International Journal Of Environmental Research
Volume:7 Issue: 1, Winter 2013

Sanitary landfills, created for the disposal of solid waste, usually are developed into parks afterthey are closed. However, soil amelioration with organic matter is usually needed to restore fertility andpromote revegetation. Sewage sludge creates a massive waste disposal problem. The use of composted sewage sludge (biosolid) as a soil conditioner might restore the soil fertility at landfill sites and simultaneouslyalleviate the need for sewage sludge disposal. We applied biosolid to waste landfill soil and evaluated its effects on soil properties and tree growth in a field experiment. Biosolid improved soil characteristics including moisture, organic matter, and nitrogen content and also increased tree height and diameter at breast height.Physiological measures, such as chlorophyll content and photosynthetic rate, showed positive responses intrees grown in biosolid treatments. Heavy metal concentrations in soil and tree leaves after applying compost did not differ from concentrations measured at control sites. Therefore, we conclude that the use of biosolid in waste landfills would be an efficient, environmentally beneficial, and cost-effective method to restore the conditions of landfill soil for plants.

In general, estuaries may be classified variously according to inlet dynamics, geomorphology or whether they are tide or river dominated or, on a combination of all three factors. In KwaZulu-Natal (KZN),South Africa, the four recognised estuary types are temporary opened-closed estuaries (TOCEs), permanentlyopened estuaries, estuarine lakes and river mouths. Since physico-chemical parameters are important indefining the estuarine environment, multiple Pearson correlations were performed between summer datasetsof five of these parameters: temperature (oC), salinity (ppt), pH and turbidity (Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU)) according to clustered estuary types for all estuaries of KZN. It was found that very few significant relationships exist in all estuary types. These results are partly reflective of the sampling dataset.During summer, open mouth conditions commonly prevail for several estuaries following seasonal hinterland rainfall. Mixing of waters due to tidal influences and fluvial input from the upper catchment in KZN’s shallow estuaries is known to inhibit stratification resulting in fewer pycnoclines and greater turbidity fluctuations.pH changes are closely linked to density changes (temperature and salinity) in water hence statistical relationships may not always be observable. It is clear that physico-chemical interactions are complex and long term sampling with seasonality and mouth state dynamics need to be taken into consideration. There is a need to develop a more holistic understanding of estuarine ecosystem functioning in this region.

The general objective of this study was to develop a highly efficient, economical and integrated technology for the removal of nitrogen compounds through denitrification via nitrite. To achieve this, a modified UASB reactor was designed, set-up and operated using Chilean zeolite as microbial support. The results were compared to a conventional UASB reactor used as control. The volume of each reactor was 2 L. The reactors operated with synthetic wastewater under the same operating conditions (with superficial velocities, vs, of up to 1 m/h) in the first part of the experiment. Later, during the second part of the experiment, only the modified UASB was used, with vs of up to 5.5 m/h. In the first part of the experiment, a higher velocity of denitrification in the reactor with zeolite was obtained. Nitrogen removal at the end of this experimental set for both reactors, with a vs lower than 1 m/h, was 87%. In the second stage, the modified UASB reactor operated at vs of between 1.5 and 5.5 m/h. Here, it was observed that the removal of nitrite increased significantly.Specifically, at vs values of 2.5, 4.0 and 5.5 m/h, a value of the nitrogen loading rate (NLR) of 1.22 kgN-NO2 -/m3/d was kept constant, achieving nitrogen removal efficiencies of 50%, 65% and 95.5%respectively. This last value proves how highly effective the modified UASB reactor is when operatingwith vs as high as 5.5 m/h.

Forecasting of municipal waste generation is a critical challenge for decision making and planning,because proper planning and operation of a solid waste management system is intensively affected by municipalsolid waste (MSW) streams analysis and accurate predictions of solid waste quantities generated. Due todynamic and complexity of solid waste management system, models by artificial intelligence can be a useful solution of this problem. In this paper, a novel method of Forecasting MSW generation has been proposed.Here, support vector machine (SVM) as an intelligence tool combined with partial least square (PLS) as afeature selection tool was used to weekly prediction of MSW generated in Tehran, Iran. Weekly MSWgenerated in the period of 2008 to 2011 was used as input data for model learning. Moreover, Monte Carlo method was used to analyze uncertainty of the model results. Model performance evaluated and compared by statistical indices of Relative Mean Errors, Root Mean Squared Errors, Mean Absolute Relative Error and coefficient of determination. Comparison of SVM and PLS-SVM model showed PLS-SVM is superior to SVM model in predictive ability and calculation time saving. Also, results demonstrate which PLS could successfully identify the complex nonlinearity and correlations among input variables and minimize them. The uncertainty analysis also verified that the PLS-SVM model had more robustness than SVM and had a lower sensitivity to change of input variables.

