Investigating the tipping point of crop productivity induced by changing climatic variables

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - South Asia is comprised of several countries, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka, all ranked highly at risk of climatic variability....     

Removal of two cationic dyes from a textile effluent by filtration-adsorption on wood sawdust

BACKGROUND: Wastewater from textile industry contains various contaminants such as dyes, surfactants and heavy metals. Textile dyes have synthetic origin and complex aromatic molecular structures that make them difficult to biodegrade when discharged in the ecosystem. The objective of this study was to examine the decolourisation of textile effluents containing cationic dyes by filtration-adsorption on wood sawdust from two different origins; fir as an example of a conifer tree, and beech as an example of a deciduous one, and to explain the adsorption mechanism. METHODS: The process of dye removal was applied to a synthetic effluent in batch mode. Adsorption experiments were performed by suspending sawdust in the effluent and analyzing the supernatant by spectrophotometry. The effectiveness of the treatment process was evaluated by measuring coloration. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Experimental results showed a significant potential for wood sawdust, especially coniferous sawdust, to remove cationic dyes from textile effluents. Adsorption kinetics was influenced by the initial dye concentration, nature and amount of sorbent as well as sorbent particle size. The adsorption followed a pseudo first-order kinetics. For both basic dyes, the Langmuir adsorption equation showed a better fit than the Freundlich equation. CONCLUSION: Filtration-adsorption using an inexpensive and readily available biosorbent provided an attractive alternative treatment for dye removal, and it does not generate any secondary pollution. Recommendations and Perspectives. Laboratory studies provide promising perspectives for the utilization of wood sawdust as renewable adsorbent for reducing pollution while enhancing the reuse of textile effluents. However, the treatment process needs to be applied to the other textile dye classes in order to be used on an industrial scale.     

Coastal Management of Failaka Island, Kuwait

Failaka Island is one of the most important islands belonging to the State of Kuwait. With the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990, most of the activies on Failaka Island were destroyed. After the liberation of Kuwait, the Kuwaiti government decided to reconstruct the island for touristic and recreational purposes. Thus, a coastal development plan was needed. The presented study is an attempt to address the coastal zone management of the island. Based on the overall geomorphological features of the island, the coast was classified into four coastal zones. The wave and tidal conditions were identified around the island. The major items controlling the coastal development were specified. Accordingly, a detailed coastal zone management map for future development was developed. The overall goal was to provide decision-makers with guidelines for the future development of the island.     

Investigating degradation metabolites and underlying pathway of azo dye “Reactive Black 5” in bioaugmented floating treatment wetlands

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The direct discharge of azo dyes and/or their metabolites into the environment may exert toxic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic effects on exposed fauna...     

How COVID-19 shock will drive the economy and climate? A data-driven approach to model and forecast

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The pandemic shock puts the world on quarantine and paused economic operations that affected energy consumption and economic output. This study...     

Carbon and polymer-based magnetic nanocomposites for oil-spill remediation—a comprehensive review

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Oil spills are a major contributor to water contamination, which sets off a significant impact on the environment, biodiversity, and economy....     

Copper chloride inhibits brush border membrane enzymes,alters antioxidant and metabolic status and damages DNA in rat intestine: a dose-dependent study

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Copper (Cu) is an extensively used heavy metal and an indispensible micronutrient for living beings. However, Cu is also toxic and exerts multiple...     

Environmental impact and diversity of protease-producing bacteria in areas of leather tannery effluents of Sialkot,Pakistan

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Massive discharge of wastes produced by the processing of leather so far confers the most important environmental challenge facing the tanneries...     

Synthesis of Chitosan@activated Carbon Beads with Abundant Amino Groups for Capture of Cu(II) and Cd(II) from Aqueous Solutions

In this study, chitosan and bio-based activated carbon obtained from sugarcane bagasse biowaste were used for the synthesis of efficient sorbent for Cu(II) and Cd(II) ion via precipitation method. The prepared material was enriched with amino groups through grafting tetraethylenepentamine and tested for heavy metal remediation from water samples. The influence of pH was investigated showing optimum sorption at pH 6 for Cu(II) and Cd(II). Sorption tests, explained by means of the most common sorption models, evidenced that the best performances were reached pointing out the promising application of the prepared sorbent for water purification treatments: Uptake kinetics are relatively fast: the equilibrium was reached within 140 min; and the kinetic profiles were preferentially fitted by the pseudo-second order rate equation. Sorption isotherms are fitted by Langmuir equation. The sorbent showed high metal ion sorption capacity with negligible influence of ion strength. The maximum sorption capacities reached 3.44 and 2.38 mmol g^??1 for Cu(II) and Cd(II), respectively at 298 K. Thermodynamic parameters were evaluated through variation of temperature. The sorption is unfavorable at elevated temperatures. Metal ions were successfully desorbed using 1 M HNO₃ solution.     

Magnetic nanocomposites for sustainable water purification—a comprehensive review

Numerous contaminants in huge amounts are discharged to the environment from various anthropogenic activities. Waterbodies are one of the major receivers of these contaminants. The contaminated water can pose serious threats to humans and animals, by distrubing the ecosystem. In treating the contaminated water, adsorption processes have attained significant maturity due to lower cost, easy operation and environmental friendliness. The adsorption process uses various adsorbent materials and some of emerging adsorbent materials include carbon- and polymer-based magnetic nanocomposites. These hybrid magnetic nanocomposites have attained extensive applications in water treatment technologies due to their magnetic properties as well as combination of unique characteristics of organic and inorganic elements. Carbon- and polymer-related magnetic nanocomposites are more adapted materials for the removal of various kinds of contaminants from waterbodies. These nanocomposites can be produced via different approaches such as filling, pulse-laser irradiation, ball milling, and electro-spinning. This comprehensive review is compiled by reviewing published work of last the latest recent 3 years. The review article extensively focuses on different approaches for producing various carbon- and polymer-based magnetic nanocomposites, their merits and demerits and applications for sustainable water purification. More specifically, use of carbon- and polymer-based magnetic nanocomposites for removal of heavy metal ions and dyes is discussed in detail, critically analyzed and compared with other technologies. In addition, commercial viability in terms of regeneration of adsorbents is also reviewed. Furthermore, the future challenges and prospects in employing magnetic nanocomposites for contaminant removal from various water sources are presented.