The effluent generated from a thermal power plant waste is a mixture of several chemicals and to identify the effect of these chemicals on soil, a case study on naturally contaminated sites at Al-Musayyib region, Hilla city in Iraq has been carried out. Soil and water samples were collected from the sites and analyzed to identify the pollutants and their effect on soil characteristics. Laboratory experiments were formulated to model the field around a channel collecting effluent for about 20 years and the pollutant transport pattern through the soil using soaking process was studied. Experiments were also conducted to study the effect of pollutants on engineering properties of the soil. For environmental management, permeable reactive barriers are used as stabilization and solidification technology to control the pollution through the soil. In this study, the suitability of locally available materials like activated granular carbon was also investigated as reactive media in permeable reactive barrier. The results have shown higher change in geo-environmental properties of soil with the soaking period and it has also been proved that granular carbon improves the geo-environmental properties of polluted soil.

The response of climate to perturbations in GHGs is location dependent. Six experiments: control (CTRL); double CH4; double CO2; double N2O; halved CFC11 and halved CFC12 were carried out to reveal the local area response to different GHGs levels in the atmosphere over West Africa. Double CH4, CO2 and N2O generally induce wetness but they also induce localized dryness at the hilly and mountainous areas of SW Ghana, Central Nigeria, Northern Cameroon and South-eastern Central African Republic. Increase in ground temperature is induced by double GHGs with intensified warming at the north by double CO2. However, patches of cooling are induced at the north. Changes in specific humidity induced by double CO2, CH4 and N2O are similar. Intensified tropical easterly jet is induced by double GHGs. A dipole anomaly of wind with positive at the lower latitude and negative at higher latitude is induced at the northern part of West Africa. Significant reduction in cloud water content is induced from 900 to 400 hPa and 0 and 15oN.

Coal mining and related industry can increase heavy metals (HMs) concentrations in soil, atmosphere and wheat, thereby posing metal-associated human health risk via food ingestion.  In this study, 58 samples of soil, wheat, and dust were collected from Xuzhou coal mine eastern China, six kinds of HMs Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, As and Cr were studied for their spatial distribution in wheat, enrichment in different wheat organs (roots, stem leaf, glumes, and grains), pollution level and potential human health risks. Results show that the spatial distribution of HMs in wheat grains were likely to coal while dissimilar to soil.  Most of heavy metals enrichment in wheat organs retained in glume and stem leaf after roots, and followed by grains, indicating that HMs was accumulated more from atmospheric dust as compared to other sources. Meanwhile, 71% of wheat grains were contaminated by HMs comprehensively in Xuzhou coal mine area. The potential health risk indicated that ingestion of food was the main exposure route causing non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk for inhabitants. This study provides basic information to control HMs enrichment from atmospheric dust and human health risk management policies in the mining area.

In this study, in the removal of macro (P, S, Na, K, Ca, Mg) and micro (Sb, Ba, Co, Cu, Fe, Pb, Mn, Hg, Mo, Se, Ag, Zn) elements in the effluent of Elazig Wastewater Treatment Plant, the efficiency of Lemna minor L. and Lemna gibba L. has been studied comparatively. For this aim, fronds of these plants have been adapted to the effluent of the treatment plant that feeds pilot scale reactors. The concentrations of elements in fronds harvested during the working period were analyzed by ICP/MS. The analytical results show that Lemna minor L. has a high accumulation potential for P, Sb, Ba, Co, Fe, Pb, Mn, Hg, Ag and Zn while Lemna gibba L. has a high accumulation potential for S, Na, Ca, Mg, Cu, Mo and Se. The results show that Lemna minor L. and Lemna gibba L. can be used as phytoremediators of wastewater.

The present study investigates the influence of individual and combined hydrogen peroxide and thermal pre-treatment of waste activated sludge on anaerobic digestion. For so doing, it employs anaerobic batch reactors in the mesophilic conditions. For comparison, soluble fractions of organic matter, biogas production, biochemical methane potential, removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD), and volatile solids (VS) have been measured during the anaerobic digestion process in systems with and without pre-treatment. Hydrogen peroxide pre-treatment has been tested in two concentrations of 30 g H2O2/kg VS and 60 g H2O2/kg VS and thermal pre-treatment has been performed at two temperatures of 75℃ and 90℃. According to the results, the solubalisation of organic matter considerably improves, when combined hydrogen peroxide and thermal pre-treatment is employed. As a result, in comparison to the control reactor, higher amounts of biogas (71%) and methane (81%) have been produced in the bioreactor, pre-treated with combined hydrogen peroxide (30 g H2O2/kg VS) and heat (90 ℃). In addition, the removal efficiency of COD and VS from the digested sludge has been enhanced in the pre-treated reactors (up to 39% and 92%, respectively) in comparison to the control reactor. The improved methane yield, COD, and VS are of paramount importance, not only because higher amounts of renewable energy are obtained from the anaerobic digestion process, but because sludge transport costs are reduced and the digested sludge obtains a higher potential application to agricultural lands.

Filter cake is one of the main waste products of zinc processing industries and it contains a high amount of toxic heavy metals. In this research in order to reduce heavy metals leachability in filter cake, Portland cement, natural pozzolan, diammonium phosphate (DAP), triple superphosphate (TSP), lime, zinc oxide and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) have been used. This research’s results suggest that even though leachability of lead in the filter cake is quite low, it should be noted that limestone doubles the solubility level of Pb due to the mineralogical nature of the waste, by converting its sulphate form (PbSO4) to its carbonate form (PbCO3), which is more soluble. TSP was the only additive capable of reducing the leachability of metal elements in the filter cake as well as stabilizing the amounts of Pb and Cd in TCLP extracts within the limit. Although all additives were able to reduce Cd leachability, TSP and ZnO had the most remarkable efficiency. According to XRD results, the main factor in lead stabilization using TSP was a reduction in the amount of PbSO4 (with high Ksp) and an increase in PbS (with low Ksp), which ultimately reduced lead leachability. The Pozzolan which was used for the first time as a stabilizer demonstrated a good performance in reducing the leachability of Cd, Ni and Cu. In addition, due to the pseudo-cementitious properties of Pozzolan, it can reduce leachability of metal elements, along with other additives such as cement, by increasing the solidification efficiency.