Hexavalent chromium is mobile and hazardous in the environment. Electrokinetic remediation of chromium (IV)-contaminated soils is intended either to remove or to reduce Cr (VI) to Cr (III). This study examines the effectiveness of utilizing EDTA and acetic acid solutions as alternative electrolytes in the electrokinetic (EK) process, with coupled nano-scale zero-valent iron (nZVI) as a barrier for the remediation of Cr (VI)-contaminated clay. An nZVI barrier was installed adjacent to the anode, and different electrolyte solutions (0.1 M EDTA and 1 M acetic acid) were used to investigate the effect of both on the electrokinetic remediation efficiency. Soil was contaminated to 300 ppm of Cr (IV), and a constant DC voltage gradient of 1 V/cm was applied to the soil sample for 72 h. It was found that an nZVI permeable reactive barrier (PRB)could improve the Cr (VI) remediation efficiency and reduce electrical energy consumption. Results also showed that acetic acid as electrolyte promoted the reduction of Cr (VI) to Cr (III), while EDTA application as electrolyte led to more chromium removal and reduction than an EK-nZVI barrier.

This study reports the concentrations of important tracers of the marine environment, 210Po and 210Pb, in different matrices from field samples collected at Central Adriatic Sea (Italy), a non-contaminated marine ecosystem. 210Po concentration appears to decrease with increasing distance from the coast and a significant difference in 210Po concentrations in seawater samples at two different depths is not appreciable.210Po and 210Pb present the same trend in the different periods of the year. 210Po and 210Pb present high concentration factors and high Kd values: in particular 210Po shows values of 2.4 104 in plankton, 3.2 105 in the particulate fraction and 1.1 105 in sediment; 210Pb shows values of 1.3 104 in plankton, 1.8 104 in the particulate fraction and 4.9 104 in sediment. The 210Po/210Pb ratio results < 1 in sea water and >1 in the particulate fraction, sediment and plankton due to a significant fractionation occurring between the two radionuclides during their removal from solution to particle and due to their different biogeochemical cycling pathways in the marine environment. The noticeable accumulation of 210Po in the food chain is not accompanied by an identical accumulation of 210Pb. Due to its biomagnification in the marine food chain, 210Po provides the larges radiation dose to any marine organism under natural conditions. The data reported provide reference values for the Central Adriatic (Mediterranean Sea) coastal environment.

The main task of this work is related with the design of a class of SISO robust control law for the regulation of substrate concentration (CDO) of an Industrial Activated Sludge Wastewater Plant. The control design is related with an uncertainty estimator (reduced order observer) based Active Control. Departing from the tracking error between the desired and the current substrate concentrations trajectories a control law is designed and the plant is regulated to the corresponding set point of the COD concentration. To be realizable the controller needs model information related with the kinetic term of COD consumption which is provides with a reduced order observer, these coupled structure (observer based controller) is robust against model uncertainties. The performance of the proposed control law is illustrated with numerical simulations employing a mathematical model of an Industrial Activated Sludge Wastewater Plant tuned with industrial data.

The present research focuses on the changes of Urmia Lake level. For this purpose, two time scales have been considered. The trend changes of temperature, precipitation rate and quantitative values ofclimate type for the observational period from 1968 to 2011 (past scale) and from 2011 to 2100 (future scale)have been analyzed. General Circulation Model (GCM) is considered for simulating the values of the future meteorological components, and statistical models have been used for modeling the lake’s level in future decades. One of the most significant results achieved for the future decades is the increase of the lake’s temperature for around 1.5 degrees centigrade till 2100 in comparison with the long-term average of 1961 to 1990. Furthermore, the values extracted from precipitation rate and climate type of the zone also indicate a remarkable decrease of quantitative values in the future decades. Accordingly, the climate type extracted for the year 2100 with numeric value of around 17.75 will be entered a new phase called arid climate for the first time in recent decades. The Lake surface area is diminished from 5650 square kilometers in 1998 to about 2005 square kilometers in 2010. According to the results achieved by statistical models and time series, if this trend continues, the Lake level will be reduced around 3 more meters in 2100.

