at workplaces has shown a positive impact on the outcome of safety and security practices and safe, hygienic practices of food handlers at workplace.

Keywords: food, health, preschool children, safety, security

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Authors: Rafeza Begum, Mohammad Mokhlesur Rahman, Safikul Moula, Rafiqul Islam

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Potassium (K) is crucial for healthy soil and plant growth. However, K fertilization is either disregarded or poorly underutilized in Bangladesh agriculture, despite the great demand for crops. This could eventually result in a significant depletion of the soil's potassium reserves, irreversible alteration of the minerals that contain potassium, and detrimental effects on crop productivity. Soil K mining in Bangladesh is a worrying problem, and we need to evaluate it thoroughly and find remedies. A pot culture experiment was conducted in the greenhouse of Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) using eleven soil series of Bangladesh in order to see the depletion behaviour of potassium (K) by continuous cropping using rice (var. Iratom-24) as the test crop. The soil series were Ranishankhail, Kaonia. Sonatala, Silmondi, Gopalpur, Ishurdi, Sara, Kongsha, Nunni, Lauta and Amnura on which four successive rice plants (45 days duration) were raised with (100 ppm K) or without addition of potassium. Nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur and zinc were applied as basal to all pots. Potassium application resulted in higher dry matter yield, increased K concentration and uptake in all the soils compared with no K treatment; which gradually decreased in the subsequent harvests. Furthermore, plant takes up K not only from exchangeable pool but also from non-exchangeable sites and a minimum replenishment of K from the soil reserve was observed. Continuous cropping has resulted in the depletion of available K of the soil. The result indicated that in order to sustain higher crop yield under intensive cultivation, the addition of potash fertilizer is necessary.

Keywords: potassium, exchangeable pool, depletion behavior., Soil series

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Authors: Taramani Yadav, Gajender Kumar, R. K. Yadav, H. S. Jat

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Soil Salinity and irrigation water salinity is critical threat to enhance agricultural food production to full fill the demand of billion plus people worldwide. Salt affected soils covers 6.73 Mha in India and ~1000 Mha area around the world. Irrigation scheduling of saline water is the way to ensure food security in salt affected areas. Research experiment was conducted at ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Experimental Farm, Nain, Haryana, India with 36 treatment combinations in double split plot design. Three sets of treatments consisted of (i) three regimes of irrigation viz., 60, 80 and 100% (I1, I2 and I3, respectively) of crop ETc (crop evapotranspiration at identified respective stages) in main plot; (ii) four levels of irrigation water salinity (sub plot treatments) viz., 2, 4, 8 and 12 dS m-1 (iii) applications of two PBRs along with control (without PBRs) i.e. salicylic acid (G1; 1 mM) and thiourea (G2; 500 ppm) as sub-sub plot treatments. Grain yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum) was increased with less amount of high salt loaded irrigation water at the same level of salinity (2 dS m-1), the trend was I3>I2>I1 at 2 dS m-1 with 8.10 and 17.07% increase at 80 and 100% ETc, respectively compared to 60% ETc. But contrary results were obtained by increasing amount of irrigation water at same level of highest salinity (12 dS m-1) showing following trend; I1>I2>I3 at 12 dS m-1 with 9.35 and 12.26% increase at 80 and 60% ETc compared to 100% ETc. Enhancement in grain yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum) is not need to increase amount of irrigation water under saline condition, with salty irrigation water less amount of irrigation water gave the maximum wheat (Triticum aestivum) grain yield.

Keywords: Irrigation Scheduling, Saline Environment, Triticum aestivum, Yield

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Authors: Paballo M. Moshupya, Tamiru A. Abiye, Ian Korir

