The paper reviews the existing applications of sensing technologies for measuring construction off-road vehicle emissions (COVE) such as earthmoving equipment. The current literature presented different measurement methods and reported the results of utilisation of new technologies for measuring COVE. However, previous papers used different technology applications covering only a part of the monitoring process with its own limitations. Since technologies are advancing and offering novel solutions, there is an urgent need to identify the gaps, re-evaluate the current methods, and develop a critical agenda for automating the entire process of collecting emissions data from construction sites, and monitoring the emission contributors across cities. This paper systematically identifies relevant papers through a search of three key databases—Web of Science, Engineering Valley and Scopus—covering the publications in the last decade from 2008 to 2017. An innovative robust research method was designed to select and analyse the relevant papers. The identified papers were stored in a data set, and a thematic algorithm employed to find the clusters of papers which might be potentially relevant. The selected papers were used for further micro-thematic analysis to find key relevant papers on COVE, and the gap in the literature. A sample of relevant papers was found relevant to COVE and critically reviewed by coding and content analysis. This paper critically reviews the selected papers and also shows that there is a considerable gap in the applications of new technologies for measuring in-use COVE in real time based on real activities toward automated methods. This review enables practitioners and scholars to gain a concrete understanding of the gap in measuring COVE and to provide a significant agenda for future technology applications.

Arsenic (As) is considered as one of the most hazardous elements found in the groundwater. It is present in water in both arsenate (As(V)) and arsenite (As(III)) forms. On exposure for a considerable length of time to water having As concentration above the maximum permissible limit of 10 μg/L, there is a serious threat of developing various health problems including cancer. There is frequent reporting about the development of different newer methods for the removal of arsenic from water. In this present approach, a low-cost product namely modified paddy husk ash (PHA) was used as an adsorbent for the adsorption of arsenic from water. The adsorbent is important from the point of its easy availability in the tropical paddy producing countries. For improved removal efficiency and disposal of spent adsorbent, the surface of the PHA was activated with an aluminum oligomeric solution called as hydroxyl-alumina. To understand the process, various techniques such as XRD, SEM–EDS, particle size determination, and zeta potential measurements were used and the effects like variation of adsorbent dose, pH, initial arsenic concentration, and contact time were studied. The Freundlich adsorption isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic models were found to be the best fitted adsorption isotherm and kinetic data models respectively thereby confirming the adsorption as a multilayer chemisorption process. Finally, the issue of disposal of the spent sludge through the successful formation of cement clinkers was studied.

This paper deals with the comprehensive analysis for the removal of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) from water environment. A new activated carbon derived from an agricultural waste, water lily mango seed shells, was proposed as a low-cost adsorbent to remove AgNPs. In addition, a new simple kinetic model was mathematically formulated and then tested using primary and secondary experimental AgNP adsorption data on different adsorbents. Moreover, cost analysis for the activated carbon production and removal of AgNPs was also estimated. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICPMS) analyses were employed for the characterization. The proposed model evaluation was carried out using six statistical indicators, which are the coefficient of determination (R²), root mean squared error (RMSE), percentage of error in maximum estimated value (Eₘₐₓ), percentage of error in minimum estimated value (Eₘᵢₙ), mean absolute percent error (MAPE), and mean absolute deviation (MAD). This study found that the proposed activated carbon performed a rapid removal with a maximum percentage of up to 97%. It was also interesting to note that the proposed model outperformed existing kinetic models having the same number of parameters. Cost analysis carried out in this study exhibited that the activated carbon was highly economical compared with other water treatment technologies reported elsewhere.

As wood preservatives leach from exposed treated wood, they contaminate soil and water, creating an environmental problem that needs to be addressed. Treating this contamination is particularly challenging since it includes mixed compounds, such as heavy metals and trace elements, as well as xenobiotic organic pollutants like polychlorinated dibenzo-dioxin/furan congeners (PCDD/Fs) that are very toxic and are under very strict discharge regulations. Cultivating fast-growing willow shrubs, either in soil or in treatment wetlands, offers a flexible and inexpensive treatment option. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the tolerance of a frequently used willow cultivar (Salix miyabeana ‘SX67’) to irrigation with leachate contaminated with pentachlorophenol (PCP) and chromated chromium arsenate (CCA), two important wood preservatives. We designed a mesocosms experiment with willow grown in three different substrates and irrigated over 12 weeks with three different leachate concentrations. Willow proved to be tolerant to irrigation with the raw leachate, with only leaf area decreasing with increasing leachate concentration. However, the type of growing substrate influenced willow ecophysiological responses and overall performance, and seemed to affect contaminant dynamics in the plant-soil system. All contaminants accumulated in willow roots, and Cu and PCDD/Fs were also translocated to aerial parts. Overall, this study suggests that Salix miyabeana ‘SX67’ could be a good candidate for treating water or soil contaminated with wood preservatives.

2-Propanol (IPA) is a highly water-soluble volatile organic compound that is used in the cleaning and drying processes during semiconductor fabrication. IPA is also used as a disinfectant in the pharmacy field. Water scrubber processing is one of the methods used for IPA collection. However, water scrubbing requires wastewater treatment. In this study, we propose a decomposition system for IPA in the liquid phase based on a TiO₂ photocatalyst immobilized on nonwoven fabric (TiO₂ nonwoven fabric) and ozone microbubbles (MBs). The thick nonwoven fabric with immobilized TiO₂ exhibits a higher IPA removal rate than that exhibited by the pleated fabric. IPA decomposes to produce acetone, which can be further decomposed and possibly undergo mineralization. The entire water tank can be supplied with ozone by introducing the MB-forming ozone, which considerably affects the decomposition of IPA. The efficient decomposition of IPA was achieved by combining ozone MBs, TiO₂ nonwoven fabric, and ultraviolet irradiation, presumably because the photocatalyst promotes the mineralization of the decomposition product. Thus, the OH radicals from the O₃ MBs competitively captured in the decomposition product strongly promote the decomposition of IPA, enhancing the IPA decomposition rate.

