In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the needs of the overgrowing population. Naturally, industrial belts increased worldwide to satisfy the variety and quantity of needs. While producing the products, a huge quantity of waste is generated and added continuously to the environment, causing hazardous effects on the flora and fauna. Spent wash is one of the most important types of industrial waste since it is the liquid waste that is left over after making alcohol and it pollutes the environment. Despite effluent quality standards, untreated or partially treated sewage frequently enters water courses or soils. It is always overloaded with organic and inorganic substances. The stabilization of the effluent by microorganisms is reflected in the form of COD reduction. The present study attempted to isolate the PHB-producing organisms and use them to stabilize the spent wash. The locally isolated, characterized, and identified 11 PHB-producing microorganisms from the Karad region of Maharashtra were used to stabilize spent wash. They include Candida orthopsilosis, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus megaterium, Klebsiella grimontii, Citrobacter fruendii, and members of Staphylococcus and Rhodococcus. All potential organisms were reported to stabilize the spent wash. The degree of stabilization was measured in terms of the percent reduction of COD and BOD. The % reduction was reported at 95.31% and 81.39% of COD and BOD, respectively, by Klebsiella grimontii, followed by 92.18% and 80.46% reductions of COD and BOD, respectively, by Staphylococcus. These organisms are promising in the treatment of spent wash.

The present study selects cities such as Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, Anyang, Hebi, Xinxiang, Jiaozuo, and Puyang along the Yellow River Basin in Henan Province. The data of six pollutants, such as PM2.5, PM10, SO2, CO, NO2, and O3, in various cities from 2019 to 2021, and the monthly primary pollutant data of seven cities in the past five years were collected through various channels. The air quality of the above seven cities was analyzed with the spatial-temporal distribution of pollutants as the research objective and geographic information system as the research tool. The results show that affected by the distribution of key pollution sources and meteorological conditions in the urban area, the PM2.5 concentration generally shows a zonal feature of decreasing from northwest to Southeast. The high-value area is located in the north and west of the integrated area of the seven cities, and the low-value area is located in the Southeast of the seven cities.

Scientifically delineating ecological function zones is essential for national territory spatial planning and comprehensive management. In this study, we evaluated five ecosystem services, habitat quality, water yield, carbon sequestration, soil conservation, and food production, in Fuping County, China, and introduced the application of the topographic position index in exploring the topographic gradient effect of each service. We next applied the K-means clustering algorithm to identify the ecosystem services bundles and analyze the dominant type of ecosystem service in these bundles. A particle swarm optimization-support vector machine model was also constructed to identify the boundaries of ecological function zones and complete the ecological function zoning. The results are as follows: (1) In Fuping County, the high-value areas of habitat quality are distributed in the west, north, and southeast; those of soil conservation are in the northwest, northeast, and southwest; those of water yield are in the east and south; those of carbon sequestration are in the west, and those of food production is in the east. (2) The habitat quality first decreases and then increases with an increasing topographic gradient; food production and water yield decline with increasing topographic gradient; carbon sequestration and soil conservation increase with increasing topographic gradient. (3) Four types of ecosystem services bundles were identified. The dominant ecosystem functions of Type I, II, and III bundles are food production and water yield, carbon sequestration, and soil conservation, respectively. Type IV bundles generally have low levels of ecosystem services in the study area. (4) Four ecological function zones were delineated: food production zone, ecological conservation zone, potential restoration zone, and critical restoration zone. The research findings can provide a theoretical and practical basis for formulating and implementing ecological spatial management policies in the Taihang Mountains of China.

Air pollution is a significant issue that affects almost all the countries in the world while predominating in South Asian Regional countries due to poverty, less attention, and less awareness towards the implementation and obeying of air quality guidelines in public. As a developing country, Sri Lanka stands at an optimum state of national air quality compared to other SARC because it is an island with a minor population compared to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. Maldives and Bhutan lie straightforwardly in owing mild air quality in SARC. However, SARC is far behind the world in maintaining optimistic air quality nationwide. Ambient air pollution-attributable deaths have become interim in past decades, a severe burden to the sustainable existence of SARC. A well-established systematic epidemiological, empirical studies and revisions regarding air pollution, strategic planning for mitigating air pollution, and frequent Spatio-temporal pollution monitoring nodes are necessary for Sri Lanka to achieve the sustainable goal. Other South Asian countries: India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, and Maldives, also should pay attention to minimizing outdoor air pollution nationwide for the betterment of future existence.

In the present study, a total of 17 morphologically different gut-associated bacteria were isolated from four species of estuarine polychaetes: polychaetes Capitella capitata, Scalibregma inflatum, Dendronereis aesturiana, and Namalycastis abiuma. The isolated strains were evaluated for their probiotic activities, such as digestive enzymes including protease, amylase, and lipase, and antimicrobial activities by the agar well diffusion method against fish pathogens. Based on their better enzymatic and antibacterial activities, two bacterial strains, CMST Poly1 and CMST Poly2, were selected for further probiotic studies. Based on the biochemical and morphological characterization, both probiotic strains were characterized as Gram-positive, rod-shaped, non-motile, non-spore-forming, homofermentative, absence of catalyzing enzymes and notable proteolytic activity, and susceptibility to various antibiotics. Further, these two strains were confirmed by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis as Bacillus subtilis CMST Poly1 and Priestia megaterium CMST Poly2. Our results revealed that strains Bacillus subtilis CMST Poly1 and Priestia megaterium CMST Poly2 can potentially be used as probiotic strains in aquaculture applications.

