Displaying publications 21 - 40 of 221 in total

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  1. Lim LS, Tan KS, Fu MY, Au HL, Ebi I, Mohamad Lal MT, et al.
    Environ Res, 2021 07;198:110472.
    PMID: 33189743 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.110472
    The Bokashi leachate (BL) is a by-product from the anaerobic digestion of food waste, following the Bokashi composting method. Bokashi leachate is acidic and it contains effective microorganisms hence it has potential to be a functional feed additive to the plant proteins based diets for fish farming. This study evaluated the growth performance and feed utilization of the red tilapia (Oreochromis sp.) fingerlings fed with the BL supplemented soybean meal (SBM) based diets. After an 8-week feeding trial, fish fed with the 5% BL supplemented SBM diet attained the highest weight gain. This result was significantly higher (p  0.05) to those fed with the control full fish meal (FM) diet. Generally, dietary inclusion of BL enhanced the fish feed intake on the SBM diet but it did not show clear sign of improvement in their feed utilization. In addition, no significant difference was found across the hepatosomatic index and viscerosomatic index from all dietary treatments. These outcomes concluded that dietary inclusion of BL can enhance the feed intake and growth performance of the red tilapia fingerlings fed with the SBM based diet without compromising their health, and the optimum BL inclusion level was 5%. Nevertheless, further study on the properties and substances content of the BL produced from different types and ratios of food waste is strongly recommended. In this study, BL was also discovered to be capable of reducing the crude fiber content in the SBM diets. Such observation deserves a further exploitation on the application of BL to manipulate the crude fiber content in the plant proteins based diets in fish farming.
  2. Siavash NK, Ghobadian B, Najafi G, Rohani A, Tavakoli T, Mahmoodi E, et al.
    Environ Res, 2021 05;196:110434.
    PMID: 33166537 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.110434
    Wind power is one of the most popular sources of renewable energies with an ideal extractable value that is limited to 0.593 known as the Betz-Joukowsky limit. As the generated power of wind machines is proportional to cubic wind speed, therefore it is logical that a small increment in wind speed will result in significant growth in generated power. Shrouding a wind turbine is an ordinary way to exceed the Betz limit, which accelerates the wind flow through the rotor plane. Several layouts of shrouds are developed by researchers. Recently an innovative controllable duct is developed by the authors of this work that can vary the shrouding angle, so its performance is different in each opening angle. As a wind tunnel investigation is heavily time-consuming and has a high cost, therefore just four different opening angles have been assessed. In this work, the performance of the turbine was predicted using multiple linear regression and an artificial neural network in a wide range of duct opening angles. For the turbine power generation and its rotor angular speed in different wind velocities and duct opening angles, regression and an ANN are suggested. The developed neural network model is found to possess better performance than the regression model for both turbine power curve and rotor speed estimation. This work revealed that in higher ranges of wind velocity, the turbine performance intensively will be a function of shrouding angle. This model can be used as a lookup table in controlling the turbines equipped with the proposed mechanism.
  3. Chen WH, Chang CM, Mutuku JK, Lam SS, Lee WJ
    Environ Res, 2021 06;197:110975.
    PMID: 33689824 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.110975
    The deposition phenomenon of microparticle and SAR-CoV-2 laced bioaerosol in human airways is studied by Taguchi methods and response surface methodology (RSM). The data used herein is obtained from simulations of airflow dynamics and deposition fractions of drug particle aerosols in the downstream airways of asthma patients using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and discrete particle motion (DPM). Three main parameters, including airflow rate, drug dose, and particle size, affecting aerosol deposition in the lungs of asthma patients are examined. The highest deposition fraction (DF) is obtained at the flow rate of 45 L min-1, the drug dose of 200 μg·puff-1, and the particle diameter of 5 μm. The optimized combination of levels for the three parameters for maximum drug deposition is performed via the Taguchi method. The importance of the influencing factors rank as particle size > drug dose > flow rate. RSM reveals that the combination of 30 L min-1, 5 μm, 200 μg·puff- has the highest deposition fraction. In part, this research also studied the deposition of bioaerosols contaminated with the SAR-CoV-2 virus, and their lowest DF is 1.15%. The low DF of bioaerosols reduces the probability of the SAR-CoV-2 virus transmission.
