Displaying publications 81 - 100 of 215 in total

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  1. Modeling and comparative assessment of bubbling fluidized bed gasification system for syngas production - a gateway for a cleaner future in Pakistan
    Shehzad A, Bashir MJK, Horttanainen M, Manttari M, Havukainen J, Abbas G
    Environ Technol, 2018 Jul;39(14):1841-1850.
    PMID: 28595513 DOI: 10.1080/09593330.2017.1340350
    The present study explores the potential of MSW gasification for exergy analysis and has been recently given a premier attention in a region like Pakistan where the urbanization is rapidly growing and resources are few. The plant capacity was set at 50 MW based on reference data available and the total exergetic efficiency was recorded to be 31.5 MW. The largest irreversibility distribution appears in the gasifier followed by methanation unit and CO2 capture. The effect of process temperature, equivalence ratio and MSW moisture content was explored for inspecting the variations in syngas composition, lower heating value, carbon conversion efficiency and cold gas efficiency. Special attention of the paper is paid to the comparative assessment of MSW gasification products in four regions, namely Pakistan, USA, UAE and Thailand. This extended study gave an insight into the spectrum of socioeconomic conditions with varying MSW compositions in order to explain the effect of MSW composition variance on the gasification products.
    Matched MeSH terms: Refuse Disposal*
  2. Transformation of oil palm fronds into pentose sugars using copper (II) sulfate pentahydrate with the assistance of chemical additive
    Loow YL, Wu TY
    J Environ Manage, 2018 Jun 15;216:192-203.
    PMID: 28545947 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.04.084
    Among the chemical pretreatments available for pretreating biomass, the inorganic salt is considered to be a relatively new but simple reagent that offers comparable pentose (C5) sugar recoveries as the conventional dilute acid hydrolysis. This study investigated the effects of different concentrations (1.5-6.0% (v/v)) of H2O2 or Na2S2O8 in facilitating CuSO4·5H2O pretreatment for improving pentose sugar recovery from oil palm fronds. The best result was observed when 0.2 mol/L of CuSO4·5H2O was integrated with 4.5% (v/v) of Na2S2O8 to recover 8.2 and 0.9 g/L of monomeric xylose and arabinose, respectively in the liquid fraction. On the other hand, an addition of 1.5% (v/v) of H2O2 yielded approximately 74% lesser total pentose sugars as compared to using 4.5% (v/v) Na2S2O8. By using CuSO4·5H2O alone (control), only 0.8 and 1.0 g/L xylose and arabinose, respectively could be achieved. The results mirrored the importance of using chemical additives together with the inorganic salt pretreatment of oil palm fronds. Thus, an addition of 4.5% (v/v) of Na2S2O8 during CuSO4·5H2O pretreatment of oil palm fronds at 120 °C and 30 min was able to attain a total pentose sugar yield up to ∼40%.
    Matched MeSH terms: Refuse Disposal
  3. Fulltext Effects of Incorporation of Jackfruit Rind Powder on Chemical and Functional Properties of Bread
    Felli R, Yang TA, Abdullah WNW, Zzaman W
    Trop Life Sci Res, 2018 Mar;29(1):113-126.
    PMID: 29644019 MyJurnal DOI: 10.21315/tlsr2018.29.1.8
    Nowadays, there is a rising interest towards consuming health beneficial food products. Bread-as one of the most popular food products-could be improved to 'healthy bread' by addition of ingredients high in protein, dietary fiber and low in calorie. Incorporating Jackfruit rind powder (JRP) as a by-product rich in dietary fiber in bread, could not only provide health beneficial bread products, but also lead to develop an environmental friendly technology by solving the problem of waste disposal of residues. In this study, addition of jackfruit rind powder (JRP) as a high dietary fiber and functional ingredient in bread was examined. The results showed that incorporation of JRP in bread improved functional properties of flour such as Oil Holding Capacity (OHC), Water Holding Capacity (WHC) and pasting properties. Addition of 5%, 10% and 15% of JRP in wheat flour caused significantly (p < 0.05) higher insoluble, soluble and total dietary fiber in flour and bread products. Results from proximate composition indicated that all breads substituted with JRP, contained significantly (p < 0.05) higher fiber, moisture and fat. Obtained results confirmed that the JRP has great potential in development of functional foods especially functional bread products.