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Mining and processing of naturally occurring radioactive materials could result in elevated levels of natural radionuclides in the environment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the radioactivity levels on a large scale in the West Rand District in South Africa, which is dominated by abandoned gold mine tailings and the consequential radiological exposures to members of the public. The activity concentrations of ²³⁸U, ²³²Th and 40K in mine tailings, soil and rocks were assessed using the BGO Super-Spec (RS-230) gamma spectrometer. The measured activity concentrations for ²³⁸U, ²³²Th and 40K in the studied mine tailings were found to range from 209.95 to 2578.68 Bq/kg, 19.49 to 108.00 Bq/kg and 31.30 to 626.00 Bq/kg, respectively. In surface soils, the overall average activity concentrations were found to be 59.15 Bq/kg, 34.91 and 245.64 Bq/kg for 238U, ²³²Th and 40K, respectively. For the rock samples analyzed, the mean activity concentrations were 32.97 Bq/kg, 32.26 Bq/kg and 351.52 Bg/kg for ²³⁸U, ²³²Th and 40K, respectively. High radioactivity levels were found in mine tailings, with ²³⁸U contributing significantly to the overall activity concentration. The external gamma radiation received from surface soil in the area is generally low, with an average of 0.07 mSv/y. The highest annual effective doses were estimated from the tailings dams and the levels varied between 0.14 mSv/y and 1.09 mSv/y, with an average of 0.51 mSv/y. In certain locations, the recommended dose constraint of 0.25 mSv/y from a single source to the average member of the public within the exposed population was exceeded, indicating the need for further monitoring and regulatory control measures specific to these areas to ensure the protection of resident members of the public.

Keywords: activity concentration, gold mine tailings, in-situ gamma spectrometry, radiological exposures

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Authors: Abdelmaoula Mahamoud Tahir, Sedat Sert

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The possibility of improving the shear strength of unsaturated clayey soil with the addition of olivine was investigated in this paper. Unconsolidated undrained triaxial tests (UU), under different cell pressures (namely: 100 kPa and 200 kPa), with varying percentages of olivine (10% and 20% by weight) and with one day, 28 days, and 56 days curing times, were performed to determine the shear strength of the soil. The increase in strength was observed as a function of the increase in olivine content. An olivine content of 25% was determined as the optimum value to achieve the targeted improvement for both cure times. A comparative study was also conducted between clay samples treated with only olivine and others in the presence of potassium hydroxide (KOH). Clay samples treated with olivine and activated with potassium hydroxide (KOH) had higher shear strength than non-activated olivine-treated samples. It was determined that the strength of the clay samples treated with only olivine did not increase over time and added resistance only with the high specific gravity of olivine. On the other hand, the samples activated with potassium hydroxide (KOH) added to the resistance with high specific gravity and the chemical bonds of olivine. Morphological and mineralogical analyzes were carried out in this study to see and analyze the chemical bonds formed after the reaction. The main components of this improvement were the formation of magnesium-aluminate-hydrate and magnesium-silicate-hydrate. Compared to older methods such as cement addition, these results show that in stabilizing clayey soils, olivine additive offers an energy-efficient alternative for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Keywords: ground stabilization, clay, olivine additive, KOH, microstructure

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Authors: Vedansh Gupta, Allyson Lutz, Ameen Razavi, Fatemeh Shirazi

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The agriculture industry is especially vulnerable to forecasted water shortages. In the fresh and fresh-cut produce sector, conventional flume-based washing with recirculation exhibits high water demand. This leads to a large water footprint and possible cross-contamination of pathogens. These can be alleviated through advanced water reuse processes, such as membrane technologies including reverse osmosis (RO). Water reuse technologies effectively remove dissolved constituents but can easily foul without pre-treatment. Biological treatment is effective for the removal of organic compounds responsible for fouling, but not at the low temperatures encountered at most produce processing facilities. This study showed that the Microvi MicroNiche Engineering (MNE) technology effectively removes organic compounds (> 80%) at low temperatures (6-8 °C) from wash water. The MNE technology uses synthetic microorganism-material composites with negligible solids production, making it advantageously situated as an effective bio-pretreatment for RO. A preliminary technoeconomic analysis showed 60-80% savings in operation and maintenance costs (OPEX) when using the Microvi MNE technology for organics removal. This study and the accompanying economic analysis indicated that the proposed technology process will substantially reduce the cost barrier for adopting water reuse practices, thereby contributing to increased food safety and furthering sustainable water reuse processes across the agricultural industry.

