High phosphate content in water causes eutrophication, leading to many risks to the aquatic environment and human health. This study used biochar derived from macadamia husks at the pyrolysis temperatures (300, 450, and 600℃) to remove P from water. Adsorption parameters such as initial pH, biochar dosage, initial P concentration, and adsorption time when biochar was exposed to the P solution were determined. The results show that pH 4 is optimal for P removal with biochar pyrolyzed at 300 and 450°C, while pH 6 gives biochar 600°C, biochar dosage 10 g.L−1, concentration Initial P 25-200 mg.L−1 and adsorption time 40 minutes for 3 types of biochar. The maximum P adsorption capacity is 20.07, 20.03, and 20.03 mg.L−1 corresponding to 3 forms of biochar 300, 450, and 600°C. P adsorption data were consistent with the Freundlich isotherm model for all three biochar forms. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model was suitable for all three types of biochar, showing that the main adsorption mechanism is a surface chemical reaction. The study suggested that hydrogen bonding plays an important role in the adsorption of P onto biochar derived from macadamia husks. This study indicates that biochar derived from macadamia husks pyrolyzed at temperatures of 300, 450, and 600°C are all potentially effective and low-cost adsorbents for phosphate removal from water.

This study aims to develop a comprehensive flood hazard map for effective hazard management in the Noa river basin, located in Assam, India, through the integration of Geographic Information System (GIS) tools and a Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model. The MaxEnt machine learning algorithm was employed, utilizing eight selected geographic and environmental parameters as predictors to generate the flood hazard map. The accuracy of the generated map was evaluated using the Area Under the Curve (AUC) metric. Key findings of the study identified elevation and slope as critical parameters in the assessment of flood risk. Results revealed that the flood hazard map produced by the MaxEnt model achieved an AUC value of 0.85, indicating high predictive accuracy. The research underscores the significance of flood hazard maps as essential tools for policymakers, enabling the identification of areas vulnerable to severe environmental and economic damage. By providing a reliable and precise assessment of flood-prone zones, this study contributes valuable insights for the formulation of effective flood management strategies and mitigation measures. The implementation of such hazard maps is crucial in enhancing preparedness and resilience against flooding events, ultimately safeguarding lives, property, and infrastructure in the Noa River basin.

Nanotechnology has become one of the most active fields in the research area and is getting more attention toward nanoparticle synthesis. Green synthesis methods using various plants, fungi, bacteria, and algae were used to synthesize nanoparticles with proper requirements and maintain sterile conditions to get the desired products. Aloe vera, a bio-medicinal plant, contains a wide range of phytochemicals such as phenolic, hydroxyl groups, alkaloids, polyols, polysaccharides, etc, which act as reducing and capping agents with high efficiency. This review revealed that aloe vera-derived nanoparticles are safe, stable, cost-effective, and eco-friendly, and they also possess significant applications for drug targeting, disease resistance, tissue engineering, wound healing, anticancer, antibacterial, and cosmetic industries. Synthesized metal nanoparticles are characterized through UV-visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron and transmission electron microscopy, photoluminescence, and the Well-diffusion method. It is highly interesting to note that aloe vera-mediated silver and zinc nanoparticles possess high potency against multi-drug resistant pathogens. Here, anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and photocatalytic activity separately showed by aloe vera peel, gel, and leaf, along with possible challenging situations faced during plant extract-based nanoparticle synthesis, are highlighted. Additionally, the introduction of GMOs is subjected to play an important role in advancing green methods. However, more research is required to estimate the dose’s safety, degradation, and synergistic mechanism inside the human body for better use of the green method for the treatment of microbial infections.