    Matched MeSH terms: Refuse Disposal
  4. Current trends of tropical fruit waste utilization
    Cheok CY, Mohd Adzahan N, Abdul Rahman R, Zainal Abedin NH, Hussain N, Sulaiman R, et al.
    Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr, 2018 Feb 11;58(3):335-361.
    PMID: 27246698 DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2016.1176009
    Recent rapid growth of the world's population has increased food demands. This phenomenon poses a great challenge for food manufacturers in maximizing the existing food or plant resources. Nowadays, the recovery of health benefit bioactive compounds from fruit wastes is a research trend not only to help minimize the waste burden, but also to meet the intensive demand from the public for phenolic compounds which are believed to have protective effects against chronic diseases. This review is focused on polyphenolic compounds recovery from tropical fruit wastes and its current trend of utilization. The tropical fruit wastes include in discussion are durian (Durio zibethinus), mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L.), rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum), mango (Mangifera indica L.), jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), papaya (Carica papaya), passion fruit (Passiflora edulis), dragon fruit (Hylocereus spp), and pineapple (Ananas comosus). Highlights of bioactive compounds in different parts of a tropical fruit are targeted primarily for food industries as pragmatic references to create novel innovative health enhancement food products. This information is intended to inspire further research ideas in areas that are still under-explored and for food processing manufacturers who would like to minimize wastes as the norm of present day industry (design) objective.
    Matched MeSH terms: Refuse Disposal*
  5. Waste to biodiesel: A preliminary assessment for Saudi Arabia
    Rehan M, Gardy J, Demirbas A, Rashid U, Budzianowski WM, Pant D, et al.
    Bioresour Technol, 2018 Feb;250:17-25.
    PMID: 29153646 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.11.024
    This study presents a preliminary assessment of biodiesel production from waste sources available in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) for energy generation and solution for waste disposal issues. A case study was developed under three different scenarios: (S1) KSA population only in 2017, (S2) KSA population and pilgrims in 2017, and (S3) KSA population and pilgrims by 2030 using the fat fraction of the municipal solid waste. It was estimated that S1, S2, and S3 scenarios could produce around 1.08, 1.10 and 1.41 million tons of biodiesel with the energy potential of 43423, 43949 and 56493 TJ respectively. Furthermore, annual savings of US $55.89, 56.56 and 72.71 million can be generated from landfill diversion of food waste and added to the country's economy. However, there are challenges in commercialization of waste to biodiesel facilities in KSA, including waste collection and separation, impurities, reactor design and biodiesel quality.
    Matched MeSH terms: Refuse Disposal
  6. Trends in food waste valorization for the production of chemicals, materials and fuels: Case study South and Southeast Asia
    Ong KL, Kaur G, Pensupa N, Uisan K, Lin CSK
    Bioresour Technol, 2018 Jan;248(Pt A):100-112.
    PMID: 28662903 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.06.076
    Staggering amounts of food waste are being generated in Asia by means of agricultural processing, food transportation and storage, and human food consumption activities. This along with the recent sustainable development goals of food security, environmental protection, and energy efficiency are the key drivers for food waste valorization. The aim of this review is to provide an insight on the latest trends in food waste valorization in Asian countries such as India, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Landfilling, incineration, and composting are the first-generation food waste processing technologies. The advancement of valorisation alternatives to tackle the food waste issue is the focus of this review. Furthermore, a series of examples of key food waste valorization schemes in this Asian region as case studies to demonstrate the advancement in bioconversions in these countries are described. Finally, important legislation aspects for food waste disposal in these Asian countries are also reported.
    Matched MeSH terms: Refuse Disposal*
  7. Study on the physical and chemical composition of agro wastes for the production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural
    Shamsul NS, Kamarudin SK, Rahman NA
    Bioresour Technol, 2018 Jan;247:821-828.