Keywords: biological pre-treatment, innovative technology, vegetable processing, water reuse, agriculture, reverse osmosis, MNE biocatalysts

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Authors: D. Zahran, M. AlKhazindar, M. Khalil, E. T. A. Sayed

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Streptomyces scabies is a pathogenic actinomycete that infects potato crop causing severe production losses. Actinophages affect the composition and diversity of the bacterial population, thereby, can be used as a biological control. Samples of actinomycetes and phages were collected from different cultivated soils including farms of Faculty of Science, Faculty of Agriculture and different locations in Giza, Egypt. Actinomycetes were identified by using biochemical, morphological tests and molecular studies using 16S rRNA sequencing. Two specific phages (E1 and E2) against Streptomyces scabies and other hosts were isolated. Phages were identified using dilution end point (DEP), longevity in vitro (LIV), thermal inactivation point (TIP), host range and electron microscopy. PhageE1 was characterized by 10-8 (DEP),180 days(LIV), 95°C(TIP), narrow host range and electron microscopy showed ahead (59.9 nm) and neck (10.4nm). On the other hand phageE2 had 10-20 (DEP),180 days(LIV), 90°C(TIP), and the size of head was (67.2 nm) and tail (114nm). Antiviral activity was also studied using different chemicals (NaCL, KCL, CaCL2, BaCL2, CoCL2, AgNO3, ALCL3and HgCL2) with different concentrations and different plant extracts with different concentrations (star anise, tea, tillia, peppermint, ginger, cumin, chamomile, turmeric cinnamon, marjoram and black cumin). Both Phage E1and phage E2 were vulnerable to (cumin, ginger, chamomile, guavas leaves and star anise) but resistant to (Tillie, marjoram, fennelflower seeds, peppermint, and cinnamon).

Keywords: potato scab, actinophages, biological control, electron microscopy, TIP, DEP, LIV, antiviral activity

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Authors: Laura Frydel, Piotr M. Slomkiewicz, Beata Szczepanik

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Triclosan has been used as a disinfectant in many medical products, such as: hand disinfectant soaps, creams, mouthwashes, pastes and household cleaners. Due to its strong antimicrobial activity, triclosan is becoming more and more popular and the consumption of disinfectants with triclosan in it is increasing. As a result, this compound increasingly finds its way into waters and soils in an unchanged form, pollutes the environment and may have a negative effect on organisms. The aim of this study was to investigate the synthesis of cellulose-based halloysite-carbon adsorbent and perform its characterization. The template in the halloysite-carbon adsorbent was halloysite nanotubes and the carbon precursor was microcrystalline cellulose. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images were obtained and the elementary composition (qualitative and quantitative) of the sample was determined by energy dispersion spectroscopy (EDS). The identification of the crystallographic composition of the halloysite nanotubes and the sample of the halloysite-carbon composite was carried out using the X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) method. The FTIR spectra were acquired before and after the adsorption process in order to determine the functional groups on the adsorbent surface and confirm the interactions between adsorbent and adsorbate molecules. The parameters of the porous structure of the adsorbent, such as the specific surface area (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method), the total pore volume and the volume of mesopores and micropores were determined. Total carbon and total organic carbon were also determined in the samples. A cellulose-based halloysite-carbon adsorbent was used to remove triclosan from water. The degree of removal of triclosan from water was approximately 90%. The results indicate that the halloysite-carbon composite can be successfully used as an effective adsorbent for removing triclosan from water.

Keywords: Adsorption, cellulose, halloysite, triclosan

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Authors: Chantal Hendriks, Harry Gibson, Anna Trett, Penny Hancock, Catherine Moyes