  4. Zamri AA, Ong MY, Nomanbhay S, Show PL
    Environ Res, 2021 06;197:111204.
    PMID: 33894238 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111204
    The composition of carbon dioxide (CO2) is increasing day by day in the Earth's atmosphere. Worldwide energy demand is now increasing, and this has led to an increase in the percentage of global carbon emission. Moreover, this phenomenon can occur from the careless use of heating systems, generators and especially transportation, therefore, the release of these gases will continue to be widespread if there is no solution. Interaction within the microwave plasma-based gasification system of synthetic natural gas (syngas) production is presented in this paper. Consequently, this reduces the high concentrations of methane and carbon dioxide emission in our atmosphere. Syngas is very useful products that can be used as a source of energy such as fuel production and fuel source. The overview and basic theory about gasification process and microwave plasma technology are provided. Modelling of the microwave plasma system particularly on its application of system electromagnetic field inside waveguide of plasma reactor to produce microwave plasma and how it was calculated are presented in this paper. To recapitulate, the global challenges on the rising of greenhouse gases volume can be regulated with microwave plasma technology and its important aspects have been underlined.
  5. Norbäck D, Hashim Z, Ali F, Hashim JH
    Environ Res, 2021 06;197:111061.
    PMID: 33785322 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111061
    Little is known on respiratory effects of indoor chemicals in the tropics. We investigated associations between asthma and respiratory infections in Malaysian students and chemical exposure at home and at school. Moreover, we investigated differences in home environment between the three main ethnic groups in Malaysia (Malay, Chinese, Indian). Totally, 462 students from 8 junior high schools in Johor Bahru participated (96% participation rate). The students answered a questionnaire on health and home environment. Climate, carbon dioxide (CO2), volatile organic compounds (VOC), formaldehyde and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were measured inside and outside the schools. Multilevel logistic regression was applied to study associations between exposure and health. Totally 4.8% were smokers, 10.3% had wheeze, 9.3% current asthma, and had 18.8% any respiratory infection in the past 3 months. Malay students had more dampness or mould (p 
  6. Yap JX, Leo CP, Mohd Yasin NH, Show PL, Derek CJC
    Environ Res, 2021 08;199:111298.
    PMID: 33971133 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111298
    Culture scaffolds allow microalgae cultivation with minimum water requirement using the air-liquid interface approach. However, the stability of cellulose-based scaffolds in microalgae cultivation remains questionable. In this study, the stability of regenerated cellulose culture scaffolds was enhanced by adjusting TiO2 loading and casting gap. The membrane scaffolds were synthesized using cellulose dissolved in NaOH/urea aqueous solution with various loading of TiO2 nanoparticles. The TiO2 nanoparticles were embedded into the porous membrane scaffolds as proven by Fourier transform infrared spectra, scanning electron microscopic images, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectra. Although surface hydrophilicity and porosity were enhanced by increasing TiO2 and casting gap, the scaffold pore size was reduced. Cellulose membrane scaffold with 0.05 wt% of TiO2 concentration and thickness of 100 μm attained the highest percentage of Navicula incerta growth rate, up to 37.4%. The membrane scaffolds remained stable in terms of weight, porosity and pore size even they were immersed in acidic solution, hydrogen peroxide or autoclaved at 121 °C for 15 min. The optimal cellulose membrane scaffold is with TiO2 loading of 0.5 wt% and thickness of 100 μm, resulting in supporting the highest N. incerta growth rate and and exhibits good membrane stability.
  7. Ho NAD, Leo CP
    Environ Res, 2021 06;197:111100.