The present research focuses on the changes of Urmia Lake level. For this purpose, two time scales have been considered. The trend changes of temperature, precipitation rate and quantitative values ofclimate type for the observational period from 1968 to 2011 (past scale) and from 2011 to 2100 (future scale)have been analyzed. General Circulation Model (GCM) is considered for simulating the values of the future meteorological components, and statistical models have been used for modeling the lake’s level in future decades. One of the most significant results achieved for the future decades is the increase of the lake’s temperature for around 1.5 degrees centigrade till 2100 in comparison with the long-term average of 1961 to 1990. Furthermore, the values extracted from precipitation rate and climate type of the zone also indicate a remarkable decrease of quantitative values in the future decades. Accordingly, the climate type extracted for the year 2100 with numeric value of around 17.75 will be entered a new phase called arid climate for the first time in recent decades. The Lake surface area is diminished from 5650 square kilometers in 1998 to about 2005 square kilometers in 2010. According to the results achieved by statistical models and time series, if this trend continues, the Lake level will be reduced around 3 more meters in 2100.

Gasification is a well-known reaction owing to its relevance to generation of sustainable energy from biomass and development of porous carbons. The present paper attempts to experimentally investigate the kinetics of palm shell char gasification using carbon dioxide (CO2) in a controlled environment usingThermo Gravimetric Analyzer (TGA) at temperatures ranging from 800 to1000°C. A relevant kinetic modelrepresenting the experimental data was identified by fitting the experimental data with popular semi empirical kinetic models such as Linear Model (LM), Volume Reaction Model (VRM), Shrinking Core Model (SCM), and Random Pore Model (RPM). The model kinetic parameters were evaluated by minimizing the sum of root mean square error (RMSE). Among the models tested the RPM exhibited very close adherence to the experimental data evidenced from the minimum RMSE of 0.0046. The ability of the RPM model to represent the gasification kinetics was attributed to its ability to account for the pore growth during initial stages of gasification and destruction of pores due to coalescence in later stages of gasification. The rate of reaction increased with increase in temperature and activation energy was found to be 64.5 KJ/mol.

Over the past years there has been a significant growth in corporate reporting of environmental,social and corporate governance (ESG) factors. This study assesses whether ESG ratings are related to firm performance. Through a multivariate analysis we have confirmed differences between the ESG scores used to evaluate environmental, social and corporate governance factors of rated companies. We checked that although there is a significant correlation between them, companies do not rank equally and therefore their economic results might vary among the indicators. We found that selected US companies in the bottom 25% (Worst In Class, termed WIC) of their industries according to ESG scores perform significantly better than those in the top 25%, (Best In Class, termed BIC). We also found that BIC companies have significant higher revenue per employee and cash flow per share compared the industry medians. Attending to these results, it seems that extreme strategies on ESG issues produce better economic results than those strategies that are in line with the industry.

Plastic recycling is the process of recovering scrap or waste plastics and reprocessing the material into useful products that sometimes differ completely in form from their original state. An important issue in plastic recovery and recycling is that plastic waste usually contains a variety of plastics that differ in their physical and chemical properties. Separation of recovered plastics into distinct classes is a fundamentalprerequisite for their use as secondary raw materials. The Multidune separator is a hydraulic channel thatpermits solid particle sorting on the basis of differential transport mechanisms. Steady flow conditions areestablished within the apparatus. An image analysis technique was employed to reconstruct the trajectories of tracer particles within the fluid and to determine the evolution of the velocity field with time. Pollen and plastic particles were used as tracers. Unlike plastic particles, pollen is expected to passively follow the fluid flow field. Tests on monomaterial and composite samples were conducted while varying the operative conditions,and comparisons were made. The presence of three different recirculation areas occurred regardless of the hydraulic head at the Multidune inlet except for the first and last chambers. The lower recirculation zone is larger than the upper recirculation zone because of geometrical constraints. With variation in the hydraulic head, the geometry of the inner structures does not change appreciably. If a plastic particle within the principal transport path interacts with the lower recirculation area and its physical characteristics (density and dimensions) are such that it remains trapped, the separation process is successful. Because of its smaller dimensions and the reduced value of its velocity field, the upper recirculation area is relatively ineffective in the separation process.

