Tree rings have been used to reconstruct past climates as well as to assess the effects of recent climatic and environmental changes on tree growth. Industrial emission is one of the major sources of pollutants in the atmosphere. This study determined heavy metals pollution chronologies from industrial emissions in the atmosphere of the Tema industrial area of Ghana using tree-rings as bio-indicators. Swietenia mahagoni (Mahogany) tree was bored and the rings counted and age determined to be 50 years spanning from 1968 to 2018. Tree growth rates were calculated through ring width measurements and related to annual precipitation data spanning over the sampling period. It was observed that wet seasons correlate with high growth rates of trees while low precipitation seasons correspond to low or no growth rate of trees. Energy Dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) was used to investigate the presence and concentration of the four heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Fe and Pb). Concentration of Cu, Zn, Fe and Pb ranged from (1.92—6.70 mg/kg), (5.37 – 13.9 mg/kg), (0.10 – 0.36 mg/kg) and (12.13—90.13 mg/kg), respectively. Surprisingly, an increasing trend in concentration was observed for Zn and Cu with levels higher than the WHO guideline for heavy metals in the plant.

The emission and dispersion of pollutants from the tanks of coking and tar refining industries in the environment is always probable. This study aimed to evaluate the hazard radius of benzene release from the tank of one of the coking and tar refining industries. Areal Location of Hazardouse Atmosphere (ALOHA) model Version 5.4.7 was used to predict the hazard radius of leakage and dispersion of benzene from a tank in different seasons. The maps of the toxic and flammable vapor cloud of benzene, evaporation rate from puddle and the concentration of toxic and flammable vapor cloud inside and outside of the office building were prepared. The results indicated that the maximum average benzene released from the tank was 282 Kg/min and the total amount of benzene leakage was 11997 kg in 60 min in summer. The maximum diameter of the created evaporating puddle was 71 m in autumn. The maximum toxic and flammable concentrations of benzene inside an office building were 772 and 936 ppm, respectively whilethey were 3720 and 3540 ppm outside a building in autumn. Based on the Acute Exposure Guideline Levels (AEGL) and Lower Explosive Limit (LEL) criterias, the maximum hazard radius was 1200 and 200 m in autumn. The toxic vapor cloud of benzene covered some parts of the adjacent coking plant. However, the boundaries of the flammable vapor cloud failed to reach the adjacent industries. The scenario of this study is safe for the adjacent residents and unsafe for the personnel. Thus, presenting a strategy to deal with this process incident is essential.

This study aims at assessing the health-related risk of As, Co, Cr, Ni, and Cu in the soil around Angouran Mineral Processing Complex (AMPC), due to environmentally sensitive nature of the area, having agricultural activities, habitats of animal and plant species, and industrial activities integrated with each other. Soil samples have been collected from 74 points (0-20 cm) of the area and concentrations of heavy metals have been measured, using ICP-OES. The Geoaccumulation Index (Igeo), Enrichment Factor (EF), and Integrated Pollution Index (IPI) have been used to examine the pollution level. Moreover, hazard indices (HI), hazard quotient (HQ) and cancer risk (CR) have been utilized to assess the non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health risks of heavy metals. The average concentration of heavy metals indicates that metals’ concentration in the soil have increased in the following order: Cr = Ni> As> Cu> Co. Results from Igeo, Ef, and IPI show that As and Ni are placed in the very high pollution category. The non-carcinogenic risk of dermal absorption (adults = 1.30 E + 00, children = 1.35 E + 00) of Cr and Co polluted particles turn out to be very high. In addition, the risk of cancer as a result of the ingestion of As- and Cr-contaminated soil particles is high in both of age groups, with children being 68% more likely to be at risk of cancer than adults. Therefore, actions such as soil remediation should be done to reduce the risk of exposure and protect the health of the residents, especially the farmers.

With growing global warming issues, the association between technological innovation and environmental pollution has created significant debate in recent years. This paper examines the long-run and causal impact of technological innovation, economic growth, and renewable energy on consumption-based carbon emissions in Japan. The study utilized quarterly data spanning between 1990 and 2015. The study utilized recent econometrics techniques such as Maki co-integration, ARDL bunds test, FMOLS, DOLS, and frequency domain causality techniques. To the author's understanding, no prior studies have been conducted in Japan using consumption-based carbon emissions as a proxy of environmental degradation. Thus, this empirical analysis contributes to the literature. The findings from the ARDL bounds and Maki co-integration tests revealed evidence of co-integration among the series. The results of FMOLS and DOLS reveal that both renewable energy and technological innovation improve the environmental quality, while economic growth harms the quality of the environment. The results of the frequency-domain causality technique reveal that technological innovation, renewable energy, and economic growth can significantly predict consumption-based carbon emissions in Japan. Based on these outcomes, we suggested that Japan's government should be careful when formulating policies that trigger growth, which will have a detrimental impact on the environmental quality. Our empirical outcome also revealed that any policy that encourages renewable energy should be encouraged since it enhances environmental quality.

