Changes in chemical forms of lead in temperate and semiarid soils in sterile and unsterile conditions

Sequential extraction has been used as a suitable method for fractionation of chemical forms of trace elements and study of their plant availability. Surface soils were sampled from Guilan and Hamadan provinces in north and northwest of Iran with temperate and semiarid climates. The chemical forms of Pb in the Pb(NO₃)₂-treated (400 μg Pb g⁻¹) soils have been studied in solid state incubation (FC) at 27°C in sterile and unsterile conditions. After 20 min and 3600 h a sequential extraction scheme was also used to fractionate Pb of incubated samples into soluble-exchangeable (Sol-Exch), carbonates associated (ACar), organic matter associated (AOM), Mn oxide associated (AMnOx), Fe oxide associated (AFeOx), and residual (Res) forms. Temperate soil samples had higher clay content, cation exchange capacity (CEC), dichromate oxidable organic carbon (OC), total Kjeldahl-nitrogen (TN), biological activity, amorphous and crystalline Fe and Al, but semiarid soil samples had higher sand content, pH, equivalent calcium carbonate (ECC), available P and K. Soil lead fractionation revealed that in both groups of soils Pb largely changed to exchangeable, carbonates associated and organic associated forms after 20 min. The chemical forms of Pb differed widely among soils after 3600-h incubation. The conversion rate of Pb from more available forms to less available forms was higher in temperate soils with higher Fe–Mn oxides and OM contents compared to semiarid soils. In temperate soils after 3600-h incubation, greater content of Pb was observed in Res (68%), AOM (14%), ACar (7%), and AMnOx (5%) fractions. However, in semiarid soils greater content of Pb was observed in Res (61%), ACar (16%), Sol-Exch (8%), and AOM (8%) fractions. The sum of AMnOx and AFeOx chemical forms for Pb in semiarid soils compared to temperate soils was lower. It was only 7% against 9% in temperate soils. Soil microorganisms in unsterile soils had significant effect on AOM, AFeOx and Res fractions of Pb. They not only increased AOM and AFeOx fractions of Pb in soils but also decreased Res fraction of Pb significantly.     

Green Synthesis and Characterization of Silver Nanoparticles Using Elaeagnus angustifolia Bark Extract and Study of Its Antibacterial Effect

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - Nowadays, many chemical methods have been proposed for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles, but green synthesis has received more attention due to its...     

Applying machine learning approach in recycling

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Waste generation has been increasing drastically based on the world’s population and economic growth. This has significantly affected human...     

Properties of Biocomposite Films From PLA and Thermally Treated Wood Modified with Silver Nanoparticles Using Leaf Extracts of Oriental Sweetgum

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - The technological, thermal, and antimicrobial properties of biocomposite films produced from polylactic acid (PLA) and thermally treated wood flour with in...     

Evaluation of Different Scales for Measurement of Perceived Physical Strain During Performance of Manual Tasks

The main objective of this study was to evaluate different scales of perceived strain during the performance of various physical tasks. A total of 52 male and female participants took part in 4 experiments to achieve the study objective. The results suggest that a bipolar comfort-discomfort scale is a more appropriate instrument than a discomfort scale for assessing cumulative physical stresses at work, especially at the beginning of the shift. For assessing discomfort at the end of the work shift, a unipolar scale may also be used. On the basis of the obtained results, red, green, and yellow zones are suggested to establish priorities for work redesign efforts in ergonomic control programs.     

