Renewable fuels are desirable as alternate fuels with ignition quality equivalent to diesel and its combustion parameters, but unsuitable for direct operation in diesel engines as fuel because of their higher viscosity. Hence, fuel and engine-based modifications are being developed to improve the performance, emission and combustion behaviour of the compression ignition engines. The higher viscosity of fuel oil does not let it vaporize even after it is being injected into the combustion chamber. Therefore, converting the higher viscosity of vegetable oil into biodiesel improves the atomization resulting in better combustion. Issues related to the use of biodiesel as working fuel are its oxidation stability and performance. In this study, safflower oil, neem oil and corn oil are used as fuel oils. The experimental results displayed a significant increase in the brake thermal efficiency of 28.25% for corn oil methyl ester (COME). HC and CO emissions are lower with corn oil methyl ester. At full load, the smoke emission reduces slightly with corn oil methyl ester about 58% opacity respectively, but it is still lower than diesel having 66.2% opacity.

Biochar is thought to be a good adsorption material for the adsorption of heavy metals. In this study, biochar derived from Torreya grandis nutshell was prepared through to be pyrolyzed under oxygen limited conditions in a muffle furnace. The adsorption experiments of Cr(VI) were carried out. Through Elemental Analyzer, Specific Surface Area Meter, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, a fundamental understanding of the physical and chemical properties of biochar was gained. The results showed that it was a smooth sheet and irregular arrangement structure. The elements of C, H, O and N of biochar are 45.21%, 5.18%, 46.16% and 3.45% respectively. BET specific surface area of biochar is 42.24 m2/g. A lot of oxygencontaining functional groups (– OH, COO –, – C – OH and so on ) appeared on the surface of biochar. It can be described by the pseudo-second order kinetic rate model and Langmuir isotherm model. The adsorption process is a monolayer chemical process. The adsorption mechanism of biochar on heavy metal Cr(VI) contains the electrostatic attraction between biochar and Cr2O7 2-, HCrO4 - and CrO4 2- ions in aqueous solution and complexation reaction of oxygen-containing functional groups (– OH, – COOH and so on) and Cr2O7 2- , HCrO4 - and CrO4 2- ions on the surface of biochar.

Faced with the problems of hypolimnion dissolved oxygen (DO) depletion and water quality deterioration, a newly designed water quality improvement technology named water-lifting aerators (WLAs) was put into utilization to solve these problems in Jinpen Reservoir. During the hypolimnion oxygenation period, after 20 days operation of 8 WLAs with compressed air volume of 10 m3/h, the thickness of anaerobic layer was compressed from 17 m to 3.2 m. As for artificially induced mixing, after 18 days operation of 8 WLAs with compressed air volume of 50 m3/h (full capacity), the reservoir was mixed, and DO of the bottom water increased to more than 8 mg/L. Removal rates of TN, TP, NH4-N and TOC reached 25.5%, 50%, 29.8% and 19.4% respectively. Results of Biolog method showed that the activity of microbes and carbon source utilization were improved in the water of the controlled area compared with the uncontrolled area during the operation. WLAs have been proved to be an efficient technology in water quality improvement especially in hypolimnion oxygenation and artificially induced mixing.

Increasing concern over rising pollution levels in city limits has resulted in stringent emission regulations for automotive diesel engines. Exhaust emissions from diesel engines are composed of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, nitrates, soot particles and soluble organic faction. Post treatment, emission control technique including diesel oxidation catalysis system, diesel particulate filtration system and selective catalytic reduction system have been developed to reduce the emission levels from automotive engines to meet the latest emission norms. Selective catalytic reduction system, which is used for control of nitrate emission has to be intensified to bring down the emission levels as per the requirements for EURO VI and Bharat Stage VI emission norms. This paper provides a comprehensive overview on the post treatment exhaust emission control systems. A detailed literature survey has been conducted on the state of art nitrate emission control technologies including the use of alternate solid reactants for ammonia generation and catalysts for deNOx reactions, considering the adverse effects of byproducts released by these systems.

Despite its small share of 0.15% in the global market, the oil palm production in the Philippines is being contested with environmental issues on continued deforestation, increased emissions from illegal burning of trees, and the marginalization of indigenous communities. As a developing industry, there is a need to further conduct of social and environmental impact studies to gain more acceptance, thereby, pursue growth and expansion. In view of the environmental concerns, this study aimed to conduct a life cycle assessment of the crude oil palm with North Cotabato, Philippines as the case study. Using cradle to gate approach, the potential environmental impacts were established: non-renewable energy of 0.394 MJ/kg oil, carbon footprint of 1.150 kgCO2/kg oil, ozone creation potential of 2.429×10-3 kg NOx /kg oil, acidification potential of 0.0138×10-3 kg SO2 /kg oil and water footprint of 5,797.3 L/kg oil. Compared to six locations in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, the environmental impacts and performance of the oil palm production in North Cotabato were satisfactory given the same topographical conditions. Opportunities to mitigate and decrease the impacts were also identified, namely improving oil extraction rates; increasing ratio of shell as biomass fuel; prudent application of nitrogen fertilizers and optimizing delivery loads and schedules. The results of this study can be a reference for future environmental assessments in other locations.

