Due to their pervasive applications, phthalic acid esters or phthalates have ample presence in all environmental compartments. A principal source of their existence in freshwater is phthalate-laden wastewater treatment plant effluents. For its sustainable operation and biogas production, wastewater treatment scheme of up flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) and polishing pond is more prevalent in developing countries. This yearlong study focused on evaluating the occurrence, fate and risk of four priority phthalates, diethyl phthalate (DEP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), benzylbutyl phthalate (BBP), and diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) in a UASB+ polishing pond-based wastewater treatment plant. Concentration of the phthalates in raw wastewater ranged from nd to 17.36 μg/L (DEP), 0.92 to 18.26 μg/L (DBP), nd to 6.54 μg/L (BBP), and nd to 53.21 μg/L (DEHP). DEHP concentrations in UASB sludge were below 100 mg/kg, the recommended limit by the European Union for safe disposal of dewatered sludge. All four compounds were removed approximately 80% in the wastewater treatment plant, with larger removal in polishing pond than UASB. Sorption contributes a significant portion of BBP and DEHP removal (15–24%) in UASB than DEP and DBP (0–3%). Seasonally, larger removals of phthalates were observed during the summer season. Risk assessment showed that the treated effluents had low risk of DEP, DBP, and BBP. However, the hazard quotient (HQ) of DEHP was greater than 1. To comply with regulations, dilution requirement of effluents was investigated which showed that a dilution factor of 4.4 in summer and 2.1 in winter is required for effluents of UASB + Pond-based treatment plant.

Herbul black henna (hair dye) have been widely used as cosmetic agents to temporarily change the color of hair. Their use was tremendously increased in the past decade. Especially, hair dye containing paraphenylenediamine (PPD) is extensively used globally because of its abundance and low cost. PPD, one of the main chemicals in hair dye, is known as a toxin. Hair dye has various adverse effects, including negative impacts on human health, especially during pregnancy and on aquatic environment. Although a large amount of dyes has been released into the environment, studies on environmental toxicity of these substances are still poorly understood. Hence, the main objective of this study is to evaluate the potential cardiovascular toxicological effects of hair dye on zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryo as a model. After exposing zebrafish embryos to various concentrations (100, 200, 300, 400, 500, and 600 μM), their cardiotoxicity and other teratogenic effects were examined for various exposure periods ranged from 24 to 96 hpf. As a result, the tested embryos could not survive over intervals of 48 h after 72 and 96 hpf at higher concentrations (300, 400, 500, and 600 μM), except the lower concentration cases (100 and 200 μM) some embryos were survived, respectively. However, hair dye increases mortality and decreases yolk stalk length, heart rate and severely affects heart looping in zebrafish embryos. In addition, the dye was observed to induce cardiovascular defects in transgenic Tg (fli1a:EGFP) and Tg (flk1:EGFP) zebrafish embryos at environmentally realistic dye concentrations. However, further study using bioassays is fundamentally required to predict the toxicity of hair dyes, aside from providing the information on their safe levels for living organisms. Therefore, the present results would be vital for the ecological risk assessment of hair dye, particularly for freshwater aquatic ecosystem and human health.

The study’s main purpose is to investigate the complex interaction between innovation, renewable energy consumption, and CO₂ emissions (CO₂e), under the Kuznets curve framework, for BRICS economies from 1980 to 2016. The empirical estimates drwan from the CCEMG technique highlighted the heterogeneous role of innovation. The results indicated that innovation activities have failed to disrupt CO₂e in China, India, Russia, and South Africa, except for Brazil. Second, the data showed that renewable energy consumption has mitigated CO₂e in the BRICS panel, Russia, India, and China, excluding South Africa. Third, the existence of the EKC hypothesis was confirmed in all the BRICS economies, excluding India and South Africa. Fourth, the causality estimations reflected a two-way causality between innovation and CO₂e; innovation and GDP per capita; innovation and renewable energy consumption; and between CO₂e and income, thereby confirming the acceptance of income-led emission hypothesis in for BRICS economies, and vice versa.