    PMID: 33812871 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111100
    Carbon capture can be implemented at a large scale only if the CO2 selective materials are abundantly available at low cost. Since the sustainable requirement also elevated, the low-cost and biodegradable cellulosic materials are developed into CO2 selective adsorbent and membranes recently. The applications of cellulose, cellulosic derivatives and nanocellulose as CO2 selective adsorbents and membranes are reviewed here. The fabrication and modification strategies are discussed besides comparing their CO2 separation performance. Cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) isolated from cellulose possess a big surface area for mechanical enhancement and a great number of hydroxyl groups for modification. Nanocellulose aerogels with the large surface area were chemically modified to improve their selectivity towards CO2. Even with the reduction of surface area, amino-functionalized nanocellulose aerogels exhibited the satisfactory chemisorption of CO2 with a capacity of more than 2 mmol/g was recorded. Inorganic fillers such as silica, zeolite and MOFs were further incorporated into nanocellulose aerogels to enhance the physisorption of CO2 by increasing the surface area. Although CO2 adsorbents developed from cellulose and cellulose derivatives were less reported, their applications as the building blocks of CO2 separation membranes had been long studied. Cellulose acetate membranes were commercialized for CO2 separation, but their separation performance could be further improved with silane or inorganic filler. CNCs and CNFs enhanced the CO2 selectivity and permeance through polyvinyl alcohol coating on membranes, but only CNF membranes incorporated with MOFs were explored so far. Although some of these membranes surpassed the upper-bound of Robeson plot, their stability should be further investigated.
  8. Jayawardhana Y, Keerthanan S, Lam SS, Vithanage M
    Environ Res, 2021 06;197:111102.
    PMID: 33798520 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111102
    The present study investigated adsorptive removal of toluene and ethylbenzene from the aqueous media via using biochar derived from municipal solid waste (termed "MSW-BC") in a single and binary contaminant system at 25-45 °C. The adsorption was evaluated at different pH (3-10), experimental time (up to 24 h), and initial adsorbate concentrations (10-600 μg/L) in single and binary contaminant system. A fixed-bed column experiment was also conducted using MSW-BC (0.25%) and influent concentration of toluene and ethylbenzene (4 mg/L) at 2 mL/min of flow rate. The adsorption of toluene and ethylbenzene on the MSW-BC was mildly dependent on the pH, and the peak adsorption ability (44-47 μg/g) was recorded at a baseline pH of ~8 in mono and dual contaminant system. Langmuir and Hill are the models that match the isotherm results in a single contaminant environment for both toluene (R2 of 0.97 and 0.99, respectively) and ethylbenzene (R2 of 0.99 and 0.99, respectively) adsorption. In the binary system, the isotherm models matched in the order of Langmuir > Hill > Freundlich for toluene, whereas Hill > Freundlich > Langmuir for ethylbenzene. The adsorption in the batch experiment was likely to take place via cooperative and multilayer adsorption onto MSW-BC involving hydrophobic, π- π and n- π attractions, specific interaction such as hydrogen-π and cation-π interactions, and van der Waals interactions. The thermodynamic results indicate exothermic adsorption occurred by physical attractions between toluene and ethylbenzene, and MSW-BC. The breakthrough behavior of toluene and ethylbenzene was successfully described with Yoon-Nelson and Thomas models. The data demonstrate that the low-cost adsorbent derived from the municipal solid waste can be utilized to remove toluene and ethylbenzene in landfill leachate.
  9. S E, G A, A F I, P S G, Y LT
    Environ Res, 2021 06;197:111177.
    PMID: 33864792 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111177
    Membrane technology, especially nanofiltration (NF) has great attention to provide an imperative solution for water issues. The membrane is considered to be the heart in the separation plant. Understanding the membrane characteristics could allow predicting and optimizing the membrane performance namely flux, rejection and reduced fouling. The membrane development using biomaterials and nanomaterials provides a remarkable opportunity in the water application. This review focuses on the membrane characteristics of biomaterials and nanomaterials based nanofiltration. In this review, recent researches based on biomaterials and nanomaterials loaded membrane for salt rejection have been analyzed. Membrane fouling depends on the membrane characteristics and this review defined fouling as a ubiquitous bottleneck challenge that hampers the NF blooming applications. Fouling mitigation strategies via membrane modification using biomaterial (chitosan, curcumin and vanillin) and various other nanomaterials are critically reviewed. This review also highlights the membrane cleaning and focuses on concentrates disposal methods with zero liquid discharge system for resource recovery. Finally, the conclusion and future prospects of membrane technology are discussed. From this current review, it is apparent that the biomaterial and various other nanomaterials acquire exclusive properties that facilitate membrane advancement with improved capability for water treatment. Regardless of membrane material developments, still exist considerable difficulties in membrane commercialization. Thus, additional studies related to this field are needed to produce membranes with better performance for large‒scale applications.
