Air quality prediction is highly important in view of the health impacts caused by exposure to air pollutants in urban air. This work has presented a model based on support vector machine (SVM) technique to predict daily average carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations in the atmosphere of Tehran. Two types of SVM regression models, i.e. -SVM and -SVM techniques, were used to predict average daily CO concentration as a function of 12 input variables. Then, forward selection (FS) technique was applied to reduce the number of input variables. After converting 12 input variables to 7 using the FS, they were fed to SVM models (FS-(-SVM) and FS-(-SVM)). Finally, a comparison among SVM models operation and previously developed techniques, i.e. classical regression model and artificial intelligent methods such as ANN and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) was carried out. Determination of coefficient (R2) and mean absolute error (MAE) for -SVM (-SVM) were 0.87 (0.40) and 0.87 (0.41), respectively, while they were 0.90 (0.39) and 0.91 (0.35) for ANN and ANFIS, respectively. Results of developed SVM models indicated that both FS-(-SVM) and FS-(-SVM) regression techniques were superior. Furthermore, it was founded that the performance of FS-(-SVM) and FS-(-SVM) models were generally a bit better than the best FS-ANFIS and FS-ANN solutions for short term forecasting of CO concentrations.

Emerging contaminants are distributed in to the environment from various anthropogenic activities. These Emerging contaminants (ECs) are mainly composed of products, such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products (PCPs), surfactants, plasticizers, pesticides etc. The present conventional system of waste treatment are not designed to treat these contaminants. Complex structure of these pollutants and their existence at low concentration makes them untraceable and hence found to be difficult in removal of these by present waste treatment. These chemicals are considered as threat to human health and environment. Therefore, disposal and treatment of these chemicals of emerging concern have been a key concern in the field of water treatment and its reuse. Biosensors can be used for biomonitoring of these contaminants with of biological system. Bioremediation plays an important role in the treatment of these pollutants of emerging concern. This review discusses about the sources, effects, and challenges in biomonitoring and bioremediation related to these emerging contaminants.

The human health impacts caused due to exposure to criteria outdoor air pollutants PM2.5, PM10 and NO2 were assessed in present study. The human health effects associated with exposure to atmospheric air pollution in NCT Delhi were estimated utilizing the AirQ+ v1.3 software tool integrated with Ri-MAP during the study period 2013-2018 considering 80% of the whole population subjected to air pollution exposure. Taking into account the World Health Organization (WHO) (2016) guidelines, the inter-annual average concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, and NO2, concentration response relationships and population attributable fraction (AF) or impact fraction (IF) concepts were adopted. The excess number of cases (ENCs) of Mortality (all) natural cases 30+ years, acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI), lung cancer (LC), ischaemic heart disease (IHD), stroke, incidence of chronic bronchitis in children, postneonatal infant mortality, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), prevalence of bronchitis in children, incidence of asthma symptoms in asthmatic children in the year 2013 were 48332, 2729, 5645, 26853, 22737, 120754, 34510, 5125, 9813, 3054, 17203 and 682, respectively. Within half of a decade i.e. in year 2018, the ENCs of Mortality (all) natural cases 30+ years, ALRI, COPD, LC, IHD, stroke, incidence of chronic bronchitis in children, postneonatal infant mortality, prevalence of bronchitis in children, incidence of asthma symptoms in asthmatic children increased significantly and were 72254, 3471, 6547, 7568, 32358, 28233, 150110, 50810, 9019, 862, 29570 and 1189, respectively.

With an increase in the global pollution, there is requirement for an alternative to the fossil fuels. Non-edible vegetable oils are highly promising for producing liquid fuels like diesel. Jatropha is a potential feedstock for biodiesel, currently utilized in India and many parts of the world. The optimization of reaction conditions such as temperature, time, catalyst and molar ratio for biodiesel production is important in reactor design. However, oils have characteristics reaction properties for optimum yield. Therefore, there is the need to identify such parameters in Jatropha oil ethyl esters production. Preparation of biodiesel from Jatropha oil ethyl esters using conventional homogeneous process. Optimization of Jatropha ethyl esters using Response surface methodology is done and data so obtained are fed to the design experiment software for analysis. The Jatropha ethyl esters yield was 92.62%. Maximum production of Jatropha oil ethyl ester was achieved with the process parameters viz molar ratio 8.5, reaction time 89.67min, reaction temperature 70.1°C and catalyst.0.62wt%.

