Hydrocarbon storage tanks, the major source of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emission, have unfavorable effects on atmospheric chemistry and human health. The present study aims at calculating the amount of VOCs’ loss with an emphasis on benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX). It has been performed by means of TANKs 4.0.9d and WATER9 Software Programs, as well as field measurement for validation. It, then, provides control strategies to reduce the amounts of VOCs in the shipping port area. Emission sources include 32 internal and external floating roof storage tanks, 7 pump houses, and one wastewater treatment pool. Field sampling has been done, using SKC sampling pump and activated carbon adsorption tube according to NIOSH 1501 standard. The obtained samples have been analyzed with FID and GC-MS. Results show that the total emission of VOCs has been equal to 933.25 tons/year, the majority of which (881.74 tons/year ) comes from storage tanks, followed by pump houses and wastewater treatment pool (47.88 and 3.63 tons/year, respectively). BTEX emission includes 1.49 tons/year of benzene, 3.2 tons/year of toluene, 0.57 tons/year of ethylbenzene, and 1.53 tons/year of xylenes. In order to reduce the emission of VOCs from the storage tanks, the paper proposes to change the design of tanks’ roof and sealing. As a result, the total emission of VOCs could be reduced by 18.27%, equivalent to 158.16 tons/year. The total cost of the oil vapors loss is estimated at 253’000 $/year, part of which (i.e., up to 43’000 $/year) could be saved by applying the proposed control strategies.

Iran is one of the largest producers of CO2 in the world. Therefore, in order to lessen its greenhouse gas production, thus complying with the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), it should cut its CO2 emissions by about 4% by 2030, compared to 2010. Hence this paper aims at finding an early solution to this problem. Because the country's electricity sector is responsible for the highest annual CO2 emissions, the paper focuses on two technologies that can effectively reduce CO2 emissions from the electricity sector, namely renewable energy and Combined Heat And Power Plants (CHP) with CO2 capture and storage (CCS). Further it assesses adoption of these technologies and their impact on Iran's annual CO2 emission by 2030, considering two main scenarios: the optimistic scenario (OS) which assumes that the policies of the Sixth Development Plan (SDP) will be fully realized as well as the fair scenario (FS) which believes that SDP policies will be followed to some extent by the end of the program. To this end, twenty six micro-factors, affecting CO2 emissions, have been identified and classified into five different groups. The detected micro factors are then introduced to a Gradient Boosting Decision Tree (GBDT) Algorithm to identify the most important specific microscopic factors in Iran. The final detected micro-factors have finally been included in a Gaussian regression model to predict CO2 emissions in Iran by 2030. The findings suggest that if Iran intends to comply with the INDCs, CHP-CCS technology is a solution that has an early return, compared to renewable technologies.

Inoculation of endophytic bacteria has been accepted as a promising technique to assist phytostabilization of heavy metal-contaminated soils. This study investigated the effects of inoculating a bacterial strain closely related to Pseudomonas pyschrophila on the plant growth, and phytostabilization of fast-growing trees Acacia mangium and Eucalyptus camaldulensis, growing on artificial spiked soil with Pb up to 1500 mg/kg. After 60 days, the results showed that the strain closely related to P. pyschrophila slightly increased Pb bioavailability and Pb uptake by A. mangium, compared to non-inoculated controls. It slightly reduced Pb bioavailability in soil, but it did not affect the Pb uptake by E. camaldulensis, compared to non-inoculated controls. Interestingly, it was able to significantly increase Pb content in shoots by 3.07-fold in A. mangium and 2.95-fold in E. camaldulensis, compared to non-inoculated controls. Although the inoculation of the strain closely related to P. pyschrophila slightly increased the translocation factor (TF) of Pb in both tree species, their TF values were less than 1. This indicates that plants associated with the strain closely related to P. pyschrophila are suitable for phytostabilization of A. mangium, which may be used for cleaning up Pb contaminated sites. This strain displayed different influences on plant species and was found not suitable for phytostabilization of E. camaldulensis.

Currently, the reduction of reactive dyes present in the textile effluent is a big challenge due to the threat to the environment. Existing physical and chemical methods contains many drawbacks. In the present scenario microbial reduction pays much attention and current focus of research. Therefore, the present study isolated dye decolorizing bacterium Exiguiobacterium aurantiacum (TSL7) from activated sludge and identified by molecular techniques and 16S rDNA sequences. Decolorization was not established in Bushnell hass broth composition in accordance with absence of carbon and nitrogen source. The three environmental factors pH, starch and beef extract were selected from Plackett-Burman design experiments. The central composite design was employed to optimize the maximum removal of remazol golden yellow (91.83%) with pH, 6.89, starch, 0.49% (w/v) and beef extract 0.67% (w/v) respectively, These key factors playing a major role in the bacterial dye removal and the interactions were evaluated statistically. The optimal value of significant factors supports to maximize the dye removal competency of isolated bacterium. Thus results exhibited that local salt tolerant bacterium Exiguiobacterium aurantiacum (TSL7) could be a potential candidate for an in situ-bioremediation of inorganic salts abundant textile effluents in the textile industry.

A newly developed Smart Pouch with enclosed biomaterial (Aloe vera and coconut husk powder) has been experimented for elimination of heavy metals i.e. (Pb2+, Cu2+, Ni2+ and Zn2+) from wastewater. The effect of concentration, pH, temperature, contact duration etc. was investigated using batch experiments which resulted that the Pouch may be accepted for convenient, efficient and low-cost accumulation of several heavy metals simultaneously from waste water. The maximum Pb removal was 99.99%, 93.21% for Cu, and for Ni, it was 91.97% whereas for Zn, 86.41% was obtained and also, the uptake capacity of pouch was quite sensitive towards initial metal concentration in the studied range of 10-200mg/L present in wastewater. The findings were further interpreted by quantum chemical study as theoretical support, various adsorption isotherms, FTIR, SEM, XRD, and physiochemical properties of metal ions to justify the synergized performance of new Pouch. A good correlation was found between experimental methods and theoretical findings.

