In this paper the results of determination of natural waters from the territory of the township Smederevska Palanka and Rekovac (Serbia, Yugoslavia) are presented. The content of metals in waters was determined by the AAS method and other parameters were determined by spectrophotometric and potentiometric method.

This paper deals with microbiological and chemical analysis of waste mud, produced in wastewater purification plants of the oil refinery. After digest, mud is removed to the filter press. Compressed mud is placed and stored on the storage yard. Content of organic, anorganic and oil matters and also heavy metals contents were determined. Microbiological analysis comprised determination of total count of aerobic organotrophic organisms and many physiological groups of bacteria. As the indicator of the general biochemical activity, enzymatic (dehydrogenase and phosphatase) activities were determined. Waste mud was mixed with soil (chernozem) in 20%, 40% and 60% amount relations. Changes of activities and quantitative fluctuations of the present microflora were observed after 15 and 30 days. Gained results should enable assessing of using-ability of waste mud in soil-quality improvement, in the sense of its utilization as the fertilizer.

Skin is a major by-product of the fisheries and aquaculture industries and is a valuable source of gelatin. This study examined the effect of triploidization on gelatin yield and proximate composition of the skin of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus). We further investigated the effects of two commonly used pesticides, chlorpyrifos (CPF) and butachlor (BUC), on the skin gelatin yield and amino acid composition in juvenile full-sibling diploid and triploid African catfish. In two separate experiments, diploid and triploid C. gariepinus were exposed for 21 days to graded CPF [mean measured: 10, 16, or 31 μg/L] or BUC concentrations [Mean measured: 22, 44, or 60 μg/L]. No differences in skin gelatin yield, amino acid or proximate compositions were observed between diploid and triploid control groups. None of the pesticide treatments affected the measured parameters in diploid fish. In triploids, however, gelatin yield was affected by CPF treatments while amino acid composition remained unchanged. Butachlor treatments did not alter any of the measured variables in triploid fish. To our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate changes in the skin gelatin yield and amino acid composition in any animal as a response to polyploidization and/or contaminant exposure.

Bioaccumulation of Hg and Cd from food is a complex ecological process that has been oversimplified in the past. Common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) provide a powerful model to biomonitor metal concentrations in marine environments worldwide. We combined proportions-based nutritional geometry with metal analysis, stomach content analysis and the proximate composition of prey, to yield novel insights into the accumulation of Hg and Cd. Our analysis showed an age-related accumulation trend for Cd and Hg in kidney and liver, with highest concentrations found at 18 years of age. When viewed through the lens of nutritional ecology, Argentine anchovy (58.1 Mass %) and South American long-finned squid (22.7 Mass %), provided most of the dietary intake of protein (P) and lipids (L) (P:L ratio = 2.6:1.0) and also represented the main source for Cd and Hg levels accumulated in their bodies. This study presents unprecedented evidence on metal accumulation in relation to age and nutritional intake in a marine predator.

The rapid growth of the agriculture sector has been facing environmental issues with agriculture waste generation. Agriculture biomass is a good source for biochar production through the pyrolysis process. Biochar is a highly carbonaceous material and has been widely studied on its potential to improve soil quality. It is essential to understand and have a good prediction of biochar quality for biomass pre-screening. The elemental ratios and surface area both play an important role in determining the suitability of biochar as a soil amendment. In this study, a feedforward neural network (FFNN) with a backpropagation algorithm was developed to model the pyrolysis process in predicting the elemental ratios and surface area of various types of biochar using literature data. The O/C and H/C ratio are important parameters in soil quality to determine the stability of biochar in soil. Surface area is equally important to determine the porosity of biochar on its capability to retain water and nutrients. The optimization of the model was done by comparing the algorithm, transfer function, and hidden neurons. The prediction of the elemental ratios and surface area were based on the effect of pyrolysis temperature, heating rate, residence time, ultimate and proximate analysis. It was found that Levenberg–Marquardt backpropagation with ultimate analysis as input variable had the best results in terms of MSE (0.0087 and 0.0278), MAE (0.0594 and 0.0999), MAPE (17.835 and 11.891%), and R² (0.8601). A validation test was done on the developed model to test its capability to predict the outputs on a wide range of biomass feedstock. The test has shown good alignment with experimental data as a low MSE of 0.0161 is obtained. The model has the capability to achieve high accuracy in prediction with a high overall R² value and low MSE, MAE, and MAPE.