The aim of this study was to compare the selected aquatic plants ability to remove nitrate from wastewater. Excess of these nutrients in water can directly affect human health (methemoglobinaemia) or indirectly through the products of secondary pollution include eutrophication. Negative impact of nutrients excess in surface water often causes the destruction of water ecosystems, and therefore, common substances of these elements must be monitored and managed. Spectrophotometric technique was commonly used for quick and simple analyses of nutrients in waste water. There are calibration curves for each nutrient and for the determination of their concentration. Phytotechnology is one of the biological wastewater treatment methods or processes to eliminate nitrate contaminant from aquatic system. So as to avoid the eutrophic formation of fresh water and to determine the efficiency of nitrate utilization by specific aquatic plants which include Utricularia aurea and Salvinia molesta were collected from a eutrophic lake at Theerthamkara, Kerala. The samples were allowed to grow in nitrate solution for about one month at different concentrations. The optical density (OD) of nitrate solution at 410 nm was measured on alternative days of the experiment by using UV spectrophotometer. After 33 days of treatment periods, the maximum amount of nitrate removed in terms of percentage was found to be 95% by Utricularia aurea and 92% by Salvinia molesta at 100 ppm nitrate concentration. The results revealed that the aquatic plant (carnivorous) based system of phytotechnology was productively removed the nitrate load from the synthetic wastewater containing nitrate.

Limited available water resources have rendered wastewater reuse an important issue to specialists in most developed countries, today. The current study works on membrane filtration for treatment of industrial wastewater. By comparing the two methods of membrane bioreactor (MBR) and hybrid membrane electro bioreactor (MEBR) processes, it finds that earlier fouling in the membrane occurs in the first method than the second one. In the membrane electro-bioreactor, in addition to membrane filtration and activated sludge process, the chemical process of electrical coagulation is performed concurrently, wherein the final product quality is improved and the fouling, reduced. In comparison to membrane bioreactor, this method is capable of removing higher percentage of chemical oxygen demand (COD) as an index of organic matters. Accordingly, it is recommended to use the membrane electro-bioreactor method as an alternative to membrane bioreactor for advanced wastewater treatment.

In the present study, size-segregated samples of PM were collected from urban and semi-urban traffic junctions in Agra, India. PM samples were collected during the monsoon season (July to September 2015) using Grimm portable aerosol Spectrometer. The recorded mean concentration of PM10 at urban site was 137.09±61μg/m3 and at semi-urban site was 270.14±21μg/m3, which were higher than the suggested limits by WHO and NAAQS India. Mean concentrations of PM2.5 were 41.45±40μg/m3, 48.88±34μg/m3 at the urban and semi-urban site, respectively. Whereas, mean concentrations of PM1.0 were 30.35±64μg/m3, 12.64±4μg/m3 and PM0.25 were 0.06±0.05μg/m3, 0.17±0.06μg/m3 at the urban and semi-urban site, respectively. It was estimated that PM10, PM2.5 and PM0.25 values were higher at semi-urban site than urban sampling site but in case of PM1.0 concentrations were higher at urban site. The surface morphology of PM2.5 was studied using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The results show flaky, branched chain like aggregates of carbon bearing spheres at the urban site while cluster, branched, spherical and fluffy particles at semi-urban site. The presences of carbonaceous particles were enhanced due to use of fuel combustion. Chemical analysis was done using ICP-AES. Concentrations of Zn and Cu were found higher while Ni was least in comparison to other metals. Elemental composition present in PM2.5 was used to calculate the health risk assessment to identify the possible health effect on human health, hazards quotient (HQ) values was found higher as Ingestion to inhalation pathways while ECR values found higher as Cr(VI)>Ni>Pb for both medium (Air and Dust).

