Petroleum contains carcinogens and toxic substances that can have an unfavorable impact on environmental quality and human health when the soil becomes contaminated with crude oil.  BBiostimulation and bioaugmentation are the main strategies in the bioremediation of oil-contaminated soils. To decompose old-aged petroleum pollution in saline soil, a full factorial experiment was utilized. The experiment was designed using a completely randomized design with four factors: bacterial inoculum, sugarcane bagasse, chemical fertilizer, and molasses. The application of these factors was conducted in four separate experiments: pretreatment of agricultural soil and spent mushroom compost, pretreatment of spent mushroom compost, pretreatment of agricultural soil, and no pretreatment. After a 60-day incubation period at 28 ˚C, the results showed that the organic wastes of molasses and spent mushroom compost in combination with bacterial inoculum reduced total petroleum hydrocarbons 38 and 33.3%, respectively. Molasses had a considerable impact on increasing the efficiency of bacterial inoculum 1 and bacterial inoculum 3. Similarly, spent mushroom compost was found to significantly affect bacterial inoculum 1. In addition, bagasse was observed to accelerate the bioremediation process by improving the physical conditions of the soil. In the pretreatment of agricultural soil, bagasse in combination with bacterial inoculum 1 and chemical fertilizer reduced the total petroleum hydrocarbons significantly (38%) compared to the control treatment. These results highlight the effectiveness of organic wastes as biostimulation agents in promoting the growth and reproduction of the soil microbial community, as well as establishing the bacterial inoculum.

In this study, the effectiveness of bioremediating 1,2-dichloroethane (DCA)-contaminated groundwater under different oxidation–reduction processes was evaluated. Microcosms were constructed using indigenous bacteria and activated sludge as the inocula and cane molasses and a slow polycolloid-releasing substrate (SPRS) as the primary substrates. Complete DCA removal was obtained within 30 days under aerobic and reductive dechlorinating conditions. In anaerobic microcosms with sludge and substrate addition, chloroethane, vinyl chloride, and ethene were produced. The microbial communities and DCA-degrading bacteria in microcosms were characterized by 16S rRNA-based denatured-gradient-gel electrophoresis profiling and nucleotide sequence analyses. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was applied to evaluate the variations in Dehalococcoides spp. and Desulfitobacterium spp. Increase in Desulfitobacterium spp. indicates that the growth of Desulfitobacterium might be induced by DCA. Results indicate that DCA could be used as the primary substrate under aerobic conditions. The increased ethene concentrations imply that dihaloelimination was the dominate mechanism for DCA biodegradation.

Bioactivator is a kind of agent rich in nutrients and a variety of active substances, which is considered as one of the green methods to deal with the pollution of natural waters because of its high efficiency, low cost, environment-friendly, and causing no secondary pollution. In this study, a green bioactivator formulation composed of fulvic acid, seaweed extract, and molasses (fulvic acid 1.744 mg/L: seaweed extract 1.756 mg/L: molasses 0.5 mg/L) was obtained by mixture design experiments, which can improve the removal rates of COD and NH₃-N by 15–25% and 7–15%, respectively, compared with untreated water. The effects of adding various carbon sources, trace elements, and growth factors on the basis of the developed formulation were explored to optimize the developed formulation and improve the effect of water remediation; the experiment results showed that sodium acetate and glucose as carbon sources were beneficial to the removal of NH₃-N; Mn, Mo, and B as trace elements can further increase the COD removal rates by 5.0–8.2%; niacin and vitamin B12 (VB12) as growth factors can increase COD removal rate by 7.5% and 4.7%, respectively. This study provides a green biological activator with good application prospect, which can be applied to the remediation of polluted water.

