The present study synthesizes a novel adsorbent by coating Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles with amino functionalized mesoporous silica. The FTIR spectrums indicate that silica has been successfully coated on the surface of Fe3O4 and 3-aminopropyl tri methoxysilane compound have been grafted to the surface of silica-coated Fe3O4. The XRD analysis shows the presence of magnetite phase with cubic spinel as a highly crystalline structure, before and after silica coating. The study also investigates the potentials of amino functionalized silica-coated Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles for extraction of Pb2+ and Cd2+ cations from aqueous solutions, where it has used flame atomic absorption spectrometry to determine ion concentration in both recovery and sample solutions. The optimum conditions of removal of Pb2+ and Cd2+ ions turn out to be pH= 4-8 with a stirring time of 20 minutes. The minimum amount of 3M nitric acid to strip ions from functionalized magnetic nanoparticles is 10 mL. The experimental data show the adsorption isotherms have been well described by Langmuir isotherm model, with the maximum capacity of the adsorbent being 1000.0 (± 1.4) μg, 454.5 (± 1.6) μg of Pb2+, and Cd2+ per each mg of functionalized magnetic nanoparticles, respectively. Finally, the proposed adsorbent is successfully applied to remove Pb2+ and Cd2+ ions in wastewater samples.

A newly developed Smart Pouch with enclosed biomaterial (Aloe vera and coconut husk powder) has been experimented for elimination of heavy metals i.e. (Pb2+, Cu2+, Ni2+ and Zn2+) from wastewater. The effect of concentration, pH, temperature, contact duration etc. was investigated using batch experiments which resulted that the Pouch may be accepted for convenient, efficient and low-cost accumulation of several heavy metals simultaneously from waste water. The maximum Pb removal was 99.99%, 93.21% for Cu, and for Ni, it was 91.97% whereas for Zn, 86.41% was obtained and also, the uptake capacity of pouch was quite sensitive towards initial metal concentration in the studied range of 10-200mg/L present in wastewater. The findings were further interpreted by quantum chemical study as theoretical support, various adsorption isotherms, FTIR, SEM, XRD, and physiochemical properties of metal ions to justify the synergized performance of new Pouch. A good correlation was found between experimental methods and theoretical findings.

Municipal solid waste landfills are significant parts of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The emission of significant amount of landfill gas has generated considerable interest in quantifying such emissions. The chemical composition of the organic constituents and potential amount of landfill gas that can be derived from the waste were determined. The chemical formulae for the rapidly biodegradable waste (RBW) and slowly biodegradable waste (SBW) were determined as C39H62O27N and C36H56O20N, respectively. The triangular method was used to calculate landfill gas obtainable from rapidly biodegradable waste over a 5-year period and for slowly biodegradable waste over a 15-year period. A plot was obtained for a landfill life span of 20 years. The volume of methane and carbon dioxide from RBW were 12.60 m3 and 11.76 m3 respectively while those from SBW were 6.60 m3 and 5.48 m3 respectively at STP. For the initial deposit of 2002 the highest landfill gas emission rate occurred in 2007 at 0.2829 Gg/yr with an average cumulative emission of 0.3142 Gg while for a landfill closed after five years the highest landfill gas emission rate was in 2010 at 1.2804 Gg/yr with an average cumulative emission of 1.5679 Gg while this cumulative emission will start declining by the year 2029.