Groundwater plays a pivotal role as the largest potable water sources in Bangladesh. As agriculture is widely practiced in Bangladesh, potential nitrate (NO3¯) pollution may occur. Besides, excess amount of arsenic (As) has already been found in groundwater in many parts of Bangladesh including the present study area. Thus, this study was conducted to assess the NO3¯ status along with some trace metals and associated human health risk in the Central Bangladesh. A total of 99 groundwater samples were analyzed to assess human health risk due to high level of NO3¯ and other trace elements i.e. arsenic (As), iron (Fe), and manganese (Mn). Concentration of NO3¯ was determined using column chromatography and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) was used to measure As, Fe and Mn concentrations. It was found that the mean concentration of NO3¯ 253.17 (mg/L) in the groundwater samples exceeds the recommended guideline value by the WHO (50 mg/L). Moreover, this study area also characterized with elevated concentration of As (19.44 μg/L), Fe (811.35 μg/L), and Mn (455.18 μg/L) in the groundwater. Non-carcinogenic human health risk was calculated by justifying HQ (Hazard Quotient) and HI (Hazard Index) and attributed potential conjunctive human health risks due to NO3¯, As, Fe and Mn in the study area. Child (9.941) is more vulnerable than adult (7.810) considering non-carcinogenic human health risk. Moreover, high carcinogenic risk was found due to As contamination in the groundwater samples and children (1.94×10-3) are more susceptible to carcinogenic risk compared to adults (9.2×10-4).

In Thailand, RSS chamber of community-level rubber cooperatives can be classified into two models: old and new model, named after the years of their establishment. Hot gas as a heat supply from Para-rubber (PR) wood (Hevea brasiliensis) combustion is used for removing moisture from the natural rubber (NR) sheets. Smoke and soot particles from PR wood burning has effected to the quality of the NR sheet and the pollution in the workplace area and lead to health problems of the worker. Cascade impactors are equipment for measuring the smoke and soot particles size distribution from PR wood combustion. PAHs compounds from PR wood combustion were found 15 different PAHs components (Tekasakul et al., 2005; Furuuchi et al., 2006). Important methods in decreasing smoke and soot particles from combustion of PR wood for rubber smoking chamber are separation equipment and ventilation designed by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique. In this article, the separation method is focused on smoke and soot particle collection to maintain the quality of the NR sheet. This equipment is reviewed both indoor and outdoor, for example, an impaction wall, electrostatic precipitator, stainless-wire, etc. This review indicates that the ESP installing between the furnace and the smoking chamber is suitable to eliminate aerosol particles at the rubber smoking industry. In addition, CFD technique reports is aimed at collecting aerosol particles for decreasing smoke and soot particles emission from rubber smoking chamber is presented.

The method of air pollution level evaluation of urban landscapes on the basis of D. melanogaster cohort analysis has been suggested. The method implies the binding to the landscape areas of the city. Within each landscape area traps and cultivators for D. melanogaster have been installed in sanitary-protective zones of various enterprises as well as on the background territory with the least level of anthropogenic load serving as the control. Based on specifically elaborated technique for field conditions, the amount of eggs, third instar larvae, pupae and imago has been calculated. Then, using the computer program ImageJ, the square under the curves of cohort survival has been determined which is considered overall cohort viability (OCVD.m). The previously mentioned indicator considers cohort survival at all stages of ontogenesis. In addition, the expressed in percentage indicator of oppression (IO OCVD.m) in relevance to the control OCVD. m affects the level of air pollution of urban landscapes by emissions of various enterprises. The relevance between these indicators is determined by a four-level scale elaborated specifically for the purpose. The method has been tested based on technogenic landscapes of Chernivtsi, Ukraine. The sensitivity of the suggested indicator for a wide range of pollutants has been proved and its ability to respond to different levels of greening of similar enterprises has been shown.