  10. Keerthana SP, Yuvakkumar R, Ravi G, Manimegalai M, Pannipara M, Al-Sehemi AG, et al.
    Environ Res, 2021 08;199:111312.
    PMID: 34019891 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111312
    Herein we reported the effect of doping and addition of surfactant on SnO2 nanostructures for enhanced photocatalytic activity. Pristine SnO2, Zn-SnO2 and SDS-(Zn-SnO2) was prepared via simple co-precipitation method and the product was annealed at 600 °C to obtain a clear phase. The structural, optical, vibrational, morphological characteristics of the synthesized SnO2, Zn-SnO2 and SDS-(Zn-SnO2) product were investigated. SnO2, Zn-SnO2 and SDS-(Zn-SnO2) possess crystallite size of 20 nm, 19 nm and 18 nm correspondingly with tetragonal structure and high purity. The metal oxygen vibrations were present in FT-IR spectra. The obtained bandgap energies of SnO2, Zn-SnO2 and SDS-(Zn-SnO2) were 3.58 eV, 3.51 eV and 2.81 eV due to the effect of dopant and surfactant. This narrowing of bandgap helped in the photocatalytic activity. The morphology of the pristine sample showed poor growth of nanostructures with high level of agglomeration which was effectively reduced for other two samples. Product photocatalytic action was tested beneath visible light of 300 W. SDS-(Zn-SnO2) nanostructure efficiency showed 90% degradation of RhB dye which is 2.5 times higher than pristine sample. Narrow bandgap, crystallite size, better growth of nanostructures paved the way for SDS-(Zn-SnO2) to degrade the toxic pollutant. The superior performance and individuality of SDS-(Zn-SnO2) will makes it a potential competitor on reducing toxic pollutants from wastewater in future research.
  11. Hariharan P, Sundarrajan S, Arthanareeswaran G, Seshan S, Das DB, Ismail AF
    Environ Res, 2021 Sep 15.
    PMID: 34536369 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.112045
    A comprehensive overview of various modifications carried out on polymeric membranes for biomedical applications has been presented in this review paper. In particular, different methods of carrying out these modifications have been discussed. The uniqueness of the review lies in the sense that it discusses the surface modification techniques traversing the timeline from traditionally well-established technologies to emerging new techniques, thus giving an intuitive understanding of the evolution of surface modification techniques over time. A critical comparison of the advantages and pitfalls of commonly used traditional and emerging surface modification techniques have been discussed. The paper also highlights the tuning of specific properties of polymeric membranes that are critical for their increased applications in the biomedical industry specifically in drug delivery, along with current challenges faced and where the future potential of research in the field of surface modification of membranes.
  12. Ramu AG, Umar A, Ibrahim AA, Algadi H, Ibrahim YSA, Wang Y, et al.
    Environ Res, 2021 09;200:111366.
    PMID: 34029547 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111366
    In the present research work, 2D-Porous NiO decorated graphene nanocomposite was synthesized by hydrothermal method to monitored the concentration of epinephrine (EPI). The morphology (SEM and TEM) results confirmed 2D-Porous NiO nanoparticles firmly attached over graphene nanosheets. FTIR and XPS analysis confirmed the formation of nickel oxide formation and complete reduction of GO to rGO. The electrochemical activity of the proposed NiO-rGO/GCE modified electrode on epinephrine was analyzed by simple cyclic voltammetry technique. The proposed low cost NiO-rGO/GCE modified electrode showed excellent catalytic activity over GCE and rGO/GCE electrodes. Due to its high conductivity and charge transfer ability of the NiO-rGO/GCE modified electrode exhibited high sensitivity of EPI at optimized conditions. The anodic peak current of the EPI linearly increases with increasing the concertation of EPI. A wide linear range (50 μM-1000 μM) was achieved with high correlation coefficient (R2 = 0.9986) and the limit of detection (LOD) of NiO-rGO/GCE modified electrode was calculated to be 10 μM. NiO-rGO/GCE electrode showed good stability and repeatability towards the EPI oxidation. Mainly, the proposed NiO-rGO/GCE modified electrode showed good sensitivity of EPI in the human biological fluid with high recovery percentage. The low cost, NiO-rGO/GCE electrode could be the promising sensor electrode for the detection of Epinephrine in the real samples.