Goa’s iron ore mining industry has generated over 7.7 million tonnes of iron ore tailings (IOTs) in the past two decades. These IOTs pose a significant environmental threat due to heavy metal contamination, dust generation, and acid mine drainage. While some IOTs are used for backfilling, the majority are stored in tailings storage facilities (TSFs), posing long-term risks to surrounding water resources, ecosystems, and land use. Large-scale utilization technologies are crucial for sustainable IOT management. This study investigates the feasibility of incorporating IOTs in construction block production, aiming for high-volume waste consumption and improved resource efficiency. This approach offers a potential pathway to remediate the environmental impact of IOTs. The proposed method replaces 85% of the cement content with a cementitious material comprising 65% Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS), 10% Fly Ash, and 10% Lime. It also utilizes IOTs entirely as a substitute for sand, with ceramic waste partially replacing coarse aggregates. While partial substitution of coarse aggregates with ceramic waste was attempted, it decreased workability. The optimal mix design, achieving the highest compressive strength, utilizes 15% cement, 65% GGBS, 10% Fly Ash and Lime, and 100% IOTs as fine aggregate with 100% basaltic aggregates. This formulation successfully demonstrates the potential use of IOTs in manufacturing construction blocks that reach compressive strengths of 10.91 N.mm-² and 15.92 N.mm-² at 7 and 28 days, respectively, satisfying the IS 2185-Part 1 (2005) code requirement. The block density was 2.20 g.cm-³. This research demonstrates the potential to convert a significant environmental challenge into a sustainable solution. By utilizing IOTs in construction block production, we can effectively achieve waste remediation; and create resource-efficient and eco-friendly building materials, offering substantial dual benefits for Goa’s environment and construction sector.

The uncontrolled production of waste is a daily phenomenon that is experienced by most global communities, and the situation worsens due to the lack of effective waste management procedures. Solid waste such as sawdust is primarily produced by the forestry industry and although it is utilized by certain countries as briquettes to make fire or as an absorbent to clean fluid spillage as well as a component of ceilings, most of the sawdust along the Lagos Lagoon in Nigeria is left unattended as waste, contributing to environmental pollution. Cellulose, composed of glucose units is a structural component of sawdust and when saccharified the resulting glucose can be fermented into renewable substances such as bio-ethanol. The cellulose degradation process can be performed with a cellulase enzyme such as available in the fungus Aspergillus niger and during the current investigation, this enzyme system was used to bio-convert the cellulose component of sawdust from ten different trees along the Lagoon into glucose. To increase the cellulase action all sawdust materials were delignified before cellulase action with the main aim of determining the optimum pH value for maximum degradation of the various sawdust materials. The pH-related saccharification profile of each type of sawdust was constructed as well as the relative percentage of saccharification and it was concluded that all the materials were optimum degraded at acidic pH-values which varied between pH 5.0 and pH 6.0 that are like optimum pH-values reported for the other types of cellulose materials.

Because of the superior qualities of biosurfactants over their equivalents derived from fossil fuels, they have recently attracted more attention. Although production costs are still a major barrier to biosurfactants’ superiority over synthetic surfactants, biosurfactants are expected to grow in market share over the next several decades. Glycolipids, a class of low-molecular-weight biosurfactants, are particularly sought-after for a variety of surfactant-related applications due to their effective reduction of surface and interfacial tension. Rhamnolipids, trehalose lipids, sophorolipids, and mannosyl erythritol lipids are the primary types of glycolipids. Glycolipids are made of hydrophilic carbohydrate moieties joined to hydrophobic fatty acid chains by ester bonds. This review addresses the unique glycolipid production and the wide range of goods available in the global market, as well as the present state of the glycolipid industry. Applications include food processing, petroleum refining, biomedical usage, bioremediation, and boosting agricultural productivity. With biosurfactants, their beneficial Ness in releasing oil encased in rock, a need for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Another crucial biotechnological component in anti-corrosion procedures is biosurfactants, which stop Crude oil transportation in pipelines and are made easier by incrustations and the growth of biofilms on metallic surfaces. They are also employed in the production of emulsifiers and demulsifies and have other cutting-edge uses in the oil sector. Natural surfactants can be used to lessen pollution produced by chemical solvents or synthetic detergents without compromising the oil industry’s financial gains. Consequently, it is imperative to invest in biotechnological processes. It is anticipated that natural surfactants will take over the global market in the not-too-distant future and prove to be economically feasible. It is likely possible to substitute synthetic surfactants used in agricultural product composition with biosurfactants. Because biosurfactants can benefit crops without harming the environment, they hold great potential as a useful tool in the fight against pesticide use. Furthermore, by making hazardous and leftover pesticides more soluble and thus accessible for biodegradation by other microbes, their potential as bioremediation agents can help to improve the health of soil systems. This article is based on the explanation of various applications of Biosurfactants.

