Agra, one of the oldest cities “World Heritage site”, and Delhi, the capital city of India are both located in the border of Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) and heavily loaded with atmospheric aerosols due to tourist place, anthropogenic activities, and its topography, respectively. Therefore, there is need for monitoring of atmospheric aerosols to perceive the scenario and effects of particles over northern part of India. The present study was carried out at Agra (AGR) as well as Delhi (DEL) during winter period from November 2011 to February 2012 of fine particulate (PM₂.₅: d < 2.5 μm) as well as associated carbonaceous aerosols. PM₂.₅was collected at both places using medium volume air sampler (offline measurement) and analyzed for organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC). Also, simultaneously, black carbon (BC) was measured (online) at DEL. The average mass concentration of PM₂.₅was 165.42 ± 119.46 μg m⁻³at AGR while at DEL it was 211.67 ± 41.94 μg m⁻³which is ~27 % higher at DEL than AGR whereas the BC mass concentration was 10.60 μg m⁻³. The PM₂.₅was substantially higher than the annual standard stipulated by central pollution control board and United States Environmental Protection Agency standards. The average concentrations of OC and EC were 69.96 ± 34.42 and 9.53 ± 7.27 μm m⁻³, respectively. Total carbon (TC) was 79.01 ± 38.98 μg m⁻³at AGR, while it was 50.11 ± 11.93 (OC), 10.67 ± 3.56 μg m⁻³(EC), and 60.78 ± 14.56 μg m⁻³(TC) at DEL. The OC/EC ratio was 13.75 at (AGR) and 5.45 at (DEL). The higher OC/EC ratio at Agra indicates that the formation of secondary organic aerosol which emitted from variable primary sources. Significant correlation between PM₂.₅and its carbonaceous species were observed indicating similarity in sources at both sites. The average concentrations of secondary organic carbon (SOC) and primary organic carbon (POC) at AGR were 48.16 and 26.52 μg m⁻³while at DEL it was 38.78 and 27.55 μg m⁻³, respectively. In the case of POC, similar concentrations were observed at both places but in the case of SOC higher over AGR by 24 in comparison to DEL, it is due to the high concentration of OC over AGR. Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) was 42 % higher at AGR than DEL which confirms the formation of secondary aerosol at AGR due to rural environment with higher concentrations of coarse mode particles. The SOA contribution in PM₂.₅was also estimated and was ~32 and 12 % at AGR and DEL respectively. Being high loading of fine particles along with carbonaceous aerosol, it is suggested to take necessary and immediate action in mitigation of the emission of carbonaceous aerosol in the northern part of India.

Changes in the characteristics of algae-derived organic matter (AOM) were examined upon the operation of a microbial fuel cell (MFC) using multiple analytical methods. Temporal variations in the UV absorption and fluorescence excitation–emission matrix of the AOM revealed that less condensed humic-like components and large-sized protein-like fluorescent compounds were preferentially decomposed over the period of electricity generation. They also showed that low UV-absorbing extracellular organic matters (EOM) were produced at the end of the operation. SEC chromatograms demonstrated that smaller-sized UV-absorbing components were initially decomposed, followed by the net production of EOM with an intermediate molecular weight. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra showed that proteins and polysaccharides were the two most dominant structures of the AOM in the MFC. Two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy combined with FT-IR provided additional valuable information on the sequential changes of the AOM, which occurred in the order of proteins → acidic functional groups → polysaccharides → amino acids/proteins.

Produced water (PW) is the largest waste stream generated in oil and gas industries. The drilling and extraction operations that are aimed to maximize the production of oil may be counterbalanced by the huge production of contaminated water (called PW) with pollutants, such as heavy metals, dissolved/suspended solids, and organic compounds. PW is conventionally treated through different physical, chemical, and biological methods. In offshore platforms, because of space constraints, compact physical and chemical systems are used. However, major research efforts are being developed with innovative technologies for treating PW in order to comply with reuse and discharge limits. Among them, electrochemical technologies have been proposed as a promising alternative for the treatment of this kind of wastewaters. Then, this paper presents a minireview of efficient electrochemical technologies used until now for treating PW generated by petrochemical industry.