Greenhouse experiment was conducted for four months using Leucaena leucocephala and Pleurotus tuber-regium to determine their bioremediation potentials. Leucaena leucocephala, Pleurotus tuber-regium and Leucaena leucocephala combined with Pleurotus tuber-regium were tested for their ability to improve nutrient (N, P, K, total organic carbon) and reduce heavy metals (Zn, Ni, Pb, Cu) of soil polluted with spent engine oil [5% (w/v)] and soil without spent engine oil was used as control. Bioaccumulation of nutrients and heavy metals in Leucaena leucocephala and Pleurotus tuber-regium were also determined. The highest reduction in Zn, Ni, Pb and Cu (41%, 48.39%, 61.60 and 52.72% respectively) were recorded in soil remediated with Leucaena leucocephala alone, reduction of 30.40%, 26.53%, 48.07% and 39.60% respectively were recorded in soil remediated with Pleurotus tuber-regium alone while in soil remediated with combined Pleurotus tuber-regium and Leucaena leucocephala, reductions of 32.7%, 33.43%, 88.41% and 46.22% respectively were recorded. Bioaccumulation of Zn, Ni, Pb and Cu in Leucaena leucocephala increased by 73.41%, 85.46%, 3366.04% and 125.53% respectively, similarly in Pleurotus tuber-regium by 30.16%, 21.67%, 71.11% and 53.21% respectively. These studies have shown that Pleurotus tuber-regium and Leucaena leucocephala are capable of bioremediating spent engine oil polluted soil although, treatment with Leucaena leucocephala alone tends to be most effective of these treatments.

In the present study, analytical solutions are obtained for two-dimensional advection dispersion equation for conservative solute transport in a semi-infinite heterogeneous porous medium with pulse type input point source of uniform nature. The change in dispersion parameter due to heterogeneity is considered as linear multiple of spatially dependent function and seepage velocity whereas seepage velocity is nth power of spatially dependent function. Two forms of the seepage velocity namely exponentially decreasing and sinusoidal form are considered. First order decay and zero order production are also considered. The geological formation of the porous medium is considered of heterogeneous and adsorbing nature. Domain of the medium is uniformly polluted initially. Concentration gradient is considered zero at infinity. Certain new transformations are introduced to transform the variable coefficients of the advection diffusion equation into constant coefficients. Laplace Transform Technique (LTT) is used to obtain analytical solutions of advection-diffusion equation. The solutions in all possible combinations of temporally and spatially dependence dispersion are demonstrated with the help of graphs.

Biomass derived from Tamarindus indica partially activated seed coat was investigated for the removal of nitrate ions from aqueous solutions. Batch experiments were performed to evaluate the parameters like pH, contact time, sorbent dose and initial nitrate concentration. pH of the solution played vital role. The maximum sorption observed at pH=7, sorbent dose 300mg, contact time at 120min, initial nitrate concentration 5mg. Physicochemical properties of the biomass were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis and Fourier Transform infra red (FTIR) spectroscopy. The SEM and FTIR data reveals the suitable surface and the presence of chemical functional groups such as hydroxyl, amide, carbonyl strong acid and primary amine on the biosorbent surface contributes to biosorption. The equilibrium isotherms and kinetics were deliberated. Biosorption equilibrium followed Langmuir isotherm. Pseudo second order kinetics provided better correlation of the experimental data in comparison with pseudo-first-order kinetic model. The study indicated that Tamarindus indica partially activated seed coat biomass found to be a novel biosorbent for the removal of nitrates from aqueous solutions.

This study was undertaken to evaluate a novel aerobic wastewater treatment model for the remediation of refinery effluents and to assess the removal efficiency of Bulkholderia cepacia strain AJI and Corynebacterium kutscheri strain AJ2 to clean oil waste from petrochemical company. Wastewater quality parameters including pH, BOD5, COD, TDS, OIL & GREASE, PHENOL concentration, TPH and THC were monitored at 5, 10 and 15 days of treatment and the removal efficiencies were calculated. Results indicated that the raw oily wastewater effluents used during this study had extremely high levels of all the tested parameters. The mean values  of  all physicochemical parameters  of the wastewater from primary tank at different treatment period were statistically different (P˂0.001) After 15 days of biological treatment, BOD5 ,COD, TDS, Phenol, TPH, Oil & grease level of the refinery wastewater were reduced by 95.60 %, 98.40 % , 66.34 % , 100 %, 97.60 %  and 96.20 % respectively. The detection of the catabolic genes in the bacterial isolates recovered from primary tank using polymerase chain reaction revealed that both Bulkholderia cepacia strain AJ1 and Corynebacterium kutsheri strain AJ2 carried alk B and C23O but C12O was not detected in both isolates. Naphthalene dioxygenase was detected in Bulkholderia cepacia strain AJ1 but not found in Corynebacterium kutscheri strain AJ2. After treatment the waste water was filtered in the secondary tank. The results of physicochemical parameters in the outlet vessel essentially confirmed that the mixed culture in the two column model successfully carry out bioremediation of refinery wastewater. Therefore, aerobic treatment model for the bioremediation of refinery Petroleum refineries generate great amounts of wastewaters that may become seriously dangerous, leading to the accumulation of toxic products in the receiving water bodies with potentially serious long term effects to aquatic biota. Due to extreme toxicity of contaminants in refinery wastewater, there is a need to develop an economical technique to remove the pollutants from the wastewater is highly recommended owing its environmental friendliness.