Reduction of mercury emission from coal combustion is a serious task for public health and environmental societies. Herein, Ce-doped TiO₂ (Ce/TiO₂) catalyst coupling with a novel optical fiber monolith reactor was applied to efficiently remove elemental mercury (Hg⁰) from coal-fired flue gas. Under the optimal operation condition (i.e., 1.5 mW/cm² UV light, 90 °C), above 95% of Hg⁰ removal efficiency was attained over the optical fiber monolith reactor coating with 3.40 g/m² Ce/TiO₂ catalyst. The effects of flue gas compositions on Hg⁰ removal performance were clarified systematically. Gaseous O₂ replenished the surface oxygen, hence maintaining the production of free radicals and promoting the removal of Hg⁰. SO₂, HCl, and NO inhibited Hg⁰ removal in the absence of O₂ due to the competitive adsorption and consumption of free radicals. However, SO₂ and HCl significantly enhanced Hg⁰ removal with the participation of O₂, while NO exhibited obviously inhibitory effect even with the assistance of O₂. H₂O also decreased the Hg⁰ oxidation capacity owing to the competitive adsorption and reduction of HgO. The optical fiber monolith reactor exhibited much superior Hg⁰ removal capacity than the powder reactor. Utilization of Ce/TiO₂ catalyst coupling with an optical fiber monolith reactor provides a cost-effective method for removing Hg⁰ from coal-fired flue gas.

Identifying the environmental factors and analyzing the causal mechanism of flash floods help to manage the risk. Maximum 24-h precipitation (MP), digital elevation (DE), slope degree (SD), soil type (ST), drainage density (DD), and vegetation cover (VC) are selected as the risk factors of flash floods in this study. Precipitation is the important meteorological components in flash floods; thus spatial characteristics of precipitation trend have been analyzed by using Mann-Kendall tests, and a positive trend of precipitation in Upper Hanjiang River is detected. Then, association rule mining approach is proposed to investigate the multiple environmental factors of flash floods, in which both single and multiple dimension data mining have been conducted by Apriori algorithm. Considering the high rate of 5-year return period floods in the flash flood inventory, further association rule mining after sampling has been conducted in order to deeply mine the causal patterns of flash floods in different risk magnitudes. Results show that soil type, slope degree, and digital elevation are the dominant environmental factors of flash floods in the study area, and precipitation is one of the important causal factors in severe flash flood hazards. It is also highlighted that flash floods might easily occur even with a slight rainfall present due to the instability of sand clay and saturated soil moisture. The proposed novel use of field data and data mining has the potential for providing procedures and solutions for an effective interpretation of flash flood mechanism. The results are expected to be applicable for decision-making and sustainable management in flooding risk.

In this work, activated carbon was synthesized by the carbonization of kendu fruit peel followed by chemical activation using ammonium carbonate as an activating agent to get modified kendu fruit peel (MKFP). The SEM and FESEM images of the biomaterial illustrated a highly porous honeycomb-like structure, further supported by the N₂ sorption isotherm analysis. The FTIR spectra specified the presence of oxygen-containing functional groups such as carboxyl, carbonyl, and hydroxyl on the adsorbent surface. Batch experiments were performed for the optimization of methylene blue (MB) dye removal. The adsorption process followed pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm model with a maximum adsorption capacity of 144.9 mg g⁻¹. No desorption was found because the adsorbent surface was bonded with the chromophoric group of the MB dye by means of strong chemical interaction evident from the high adsorption energy (E = 10.42 kJ mol⁻¹) and enthalpy change (∆H = 42.7 kJ mol⁻¹). Hence, the MKFP has the potential to act as an efficient bioadsorbent for MB dye removal. Graphical abstract

Wild edible mushrooms are rich in nutritions and popular among people, but wild edible mushrooms easily accumulate potentially harmful trace elements, and excessive intake will harm health. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential health hazards of long-term intake of wild edible mushrooms in Yunnan Province, China. The concentrations of trace element (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, Ni, and Zn) in 19 species of wild edible mushrooms in Yunnan Province were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Further processing of the data, the potential health risk assessments of consumers were evaluated by the target hazard quotient (THQ), hazard index (HI), and incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR), respectively. Results showed that concentrations of trace element in wild edible mushrooms decreased in the order of Zn > Cu > As > Ni > Cr > Cd > Pb > Hg. Compared with the maximum standard by the WHO/China, the averages of As, Cd, Cr, Hg, and Zn were significantly greater than the standard. Among the tested wild edible mushrooms, HI values of Leccinum crocipodium, Thelephora ganbajun, Lactarius luteolus, Tricholoma matsutake, and Polyporus ellisii were more than 1. Thus, Leccinum crocipodium, Thelephora ganbajun, Lactarius luteolus, Tricholoma matsutake, and Polyporus ellisii are the main sources of risk. The value of THQ in ascending order was as follows: Pb (0.11) < Cd (0.75) < As (4.27) < Hg (6.87). Thus, Hg are the primary sources of health risk in the wild edible mushrooms in Yunnan Province. ILCR₍Aₛ₎ values of Thelephora ganbajun, Tricholoma matsutake, Laccaria amethystea, and Polyporus ellisii were more than 10⁻⁴, these four samples are the primary sources of health risk. The mean values of ILCR for As in wild mushroom were 1.01 × 10⁻⁴. The results suggest that there was potential health risk to the consumer associated with the long-term consumption of wild edible mushrooms collected from Yunnan Province. We propose that the concentrations of trace element should be periodically monitored in wild edible mushrooms.