The removal of fine particles less than 2.5 μm in diameter generated from industrial plants represents a serious challenge in air pollution abatement. These particles can penetrate deeply into the lungs and are difficult to remove by cyclones, electrostatic precipitators, and other conventional separation devices.In this paper, the influence of acoustic waves on removing aerosol particles from gas flue is studied. Themechanism of this effect includes the coagulation of nanometer particles to each other and forms largerparticles. Moreover,these particles adhere to the wall of the test-rig pipe by the acoustic precipitationmechanism. Therefore, the particles are separated from the gas flue. Experiments are carried out on particle sized in the range of 260-3000 nm. Micro-sphere particles immersed in the air are subjected to homogeneous plane standing-waves at frequencies ranging from 100 Hz up to 2 kHz and a pressure level of 120 to 150 dB.At high pressure levels,the results indicate that the system has high efficiency for removing fine particles.

Biomass co-firing with lignite represents an attractive solution for operating lignite-fired thermal power plants (TPP) with the dual advantage of using local renewable resources and simultaneously reducingemissions. The subject of this study is technical and environmental investigation of the feasibility of the cofiring of Soma lignite with some dried agricultural residues in the Soma thermal power plant from the exergy analysis perspective, using THERMOFLEX simulation software. The use of biomass cofiring with poor quality coal could allow Turkey to comply with Kyoto commitments while benefiting from using indigenous fuel resources and reducing biomass waste disposal problems. Two technologies are considered; (1) direct cofiring, in which biomass is mixed with lignite in the same mill and fed into the boiler furnace and (2) parallel cofiring method, in which biomass is fired in a separate circulating fluidized bed boiler and produced steam is supplemented into the steam network of the power plant. The investigations reveal that both direct and parallel co-firing of the biomass could result in a significant decrease in fuel consumption, emissions and exergy destruction and a slight increase in the exergy efficiency of the Soma TPP. Olive waste, in particular, has a positive effect on general performance and emissions of the TPP, with fuel consumption, CO2, SO2 and dust emissions, in direct co-firing dropping by approximately 20, 4, 19 and 18 percent, respectively, and in parallel co-firing by 26, 3, 20 and 25 percent, respectively.

Escalating development of tourism and petroleum industries in small islands such as Lavan-Iran requires sound solid waste management. In the present investigation, three scenarios which consist of the combination of landfill, recycling, incineration and composting and their environmental impacts have beenevaluated for 7514 Kg/day of waste generation in Lavan island. For this purpose, life cycle assessment was used. The environmental impact assessment was carried out by Eco-indicator 99. The impacts include health (organic substances, inorganic substances, climate change, ionizing radiation, and ozone layer depletion),ecosystem quality (ecotoxic emissions, acidification, eutrophication and double coating) and resources (extraction of minerals and the fossil fuels). Although all three scenarios have positive impacts on the environment, the third one causes the least damage. Introduced Scenario one has the most adverse effects on human health and ecosystem quality. However, introduced scenario Two has less than the others. In general, the effects of scenario three (landfilling plus recycling, incineration and composting) is less than the other two scenarios which makes it a better candidate for further investigations.

Volta metric behavior of mesotrione using silver/amalgam electrode we examined in this paper.Mesotrione belongs to the triketone group of herbicides. It is used against weeds in corn and operates by inhibition of 4-hydroxyphenyl piruvate in plants. There is little information about mesotrione as its presence in the market is short. For its wider application in the future, it is important to know details of its chemicalcharacteristics and redox processes, including biogeochemical transformation and migration after applicationto agricultural land, which could contribute to its more efficient and safe application. The technique of cyclicvoltammeter with conventional three-electrode cell and electrochemical workstation was used for the investigation of electrochemical behavior of mesotrione. Cyclic voltamograms of mesotrione were recorded at pH values 6, 8, 10 and 12. Several peaks were obtained at certain values of the potential and they were attributed to the reduction of two carbonyl groups (in position 1 and 3 of cyclohexane ring), the third carbonyl group and nitro group. The maximum current value was at pH 12.