Laguna de Bay is the largest lake in the Philippines. It is surrounded by developing cities that pollute the lake with plastics from different industrial and domestic activities. In the study, microplastics were collected from the lake’s surface water through three (3) collection points within the lake. The collection of microplastics was conducted from August 2018 to October 2018. About eight-hundred ninety (890) microplastics were collected and cataloged. Among the collection sites, ‘Brgy. Sampiruhan’ has the most microplastics, with a median of 15 ranging from 11-24 microplastics per 1000 L of lake water. On the other hand, ‘Brgy. Napindan’ has a median of 4 which ranges from 2-6 microplastics per 1000 L, and ‘Brgy. San Isidro’ has a median of 6 which ranges from 4-24 microplastics per 1000 L. Image analysis revealed that microplastics from this site were larger and angular. The color analysis shows signs of whitening and yellowing of the plastic materials, which suggests that the microplastics undergo photodegradation. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) found that most of the microplastics in the lake are made of polyethylene and its derivatives. Microplastics in Laguna de Bay show the continuous plastic pollution in the Philippines’ largest lake.

Methyl Violet (MV), a triphenylmethane dye, has been subjected to comparative studies with hydrogen peroxide and dimethyl dioxirane under optimum situations. When employing hydrogen peroxide, the photolysis process becomes slower, but the dye solutions are entirely decolored and mineralized. The decolorization rate exhibits pseudo-first-order kinetics. The effect of pH, oxidant dosage, and methyl violet concentration on the degradation is also examined. Generated o-leucoaniline,1,3-diphenylurea,2-hydroxy benzoic acid, phenol, acetone, water, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide are identified and measured by GC-MS analysis. These substances remain in the dye solution along with dimethyl dioxirane, which is released faster during the last stages of degradation. The degradation rates of methyl violet reached 97.9% and 65.8% within 30 mins and 180 min of reaction time using dimethyl dioxirane and hydrogen peroxide.

A state-of-the-art review of biomimetic nanoparticle synthesis is presented. The technique’s origin has been traced to the studies, started over 150 years ago, on the hyperaccumulation of certain metals by different species of plants. How the initial intracellular method of nanoparticle synthesis evolved into the now widely used extracellular route has been described. The review then covers the gist of all the studies reported on the biomimetic synthesis of nanoparticles of different metals using extracts of different botanical species (plants). The synthesis mechanism is discussed, and the factors influencing the nanoparticles’ extent, shapes, and sizes are identified.

As urbanization and population increase in the megacity, there is a need for engineering intervention and strategic monitoring of groundwater around landfills for environmental sustainability, pollution reduction and public health. This study evaluated water’s physical and chemical parameters in wells and boreholes near the Olusosun landfill in Lagos State to determine how they impact groundwater quality. An Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS) was used to evaluate groundwater samples obtained from five locations within the dump site. Some water parameters, such as dissolved oxygen (DO), iron (Fe), lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), and magnesium (Mg), had concentrations that were higher than the WHO, NESREA, and Nigerian Standard for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ) standard limits in some sampling sites, with mean concentrations of 0.33 mg.L-1, 0.04 mg.L-1, 0.74 mg.L-1, and 0.74 mg.L-1, respectively. A small amount of lead was identified in the groundwater of the study area. A major source of air and groundwater pollution, the Olusosun landfill has a detrimental impact on the health of those who live there. Solid waste, groundwater interactions, and contaminated migration into the nearby neighbourhood were studied. It was observed that the degradation of waste products in dump sites releases harmful leachate into the groundwater. Even though some heavy metal concentrations in the study area are still within WHO, NESREA, and NSDWQ standard limits, investigations and further monitoring should be conducted regularly to assess the concentrations of heavy metals in groundwater.

This study explains visitors’ perceptions of climate comfort in the Padang coastal tourism area, including Air Manis Beach, Padang Beach, Nirwana Beach, and Pasir Jambak Beach. Climate comfort index calculation using the Holiday Climate Index (HCI) and survey methods are used to take data. The survey is conducted to collect data on climate comfort perception and the role of weather on that comfort. There are 409 respondents in this study. Most visitors state that weather affects climate comfort during their trip (99%) and need weather information for outdoor tourism (98.5%). However, only 27.1% are looking for weather information before traveling outdoors. This coastal tourism area’s perceived level of climate comfort is comfortable (64%). The thermal sensation is neutral (66%). Meanwhile, the average score of the comfort index in Padang is neutral throughout the year. The temperature interval indicates the comfortable category is between 26ºC-28ºC.