  13. Karami A, Omar D, Lazorchak JM, Yap CK, Hashim Z, Courtenay SC
    Environ Res, 2016 Nov;151:313-320.
    PMID: 27522569 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2016.08.006
    Influence of waterborne butachlor (BUC), a commonly used pesticide, on morphometric, biochemical, and molecular biomarkers was evaluated in juvenile, full sibling, diploid and triploid African catfish (Clarias gariepinus). Fish were exposed for 21 days to one of three concentrations of BUC [mean measured µg/L: 22, 44 or 60]. Unexposed (control) triploids were heavier and longer and had higher visceral-somatic index (VSI) than diploids. Also, they had lighter liver weight (HSI) and showed lower transcript levels of brain gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), aromatase (cyp191b) and fushi tarazu-factor (ftz-f1), and plasma testosterone levels than diploids. Butachlor treatments had no effects, in either diploid or triploid fish, on VSI, HSI, weight or length changes, condition factor (CF), levels of plasma testosterone, 17-β estradiol (E2), cortisol, cholesterol, or mRNA levels of brain tryptophan hydroxylase (tph2), forkhead box L2 (foxl2), and 11 β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11β-hsd2). Expressions of cyp191b and ftz-f1 in triploids were upregulated by the two highest concentrations of BUC. In diploid fish, however, exposures to all BUC concentrations decreased GnRH transcription and the medium BUC concentration decreased ftz-f1 transcription. Substantial differences between ploidies in basal biomarker responses are consistent with the reported impaired reproductive axis in triploid C. gariepinus. Furthermore, the present study showed the low impact of short term exposure to BUC on reproductive axis in C. gariepinus.
  14. Karami A, Romano N, Galloway T, Hamzah H
    Environ Res, 2016 Nov;151:58-70.
    PMID: 27451000 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2016.07.024
    Despite the ubiquity of microplastics (MPs) in aquatic environments and their proven ability to carry a wide variety of chemicals, very little is known about the impacts of virgin or contaminant-loaded MPs on organisms. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the impacts of virgin or phenanthrene (Phe)-loaded low-density polyethylene (LDPE) fragments on a suite of biomarker responses in juvenile African catfish (Clarias gariepinus). Virgin LDPE (50 or 500µg/L) were preloaded with one of two nominal Phe concentrations (10 or 100µg/L) and were exposed to the fish for 96h. Our findings showed one or both Phe treatments significantly increased the degree of tissue change (DTC) in the liver while decreased the transcription levels of forkhead box L2 (foxl2) and tryptophan hydroxylase2 (tph2) in the brain of C. gariepinus. Exposure to either levels of virgin MPs increased the DTC in the liver and plasma albumin: globulin ratio while decreased the transcription levels of tph2. Moreover, MPs modulated (interacted with) the impact of Phe on the DTC in the gill, plasma concentrations of cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), total protein (TP), albumin, and globulin, and the transcription levels of fushi tarazu-factor 1 (ftz-f1), gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), 11 β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11β-hsd2), and liver glycogen stores. Results of this study highlight the ability of virgin LDPE fragments to cause toxicity and to modulate the adverse impacts of Phe in C. gariepinus. Due to the wide distribution of MPs and other classes of contaminants in aquatic environments, further studies are urgently needed to elucidate the toxicity of virgin or contaminant-loaded MPs on organisms.
  15. Cheng Z, Li HH, Wang HS, Zhu XM, Sthiannopkao S, Kim KW, et al.
    Environ Res, 2016 Oct;150:423-30.