This study was carried out to analyze the variations of Benzene, Toluene, and para- Xylene (BTp-X) present in the urban air of Delhi. These pollutants can enter into the human body through various pathways like inhalation, oral and dermal exposure posing adverse effects on human health. Keeping in view of the above facts, six different locations of Delhi were selected for the study during summer and winter seasons (2016-2017). The concentrations of BTp-X on online continuous monitoring system were analyzed by chromatographic separation in the gaseous phase followed by their detection using a Photo Ionization Detector (PID). The concentrations of BTp-X were found maximum at a high traffic intersection area as 68.35±48.26 µg/m3 and 86.84±32.55 µg/m3 in summer and winter seasons respectively and minimum at a residential area as 4.34±2.48 µg/m3 and 15.42±9.8 µg/m3 in summer and winter seasons respectively. The average BTp-X concentrations of summer and winter seasons were found as 9.88, 20.68, 28.52, 49.75, 64.04, and 77.59 µg/m3 at residential, institutional, commercial, low traffic intersection, moderate traffic intersection and high traffic intersection areas respectively. Clearly, it has been found that the concentrations of these compounds were more on the traffic areas indicating that the vehicles are the major emission source. Hence, it may be concluded that the number of vehicles along with the high traffic congestion on the city streets and roads results in more accumulation of aromatic compounds and deteriorate the urban air quality.

The Kolleru Lake is a famous Ramsar wetland of international significance. In this study heavy metal contents in water and sediment samples are reported. It is found that certain potentially toxic metal ions like chromium (4.5-80 µg/L), copper (1-20 µg/L), manganese (1-313 µg/L) and zinc (1.2-57 µg/L) are present in variable quantities in the lake water. When normalized with respect to concentration of each element in clean surface waters, the normalized ratio is found to be highly heterogeneous (chromium=4.5-80, copper=0.3-3.3, manganese=0.07-20.8, zinc= negligible to 2.8). At several places, the normalized ratio is greater than 1, indicating anthropogenic input.  The concentration of iron (4-20 µg/L) in water, however, is less compared to the clean surface waters.  Chemical analyses and quality assessment of Kolleru Lake sediments have been carried out through estimation of four pollution indices, which include enrichment factor (EF), geoaccumulation index (Igeo), contamination factor (CF) and pollution load index (PLI). Evaluation of these contamination indices with respect to average sediment composition of Taylor & McLennan (2001) confirmed that the Kolleru Lake sediment is polluted with a number of heavy metals that include cobalt (EF=2, Igeo=0.64, CF=2.4) , chromium (EF=1.5, Igeo=0.18, CF=1.7), copper (EF=1.6, Igeo=0.29, CF=1.9), manganese (EF=1.3, Igeo=0, CF=1.4), vanadium (EF=1.5, Igeo=0.19, CF=1.7) and zinc (EF=1.5, Igeo=0, CF=1.5). The level of contamination, however, is minor to moderate and is in good agreement with the heavy metal chemistry of the lake water. Based on these results some measures for environmental rehabilitation of the lake and its surroundings have been proposed.

The effluent treatment plant sludge is one of the major sources of contamination with toxic metals. Since the sludge contains heavy metals, it must be pretreated to reduce the contamination. The heavy metals from the sludge can be reduced/ separated by washing it with a suitable leaching solution. In the present study, the efficiencies of three leaching solutions to remove the contaminants from an industrial sludge were studied and the leaching process was modeled. The leaching solutions used are 0.1 N HCl, 0.1 N EDTA and 0.1 N FeCl3. The efficiencies of leaching solutions were assessed by conducting column leaching experiments on the sludge and the migration rates of heavy metal ions of Cu, Zn, Ni, Cd, Pb, Fe and Cr present in the sludge were estimated. These migration rates are useful to estimate the quantity of leaching solution required at the site to achieve the required levels of concentrations in the sludge.

Over the last few decades, Anzali wetland has been at risk of pollutants, especially from heavy metals. The present research analyzes some physical and chemical properties and heavy metals concentration in 27 points in nine stations of Anzali wetland. The samples of each station have been mixed, acidic digested, and analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The mean concentrations of Fe, Mn, Pb, Zn, As, Cd, Cu, Hg, Ni, and Cr have been 50527.2, 1210, 23.3, 79.4, 8.8, 0.23, 32.1, 0.25, 31.6, and 31.5 mg/Kg, respectively. In addition, it can be seen that the concentrations of Cd (0.31 mg/Kg) and As (25.47 mg/Kg) in Hendekhale station, Hg (0.52 mg/Kg) in Pirbazar station, and Pb (52.69 mg/Kg) in Khazar villa station surpass world surface rock average. According to contamination factor (CF), in case of Mn and Pb, both Hendekhale, and Khazar Villa stations have been in considerable contamination level. The calculation of Pollution Load Index (PLI) shows that Hendkhaleh and Khazar Villa stations have had moderate pollution. The mCd index survey indicates that only in Hendekhale station, has heavy metals contamination been at a low degree level of contamination. According to PER index, mercury metal contamination in Hendekhale station faces medium risk. The calculated mean ERM quotient indicates the probability of heavy metals toxicity, equal to 21% in the examined stations.