Sulfur-doped activated carbons (SACs) with high sulfur content and large specific surface area were synthesized from polythiophene for acetone removal. The sulfur content of carbons (3.10–8.43 at.%) could be tunable by adjusting the activation temperature. The BET surface area and pore volume of the obtained samples were 916–2020 m² g⁻¹ and 0.678–1.100 cm³ g⁻¹, with a significant proportion of microporosity (up to 84% and 72% for BET surface area and pore volume, respectively). The resulting SACs show a superior acetone adsorption capacity (i.e., 716.4 mg g⁻¹ at 15 °C and 705 mg g⁻¹ at 25 °C for SAC700). In terms of the adsorption behavior of acetone on the activated carbons, compared to the Langmuir model, the Langmuir-Freundlich model showed better agreement with the adsorption amount. The results reveal that the surface area and micropore volume are the key factors for acetone adsorption, while the sulfur-doped functional groups, especially oxidized sulfur functional groups, can enhance the acetone adsorption capacity at a certain low pressure. Temperature programmed desorption (TPD) experiments were performed to get desorption activation energy of acetone on SAC samples, and the results ranged from 23.54 to 38.71 kJ mol⁻¹. The results of the molecular simulation show that the introduction of sulfur element can increase the binding energy between acetone molecule and carbon surface, and the tri-oxidized sulfur (sulfonic acid) functional group has the highest binding energy of − 0.4765 eV. Graphical abstract

Cadmium (Cd) is a heavy and toxic metal and easily absorbed by animals and plants; subsequently, it is an environmental risk factor with several toxic effects in humans and animals. The main pathway of human or animal exposure to Cd is through its ingestion by water or food and by particles or fume inhalation during industrial processes. With continuous exposure to small levels of cadmium, it is being deposited in different tissues day after day, causing toxic effects on the liver, kidney, and testes. Long-term exposure to this toxic metal resulted in inflammatory infiltration, necrosis of hepatocytes, degenerative changes in testis tissues, reduction in spermatocytes, degeneration in renal tubules, and hypertrophy of renal epithelium. Therefore, we need an effective treatment to overcome cadmium poisoning. Thus, in the current review, we try to provide compiled reports and summarize information about the toxicological effects of Cd in human, animals, and poultry. This review also provides updated information about the protective actions of herbs and herbal extracts and their role as an effective strategy in reducing or preventing serious health problems and tissue damage in response to Cd toxicity.

Iron-incorporated silica (Fe/SiO₂) with different Fe/Si molar ratio was successfully prepared from rice husk pyrolytic residues (RHR) through alkali pretreatment, co-precipitation, and calcination. Various characterization methods indicated that the Fe/SiO₂ samples possessed mesoporous structure with Fe species incorporated into the framework of silica. The obtained materials were applied in the treatment of hazardous banknote printing wastewater, and under the optimal conditions, colored pollutants, humic acid-like and soluble microbial by-product-like organics were removed significantly. It was found that Fe/SiO₂ acted as both flocculant and catalyst, and the framework iron species catalyzed the oxidative degradation of refractory organics in the presence of H₂O₂. A heterogeneous Fenton-like system was formed in the wastewater treatment process.

Extended stochastic impact by regression on population, affluence, and technology model incorporating ridge regression was used to analyze the driving mechanism of energy-related CO₂ emissions in Kazakhstan during 1992–2014. The research period was divided into two stages based on GDP of Kazakhstan in 1991 (85.70 × 10⁹ dollars), the first stage (1992–2002), GDP < 85.70 × 10⁹ dollars, the stage of economic recovery; the second stage (2003–2014), GDP > 85.70 × 10⁹ dollars, the stable economic development stage. The results demonstrated that (1) population scale and the technological improvement were the dominant contributors to promote the growth of the CO₂ emissions during 1992–2014 in Kazakhstan. (2) Economic growth and industrialization played more positive effect on the increase of the CO₂ emissions in the stable economic development stage (2003–2014) than those in the stage of economic recovery (1992–2002). The proportion of the tertiary industry, the trade openness, and foreign direct investment were transformed from negative factors into positive factors in the stable economic development stage (2003–2014). (3) Due to the over-urbanization of Kazakhstan before the independence, the level of urbanization continued to decline, urbanization was the first factor to curb CO₂ emissions during 1992–2014. Finally, some policy recommendations are put forward to reduce energy-related carbon emissions.

A microwave (MW) heat-activated the persulfate (PS) process was employed to treat paracetamol (PAM) in wastewater, and the powder-activated carbon (PAC) be used is used as a catalyst to accelerate this reaction process. The PAM added (100 mg) to the solution was nearly completely removed within 70 min, and the PH, temperature, PAC, and PS dosage have great influence on the degradation process; the total organic carbon (TOC) removal rate reached 98%. The PAC¹ still had a good catalytic effect after being reused six times. The radical mechanism was investigated to determine the type of dominant active species involved in PAM degradation. Sulfate radicals ([Formula: see text]) were the dominant oxidizing agent for PAM degradation under acidic conditions. The degradation mechanism was proposed based on the PAM degradation intermediates, which were identified using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with linear trap quadrupole orbitrap mass spectrometry. Three types of possible reaction pathways for PAM were identified as follows: including hydroxylation of the benzene ring, amine group oxidation at the benzene ring, and amine (HN–C=O) functional group N–C bond cleavage.