To enhance the understanding of the impact of obstacle buildings on pollution transportationand dispersion in the atmospheric boundary layer, it is necessary to know the atmospheric flow characteristics over terrains. Wind flow characteristics in a boundary layer over a step-shaped cliff topography model with rough and smooth surfaces were studied numerically using Computational Fluid Dynamics models (CFD).The CFD models that were used for the simulation were based on the steady-state Reynolds-Average Navier-Stoke equations (RANS) with turbulence models; standard and RNG models. The rough surface was modeled using windbreak fence, which was set on the step-shaped cliff model surface. The results of the numerical model were validated against the wind tunnel results in order to optimize the turbulence model. Numerical predictions agreed reasonably with the wind tunnel results. The results indicated that rough surface has a great influence on the turbulent flow characteristics and vortex rotating. The wind velocity for rough surface near the ground level was observed to be lower than that for the smooth surface of the step-shaped cliff model. Large flow separations were formed by the windbreak fences. Distortion of the flow at the windward corner of the step created a steep gradient of velocity and large turbulent mixing.

Leachate contains large amounts of pollutants, including organic and inorganic materials as well as the types of pathogens. This study was performed with the aim of determining the efficiency of Fenton and” nZVI(nanoparticles of zero valent iron) + H2O2" processes for reducing chemical oxygen demand (COD),5-day biological oxygen demand (BOD5), total solids (TS)and color of Hamadan city landfill leachate.Experiments were performed in batch reactor and main affected factors; pH, reaction time, concentration of iron and H2O2 were investigated. Also the efficiency of processes was analyzed using One-Way ANOVAstatistical test and SPSS-13 software. The highest removal efficiencies obtained with “nZVI + H2O2” process (48.67%, 52%, 10.44% and 53% for COD, BOD5, TS and color, respectively in 2.5 g/L iron nanoparticles concentration,29137 mg/L H2O2, pH = 2.5 and 60 min reaction time). Based on the results, the nZVI + H2O2 process can be applied as Hamadan city landfill leachate treatment to correct the BOD5/COD ratio to increase the biodegrability of this type of wastewater.

The sequencing batch reactors were developed to treat the actual wastewater from ethylene glycol/ethylene oxide producing industry. Four identical reactors with total and effective liquid volumes of 9and 7 L were operated respectively in parallel. Laboratory experiments were conducted with different organic loadings of 500, 1000, 1500 and 3000 g-COD/m3.day and the performance of the reactors was studied under different sludge ages of 10, 20 and 30 days, the kinetic constants at optimal operational conditions were also determined. According to the results, the efficient removal of COD was 79.5 and 83.5% (SRT = 20 days) and 86% (SRT = 30 days) for SBR 1 and 2 respectively (OLR = 0.5 to 1 kg-COD/m3.day) with required reaction time of about 17 h. In order to reach the COD removal efficiencies over 86% at higher OLR values, the researchers required longer reaction periods about 34.5 h for SBR 3 and 4. However, the SRT values have no significant effects on the performance of SBR 1 and 2 at the aeration times greater than 22.5 h while in the case of reactors 3 and 4, with an increase on SRT at all aeration times, the COD removal efficiency increased. It is concluded that the system used in the present study could show an acceptable stability and performance in the treatment of the wastewater containing high concentrations of organic matters especially from EO/EG ind ustries.

The aim of this research paper is the introduction of a novel mathematical approach to improvethe accuracy of the results of air pollution dispersion models based on the calibration of input backgroundconcentrations. Using the Dunkirk area of the City of Nottingham in the UK as a case study, an air pollution model in ADMS-Roads was created for developing the mathematical approach. The iterative application of this approach to the input background concentrations effectively reduced the error between not only the annual mean, but also the hourly, calculated and monitored air pollution concentrations. The traffic flow profiles of the modelled road network were included in the air pollution model and their impact on the model results, after the application of the calibration approach, was investigated. The inclusion of the traffic flow profiles reduced further the error between the hourly, but not the annual means of, calculated and monitored concentrations.