This is the first study on the biosorption of Cu²⁺ and reactive yellow 145 (RY145) dye by citric acid (CA), NaOH, and heat-treated Chlorella vulgaris (Cv). Influence of contact time, initial adsorptive concentration, and biomass dosage on the biosorption process was explored. The biosorption kinetics and isotherm were comprehensively investigated as well. The Fourier transform infrared analysis proved the successful insertion of carbonyl groups on Cv surface by CA modification and the intensification of all Cv functional groups by heat treatment. CA modified Cv was the best biosorbent for RY145, 0.5 g/L removes 97% of 10 mg/L solution (pHᵢ 2) in 40 min. The biosorption was favorable, occurred via the formation of a monolayer of RY145 on the homogenous surface of CA-modified Cv and followed the pseudo-second-order kinetics. On the other hand, heat-treated Cv was the best biosorbent for Cu²⁺, 0.5 g/L removes 92% of 10 mg/L solution (pHᵢ 5) in 5 min. The biosorption of Cu²⁺ on heat-treated Cv was complex and involves more than one mechanism. The Langmuir theoretical monolayer saturation capacity of RY145 on CA-modified Cv was comparable to other biosorbents, while that of Cu²⁺ on heat-treated Cv was drastically superior.

Fluoride is widely distributed in the environment and has been associated with the development of different health hazards in animals and humans. Argan oil (AO) is a natural vegetable oil with various beneficial pharmacological effects. This study was designed to investigate the potential protective effect of AO supplementation as pre-treatment or co-treatment on sodium fluoride (NaF)–induced nephrotoxicity in rats. Male Sprague Dawley rats (n = 50) were randomly assigned to one of five equal groups: control group, AO-treated group (6 ml/kg b.wt.), NaF-treated group (20 mg/kg b.wt.), pre-treated group, and co-treated group. All rats were daily administered by oral gavage for duration of 30 days. The results showed that AO administration significantly improved renal function and antioxidant status and decreased the lipid peroxidation in NaF-treated rats. Additionally, AO normalized the renal levels of inflammatory markers and mRNA expression level of the intermediate filament protein genes, indicating NaF-induced podocyte damage was ameliorated. Histopathological evaluation of the kidney confirmed the before mentioned biochemical results. AO counteracted the nephrotoxic effects of NaF in rats particularly at co-exposure. These results concluded that AO administration exhibited a significant nephroprotective effect against renal injury induced by NaF in rats.

In this work, we have prepared cerium oxide (CeO₂) nanoparticles (NPs) by laser ablation in water at different laser energies. The structural and optical properties of synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), and UV-Vis absorption. XRD results confirmed that the synthesized cerium oxide NPs were crystalline in nature with cubic structure. SEM investigations show that the nanoparticles having a spherical shape with diameter ranged from 26 to 37 nm depending on the laser energy. The antibacterial activity and minimal inhibition concentration of synthesized CeO₂ NPs against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were examined. Bacterial adhesion test of cerium oxide NPs was also determined under different incubation temperatures. Cytotoxicity of CeO₂ NP effect against the human throat cancer was studied. The cytotoxicity effect of CeO₂ NPs synthesized at 160 mJ on the cancer cells caused a free radical releasing which causing oxidative stress. The cytotoxicity effects of ceria NPs against human throat cancer (RD rhabdomyosarcoma cell line) and mouse fibroblast L cell (L20B cell line) growth were 33% and 13%, respectively.