    PMID: 30060418 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.09.140
    Treated sludge, goat manure, sugarcane bagasse, empty fruit bunches of oil palm (EFBP) and dry leaves are agro wastes that have high potential for use as feedstocks for the production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF). The focus of this study is to investigate the production of 5-HMF from agro wastes via co-hydrothermal (CHT) treatment and extraction. Present study include examine on agro waste's physical and chemical properties and also their thermal degradation behaviour. The analysis of the bio-oil products is conducted by FTIR and GC-MS. Co-hydrothermal experiments were conducted at a temperature of 300°C with an experimental time of 15min, followed by alcohol extraction. Highest carbon and hydrogen content are 45.94% and 6.49% (dry leaves) with maximum high heating value 18.39MJ/kg (dry leaves) and fix carbon value 6.60 (goat manure). Through CHT about 39% 5-HMF, 22.97% carboxylic acids, 0.97% of aromatic and 0.73% aldehyde obtained.
    Matched MeSH terms: Refuse Disposal
  8. A sequential treatment of intermediate tropical landfill leachate using a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) and coagulation
    Yong ZJ, Bashir MJK, Ng CA, Sethupathi S, Lim JW
    J Environ Manage, 2018 Jan 01;205:244-252.
    PMID: 28987987 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.09.068
    The increase in landfill leachate generation is due to the increase of municipal solid waste (MSW) as global development continues. Landfill leachate has constantly been the most challenging issue in MSW management as it contains high amount of organic and inorganic compounds that might cause pollution to water resources. Biologically treated landfill leachate often fails to fulfill the regulatory discharge standards. Thus, to prevent environmental pollution, many landfill leachate treatment plants involve multiple stages treatment process. The Papan Landfill in Perak, Malaysia currently has no proper leachate treatment system. In the current study, sequential treatment via sequencing batch reactor (SBR) followed by coagulation was used to treat chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3-N), total suspended solids (TSS), and colour from raw landfill leachate. SBR optimum aeration rate, L/min, optimal pH and dosage (g/L) of Alum for coagulation as a post-treatment were determined. The two-step sequential treatment by SBR followed by coagulation (Alum) achieved a removal efficiency of 84.89%, 94.25%, 91.82% and 85.81% for COD, NH3-N, TSS and colour, respectively. Moreover, the two-stage treatment process achieved 95.0% 95.0%, 95.3%, 100.0%, 87.2%, 62.9%, 50.0%, 41.3%, 41.2, 34.8, and 22.9 removals of Cadmium, Lead, Copper, Selenium, Barium, Iron, Silver, Nickel, Zinc, Arsenic, and Manganese, respectively.
    Matched MeSH terms: Refuse Disposal*
  9. Fulltext Effects of pH on Phosphorus Recovery from Different Composition of Food Waste Using Anaerobic Batch Digestion
    Selaman, R., Newati Wid
    Borneo Journal of Medical Sciences, 2018;12(101):63-64.
    MyJurnal
    Anaerobic digestion is a process by which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. The process involves hydrolysis, acidogenesis and methanogenesis stages. Anaerobic digestion of food waste has been widely investigated for biogas recovery but limited study was performed on phosphorus recovery, which is reported depleting. Food waste is produced every day and dumped on landfill for final disposal which may lead to environmental issues such as odour problems and greenhouse gases release, due to decomposing of food waste, hence impacts global climate change. In anaerobic digestion pH is a very crucial parameter in an attempt to recover phosphorus as it highly influences the production of organic acids during acidogenesis.
    Matched MeSH terms: Refuse Disposal
  10. Fulltext Waste level detection and HMM based collection scheduling of multiple bins
    Aziz F, Arof H, Mokhtar N, Shah NM, Khairuddin ASM, Hanafi E, et al.
    PLoS One, 2018;13(8):e0202092.