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The use of modern inputs for crop protection, such as insecticides, is strongly underestimated in Sub-Saharan Africa. Several studies measured toxic concentrations of insecticides in fruits, vegetables and fish that were cultivated in Sub-Saharan Africa. The use of agricultural insecticides has impact on human and environmental health, but it also has the potential to impact on insecticide resistance in malaria transmitting mosquitos. To analyse associations between historic use of agricultural insecticides and the distribution of insecticide resistance through space and time, the use and environmental fate of agricultural insecticides needs to be mapped through the same time period. However, data on the use and environmental fate of agricultural insecticides in Africa are limited and therefore risk maps on the spatiotemporal occurrence of agricultural insecticides are created using environmental data. Environmental data on crop density and crop type were used to select the areas that most likely receive insecticides. These areas were verified by a literature review and expert knowledge. Pesticide fate models were compared to select most dominant processes that are involved in the environmental fate of insecticides and that can be mapped at a continental scale. The selected processes include: surface runoff, erosion, infiltration, volatilization and the storing and filtering capacity of soils. The processes indicate the risk for insecticide accumulation in soil, water, sediment and air. A compilation of all available data for traces of insecticides in the environment was used to validate the maps. The risk maps can result in space and time specific measures that reduce the risk of insecticide exposure to non-target organisms.

Keywords: crop protection, pesticide fate, tropics, insecticide resistance

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Authors: James Banda, Jupiter Simbeye, Essau Chisale, Geoffrey Kanyerere, Kings Kamtambe

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Improved solar tent dryers for processing small fish species were designed to reduce post-harvest fish losses and improve supply of quality fish products in the southern part of Lake Malawi under CultiAF project. A comparative analysis of the quality of Diplotaxodon (Ndunduma) from Lake Malawi processed in solar tent dryer and open sun drying was conducted using proximate analysis, microbial analysis and sensory evaluation. Proximates for solar tent dried fish and open sun dried fish in terms of proteins, fats, moisture and ash were 63.3±0.15% and 63.3±0.34%, 19.6±0.09% and 19.9±0.25%, 8.3±0.12% and 17.0±0.01%, and 15.6±0.61% and 21.9±0.91% respectively. Crude protein and crude fat showed non-significant differences (p = 0.05), while moisture and ash content were significantly different (p = 001). Open sun dried fish had significantly higher numbers of viable bacteria counts (5.2×10⁶ CFU) than solar tent dried fish (3.9×10² CFU). Most isolated bacteria from solar tent dried and open sun dried fish were 1.0×10¹ and 7.2×10³ for Total coliform, 0 and 4.5 × 10³ for Escherishia coli, 0 and 7.5 × 10³ for Salmonella, 0 and 5.7×10² for shigella, 4.0×10¹ and 6.1×10³ for Staphylococcus, 1.0×10¹ and 7.0×10² for vibrio. Qualitative evaluation of sensory properties showed higher acceptability of 3.8 for solar tent dried fish than 1.7 for open sun dried fish. It is concluded that promotion of solar tent drying in processing small fish species in Malawi would support small-scale fish processors to produce quality fish in terms of nutritive value, reduced microbial contamination, sensory acceptability and reduced moisture content.

Keywords: diplotaxodon, Malawi, open sun drying, solar tent drying

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Authors: Asma Shaheen, Javed Iqbal

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The water resources are depleting due to an intrusion of industrial pollution. There are clusters of industries including leather tanning, textiles, batteries, and chemical causing contamination. These industries use bulk quantity of water and discharge it with toxic effluents. The penetration of heavy metals through irrigation from industrial effluent has toxic effect on soil and groundwater. There was strong positive significant correlation between all the heavy metals in three media of industrial effluent, soil and groundwater (P < 0.001). The metal to the metal association was supported by dendrograms using cluster analysis. The geospatial variability was assessed by using geographically weighted regression (GWR) and pollution model to identify the simulation of carcinogenic elements in soil and groundwater. The principal component analysis identified the metals source, 48.8% variation in factor 1 have significant loading for sodium (Na), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) of tannery effluent-based process. In soil and groundwater, the metals have significant loading in factor 1 representing more than half of the total variation with 51.3 % and 53.6 % respectively which showed that pollutants in soil and water were driven by industrial effluent. The cumulative eigen values for the three media were also found to be greater than 1 representing significant clustering of related heavy metals. The results showed that heavy metals from industrial processes are seeping up toxic trace metals in the soil and groundwater. The poisonous pollutants from heavy metals turned the fresh resources of groundwater into unusable water. The availability of fresh water for irrigation and domestic use is being alarming.