The need for oil and natural gas as a major source of energy is vital. On the one hand, it has affected the political and economic equations at the international, regional and national level. On the other hand, it has had negative effects on sociocultural, legal, and environmental aspects as well as on the physical and mental health of human beings. Therefore, the need to provide an environmental policy that addresses the various dimensions of the oil and gas industry will be necessary. The present paper aims to set up a conceptual model of environmental policy for sustainable development in the oil and gas industries of the Kurdistan Region through the use of these 6 components: political, economic, sociocultural, technological, legal and environmental. It will also be using the techniques of PESTLE, SWOT, SPACE, FANP, FDEMATEL, and simulation with the VENSIM software. The results show the weights of the criteria respectively are Political; 1.59, Economic; 0.78, Sociocultural; 0.00, Legal; -0.99, Technological; -0.61 and Environmental; -0.70. So that all components are important, but that political and economic factors have a significant influence on environmental policies and oil and gas industries. Sociocultural components have a neutral role and the technological, legal and environmental components are impressible. Finally, fifteen strategies for the formulation of an effective environmental policy in the oil and gas industry were presented.

Ahvaz can be regarded as one of the most polluted cities in the world in terms of air pollution. Successive years of drought and weather conditions in recent years have resulted in particulate matter (PM10) concentration in Ahvaz. In this study, using probability distribution techniques, an appropriate threshold to identify the PM10 maximum extreme concentrations (MEC) has been detected. Based on log-logistics probability distribution, which has the best fit to the data of PM10 concentration in Ahvaz, the 0.99 percentile threshold which is specified by 1516 μg/m³ is known as the primary PM10 concentrations in Ahvaz air. Based on the mentioned threshold, 24 days in which the PM10 concentration was equal to or more than the threshold were selected for synoptic analysis. Analysis of the circulation of weather types showed that two weather types circulations at 500 hPa level provide the climatic conditions for the occurrence of (MEC) caused by PM10 concentration ≥1516 μg/m³ in Ahvaz in the first type (which is for hot days). Under such condition, the closed high pattern of 500 hPa level is accompanied by the ground low pressures. In the second type (which is for cold and transitional days) the closed high pattern of 500 hPa level is accompanied by the ground high pressures. In addition, this study showed that the (MEC) of PM10 in both models fed with several different sources at different levels and due to being multi-source, storms can create MEC.

The present investigation has been conducted to assess the status of physico-chemical parameters as well as the concentrations of some selected heavy metals to understand the present scenario of water quality at Perak River basin, Malaysia. The temperature, turbidity, pH, EC and DO values of all the examined samples have been within the range of 25.0 to 30.5 0C, 39.5 to 168.00 NTU, 6.8 to 7.33, 30.3 to 113.8 μs/cm and 3.62 to 7.01 mg/L, respectively. The concentrations of trace metallic constituents have been determined by means of Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES), giving the following ranges: Cr: 0.01 to 0.052 mg/L; Pb: 0.01 to 0.03 mg/L; Zn: 0.11 to 0.92 mg/L; Fe: 1.38 to 5.55 mg/L; Mn: 0.10 to 0.25 mg/L and Ca: 2.55-23.23 mg/L, respectively. The concentrations of heavy metals at downstream of Perak River water were higher than the concentrations of upstream. The order of heavy metallic constituents in the water samples was Fe > Zn > Mn > Cr > Pb. R mode Cluster Analysis (CA) suggests that multiple anthropogenic activities like urban runoff, agricultural runoff, discharges of vehicles washing and workshops, land use changes, unplanned settlements, domestic effluents, wastewater of livestock husbandry farms etc., are influencing the physico-chemical parameters and heavy metals concentrations of Perak River water. The present study is highly significant for providing baseline information of potential hazardous level of heavy metals to human health, environment, and sustainable water resources management for economically and environment friendly uses of Perak River.

Environmental assessments are essential in order to align the process of country's progress towards sustainable development. It is important for the project to be implemented in direction of sustainable development, which is to carry out a project in such a way that in both short and long term, the greatest advantages and the least harm are inflicted on the environment, economy, communities, and culture. Environmental assessment of gas pipelines is classified as a linear projects; therefore, the design and implementation of an appropriate method in accordance with the project's linearity, due to the use of GIS tools and multi-criteria decision-making methods, can be a good innovation for this study, in comparison to previous similar projects. The purpose of this study is to identify the best option for gas pipelines. Once the project's study scope is specified, the study based the sensitive environmental parameters of the area (based on the requirements of environmental impact assessment reports) on two methods of Analyzing Hierarchical Process (AHP) and overlaying methods for sub-parameters, ranking and prioritizing the area of evaluation. Based on the results, the first and second priorities belong to the parameter of distance and position in the protected areas with a weight of 29.9% and hydrology with a weight of 24.7%, followed by slope, vegetation, land use, and fault, which are ranked third to seventh, respectively. After identifying the best map option, the study extracts the critical points for the construction of pipelines, identifies the negative effects of the project, and presents the environmental impacts and preventive measures, reduction and compensation of negative effects in both construction and operation phases, along with a summary of the Environmental Management Program (EMP).