    PMID: 30157219 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202092
    In this paper, an image-based waste collection scheduling involving a node with three waste bins is considered. First, the system locates the three bins and determines the waste level of each bin using four Laws Masks and a set of Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers. Next, a Hidden Markov Model (HMM) is used to decide on the number of days remaining before waste is collected from the node. This decision is based on the HMM's previous state and current observations. The HMM waste collection scheduling seeks to maximize the number of days between collection visits while preventing waste contamination due to late collection. The proposed system was trained using 100 training images and then tested on 100 test images. Each test image contains three bins that might be shifted, rotated, occluded or toppled over. The upright bins could be empty, partially full or full of garbage of various shapes and sizes. The method achieves bin detection, waste level classification and collection day scheduling rates of 100%, 99.8% and 100% respectively.
    Matched MeSH terms: Refuse Disposal/methods
  11. Fulltext Ime course detachment of biofilms in pipes by hydrochlorination
    Shanzay, A., Siddra, T. A., Warda, F., Sheeza, A., Maryam, A., Aina, S. Z., et al.
    Asian Journal of Medicine and Biomedicine, 2018;1(1):28-31.
    MyJurnal
    Bacterial biofilms are a complex community of microbes in which the cells are embedded in a polysaccharide matrix.
    This slime is a mean of protection in hostile environments. Biofilms in hospital settings are perilous as they not only
    make treatment difficult, cause blockage of pipes but are also cause of serious nosocomial infections thus making their
    dispersal an even more important phenomenon. Any foaming method is not applicable at all places for the cleaning of
    biofilms hence biofilm dispersal by household sweep containing hydrochloric acid was checked using the microliter
    plate assay as dispersal strategy. Bacteria from hospital waste disposal pipes were isolated, its ability to form biofilm
    was noted under different time intervals and then finally biofilm degradation was done using different concentrations
    of household sweep. It was noted that household sweep can be successfully employed at many places especially waste
    disposal pipes and acid resistant tubes. Our results indicated that 20% sweep (HCl conc. 1%) if used for only one
    minute can reduce the biofilms to 50%. Similarly increasing contact time can reduce the biofilms further.
    Matched MeSH terms: Refuse Disposal
  12. Towards low carbon society in Iskandar Malaysia: Implementation and feasibility of community organic waste composting
    Bong CP, Goh RKY, Lim JS, Ho WS, Lee CT, Hashim H, et al.
    J Environ Manage, 2017 Dec 01;203(Pt 2):679-687.
    PMID: 27267145 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.05.033
    Rapid population growth and urbanisation have generated large amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) in many cities. Up to 40-60% of Malaysia's MSW is reported to be food waste where such waste is highly putrescible and can cause bad odour and public health issue if its disposal is delayed. In this study, the implementation of community composting in a village within Iskandar Malaysia is presented as a case study to showcase effective MSW management and mitigation of GHG emission. The selected village, Felda Taib Andak (FTA), is located within a palm oil plantation and a crude palm oil processing mill. This project showcases a community-composting prototype to compost food and oil palm wastes into high quality compost. The objective of this article is to highlight the economic and environment impacts of a community-based composting project to the key stakeholders in the community, including residents, oil palm plantation owners and palm oil mill operators by comparing three different scenarios, through a life cycle approach, in terms of the greenhouse gas emission and cost benefit analysis. First scenario is the baseline case, where all the domestic waste is sent to landfill site. In the second scenario, a small-scale centralised composting project was implemented. In the third scenario, the data obtained from Scenario 2 was used to do a projection on the GHG emission and costing analysis for a pilot-scale centralised composting plant. The study showed a reduction potential of 71.64% on GHG emission through the diversion of food waste from landfill, compost utilisation and significant revenue from the compost sale in Scenario 3. This thus provided better insight into the feasibility and desirability in implementing a pilot-scale centralised composting plant for a sub-urban community in Malaysia to achieve a low carbon and self-sustainable society, in terms of environment and economic aspects.
    Matched MeSH terms: Refuse Disposal*
  13. An overview of municipal solid waste management and landfill leachate treatment: Malaysia and Asian perspectives
    Kamaruddin MA, Yusoff MS, Rui LM, Isa AM, Zawawi MH, Alrozi R
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2017 Dec;24(35):26988-27020.