    PMID: 27372065 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2016.06.011
    Phthalate esters are used in a wide variety of consumer products, and human exposure to this class of compounds is widespread. Nevertheless, studies on dietary exposure of human to phthalates are limited. In this study, to assess the daily intakes of phthalate esters and the possible adverse health impacts, different food samples were collected from three areas of Cambodia, one of the poorest countries in the world. The ∑phthalate ester concentrations in Kampong Cham, Kratie and Kandal provinces ranged from 0.05 to 2.34 (median 0.88) μgg(-1), 0.19-1.65 (median 0.86) μgg(-1) and 0.24-3.05 (median 0.59) μgg(-1) wet weight (ww), respectively. Di-2-Ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and diisobutyl phthalate (DiBP) were the predominant compounds among all foodstuffs. The estimated daily intake (EDI) of phthalate esters for the general population in Kampong Cham, Kratie and Kandal was 34.3, 35.6 and 35.8μgkg(-1) bw d(-1), respectively. The dietary daily intake of DEHP, benzylbutyl phthalate (BBP) and di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) in Kampong Cham, Kratie and Kandal were below the tolerable daily intakes (TDI) imposed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and reference doses (RfD) imposed by The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). Rice contributed the greatest quantity of DEHP to the daily intake in Cambodia so may deserve further exploration. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the occurrence and the daily intakes of phthalate esters in Cambodia.
  16. Mirzaei M, Bekri M
    Environ Res, 2017 Apr;154:345-351.
    PMID: 28161426 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2017.01.023
    Climate change and global warming as the key human societies' threats are essentially associated with energy consumption and CO2 emissions. A system dynamic model was developed in this study to model the energy consumption and CO2 emission trends for Iran over 2000-2025. Energy policy factors are considered in analyzing the impact of different energy consumption factors on environmental quality. The simulation results show that the total energy consumption is predicted to reach 2150 by 2025, while that value in 2010 is 1910, which increased by 4.3% yearly. Accordingly, the total CO2 emissions in 2025 will reach 985million tonnes, which shows about 5% increase yearly. Furthermore, we constructed policy scenarios based on energy intensity reduction. The analysis show that CO2 emissions will decrease by 12.14% in 2025 compared to 2010 in the scenario of 5% energy intensity reduction, and 17.8% in the 10% energy intensity reduction scenario. The results obtained in this study provide substantial awareness regarding Irans future energy and CO2 emission outlines.
  17. Hiew BYZ, Lee LY, Lai KC, Gan S, Thangalazhy-Gopakumar S, Pan GT, et al.
    Environ Res, 2019 01;168:241-253.
    PMID: 30321737 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2018.09.030
    Pharmaceutical residues are emerging pollutants in the aquatic environment and their removal by conventional wastewater treatment methods has proven to be ineffective. This research aimed to develop a three-dimensional reduced graphene oxide aerogel (rGOA) for the removal of diclofenac in aqueous solution. The preparation of rGOA involved facile self-assembly of graphene oxide under a reductive environment of L-ascorbic acid. Characterisation of rGOA was performed by Fourier transform infrared, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption-desorption, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The developed rGOA had a measured density of 20.39 ± 5.28 mg/cm3, specific surface area of 132.19 m2/g, cumulative pore volume of 0.5388 cm3/g and point of zero charge of 6.3. A study on the simultaneous interactions of independent factors by response surface methodology suggested dosage and initial concentration as the dominant parameters influencing the adsorption of diclofenac. The highest diclofenac adsorption capacity (596.71 mg/g) was achieved at the optimum conditions of 0.25 g/L dosage, 325 mg/L initial concentration, 200 rpm shaking speed and 30 °C temperature. The adsorption equilibrium data were best fitted to the Freundlich model with correlation coefficient (R2) varying from 0.9500 to 0.9802. The adsorption kinetic data were best correlated to the pseudo-first-order model with R2 ranging from 0.8467 to 0.9621. Thermodynamic analysis showed that the process was spontaneous (∆G = - 7.19 to - 0.48 kJ/mol) and exothermic (∆H = - 12.82 to - 2.17 kJ/mol). This research concluded that rGOA is a very promising adsorbent for the remediation of water polluted by diclofenac.
  18. Kumar S, Prasad S, Yadav KK, Shrivastava M, Gupta N, Nagar S, et al.
    Environ Res, 2019 12;179(Pt A):108792.