Keywords: groundwater, geostatistical, heavy metals, industrial effluent

Procedia PDF Downloads 216

Authors: Fahad Aljasass, Hamza Abu-Tarboush, Salah Aleid, Siddig Hamad

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The effects of different high hydrostatic pressure treatments on the shelf life of camel’s milk were studied. Treatments at 300 to 350 MPa for 5 minutes at 40°C reduced microbial contamination to levels that prolonged the shelf life of refrigerated (3° C) milk up to 28 days. The treatment resulted in a decrease in the proteolytic activity of the milk. The content of proteolytic enzymes in the untreated milk sample was 4.23 µM/ml. This content decreased significantly to 3.61 µM/ml when the sample was treated at 250 MPa. Treatment at 300 MPa decreased the content to 3.90 which was not significantly different from the content of the untreated sample. The content of the sample treated at 350 MPa dropped to 2.98 µM/ml which was significantly lower than the contents of all other treated and untreated samples. High pressure treatment caused a slight but statistically significant increase in the pH of camel’s milk. The pH of the untreated sample was 6.63, which increased significantly to 6.70, in the samples treated at 250 and 350 MPa, but insignificantly in the sample treated at 300 MPa. High pressure treatment resulted in some degree of milk fat oxidation. The thiobarbituric acid (TBA) value of the untreated sample was 0.86 mg malonaldehyde/kg milk. This value remained unchanged in the sample treated at 250 MPa, but then it increased significantly to 1.25 and 1.33 mg/kg in the samples treated at 300 and 350 MPa, respectively. High pressure treatment caused a small increase in the greenness (a* value) of camel’s milk. The value of a* was reduced from -1.17 for the untreated sample to -1.26, -1.21 and -1.30 for the samples treated at 250, 300 and 350 MPa, respectively. Δa* at the 250 MPa treatment was -0.09, which then decreased to -0.04 at the 300 MPa treatment to increase again to -0.13 at the 350 MPa treatment. The yellowness (b* value) of camel’s milk increased significantly as a result of high pressure treatment. The b* value of the untreated sample was 1.40, this value increased to 2.73, 2.31 and 2.18 after treatments at 250, 300 and 350 MPa, respectively. The Δb* value was +1.33 at the treatment 250 MPa, decreased to +0.91 at 300 MPa and further to +0.78 at 350 MPa. The pressure treatment caused slight effect on color, slight decrease in protease activity and a slight increase in the oxidation products of lipids.

Keywords: high hydrostatic pressure, camel’s milk, mesophilic aerobic bacteria, clotting, protease

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Authors: Rajni Kant Panik

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The aim of the present study was to develop and evaluate mupirocin loaded nanoparticle incorporated into hydrogel as an infected wound healer. Incorporated Nanoparticle in hydrogel provides a barrier that effectively prevents the contamination of the wound and further progression of infection to deeper tissues. Hydrogel creates moist healing environment on wound space with good fluid absorbance. Nanoparticles were prepared by double emulsion solvent evaporation method using different ratios of PLGA polymer and the hydrogels was developed using sodium alginate and gelatin. Further prepared nanoparticles were then incorporated into the hydrogels. The formulations were characterized by FT-IR and DSC for drug and polymer compatibility and surface morphology was studied by TEM. Nanoparticle hydrogel were evaluated for their size, shape, encapsulation efficiency and for in vitro studies. The FT-IR and DSC confirmed the absence of any drug polymer interaction. The average size of Nanoparticle was found to be in range of 208.21-412.33 nm and shape was found to be spherical. The maximum encapsulation efficiency was found to be 69.03%. The in vitro release profile of Nanoparticle incorporated hydrogel formulation was found to give sustained release of drug. Antimicrobial activity testing confirmed that encapsulated drug preserve its effectiveness. The stability study confirmed that the formulation prepared were stable. Present study complements our finding that mupirocin loaded Nanoparticle incorporated into hydrogel has the potential to be an effective and safe novel addition for the release of mupirocin in sustained manner, which may be a better option for the management of wound. These finding also supports the progression of antibiotic via hydrogel delivery system is a novel topical dosage form for the management of wound.