    PMID: 29067615 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-017-0303-9
    Currently, generation of solid waste per capita in Malaysia is about 1.1 kg/day. Over 26,500 t of solid waste is disposed almost solely through 166 operating landfills in the country every day. Despite the availability of other disposal methods, landfill is the most widely accepted and prevalent method for municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal in developing countries, including Malaysia. This is mainly ascribed to its inherent forte in terms cost saving and simpler operational mechanism. However, there is a downside. Environmental pollution caused by the landfill leachate has been one of the typical dilemmas of landfilling method. Leachate is the liquid produced when water percolates through solid waste and contains dissolved or suspended materials from various disposed materials and biodecomposition processes. It is often a high-strength wastewater with extreme pH, chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), inorganic salts and toxicity. Its composition differs over the time and space within a particular landfill, influenced by a broad spectrum of factors, namely waste composition, landfilling practice (solid waste contouring and compacting), local climatic conditions, landfill's physico-chemical conditions, biogeochemistry and landfill age. This paper summarises an overview of landfill operation and leachate treatment availability reported in literature: a broad spectrum of landfill management opportunity, leachate parameter discussions and the way forward of landfill leachate treatment applicability.
    Matched MeSH terms: Refuse Disposal/methods*
  14. Microwave induced plasma for solid fuels and waste processing: A review on affecting factors and performance criteria
    Ho GS, Faizal HM, Ani FN
    Waste Manag, 2017 Nov;69:423-430.
    PMID: 28811144 DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2017.08.015
    High temperature thermal plasma has a major drawback which consumes high energy. Therefore, non-thermal plasma which uses comparatively lower energy, for instance, microwave plasma is more attractive to be applied in gasification process. Microwave-induced plasma gasification also carries the advantages in terms of simplicity, compactness, lightweight, uniform heating and the ability to operate under atmospheric pressure that gains attention from researchers. The present paper synthesizes the current knowledge available for microwave plasma gasification on solid fuels and waste, specifically on affecting parameters and their performance. The review starts with a brief outline on microwave plasma setup in general, and followed by the effect of various operating parameters on resulting output. Operating parameters including fuel characteristics, fuel injection position, microwave power, addition of steam, oxygen/fuel ratio and plasma working gas flow rate are discussed along with several performance criteria such as resulting syngas composition, efficiency, carbon conversion, and hydrogen production rate. Based on the present review, fuel retention time is found to be the key parameter that influences the gasification performance. Therefore, emphasis on retention time is necessary in order to improve the performance of microwave plasma gasification of solid fuels and wastes.
    Matched MeSH terms: Refuse Disposal/methods*
  15. Over production of fermentable sugar for bioethanol production from carbohydrate-rich Malaysian food waste via sequential acid-enzymatic hydrolysis pretreatment
    Hafid HS, Nor 'Aini AR, Mokhtar MN, Talib AT, Baharuddin AS, Umi Kalsom MS
    Waste Manag, 2017 Sep;67:95-105.
    PMID: 28527863 DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2017.05.017
    In Malaysia, the amount of food waste produced is estimated at approximately 70% of total municipal solid waste generated and characterised by high amount of carbohydrate polymers such as starch, cellulose, and sugars. Considering the beneficial organic fraction contained, its utilization as an alternative substrate specifically for bioethanol production has receiving more attention. However, the sustainable production of bioethanol from food waste is linked to the efficient pretreatment needed for higher production of fermentable sugar prior to fermentation. In this work, a modified sequential acid-enzymatic hydrolysis process has been developed to produce high concentration of fermentable sugars; glucose, sucrose, fructose and maltose. The process started with hydrothermal and dilute acid pretreatment by hydrochloric acid (HCl) and sulphuric acid (H2SO4) which aim to degrade larger molecules of polysaccharide before accessible for further steps of enzymatic hydrolysis by glucoamylase. A kinetic model is proposed to perform an optimal hydrolysis for obtaining high fermentable sugars. The results suggested that a significant increase in fermentable sugar production (2.04-folds) with conversion efficiency of 86.8% was observed via sequential acid-enzymatic pretreatment as compared to dilute acid pretreatment (∼42.4% conversion efficiency). The bioethanol production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae utilizing fermentable sugar obtained shows ethanol yield of 0.42g/g with conversion efficiency of 85.38% based on the theoretical yield was achieved. The finding indicates that food waste can be considered as a promising substrate for bioethanol production.