In recent years, new advanced oxidation processes based on the electrochemical technology, the so-called electrochemical advanced oxidation processes (EAOPs), have been developed for the prevention and remediation of environmental pollution, especially focusing on water streams. These methods are based on the electrochemical generation of a very powerful oxidizing agent, such as the hydroxyl radical (•OH) in solution, which is then able to destroy organics up to their mineralization. EAOPs include heterogeneous processes like anodic oxidation and photoelectrocatalysis methods, in which•OH are generated at the anode surface either electrochemically or photochemically, and homogeneous processes like electro-Fenton, photoelectro-Fenton, and sonoelectrolysis, in which•OH are produced in the bulk solution. This paper presents a general overview of the application of EAOPs on the removal of aqueous organic pollutants, first reviewing the most recent works and then looking to the future. A global perspective on the fundamentals and experimental setups is offered, and laboratory-scale and pilot-scale experiments are examined and discussed.

The degradation of 230 mL of a 0.6-mM sulfanilamide solution in 0.05 M Na₂SO₄of pH 3.0 has been studied by electro-Fenton process. The electrolytic cell contained either a Pt or boron-doped diamond (BDD) anode and a carbon-felt cathode. Under these conditions, organics are oxidized by hydroxyl radicals formed at the anode surface from water oxidation and in the bulk from Fenton’s reaction between initially added (and then electrochemically regenerated) Fe²⁺and cathodically generated H₂O₂. From the decay of sulfanilamide concentration determined by reversed-phase liquid chromatography, an optimum Fe²⁺concentration of 0.20 mM in both cells was found. The drug disappeared more rapidly using BDD than Pt, and, in both cases, it was more quickly removed with raising applied current. Almost total mineralization was achieved using the BDD/carbon-felt cell, whereas the alternative use of Pt anode led to a slightly lower mineralization degree. In both cells, the degradation rate was accelerated at higher current but with the concomitant fall of mineralization current efficiency due to the greater increase in rate of the parasitic reactions of hydroxyl radicals. Reversed-phase liquid chromatography allowed the identification of catechol, resorcinol, hydroquinone, p-benzoquinone, and 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene as aromatic intermediates, whereas ion exclusion chromatography revealed the formation of malic, maleic, fumaric, acetic, oxalic, formic, and oxamic acids. NH₄⁺, NO₃⁻, and SO₄²⁻ions were released during the electro-Fenton process. A plausible reaction sequence for sulfanilamide mineralization involving all detected intermediates has been proposed. The toxicity of the solution was assessed from the Vibrio fischeri bacteria luminescence inhibition. Although it acquired its maximum value at short electrolysis time, the solution was completely detoxified at the end of the electro-Fenton treatment, regardless of the anode used.

In this paper, degradation of a mixture of three azo dyes was studied by the photo-assisted electrochemical process using an O₂-diffusion cathode containing carbon nanotubes and boron-doped diamond (BDD) anode. The concentration of three textile dyes (C.I. Acid Orange 8 (AO8), C.I. Acid Orange 10 (AO10), and C.I. Acid Orange 12 (AO12)) was determined simultaneously despite the severe overlap of their spectra. For this purpose, partial least square (PLS), as a multivariate calibration method, was utilized based on recording UV–Vis spectra during the decolorization process. Moreover, the central composite design was used for the modeling of photo-assisted electrochemical decolorization of the aqueous solutions containing three dyes. The investigated parameters were the initial concentration of three dyes, applied current and reaction time. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that the obtained regression models match the experimental results well with R (Khataee et al. 2010, Clean-Soil Air Water 38 (1):96–103, 2010) of 0.972, 0.971, and 0.957 for AO8, AO10, and AO12, respectively. Three-dimensional surface and contour plots were applied to describe the relation between experimental conditions and the observed response. The results of TOC analysis confirmed good ability of proposed photo-assisted electrochemical process for degradation and mineralization of textile industry wastewater.

In mosquito control programs, insecticides of botanical origin have the potential to eliminate eggs, larvae, and adults. So, the larvicidal, ovicidal, and oviposition-deterrent activities of petroleum ether and ethyl acetate extracts of the leaves of Eugenia jambolana, Solidago canadensis, Euodia ridleyi, and Spilanthes mauritiana were assayed against the three vector mosquito species, namely Anopheles stephensi, Aedes aegypti, and Culex quinquefasciatus. The larval bioassay was conducted following the World Health Organization method. The maximum larval mortality was found with ethyl acetate extract of S. mauritiana against the larvae of A. stephensi, A. aegypti, and C. quinquefasciatus with LC₅₀values of 11.51, 28.1, 14.10 ppm, respectively. The mean percent hatchability of the ovicidal activity was observed at 48-h post-treatment. The percent hatchability was found to be inversely proportional to the concentration of the extract and directly proportional to the number of eggs. The flower head extract of S. mauritiana gave 100 % mortality followed by E. ridleyi, S. canadensis, and E. jambolana against the eggs of the three mosquito vectors. For oviposition-deterrent effect, out of the five concentrations tested (20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 ppm), the concentration of 100 ppm showed a significant egg laying-deterrent capacity. The oviposition activity index value of E. jambolana, E. ridleyi, S. canadensis, and S. mauritiana against A. aegypti, A. stephensi, C. quinquefasciatus at 100 ppm were −0.71, −0.71, −0.90, −0.93, −0.85, −0.91, −1, −1, −0.71, −0.85, −1, and −1, respectively. These results suggest that the leaf/flower extracts of certain local plants have the potential to be developed as possible eco-friendly means for the control of mosquitoes.