Keywords: hydrogel, nanoparticle, PLGA, wound healing

Procedia PDF Downloads 292

Authors: Anis Eloud, Sayed Chehaibi

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Compaction of agricultural soils as a result of the passage of heavy machinery on the fields is a problem that affects many agronomists and farmers since it results in a loss of yield of most crops. To remedy this, and raise the overall future of the food security challenge, we must study and understand the process of soil degradation. The present review is devoted to understanding the effect of repeated passages on agricultural land. The experiments were performed on a plot of the area of the ESIER, characterized by a clay texture in order to quantify the soil compaction caused by the wheels of the tractor during repeated passages on agricultural land. The test tractor CASE type puissance 110 hp and 5470 kg total mass of 3500 kg including the two rear axles and 1970 kg on the front axle. The state of soil compaction has been characterized by measuring its resistance to penetration by means of a penetrometer and direct manual reading, the density and permeability of the soil. Soil moisture was taken jointly. The measurements are made in the initial state before passing the tractor and after each pass varies from 1 to 7 on the track wheel inflated to 1.5 bar for the rear wheel and broke water to the level of valve and 4 bar for the front wheels. The passages are spaced to the average of one week. The results show that the passage of wheels on a farm tilled soil leads to compaction and the latter increases with the number of passages, especially for the upper 15 cm depth horizons. The first passage is characterized by the greatest effect. However, the effect of other passages do not follow a definite law for the complex behavior of granular media and the history of labor and the constraints it suffers from its formation.

Keywords: wheel traffic, tractor, soil compaction, wheel

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Authors: Kedar Nath Nepal, Dyutiman Choudhary, Naba Raj Pandit, Yam Gahire

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Crop fertilizer recommendations are outdated as these are based on the response trails conducted over half a century ago. Further, these recommendations were based on the response trials conducted over large geographical area ignoring the large spatial variability in indigenous nutrient supplying capacity of soils typical of most smallholder systems. Application of fertilizer following such blanket recommendation in fields with varying native nutrient supply capacity leads to under application in some places and over application in others leading to reduced nutrient-use-efficiency (NUE), loss of profitability, and increased environmental risks associated with loss of unutilized nutrient through emissions or leaching. Opportunities exist to further increase yield and profitability through a significant gain in fertilizer use efficiency with commercialization of affordable and precise application technologies. We conducted participatory trails in Maize (Zea Mays), Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) and Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) in Mid Hills of Nepal to evaluate the efficacy of Urea Deep Placement (UDP and Polymer Coated Urea (PCU);. UDP contains 46% of N having individual briquette size 2.7 gm each and PCU contains 44% of N . Both PCU and urea briquette applied at reduced amount (100 kg N/ha) during planting produced similar yields (p>0.05) compared with regular urea (200 Kg N/ha). . These fertilizers also reduced N fertilizer by 35 - 50% over government blanket recommendations. Further, PCU and urea briquette increased farmer’s net income by USD 60 to 80.

Keywords: high efficiency fertilizers, urea deep placement, briquette polymer coated urea, zea mays, brassica, lycopersicum, Nepal

Procedia PDF Downloads 156

Authors: M. Cabral, A. Verdin, G. Garçon, A. Touré, C. Diop, M. Fall, S. Bouhsina, D. Dewaele, F.Cazier, A. Tall Dia, P. Shirali, A. Diouf

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This case-control study dealt with the health adverse effects within the population neighboring the Mbeubeuss waste dump, which is located near the district of Malika (Diamalaye II) in Dakar (Senegal). All the household and industrial waste arising from Dakar are stored in this open landfill without being covered and are therefore possible sources of Pb and Cd contaminated air emissions and lixiviates. The objective of this study is part of improving the health of the population neighboring Mbeubeuss by determining Pb and Cd concentrations both in environment and humans, and studying possible renal function alterations within the adults. Soil and air samples were collected in the control site (Darou Salam) and the waste dump neighboring site (Diamalaye II). Control and exposed adults were recruited as living in Darou Salam (n = 52) and in Diamalaye II (n = 77). Pb and Cd concentrations in soil, air and biological samples were determined. Moreover, we were interested in analyzing some impregnation (zinc protoporphyrin, d-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase) and oxidative stress biomarkers (malonedialdehyde, gluthatione status), in addition to several nephrotoxicity parameters (creatinuria, proteinuria, lactate dehydrogenase, CC16 protein, glutathione S-transferase-alpha and retinol binding protein) in blood and/or urine. The results showed the significant Pb and Cd contamination of the soil and air samples derived from the landfill, and therefore of the neighboring population of adults. This critical exposure to environmental Pb and Cd had some harmful consequences for their health, as shown by the reported oxidative stress and nephrotoxicity signs.