    Matched MeSH terms: Refuse Disposal*
  16. Removal of organic matter from stabilized landfill leachate using Coagulation-Flocculation-Fenton coupled with activated charcoal adsorption
    Ishak AR, Hamid FS, Mohamad S, Tay KS
    Waste Manag Res, 2017 Jul;35(7):739-746.
    PMID: 28539097 DOI: 10.1177/0734242X17707572
    The treatment of stabilized landfill leachate (SLL) by conventional biological treatment is often inefficient due to the presence of bio-recalcitrant substances. In this study, the feasibility of coagulation-flocculation coupled with the Fenton reaction in the treatment of SLL was evaluated. The efficiency of the selected treatment methods was evaluated through total organic carbon (TOC) removal from SLL. With ferric chloride as the coagulant, coagulation-flocculation was found to achieve the highest TOC removal of 71% at pH 6. Then, the pretreated SLL was subjected to the Fenton reaction. Nearly 50% of TOC removal was achieved when the reaction was carried out at pH 3, H2O2:Fe2+ ratio of 20:1, H2O2 dosage of 240 mM and 1 h of reaction time. By coupling the coagulation-flocculation with the Fenton reaction, the removal of TOC, COD (chemical oxygen demand) and turbidity of SLL were 85%, 84% and 100%, respectively. The ecotoxicity study performed using zebrafish revealed that 96 h LC50 for raw SLL was 1.40% (v/v). After coagulation-flocculation, the LC50 of the pretreated SLL was increased to 25.44%. However, after the Fenton reaction, the LC50 of the treated SLL was found to decrease to 10.96% due to the presence of H2O2 residue. In this study, H2O2 residue was removed using powdered activated charcoal. This method increased the LC50 of treated effluent to 34.48% and the removal of TOC and COD was further increased to 90%. This finding demonstrated that the combination of the selected treatment methods can be an efficient treatment method for SLL.
    Matched MeSH terms: Refuse Disposal*
  17. Pneumatic jigging: Influence of operating parameters on separation efficiency of solid waste materials
    Abd Aziz MA, Md Isa K, Ab Rashid R
    Waste Manag Res, 2017 Jun;35(6):647-655.
    PMID: 28431479 DOI: 10.1177/0734242X17697815
    This article aims to provide insights into the factors that contribute to the separation efficiency of solid particles. In this study, a pneumatic jigging technique was used to assess the separation of solid waste materials that consisted of copper, glass and rubber insulator. Several initial experiments were carried out to evaluate the strengths and limitations of the technique. It is found that despite some limitations of the technique, all the samples prepared for the experiments were successfully separated. The follow-up experiments were then carried out to further assess the separation of copper wire and rubber insulator. The effects of air flow and pulse rates on the separation process were examined. The data for these follow-up experiments were analysed using a sink float analysis technique. The analysis shows that the air flow rate was very important in determining the separation efficiency. However, the separation efficiency may be influenced by the type of materials used.
    Matched MeSH terms: Refuse Disposal*
  18. Backtracking search algorithm in CVRP models for efficient solid waste collection and route optimization
    Akhtar M, Hannan MA, Begum RA, Basri H, Scavino E
    Waste Manag, 2017 Mar;61:117-128.
    PMID: 28153405 DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2017.01.022
    Waste collection is an important part of waste management that involves different issues, including environmental, economic, and social, among others. Waste collection optimization can reduce the waste collection budget and environmental emissions by reducing the collection route distance. This paper presents a modified Backtracking Search Algorithm (BSA) in capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP) models with the smart bin concept to find the best optimized waste collection route solutions. The objective function minimizes the sum of the waste collection route distances. The study introduces the concept of the threshold waste level (TWL) of waste bins to reduce the number of bins to be emptied by finding an optimal range, thus minimizing the distance. A scheduling model is also introduced to compare the feasibility of the proposed model with that of the conventional collection system in terms of travel distance, collected waste, fuel consumption, fuel cost, efficiency and CO2 emission. The optimal TWL was found to be between 70% and 75% of the fill level of waste collection nodes and had the maximum tightness value for different problem cases. The obtained results for four days show a 36.80% distance reduction for 91.40% of the total waste collection, which eventually increases the average waste collection efficiency by 36.78% and reduces the fuel consumption, fuel cost and CO2 emission by 50%, 47.77% and 44.68%, respectively. Thus, the proposed optimization model can be considered a viable tool for optimizing waste collection routes to reduce economic costs and environmental impacts.
