In the study, we have analysed the impact of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr) and copper (Cu) on fine root biomass and the associated level of bioacumulation heavy metals in fine roots under alder plantings (Alnus incana, A. glutinosa and A. viridis) growing on technosols developed from combustion wastes and extremely poor quaternary sands excavated by sand mining. The control sites were located in natural habitats in the Bieszczady Mountains within the natural range of the occurrence of the investigated alder species. Results showed that the bioaccumulation index of heavy metals in the alder roots depended on technosol properties, in particular, pH and texture, and, to a lesser extent, on the total content of heavy metals in soil. Additionally, it was found that in some concentration ranges, Pb and Cr had a stimulating effect on the growth of fine roots.

Olive mill wastewater (OMW) is a major problem in the olive oil producing countries, because of its highly polluting power. Its physico-chemical characterization showed that this effluent has an acidic character (pH = 4.9) and it is rich in organic and mineral matter (chemical and biochemical oxygen demands, polyphenols, chlorides, sulphates, nitrites, nitrates, etc.). In this work, the corrosion behaviour of carbon steel (X70) immersed in olive mill wastewater sample solution, collected from an agro-industry, was studied. The obtained results show that the rate of corrosion increases because of the attack of acids exist in the OMW (Cl-, polyphenols, Ni, Fe). For two days of immersion, the potential stretches toward more positive values due to the oxidization of carbon steel. After the extension of the immersion until 7 days, we recorded the formation of the corrosion product on the surface of the working electrode. On the other hand, the analysis of surface samples by scanning electron microscope coupled with EDX confirms the formation of a layer obtained after the corrosion process.

Based on the systematic collection of the shallow groundwater samples in the urban area of Suzhou, Anhui province, China, the concentrations of zinc have been analysed by statistical and spatial methods. The results show that the zinc concentrations in the groundwater samples are low, and all the samples can meet the national groundwater quality standard of China with Class I and II, which means that the groundwater can be used for drinking purpose. However, the zinc concentration has high coefficient of variation and low p-values of normal distribution, implying that it has been affected by anthropogenic activities, which was also demonstrated by the consistency of the distribution of the samples with high zinc concentrations and the areas with high density of human and transportation, as well as the high-high cluster of the spatial autocorrelation analysis of zinc. Based on the statistical analysis, the environmental background has been calculated to be 0-62.6 μg/L, whereas the environmental background has been calculated to be 0-69.8 μg/L with spatial analysis. They are different because of the different basis of the two methods, the former based on the hypothesis of normal distribution of the background values, whereas the latter do not need such a hypothesis.

Plankton diversity acts as an ecological indicator of aquatic ecosystems due to their rapid response to environmental changes. Plankton samples were collected monthly for a period of 24 months. A total of 35 genera of phytoplankton belonging to three classes, Bacillariophyceae (21 genera), Chlorophyceae (9 genera) and Cyanophyceae (5 genera) were found. The abundance of phytoplankton was in the order, Bacillariophyceae (83%) followed by Chlorophyceae (9%) and Cyanophyceae (8%). Maximum phytoplankton density in winter season was attributed to the low water temperature, gentle water velocity, high transparency, availability of sufficient nutrients and most stable substratum. Eight genera of zooplankton belonging to three major groups, Protozoa (2 genera), Rotifera (5 genera) and Copepoda (1 genus) was recorded. Shannon-Wiener diversity index of phytoplankton and zooplankton was computed maximum to be 2.61 and 1.56 respectively in the winter season. PCA indicates Cymbella, Navicula, Synedra, Cocconeis, Achnanthidium, Amphora, Nitzschia, Tabellaria, Fragilaria, Ulothrix, Spirogyra and Phormidium to be most dominant genera in the Mandakini river. Total alkalinity, water temperature, transparency, velocity, dissolved oxygen, free carbon dioxide, turbidity, phosphate and nitrate were found to be the most important factors affecting plankton diversity in the Mandakini river.

In this paper, with different types of optimal surfactant monomers and potentiators mixed, the optimum formula of the new surfactant was obtained. The new surfactant with low toxicity, low cost and good dust removal effect was developed by the simulated flue gas experiment and verified the removal efficiency of the new surfactant on the particulate matter in the flue gas. It provided a reference for the industrial application in ultra-low emission of coal smoke. The results showed that the new surfactant could effectively reduce particulate matter in the simulated flue gas, and be the best to the dust particle size less than or equal to 1 micron. The optimum formula was worked out to be: anionic surfactant sodium dodecylbenzene-sulfonate (SDBS) 0.06%, anionic surfactant rapid penetrant T 0.06% and inorganic salt NaCl 1%.