The Caspian trout is an endangered and quite vulnerable fish, considered for a natural protection program in the southern area of the Caspian Sea. Copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO-NPs) are toxic substances, which induce oxidative stress, not to mention other pathophysiological states. The toxicity of nanoparticles on fish needs more characterization for short- and long-term effects.  Thus, the present paper examines the acute and chronic effects of CuO-NPs on hematology and plasma biochemistry of juvenile Caspian trout. After determining the lethal concentrations (LC50), juvenile Caspian trout is exposed to 0.1 LC5096 CuO-NPs for 28 days in three replicates. The blood samples are then collected from fish after 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours as well as 1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks of exposure to the CuO-NPsto deal with short- and long-term effects, respectively. Analysis of these samples shows that some hematological factors like hemoglobin (Hb), red blood cells (RBC), and hematocrit (Hct) are significantly increased after acute exposure, compared to the control group (p<0.05). The number of white blood cells (WBC), neutrophilis, and monocytes are also increased after acute and chronic exposure with significant differences (p< 0.05). Furthermore, the levels of lactate dehydrogenase after acute and alkaline phosphatase along with aspartate aminotransferase after acute and chronic exposure are significantly increased (p<0.05). Thus, results indicate that the presence of even a tiny amount of CuO-NPs can affect most haematological and metabolic enzymes of the Caspian trout in the short and long-term exposure. It is therefore essential to prevent these nanomaterials from entering the aquatic environment.

To determine the amount of air pollutants, produced by Iranian automakers, and compare it with old and retrofitted vehicles have become one of the important tools of urban management. The present research uses International Vehicle Emission (IVE) modeling software in order to verify SAIPA Co. fleet emissions, based on Euro 4 emission standard (SAIPA Co. recognized as a superior Iranian brand in vehicle industry). There has been attempts to determine pollutant emission from Saipa Co.-manufactured cars in the city of Tehran, in accordance with Tehran Driving Cycle along with modeling and lab results which have over 90% conformity with modeling and lab results of New European Driving Cycle. According to ISQI’s 100,000-km test results, the amount of CO2 emission modeling from X100 and Tiba2’s has been about 160 gr/km, which has been within the range, whereas the modeled CO2 emission rate has been 232 gr/km in TDC, i.e., 1.5 times more than laboratory test, due to different driving cycle usage. Significant differences between the values obtained in the emission lab and modeling at New European Driving Cycle, Tehran Driving Cycle, and Tehran Air Quality Control Company report, indicate that relying on hypothetical situation leads to inapplicable emissions value from light vehicles.

The main objectives of the present study are to both evaluate the level of awareness about air pollution and examine the determinants, likely to affect this awareness. As a result, it discusses influential factors on air pollution awareness, presenting findings from a case study, conducted in the city of Isfahan, Iran, wherein 400 individuals have been selected via proportional random sampling and the data has been collected by means of a questionnaire, provided by the authors, the validity of which has been confirmed by a panel of experts. As for the assessment of the questionnaire’s reliability, this study has used Cronbach's alpha to find out that it has been beyond 0.7 for all variables. The data have been analyzed, using descriptive and inferential statistics, such as the extent of mean, standard deviation, the coefficient of variation, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. Results from the latter show that level of education, level of using information sources, membership, motivation, and participation could explain 50% of the variations in the level of awareness concerning air pollution.