    Matched MeSH terms: Refuse Disposal/methods*
  19. Fulltext Disposal practices of unused and expired pharmaceuticals among general public in Kabul
    Bashaar M, Thawani V, Hassali MA, Saleem F
    BMC Public Health, 2017 01 07;17(1):45.
    PMID: 28061902 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-016-3975-z
    BACKGROUND: Most of the medicine users remain unaware about the disposal of unused or expired medicines. The aim of this study was to know the disposal practices of unused and expired medicines among the general public in Kabul.

    METHODS: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional survey, conducted through face-to-face interviews using prevalidated structured questionnaire. Returned questionnaires were double-checked for accuracy. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 23 was used for statistical analysis.

    RESULTS: Total of 301 valid questionnaires were returned with a response rate of 100% in which 73.4% men and 26.6% women participated. More than half of the respondents were university graduates. Interestingly, 83.4% of the interviewees purchased medicines on the prescription of which 47.2% were university graduates, while 14.6% purchased medicine over the counter. Among the respondents, 46.5/100 purchased antibiotics and the remaining purchased NSAIDs, anti-hypertensive and anti-diabetic medicines. Significantly, 97/100 checked the expiry date of medicine before buying. Majority (95.3%) of the respondents' stored medicines at home. 77.7% of the respondents discarded the expired medicines in household trash. Majority of respondents held government responsible for creation of awareness for proper medicine disposal. Almost entire sample (98%) felt that improper disposal of unused and expired medicines can affect the environment and health.

    CONCLUSION: Gaps exist in practices, therefore robust, safe and cost-effective pharmaceutical waste management program supported with media campaign is needed. Healthcare practitioners and community pharmacists should offer training to educate customers on standard medicine disposal practices.

    Matched MeSH terms: Refuse Disposal/methods*
  20. Evaluation of Enzymatic Deinking of Non-impact Ink Laser-Printed Paper Using Crude Enzyme from Penicillium rolfsii c3-2(1) IBRL
    Lee KC, Tong WY, Ibrahim D, Arai T, Murata Y, Mori Y, et al.
    Appl Biochem Biotechnol, 2017 Jan;181(1):451-463.
    PMID: 27596245 DOI: 10.1007/s12010-016-2223-4
    Application of microbial enzymes for paper deinking is getting tremendous attention due to the rapidly increasing of waste paper every year. This study reports the deinking efficiency of laser-printed paper by the lignocellulolytic enzyme from Penicillium rolfsii c3-2(1) IBRL strain compared to other enzyme sources as well as commercial available enzymes. High enzymatic deinking efficiency of approximately 82 % on laser-printed paper was obtained by pulp treatment with crude enzyme from P. rolfsii c3-2(1) IBRL. However, this crude enzyme was found to reduce the paper strength properties of the pulp based on the results of tensile, tear and burst indices, most probably due to the cellulose degradation. This was further proven by the low viscosity of paper pulp obtained after enzymatic treatment and increasing of sugar production during the treatment. Balancing to this detrimental effect on paper pulp, high deinking efficiency was achieved within a short period of time, in which the enzymatic treatment was conducted for 30 min that enabled contribution to higher brightness index obtained, thus promoting savings of time and energy consumption, therefore environmental sustainability. Extensive research should be conducted to understand the nature and mechanism of enzymatic deinking process by the crude enzyme from P. rolfsii c3-2(1) IBRL in order to improve paper strength properties.
    Matched MeSH terms: Refuse Disposal*
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