Mango seed kernel, a byproduct of the mango processing industry, is known to be a rich source of phenolic compounds. Phenolic compounds are bioactive in nature and highly valuable due to a number of potential health and therapeutic benefits making it a good component in functional food formulations and for the nutraceutical industry. Through spray drying, the bioactive fraction from an industrial waste mango seed kernel extract was recovered through encapsulation using maltodextrin (MD), gum Arabic (GA), and starch (ST) as encapsulating agents. The encapsulating agent type used alongside inlet drying air temperature was varied and observed to have an influence on encapsulation yield and on the powder qualities measured such as total phenolic content, antioxidant activity, moisture content, bulk density and water solubility index. Among the encapsulating agents used, MD was found to be the most desirable encapsulating material with regards to the desirable properties of spray-dried powders in terms of functionality and applicability.

Dyes are important source of water pollution and their degradation products may be carcinogens and toxic to mammals. For evaluation of oxidative degradation of dye wastewater, the kaolinite supported zero valent iron were synthesized. The surface morphology of kaolinite and kaolinite supported zero valent iron were observed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The degradation of dye C.I. Reactive Red 15 in aqueous solution by kaolinite supported zero valent iron was investigated in details. The effects of the dosage of kaolinite supported zero valent iron, pH in solution, reaction time and the initial dye concentration on the degradation were studied. The results showed that the pH value, the dosage of kaolinite supported zero valent iron and the initial dye concentration had an important impact on dye degradation. Under these conditions, such as 80 mg/L dye C.I. Reactive Red 15, 20 min of reaction time, 0.5 g kaolinite supported zero valent iron particles, pH value of 2.0, temperature of 308 K and 120 rpm respectively, the degradation rate of dye C.I. Reactive Red 15 reached 82.3%.

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is one among several other technologies which are being vigorously explored on the assumption that they can achieve pollution control with concomitant generation of ‘clean’ energy. In this study, the techno-economical problems associated with MFCs have been identified and catalogued in the context of the fuel cell technology in general and MFCs in particular. It is shown that even as the attention of the supporters of MFCs is riveted on the ability of MFCs to generate electricity directly from organic waste, the high costs and the pollution that the making, operation, decommissioning, and disposal of MFCs entails, is not taken into account. Once this is done, MFCs prove not only prohibitively costly but environmentally incompatible as well. In this respect MFCs are one among numerous other waste-to-wealth technologies whose promise was never fulfilled because the energy they generated might have been clean but the process of that generation was very unclean as well as expensive. The study underscores the harm caused by the expectations associated with MFCs and other similar, perpetually ‘likely to succeed’, technologies because in the vain hope that such options will one day enable ‘clean’ treatment of waste we keep generating ever larger quantities of waste instead of focusing on what is viable: waste reduction and conservation of resources.

The major and overriding factors affecting water quality and the aquatic ecosystems in the coastal areas are sewage and nutrient inputs from municipal and industrial wastewater, depletion of seaside contrivances, risks of public health as well as loss of biodiversity. The coastal area of the Karachi harbour is most heavily polluted due to these reasons. In this study, we proposed the artificial neural network (ANN) models to monitor and control the sea surface water quality of the Karachi coastal area along the harbour. Recently, various types of ANN have been successfully applied in hydrological fields. In this study, Nonlinear Auto Regressive eXogenous Neural Network (NARX-NN) shall be applied to predict the concentration of heavy metals in coastal sea surface water of the Karachi harbour area. This method provides significant insight into the comparative study of two different training functions of NARX-NN, namely, Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) and Scale Conjugate Gradient (SCG). The physical parameters like sea surface temperature (SST), salinity, tides and pH are taken as an input and the chemical parameters chromium, copper, lead, nickel and zinc are taken as output individually for all six locations. The performance of the model was evaluated by statistical criteria that include a correlation coefficient (r) and mean square error (MSE). The prediction results indicated that the LM training function is superior to SCG training function. Hope this study is helpful for local authorities and policy makers to develop a new infrastructure and install a water treatment plant to reduce the water pollution of the harbour area.

Zero-valent iron permeable reactive barrier (ZVI-PRB) has attracted great attention for its high efficiency and low cost in the in-site remediation process. However, passivating oxide layers are usually yielded and covered on the surface of ZVI, which shorten the service life of PRB. In this study, Morganella morganii subsp was used to hydrolyse the passivating oxide layers on ZVI. The hydrolysing condition was optimized. The highest Cr(VI) removal efficiency was achieved with glucose of 4 g/L, yeast powder of 6 g/L and pH = 7. With Morganella morganii subsp, the maximum removal quality of ZVI was increased from 19.96 mg/g to 24.35 mg/g, indicating Morganella morganii subsp could improve the reduction ability of ZVI. SEM-EDS analysis also showed that M. morganii subsp could promote the surface corrosion of ZVI and adsorb Cr simultaneously.