Sugarcane molasses, which is a kind of microbial carbon source, is a viscous by-product of the refining of sugarcane into sugar. However, experiments were designed to ascertain the mechanism and kinetics of Cr(VI) reduction with sugarcane molasses without adding microbes in aqueous solution. Results indicated that sugarcane molasses can reduce Cr(VI) to Cr(III) at pH values that range from 2.0 to 6.1 when no bioreduction occurs in the reaction. Furthermore, the reaction mechanism was proven to be that Cr(VI) acts as an electrophile that readily accepts electrons from the phenolic hydroxyl group of plant polyphenol, and it is then reduced to Cr(III) and in the process oxidizes the phenolic hydroxyl group to a quinone. Meanwhile, the reaction could be described by the pseudo-first-order kinetic model with respect to Cr(VI) concentration. The reaction rate constants were 324.2, 65.9, 21.9, and 14.4 h⁻¹ when pH values were 2.0, 3.5, 5.0, and 6.1, respectively, at 20 °C. The k ₒbₛ increased 3.36, 7.02, and 13.48 times with the temperature adjusted from 5 to 10, 20, and 30 °C.

The proposed research study aims to improve the productivity of solar still (SS) by using low-cost and eco-friendly materials. The aforementioned objective was achieved by enhancing the evaporation rate of seawater in the absorber basin and the condensation rate over the glass cover of the solar still. In this study, the low-cost and eco-friendly materials used for enhancing the evaporation rate in the solar still were molasses powder (MP), sawdust (SD) and rice husk (RH). In addition to these materials, bamboo straw (BS), banana leaf stem (BL) and rice straw (RS) were used as absorbing materials over the glass cover for enhancing the condensation rate. The experiments were carried out under similar meteorological conditions, and the results of the modified solar still were compared with the conventional solar still (CSS). The productivities of CSS, SSMP, SSRH, SSSD, SSBS, SSBL and SSRS were about 2250 mL/m², 2383 mL/m², 2467 mL/m², 3033 mL/m², 2700 mL/m², 2683 mL/m² and 3367 mL/m², respectively. The results of the experimental investigation highlighted that the SSSD had a comparatively better evaporation rate and 34.81% higher yield than CSS. Besides, SSRS had a comparatively better condensation rate and a 51.88% higher yield than CSS. Furthermore, the combination of sawdust (SD) and rice straw (RS) was investigated for the combined enhancement of evaporation and condensation. The solar still with sawdust and rice straw (SSSDRS) showed a 62.88% improvement in productivity with 3633 mL/m² when compared to CSS. Also, the economic analysis showed that the cost per litre (CPL) of freshwater obtained from SSSDRS was about ₹ 1.9 ($ 0.025) with a payback period of 4.4 months which was the least when compared to all the considered cases.

In this article, sugarcane molasses and agave juice were compared as potential feedstocks for producing bioethanol in Mexico in terms of their environmental impact and economic factors. Life cycle assessment (LCA) using SimaPro was carried out to calculate environmental impacts by using a cradle-to-gate approach. A preliminary economic analysis was performed to determine the economic feasibility of the studied options. Also, capital goods costs were obtained using the Aspen Plus economy package. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis was involved to compare the environmental and economic viability of producing bioethanol from sugarcane molasses and agave juice. LCA results revealed that cultivation and fermentation were the most harmful stages when producing bioethanol from sugarcane molasses and agave juice, respectively. Furthermore, when it was derived from agave juice rather than sugarcane molasses, it had more environmental benefits. This was ascribed to the lower consumption rate of fertilizers, pesticides, and emissions given off from the former. Regarding financial aspects, the preliminary analysis showed that producing bioethanol was not economically viable when grid energy alone was used. However, if power from the grid is partially replaced with renewable energy, producing bioethanol becomes economically feasible, and sugarcane molasses is the most suitable feedstock.