    PMID: 31610391 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2019.108792
    This review emphasizes the role of toxic metal remediation approaches due to their broad sustainability and applicability. The rapid developmental processes can incorporate a large quantity of hazardous and unseen heavy metals in all the segments of the environment, including soil, water, air and plants. The released hazardous heavy metals (HHMs) entered into the food chain and biomagnified into living beings via food and vegetable consumption and originate potentially health-threatening effects. The physical and chemical remediation approaches are restricted and localized and, mainly applied to wastewater and soils and not the plant. The nanotechnological, biotechnological and genetical approaches required to more rectification and sustainability. A cellular, molecular and nano-level understanding of the pathways and reactions are responsible for potentially toxic metals (TMs) accumulation. These approaches can enable the development of crop varieties with highly reduced concentrations of TMs in their consumable foods and vegetables. As a critical analysis by authors observed that nanoparticles could provide very high adaptability for both in-situ and ex-situ remediation of hazardous heavy metals (HHMs) in the environment. These methods could be used for the improvement of the inbuilt genetic potential and phytoremediation ability of plants by developing transgenic. These biological processes involve the transfer of gene of interest, which plays a role in hazardous metal uptake, transport, stabilization, inactivation and accumulation to increased host tolerance. This review identified that use of nanoremediation and combined biotechnological and, transgenic could help to enhance phytoremediation efficiency in a sustainable way.
  19. Peng W, Sonne C, Lam SS, Ok YS, Alstrup AKO
    Environ Res, 2020 02;181:108887.
    PMID: 31732170 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2019.108887
    The Amazon rainforest has sustained human existence for more than 10,000 years. Part of this has been the way that the forest controls regional climate including precipitation important for the ecosystem as well as agroforestry and farming. In addition, the Amazon also affects the global weather systems, so cutting down the rainforest significantly increases the effects of climate change, threatening the world's biodiversity and causing local desertification and soil erosion. The current fire activities and deforestation in the Amazon rainforest therefore have consequences for global sustainability. In the light of this, the current decisions made in Brazil regarding an increase in Amazon deforestation require policy changes if the global ecosystems and biodiversity are not to be set to collapse. There is only one way to move forward and that is to increase efforts in sustainable development of the region including limitation in deforestation and to continuously measure and monitor the development. The G7 countries have offered Brazil financial support for at least 20 million euros for fighting the forest fires but the president denies receiving such financial support and says that it is more relevant to raise new forests in Europe. In fact, this is exactly what is happening in Denmark and China in order to reduce climate change. Such activities should be global and include South America, Europe, Africa and Asia where deforestation is important issue. Forest restoration reduces climate change, desertification, and preserves both the regional tropical and global environment if the wood is not burned at a later stage but instead used in e.g. roads as filling material. Changes are therefore needed through improved international understanding and agreements to better avoid the global climate changes, from cutting down the precious rainforest before it is too late as rainforest cannot be re-planted.
  20. Al-Mamun A, Jafary T, Baawain MS, Rahman S, Choudhury MR, Tabatabaei M, et al.
    Environ Res, 2020 04;183:109273.
    PMID: 32105886 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.109273
    Developing cost-effective technology for treatment of sewage and nitrogen-containing groundwater is one of the crucial challenges of global water industries. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) oxidize organics from sewage by exoelectrogens on anode to produce electricity while denitrifiers on cathode utilize the generated electricity to reduce nitrogen from contaminated groundwater. As the exoelectrogens are incapable of oxidizing insoluble, polymeric, and complex organics, a novel integration of an anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR) prior to the MFC simultaneously achieve hydrolytic-acidogenic conversion of complex organics, boost power recovery, and remove Carbon/Nitrogen (C/N) from the sewage and groundwater. The results obtained revealed increases in the fractions of soluble organics and volatile fatty acids in pretreated sewage by 52 ± 19% and 120 ± 40%, respectively. The optimum power and current generation with the pretreated sewage were 7.1 W m-3 and 45.88 A m-3, respectively, corresponding to 8% and 10% improvements compared to untreated sewage. Moreover, the integration of the ASBR with the biocathode MFC led to 217% higher carbon and 136% higher nitrogen removal efficiencies compared to the similar system without ASBR. The outcomes of the present study represent the promising prospects of using ASBR pretreatment and successive utilization of solubilized organics in denitrifying biocathode MFCs for simultaneous energy recovery and C/N removal from both sewage and nitrate nitrogen-contaminated groundwater.
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