This paper presents an overview of the implication of geomorphology and sedimentology on the chemical characteristics of sediments of River Sadong, Malaysia. There is limited published work on the effect of topography, climate, soil and geology on the sediments lying in the River Sadong. Studies have been undertaken around Kota Samarahan and Asajaya areas whereby some heavy metal constituents and their environmental effects were determined. The study entails the description of the depositional processes alongside with physical and geochemical changes, without neglecting natural and anthropogenic effects.

The estimation of carbon sequestration in forest ecosystem is necessary to plan for mitigating the impacts of climate change. The present study was conducted in the Cedrus deodara (CD) forests of Mandi district in Himachal Pradesh to estimate the biomass and soil organic carbon stock at various sites of the study area. Overall, 18 plots of 0.1 ha were laid at six sites randomly in the year 2014-15. In CD forest, the mean stem density was 354 trees/ha and the mean basal area and mean volume were 62.28 m2/ha and 719.71 m3/ha respectively. The mean carbon stock for tree aboveground, tree belowground, understorey and litter were 189.93 ton/ha, 37.99 ton/ha, 1.71 ton/ha and 0.72 ton/ha respectively. The soil organic carbon percentages varied from 1.98-2.83%, 1.72-2.11% and 1.56-1.74% at soil depth of 0-15cm, 15-30cm and 30-45cm respectively, and the soil organic carbon stocks ranged from 24.41-32.22 ton/ha, 21.59-29.03 ton/ha and 19.17-26.78 ton/ha at soil depths of 0-15cm, 15-30cm and 30-45cm respectively. The total mean soil organic carbon (SOC) stock up to a depth of 0-45cm was found to be 76.16 ton/ha. The organic carbon percentage showed a decreasing trend with increasing soil depth.

Hydrogen is recognized as the green energy with the greatest potential for future development, but currently, China’s hydrogen production is highly dependent on raw fossil materials, which conflicts with the original intention of developing hydrogen energy. As the abandoned hydropower problem in Southwestern China is serious. The current strategy can be focused using surplus hydropower to produce hydrogen in a green way. In this study, the technical cost and advantage of hydrogen produced using surplus hydropower using the levelized cost of energy model was analyzed. The results show that cheap surplus hydropower will considerably reduce the cost of hydrogen produced using electrolyzing water, and the cost is comparable to that of coal gasification hydrogen production. The hydropower to be abandoned by Southwestern China annually can drive the hydrogen production with 1.2 million tons per year, providing a technically and economically feasible approach to developing hydrogen energy.

Cotton is one of the most important fibres and cash crop of India, which plays a dominant role in the country’s industrial and agricultural economy. About 60% of all commercialized agrochemicals, are insanely applied on cotton fields so that cotton has become one of the most polluted and chemical-intensive agricultural crops in the world. The present study was undertaken to determine the concentration of different organophosphorus pesticides residue in cotton samples collected from agriculture fields of Tijara tehsil, Alwar. A total of 150 samples were randomly collected from the cotton farm. Concentrations of all pesticides in the cotton samples were determined by GC/MS and LC-MS. About 38% of the total analysed samples were contaminated with different residues, among which 10.66% were having the concentration of pesticide residue above the MRL. The study revealed that cotton is highly contaminated with Monocrotophos (22%) followed by Acephate (10%), Chlorpyrifos (7.33%) and Profenofos (5.33%). The possible reasons for high levels of pesticides in cotton are the massive use of pesticides and farmers were not having sufficient scientific knowledge about the chemical nature of pesticides that have been used or the effects of pesticides on the environment and the effects of pesticides exposure on public health, when using them indiscriminately. The presence of pesticides in cotton samples is a serious threat to humans because they further show pesticide residues in cotton products. Therefore, it is recommended to continuously monitor the use of this pesticide in the study areas.

This paper reports the study of photodegradation of Congo red dye which is a major pollutant in dyeing industry using copper(II) chloride dihydrate as a catalyst. The rate of degradation is improved by direct supply of air instead of using other strong oxidants. The effects of other parameters such as pH, catalyst dosage, initial dye concentration and irradiation time were studied. It was found that over 100% of the dye removal can be effectively achieved within 90 minutes of air oxidation at pH 11 and a catalyst dosage of 0.4g/L. The kinetics on the rate of degradation of the dye has also been examined by using UV-Visible spectroscopic technique. Air oxidation of Congo red dye using CuCl2.2H2O was found to obey pseudo-first-order kinetics with respect to the substrate concentration. The study suggests the use of homogeneous CuCl2.2H2O catalyst for the photodegradation of dyes of reactive azo dye category. Future studies on the use of catalytic activity of CuCl2.2H2O for industrial effluents containing azo dyes as a major pollutant can be affected.