In this study, an environmental assessment on an electrokinetic (EK) system for the remediation of a multimetal-contaminated real site was conducted using a green and sustainable remediation (GSR) tool. The entire EK process was classified into major four phases consisting of remedial investigations (RIs), remedial action construction (RAC), remedial action operation (RAO), and long-term monitoring (LTM) for environmental assessment. The environmental footprints, including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, total energy used, air emissions of criteria pollutants, such as NOₓ, SOₓ, and PM₁₀, and water consumption, were calculated, and the relative contribution in each phase was analyzed in the environmental assessment. In the RAC phase, the relative contribution of the GHG emissions, total energy used, and PM₁₀emissions were 77.3, 67.6, and 70.4 %, respectively, which were higher than those of the other phases because the material consumption and equipment used for system construction were high. In the RAO phase, the relative contributions of water consumption and NOₓand SOₓemissions were 94.7, 85.2, and 91.0 %, respectively, which were higher than those of the other phases, because the water and electricity consumption required for system operation was high. In the RIs and LTM phases, the environmental footprints were negligible because the material and energy consumption was less. In conclusion, the consumable materials and electrical energy consumption might be very important for GSR in the EK remediation process, because the production of consumable materials and electrical energy consumption highly affects the GHG emissions, total energy used, and air emissions such as NOₓand SOₓ.

Formaldehyde is classified as a human carcinogen that may cause nasopharyngeal cancer and probably leukemia. The effects of environmental and nutritional factors on fungal growth and the biodegradation of formaldehyde were investigated. Fungal strains SGFA1 and SGFA3 isolated from untreated sewage sediment samples collected from heavily formaldehyde-contaminated areas were identified using morphological characteristics and molecular techniques and named as Aspergillus nomius SGFA1 and Penicillium chrysogenum SGFA3. Results indicate that SGFA1 and SGFA3 completely consumed 3,000 and 900 mg l⁻¹of formaldehyde, respectively, within 7 days under optimized conditions. Quantitative real-time PCR analyses and enzyme activity analyses demonstrated that glutathione-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase (GDFADH) and formate dehydrogenase (FDH) pathway may play a functional role in enhancing formaldehyde-degrading capability in SGFA1. Both fungi have potential use for remediation of formaldehyde pollution.

Ammonia (NH₃) is an important base gas and can react with acidic species to form atmospheric aerosols. Due to the rapid growth of poultry and swine production in the North Carolina Coastal Plain, atmospheric NH₃concentrations across the region have subsequently increased. Ammonia concentrations and inorganic particulate matter (PM) at four ambient stations in the vicinity of an egg production facility were measured for 1 year using PM₂.₅speciation samplers with honeycomb denuders and ion chromatography (IC). Meanwhile, concentrations of NH₃and inorganic PM in one of the egg production houses were also simultaneously measured using a gas analyzer for NH₃and the filter pack plus IC method for inorganic PM. An equilibrium model-ISORROPIA II was applied to predict the behavior of inorganic aerosols in response to precursor gas concentrations and environmental parameters. Average ambient NH₃concentrations varied from 10.0 to 27.0 μg/m³, and they were negatively correlated with the distances from the ambient location to the nearest egg production house exhausts. Ambient NH₃concentrations were higher in warm seasons than in cold seasons. Measured NH₃concentrations agreed well with ISORROPIA II model predictions at all sampling stations. For the ambient stations, there was a good agreement in particle phase NH₄⁺between the model simulation and observations. For the in-house station, the model simulation was applied to correct the overestimation of particle phase NH₄⁺due to gas phase NH₃breaking through the denuders. Changes in SO₄²⁻, NO₃⁻, and Cl⁻yield proportional changes in inorganic PM mass. Due to the abundance of NH₃gas in the vicinity area of the monitored farm, changes in NH₃concentrations had a small effect on inorganic PM mass. Aerosol equilibrium modeling may be used to assess the influence of precursor gas concentrations on inorganic PM formation when the measurements for some species are unavailable.