Biomass waste contributes 14% of the total global energy. And 15–20% of the coal-fine waste from coal mines are deposited in the rivers, ponds, etc., unused, which leads to resource wastage and environmental pollution. The present study aims utilizing biomass and coal-fine waste for producing biomass-coal briquettes without using a binding material. Three different average sizes 50, 134.3, and 199.7 μm of biomass mixture (bagasse, groundnut shell, and woodchips) and coal-fines were used to make different ratios of biomass and coal mixture briquettes. Then, it is subjected to proximate, scanning electron microscope/elemental (SEM/EDX) and thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) to understand its property. Proximate analysis results revealed that the biomass waste has the low ash, sensible fixed carbon, and high volatile matter content. A briquette of biomass: coal = 7:1 ratio 50-μm particle size case was chosen for SEM/EDX and TGA analysis since it holds reasonable fixed carbon value comparatively. SEM analysis revealed irregular surfaces, cracks, cavities and longitudinal cracks, veins distribution all around, ups and shallows on the surface and it is the most favorable condition for fuel combustion since oxidant reaches the core of the fuel with less resistant. TGA reconfirms the spontaneous burning characteristics of the entire volatiles and fixed carbon. EDX analysis shows that the carbon and potassium are the two major elements present in the tested briquettes.

The bio-char was prepared by co-pyrolysis of municipal sewage sludge and biomass with chemical activation. The alkaline activating agents of KOH and K₂CO₃ were used to develop multilevel pore structure without heavy metal. The proximate analysis, ultimate analysis, SEM, and surface area and porosity analyzer were applied to present the physico-chemical properties and multilevel pore structure of bio-char. After impregnation pretreatment, the KOH provided more functional ingredients and reacted with C to expand pore structure for bio-chars. It was confirmed the specific surface area reached 2122.43 m²/g, and micropore area was 1674.85 m²/g after co-pyrolysis at 800 °C. Through the pretreatment of alkaline activation, the novel evaluation of heavy metal immobilization behavior in bio-char matrix were investigated by BCR sequential extraction and leaching tests. The KOH activation showed prominent immobilization behavior relatively, and the K₂CO₃ activation had more noticeable effects on leaching behavior. For Cu, Ni, Cr, Cd, Pb, and Zn, after co-pyrolysis at 900 °C, the proportion of unstable fraction decreased significantly, and the residual fractions of heavy metals were above 89.44% according to BCR sequential extraction procedure. Under optimal pyrolysis temperature, the Eᵣ value of bio-char reduced to 41.93, and the potential ecological risks decreased from considerable risk to low risk to ensure the further eco-friendly application.

This study aims to investigate the adsorption of methylene blue (MB) cationic dye on biochar prepared with sulfuric acid from pumpkin peel as a low-cost adsorbent from agricultural waste. The structure of pumpkin peel biochar (PPB) was investigated by proximate analysis, SEM-EDS, BET surface area determination, CHNS elemental analysis, and FT-IR techniques. The C content of PPB was found to be 63.5%, and its BET surface area is 3.9 m²/g. To characterize the adsorption ability of PPB towards MB from aqueous solutions, the effects of pH, contact time, initial MB concentration, and PPB dosage were examined. The MB adsorption onto PPB was favored at pH values between 6.0 and 9.0, and reached to equilibrium conditions at 16 h of contact time. Increasing of initial MB concentration caused an increase in adsorbed amount of MB per gram of PPB until 207.5 mg/g. MB adsorption equilibrium conditions were analyzed, and Langmuir isotherm is the most compatible model for MB adsorption with PPB indicating that monolayer adsorption is dominant providing maximum adsorption capacity of 208.3 mg/g. Kinetic studies showed that adsorption of MB dye on PPB was explained better with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Eventually, it was concluded that the PPB is an effective adsorbent for MB removal from wastewater.

Chemically prepared activated carbon derived from durian seed (DSAC) was used as adsorbent to adsorb Malachite green (MG) dye. The prepared DSAC was characterized using Brunauer–Emmet–Teller (BET), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and proximate analysis, respectively. Batch adsorption studies were carried out for the removal of MG dye from aqueous solutions by varying operational parameters like contact time, initial MG dye concentration, solution temperature, and initial solution pH. Maximum dye removal of 97 % was obtained at pH 8. Experimental data were analyzed by eight model equations—Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, Dubinin–Radushkevich, Radke–Prausnitz, Sips, Vieth–Sladek, and Brouers–Sotolongo isotherms—and it was found that the Freundlich isotherm model fitted the adsorption data the most. Adsorption rate constants were determined using pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order rate equations, Elovich, intraparticle diffusion, and Avrami kinetic model. The results clearly showed that the adsorption of MG dye onto DSAC followed the pseudo-second-order model, and the mechanism of adsorption was controlled both by film diffusion and intraparticle diffusion. Thermodynamic parameters such as ∆G, ∆H, and ∆S were also calculated for the adsorption process. The process was found to be spontaneous and endothermic in nature. This work provided an attractive adsorbent for the removal of MG dye from wastewaters.