Zebra fish were exposed to environmentally relevant concentration of pesticides and metals fora period of 14 days. The individual and the combined toxicity of pesticides and metals were studied. Damage caused to the DNA and induction of mutation in the GADD45β gene was investigated in this study. The present investigation revealed that exposure of zebra fish to pesticides and metals induced DNA damage and also mutation in the GADD45β gene. The pesticides treated group (III) showed significantly higher damage followed by metals treated group (II). The DNA damage was comparatively less in the pesticides and metals exposed group (IV). GADD45β gene which is considered to be one of the most important gene involved in G phase arrest, has been found to be mutated in zebra fish when exposed to metals and pesticides. The comparison of amplified gene sequence of GADD45β gene with the sequence of the zebra fish retrieved from the NCBI confirmed the mutation in the gene sequence of zebra fish treated with pesticides and metals. The induction of DNA damage in fish due to contaminants may lead to mutations, which contribute towards the multistage carcinogenesis process.

In order to know the environmental behaviour of toxic pollutants it is fundamental to understand the role of chemical components of a material on sorption of such pollutants.In this study, the sorption of a mix of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by cork fractions (i.e. raw cork (CF), free extractive cork (FEF) and nonsaponifiable (DESF)) has been investigated to better understand the role of biopolymers and extractable fraction of cork on their sorption behaviour. All samples were analyzed through elemental analysis and were examined using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. After removing the extractable fraction and the suberin from the cork, the sorption capacities (Koc) of FEF and DESF exhibited mean reductions of 70% and 30% respectively. In addition, the sorption results of three pairs of cork samples with different chemical content confirm that the extractable fraction serves as the major sorption medium for PAHs. Considering only low molecular weight PAHs positive correlations between Koc with Kow (R2=0.70) and F number (R2=0.65) were found, showing that these parameters are involved in this adsorption process.

Due to shortage of precipitation and the spatial and periodical disparity of rainfalls, Iran iscounted among the arid and semi-arid countries of the world, and therefore the water utilities have put the control of consumption and efficient use of water high on their priorities. Water consumption management is considered as a field of energy management, and the impacts of effective measure related to water consumption pattern and its optimization on reducing demands are quite clear. Therefore one of the main objectives of consumption management policies is to optimize energy and reducing the costs of energy needed to supply potable water from production sources. To have a relative estimate of the amount of energy reduced as a consequence of consumption management the outcomes of a case study undertaken in a region of Tehran were used. In this study, the application of consumption management measures yielded in a 19% reduction in water consumption. This amount of reduction limits requirements from production sources such as wells and treatment plants and its direct impact is to reduce the required energy and the costs of water supply.

Fuzzylogic computes a multi-criteria evaluation by means of either a Boolean analysis, Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) and Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) of factor images. OWA works with standardized factor images and employs a variant of the WLC. It takes into account the risk associated with the decision and degree of tradeoff associated with the variables in the analysis. In this research, for Ecological Capability Assessment and watersheds management in study area, we have studied 22 biological and physiological factors. For ecological capability evaluation, the method of OWA was deployed. This method involves criterion weights and order weights. The generality of OWA is related to its capability to implement different combination operators by selecting appropriate order weights. By specifying suitable order weights,it is possible to change the form of aggregation from the minimum-type combination through all intermediate types including the conventional weighted linear combination, to the maximum-type combination. The paper focuses on the OWA method as well as an approach for integrating Geographic Information System (GIS) and OWA. OWA has been developed as a generalization of multi-criteria combination. The OWA concept has been extended to the GIS applications as part of a decision support module in GIS. In this study to obtain the criteria weights, comparisons were made by evaluating 22 criteria against each other, therefore we attained comparable data via the technique of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and five scenarios of OWA method were used. The results of field studies, third scenario for the study area proposed.

Within the broader category of rural tourism, agrotourism is a type of tourism carried out in a very specific environment, mixed livestock and tillage farms. Its importance resides in the fact that it offers the possibility of complementing the income generated by the farm with income generated from tourism while at the same time carrying out an activity that promotes the conservation of nature. Although rural tourism has enjoyed strong growth in European countries such as Spain, the same has not occurred with agrotourism, in spite of the great potential that exists for it. The aim of this paper is to study the attitudes and motivations of tourists to the practice of agrotourism, an activity which has a strong environmental component.