Keywords: Pb and Cd environmental exposure, impregnation markers, landfill, nephrotoxicity markers

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Authors: Sean T. S. Wei, Joy D. Van Nostrand, Annapoorna Maitrayee Ganeshram, Stephen B. Pointing

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McMurdo Dry Valleys are a largely ice-free polar desert protected by international treaty as an Antarctic special managed area. The terrestrial landscape is dominated by oligotrophic mineral soil with extensive rocky outcrops. Several environmental stresses: low temperature, lack of liquid water, UV exposure and oligotrophic substrates, restrict the major biotic component to microorganisms. The bacterial diversity and the putative physiological capacity of microbial communities of quartz rocks (hypoliths) and soil of a maritime-influenced Dry Valleys were interrogated by two metagenomic approaches: 454 pyro-sequencing and Geochp DNA microarray. The most abundant phylum in hypoliths was Cyanobacteria (46%), whereas in solils Actinobacteria (31%) were most abundant. The Proteobacteria and Bacteriodetes were the only other phyla to comprise >10% of both communities. Carbon fixation was indicated by photoautotrophic and chemoautotrophic pathways for both hypolith and soil communities. The fungi accounted for polymer carbon transformations, particularly for aromatic compounds. The complete nitrogen cycling was observed in both communities. The fungi in particular displayed pathways related to ammonification. Environmental stress response pathways were common among bacteria, whereas the nutrient stress response pathways were more widely present in bacteria, archaea and fungi. The diversity of bacterialphage was also surveyed by Geochip. Data suggested that different substrates supported different viral families: Leviviridae, Myoviridae, Podoviridae and Siphoviridiae were ubiquitous. However, Corticoviridae and Microviridae only occurred in wetter soils.

Keywords: Antarctica, hypolith, soil, dry valleys, geochip, functional diversity, stress response

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Authors: Ashique Mahmud, MD. Ataul Gani Osmani, Shoria Sharmin

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In the first quarter of the twenty-first century, the most substantial global concern is environmental contamination, and it has gained the prioritization of both the national and international community. Keeping in mind this crucial fact, this study conducted different statistical and econometrical methods to identify whether the gross national income of the country has a significant impact on electricity production from nonrenewable sources and different air pollutants like carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane emissions. Besides, the primary objective of this research was to analyze whether the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis holds for the examined variables. After analyzing different statistical properties of the variables, this study came to the conclusion that the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis holds for gross national income and carbon dioxide emission in Bangladesh in the short run as well as the long run. This study comes to this conclusion based on the findings of ordinary least square estimations, ARDL bound tests, short-run causality analysis, the Error Correction Model, and other pre-diagnostic and post-diagnostic tests that have been employed in the structural model. Moreover, this study wants to demonstrate that the outline of gross national income and carbon dioxide emissions is in its initial stage of development and will increase up to the optimal peak. The compositional effect will then force the emission to decrease, and the environmental quality will be restored in the long run.