Forward Osmosis is a suitable pretreatment process for reverse osmosis for secondary-treated sewage reuse and secondary-treated industrial effluents. In this study, the FO process is investigated for concentrating synthetic secondary treated tannery effluents using 24 g.L-1 and 38 g.L-1 of NaCl solution as draw solution. Results showed that 38 g.L-1 NaCl solution when used, provided higher flux and lower flux decline ratio as compared to 24 g.L-1 NaCl solution. The solute rejection by FO membrane was more in FO experiments using 38 g.L-1 NaCl solution as DS as compared to 24 g.L-1 NaCl solution. Contact angle, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electronic microscopy tests on pristine and chemically cleaned membranes indicated the change in membrane structure and the presence of foulants on the membrane surface, indicating insufficient chemical cleaning. Findings signify implications on the concentration of DS and the cleaning method adopted for concentrating treated tannery effluent efficaciously using the FO process.

The objective of the current research is to measure the specific activity of 40K and heavy metals in the water samples collected from the Al-Diwaniyah River in Al-Qadisiyah Governorate, Iraq. The activity of 40K in water samples was ascertained using High Purity Germanium Spectrometer (HPGe) detector technology, which is based on a high-resolution gamma spectrometry system, and by using an atomic absorption spectrometer (A.A.S.) to determine the heavy metals of Ni, Cd and Pb, as well as measure some of the physical properties of water samples. The results indicated the concentration of 40K in the water was presented in different concentrations. The lowest value was 2.6±0.5 Bq/L Al-Muhanawiyah, while the highest value was in Al-Diwaniyah center 24.6± 4.0Bq/L. On the other hand, the highest results of Pb, Cd and Ni have been 0.1247, 0.0652 and 0.157 ppm, respectively. While, the results of physics properties were from 7.05 to 8.3 for total dissolved solids (T.D.S.) values were from 2100 to 756.6 mg/L, electrical conductivity values were between 1140 and 3500 μs/cm, and turbidity values were between 7.0 and 54.5. Based on the results, the concentrations of the 40K and heavy metals indicated that the results are almost slight compared to internationally accepted values.

Community Health Centers are small-scale hospitals that serve community medicine in Indonesia. These activities generate wastewater containing various contaminants, such as pathogens, chemicals, and nutrients, which can pollute the environment and endanger human health. So, efforts are needed to reduce their impact through wastewater treatment. This research applies an anaerobic-aerobic biofilter system with Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) technology combined with activated carbon and chlorine in treating wastewater. The treatments in the study were different service capacities and wastewater treatment, with three replicates in each treatment. The residence time of wastewater in the system is 4 h. The results showed that combining MBBR technology, activated carbon, and chlorine could reduce temperature, TSS, pH, BOD5, COD, NH3, and Coliform values in wastewater in three Community Health Center services. Thus, it can be concluded that the different services and wastewater treatment efforts, combined with MBBR, activated charcoal, and chlorine, have been proven to affect and improve the quality of wastewater from the Community Health Center to meet the effluent quality standards.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized utilizing various methods, including bioreducing agents. The synthesis involved the use of silver nitrate (AgNO3) as the precursor and banana frond extract as the bioreducing agent, with different volume ratios being tested. Subsequently, the most optimal variant of AgNPs was immobilized onto activated carbon (AC) derived from soybean seeds. The AgNPs/SAC composite was subjected to thorough characterization using UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD). A series of degradation experiments were then conducted using methylene blue, with the reaction duration following a specific protocol. A comparison of methylene blue concentrations before and after the photodegradation process was made to assess the reaction’s efficacy. The findings revealed that the ideal ratio between the bioreducing agent and precursor was 9:30 (v/v). The AgNPs/SAC composite exhibited a peak absorption at a wavelength of 420-440 nm. The UV-DRS characterization of AgNPs/SAC unveiled a band gap energy of 1.52 eV. The AgNPs supported on AC displayed a peak absorption wavelength of 5,438.5 nm, showcasing a face-centered cubic (FCC) structure. The AgNPs/SAC effectively decreased the concentration of methylene blue through a combination of adsorption and photodegradation mechanisms, achieving efficiencies of 35.3813% and 81.1636%, respectively. The AgNPs/SAC composite demonstrates significant potential for efficient and sustainable water treatment.