The application of three simple and cost-effective technologies for ex situ remediation of the sediment of Begej River in Serbia is presented in this paper. In the first step, conventional electrokinetic treatment (EK) was carried out to reduce the amount of contaminated sediment and enhance the accumulation of metals. Subsequently, stabilization/solidification (S/S) treatment was applied to the remaining portion of polluted sediment to immobilize the accumulated metals. At the same time, the influence of accelerated carbonation on the effectiveness of the treatment was evaluated. The immobilizing agents used in this study included bio ash produced by combustion of wheat and soy straw mixture and bio ash derived from molasses incineration. After the treatments, the risk assessment was performed by using the sequential extraction procedure (SEP) and TCLP and DIN 3841-4 S4 leaching tests. The results obtained after the EK treatment revealed a reduction in the amount of polluted sediment to a half. Leaching tests and SEP performed on S/S mixtures after a 28-day maturation period indicated that accelerated carbonation decreased the mobility of critical metals, especially in wheat and soy straw mixtures. Moreover, based on the leaching tests, all prepared mixtures were categorized as non-hazardous and safe for disposal according to the relevant Serbian regulations. The newly developed method that combines EK and S/S treatments with the addition of accelerated carbonation produced reduced volumes of stabilized sediment which is safe for disposal.

Soil salinity adversely affects the growth, yield, and quality parameters of sugar beet, leading to a reduction in root and sugar yields. Improving the physical and chemical properties of salt-affected soils is essential for sustainable cultivation and sugar beet production. A field experiment was conducted at the Delta Sugar Company Research Farm, El-Hamool, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt, to evaluate the response of sugar beet to the application of beet sugar filter cake treated with sulfuric and phosphoric acid-treated, phosphogypsum (PG), desaline, humic acid, and molasses under saline soil conditions. The application of treated filter cake enhanced root length, diameter, and leaf area. The application of molasses enhanced root length, diameter, and leaf area as well. Application of molasses increased sugar content and root yield. The application of either treated filter cake or molasses produced the highest recoverable sugar yield. Linear regression analysis revealed that the root yield, quality index, and recoverable sugar yield increased in response to the increased availability of either Ca²⁺ or K content in the soil which increases in response to the application of soil amendments and molasses. The application of treated beet sugar filter cake and molasses increased the calcium, magnesium, and potassium availability in the soil. Treated filter cake is a promising organic soil amendment that enhanced the yield by 29% and yield-related traits of sugar beet by improving the physical and chemical properties of the soil.

Improving the chemical and physical properties of saline soils is crucial for the sustainable production of sugar beet and efficient processing of beet sugar. Here, the impacts of the application of treated filter cake on sugar beet biofortification under saline soil and sugar losses into molasses during beet sugar processing were evaluated for the first time. The application of treated filter cake significantly reduced K%, Na%, and α-amino-N while enhanced sucrose content and quality index of beet root juice. Consequently, sugar loss percentage, sugar loss yield, and relative sugar loss yield were reduced, whereas recoverable sugar yield was enhanced. Linear regression analysis revealed that quality index and sugar loss yield were increased, whereas sugar loss percentage and relative sugar loss yield were reduced in response to the reduction of soil Na⁺ content accompanied with increasing Ca²⁺ content in the soil increased. The results provide treated filter cake as a promising amendment for saline soil remediation for improving biofortification of sugar beet and reducing sugar losses during beet sugar processing.

In this study, we investigate the release of melanoidin-like product (MLP) from hybrid silica xerogels to control the quantity of MLP in the medium for lead phytoextraction. In the preparation of the hybrid organic–inorganic xerogels with MLP, tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), methyltriethoxysilane (MTES), propyltriethoxysilane (PTES), and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) were used as precursors. The experimental results suggest that the release of MLP can be easily controlled by partially substituting TEOS with the organosilanes. The addition of the organosilanes lowered the release rate of MLP in the following order of xerogels: TEOS, MTES/TEOS, PTES/TEOS, and APTES/TEOS. Furthermore, a novel phytoextraction of lead through the Indian mustard was conducted using the MLP-doped TEOS xerogel. Results show that the addition of TEOS xerogel did not have any influence on the growth of the mustard, whereas the lead uptake significantly increased in a nutrition medium with 1-mM Pb(NO₃)₂. In conclusion, the beneficial effect of the MLP-doped TEOS xerogel on lead phytoextraction was confirmed.