Keywords: environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis, carbon dioxide emission in Bangladesh, gross national income in Bangladesh, autoregressive distributed lag model, granger causality, error correction model

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: Usman Ahmed Khan

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Urbanization directly affects the existing infrastructure, landscape modification, environmental contamination, and traffic pollution, especially if there is a lack of urban planning. Recently, the rapid urban sprawl has resulted in less developed green areas and has devastating environmental consequences. This study was aimed to study the past urban expansion rates and measure LST from satellite data. The land use land cover (LULC) maps of years 1996, 2010, 2013, and 2017 were generated using landsat satellite images. Four main classes, i.e., water, urban, bare land, and vegetation, were identified using unsupervised classification with iterative self-organizing data analysis (isodata) technique. The LST from satellite thermal data can be derived from different procedures: atmospheric, radiometric calibrations and surface emissivity corrections, classification of spatial changeability in land-cover. Different methods and formulas were used in the algorithm that successfully retrieves the land surface temperature to help us study the thermal environment of the ground surface. To verify the algorithm, the land surface temperature and the near-air temperature were compared. The results showed that, From 1996-2017, urban areas increased to about a considerable increase of about 48%. Few areas of the city also shown in a reduction in LST from the year 1996-2017 that actually began their transitional phase from rural to urban LULC. The mean temperature of the city increased averagely about 1ºC each year in the month of October. The green and vegetative areas witnessed a decrease in the area while a higher number of pixels increased in urban class.

Keywords: LST, LULC, isodata, urbanization

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Authors: Benhamza Moussa, Aissaoui Marwa, Touati Mounira, Chaoui Widad

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The Guelma-Bouchegouf irrigated area is located in the northeast of Algeria, and it extends about 80 km. It was commissioned in 1996, with an irrigable area of 9250 ha, it spreads on both banks of the Seybouse Wadi and it is subdivided into five autonomous distribution sectors. In order to assess the state of groundwater quality, the results of the chemical analyzes were plotted on the Piper diagram, which shows that the chemical facies are sulfate-calcium chloride and sulfate-calcium with a slight tendency to migrate to chlorinated sulphate - sodium. The predominance of sulphates in the waters of the region is geologically explained by the existence in the Guelma Basin of evaporitic deposits, which are mainly represented by rock salt and gypsum. In addition to this natural origin, we can mention the anthropogenic origin, following the use of chemical fertilizers in the Guelma-Bouchegouf irrigated area. Na⁺ and Mg²⁺ show moderate to significant mineralization of water, closely correlated with very high conductivities. The values of the recorded conductivities vary from 1360 μs / cm (P3) to 4610 μs / cm (P10). These important values are due to dissolved salts on the one hand and the leaching of fertilizers by irrigation water on the other hand. NO₃⁻ and NH₄⁺ show little to significant pollution throughout the study area. Phosphate represents significant pollution, with excessive values far exceeding the allowable standard. With respect to ammonium, 87% of the sampling points present little pollution and 13 % significant pollution. Regarding phosphates, in the form of PO₄³⁻, groundwater in the study area represents significant pollution; all values far exceed the allowable standard.

Keywords: groundwater, organic parameters, standards, Pollution

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Authors: S. J. Matlan, M. Mukhlisin, M. R. Taha

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Characterization of the engineering behavior of unsaturated soil is dependent on the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC), a graphical representation of the relationship between water content or degree of saturation and soil suction. A reasonable description of the SWCC is thus important for the accurate prediction of unsaturated soil parameters. The measurement procedures for determining the SWCC, however, are difficult, expensive, and time-consuming. During the past few decades, researchers have laid a major focus on developing empirical equations for predicting the SWCC, with a large number of empirical models suggested. One of the most crucial questions is how precisely existing equations can represent the SWCC. As different models have different ranges of capability, it is essential to evaluate the precision of the SWCC models used for each particular soil type for better SWCC estimation. It is expected that better estimation of SWCC would be achieved via a thorough statistical analysis of its distribution within a particular soil class. With this in view, a statistical analysis was conducted in order to evaluate the reliability of the SWCC prediction models against laboratory measurement. Optimization techniques were used to obtain the best-fit of the model parameters in four forms of SWCC equation, using laboratory data for relatively coarse-textured (i.e., sandy) soil. The four most prominent SWCCs were evaluated and computed for each sample. The result shows that the Brooks and Corey model is the most consistent in describing the SWCC for sand soil type. The Brooks and Corey model prediction also exhibit compatibility with samples ranging from low to high soil water content in which subjected to the samples that evaluated in this study.

Keywords: soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC), statistical analysis, unsaturated soil, geotechnical engineering

Procedia PDF Downloads 320