The agricultural sector uses fertilizers such as urea to add more nutrients to the soil needed for plant growth. Although it is cost-effective in crop production, indiscriminate use of nitrate-based fertilizer may result in behavioural, morphological, and physiological alterations on non-target organisms. This study determined the angiogenesis activity in the chorioallantoic membrane of urea-exposed duck embryos. It also investigated the weight, morphometries, and liver histopathology to gather more information on urea fertilizer's toxicity. It was observed that urea promoted angiogenesis in the CAM of duck embryos, especially at higher concentrations (P<0.05). Embryos treated with urea resulted in an alteration of the head-beak length (P<0.05). However, weight, crown-rump length, forelimb length, and hind limb length were not affected. The developing liver of urea-treated embryos showed distortion of the central vein shape and had larger sinusoidal spaces. The presence of Kupffer cells and lipid droplets were observed in the treated section. Congestion of blood cells, haemorrhage, and necrosis of hepatocytes were also observed in the tissue suggesting the extent of damage caused by the fertilizer. The findings of this study showed multiple developmental effects of urea on duck embryos. Further investigations are needed to shed more light on the toxicity of urea fertilizer on vertebrates.

This research evaluates the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks from cadmium, lead, and zinc in Bandar Abbas groundwater sources. The samples from 25 wells were analyzed for cadmium, lead and zinc. Total lifetime cancer risk and non-cancer risk assessment from exposure to these pollutants in drinking water (ingestion, inhalation and skin routes) were conducted for people living in these villages. In these regions most of the drinking water supplied, are from these wells which shows the importance of analyzing the quality of them in order to prevent diseases and cancer risks. The highest risk from cadmium seems to be in village Dehno Paein and also this amount for lead occurs in Tifakan Tal-e Gerdu. The highest hazard index (HI) based on human health risk assessment (HHRA) model for cadmium, lead, and zinc through oral, inhalation and dermal pathways were computed as 0.005, 1.63 and 0.043 which are in Dehno Paein, Tifakan Tal-e Gerdu and Faryab. Results show that lead can lead to more cancer cases in these villages that cadmium. The total expected cancer cases from exposure to cadmium in different routes are lower than lead.

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a well-known technology that can convert contaminated substrate in the wastewater to electrical power. To gain more power output, the multi-electrode MFC was developed owing to it has a high surface area for anaerobic microbe adhesion. Here we show the multi-anode was made from the bamboo charcoal was combined with laccase-based cathode in the ceramic separator MFC for the rubber wastewater treatment and enhancing the power generation. The untreated rubber wastewater with initial COD and contaminated sulfate concentration of 3,500 mg/L and 1,100 mg/L was used as a anolyte. The 843.33±5.77 mA/m3 of CD, the 711.23±9.76 mW/m3 of PD were generated. Moreover, this system reached 83.07±3.01% of sulfate removal when it was operated at 30 °C for 12 hr. This study recommended that multi-anode with laccase based MFC can more successfully produce energy from untreated rubber wastewater. it will be greater in terms of electricity generation and sulfate removal.

This paper presents concentrations and sources of Aliphatic and Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the sediments from Babolsar coastal area and the inlet of Babolrood River in the southern side of the Caspian Sea. The concentration of hydrocarbons in 13 sediment samples from the study area were measured by gas chromatography (GC). Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) concentrations in sediment samples in the coastal area ranged from 115 to 201 μg/g. In the inlet samples, TPH concentrations were close to each other and ranged from 294 to 367 μg/g. The TPH results showed moderate level of oil pollution in the study area. Total Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (ΣPAHs) concentrations in sediment samples inside the inlet ranged from 498 to 702 ng/g, indicating moderate level of pollution. Concentrations of ΣPAHs in sediment samples in the coastal area ranged from 341 to 1703 ng/g, indicating moderate to less than significant level of pollution. Developed indices for pollutant origins showed that hydrocarbons in all sediment samples collected in the study area had petrogenic origin. The results also showed the Babolrood River as the main source of oil pollution in the sediments in the study area.

I is missing this work, a computational simulation has been performed to investigate the positional effect of reburn fuel injection on NO-reburn. Reburn fuel methane is injected across the coal injection plane at different axial positions of the combustor. Various major NO source mechanisms are considered for NO formation and NO reburn mechanism is used for NO depletion. Temperature profile, species concentration are also investigated, as both NO formation and depletion rate depends on these parameters. It has been observed that, a high temperature flame exists near coal inlet, when the reburn fuel injection plane is closer to coal inlet. On the other hand, the temperature of the flame near the coal inlet decreases when the reburn fuel injection position is far away from coal inlet region.  Moreover, NO sources are observed near coal inlet region, when the reburn fuel is injected closer to coal inlet. On the other hand, only Fuel-NO is observed near coal inlet, when the reburn fuel is injected away from the coal inlet. Maximum NO reduction efficiency is observed at outlet plane when reburn fuel is injected closer to inlet, whereas a relatively lower NO reduction efficiency has been observed at outlet plane when reburn fuel is injected far away from coal inlet region.

The removal of toxic textile dye, Congo red (CR) an azo based textile dye, was investigated from aqueous solution by low cost, eco-friendly available adsorbents such as petiole part (stem) of water lily (Nymphaea alba) under various experimental conditions.Batch experiment was carried out at varying pH, dye concentration, contact time and particle size as well as doses of the adsorbent. CR was analyzed by a UV-visible spectrophotometer. Optimum pH was found at pH 2 and 6. A relative study was done using sodium chlorite and formaldehyde treated water lily. The maximum removal of CR was obtained 94.68% using untreated water lily (UT-WL). Adsorption increased with the increase of the particle size of the adsorbent. The highest removal of CR was found at a lower dose (62.5 g/g) of the adsorbent. The Freundlich isotherm model was best fitted to equilibrium data obtained from the experiment. The adsorption kinetics successfully fitted to the pseudo-second-order kinetic model.