Optimizing safety-constrained solvent selection for process systems with economic uncertainties

Solvents are very commonly used in industrial facilities for a multitude of reasons. Traditionally, solvent selection has been based on minimizing the process operating cost while satisfying a set of operational requirements. Regrettably, safety considerations have typically been overlooked during the design phase. In this paper, a systematic approach is introduced to integrate safety issues into solvent selection and provides a computationally effective method for establishing tradeoffs between the economic and safety objectives. In order to quantify the risk associated with the solvent, we focus on the potential spillage of the solvent and introduce a risk index that is a function of the amount of solvent used and stored, as well as the Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) dictated by regulatory directives. An optimization formulation is developed and the associated mathematical program solved to select optimal solvents and blends while incorporating economic, technical, and safety considerations. Tradeoff (Pareto) curves are developed to represent the multi-objective optimization results and tradeoffs. Furthermore, economic-data uncertainty and variability over expected ranges are included in the optimization formulation to conduct an insightful sensitivity analysis. Finally, an illustrative case study is considered via increasing levels of complexity in order to evaluate the proposed optimization method which considers both operating cost and safety risk implications in the presence of economic uncertainties.     

Multiple dimensions of work-related risk factors and their relationship to work ability among industrial workers in Iran

Objectives. The present study was designed to investigate the simultaneous effects of physical, psychosocial and other work-related risk factors on the work ability index (WAI) score among industrial workers. Methods. This study used a cross-sectional design with a questionnaire survey. A total of 280 workers were included in the study. Data were collected using three questionnaires including the Persian version of the WAI, the Persian version of the job content questionnaire and an author-developed measure (to assess work-related factors, health-related factors and socio-demographic characteristics). Results. The majority of the participants were young, but they had poor WAI scores (mean 37.3?±?6.4) and 44.3% of them had poor or moderate work ability. Occupational accidents and injuries were found to be the strongest predictors of WAI scores. Additionally, there was a strong association between WAI scores and supervisor support, skill discretion, occupational training, sleep quality, work nature and educational level. Conclusions. Intervention programs should focus on improving supervisor support, sleep quality, job skills and knowledge and on decreasing physical and mental work demands. Additionally, implementing a comprehensive occupational health and ergonomics program for controlling and reducing hazardous working environments and occupational injury rates should be considered.     

Modeling sediment and nitrogen export from a rural watershed in eastern Canada using the soil and water assessment tool

Watershed simulation models can be used to assess agricultural nonpoint-source pollution and for environmental planning and improvement projects. However, before application of any process-based watershed model, the model performance and reliability must be tested with measured data. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool version 2005 (SWAT2005) was used to model sediment and nitrogen loads from the Thomas Brook Watershed, which drains a 7.84 km rural landscape in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, Canada. The Thomas Brook SWAT model was comprised of 28 subbasins and 265 hydrologic response units, most of them containing agricultural land use, which is the main nonpoint nitrogen source in the watershed. Crop rotation schedules were incorporated into the model using field data collected within Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Watershed Evaluation of Beneficial Management Practices program. Model calibration (2004-2006) and validation (2007-2008) were performed on a monthly basis using continuous stream flow, sediment, and nitrogen export measurements. Model performance was evaluated using the coefficient of determination, Nash-Sutcliff efficiency (NSE), and percent bias (PBIAS) statistics. Study results show that the model performance was satisfactory (NSE > 0.4; > 0.5) for stream flow, sediment, nitrate-nitrogen, and total nitrogen simulations. Annual corn, barley, and wheat yields were also simulated well, with PBIAS values ranging from 0.3 to 7.2%. This evaluation of SWAT demonstrated that the model has the potential to be used as a decision support tool for agricultural watershed management in Nova Scotia.     

Electrocoagulation of palm oil mill effluent as wastewater treatment and hydrogen production using electrode aluminum

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is highly polluting wastewater generated from the palm oil milling process. Palm oil mill effluent was used as an electrolyte without any additive or pretreatment to perform electrocoagulation (EC) using electricity (direct current) ranging from 2 to 4 volts in the presence of aluminum electrodes with a reactor volume of 20 L. The production of hydrogen gas, removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD), and turbidity as a result of electrocoagulation of POME were determined. The results show that EC can reduce the COD and turbidity of POME by 57 and 62%, respectively, in addition to the 42% hydrogen production. Hydrogen production was also helpful to remove the lighter suspended solids toward the surface. The production of Al(OH)XHO at the aluminum electrode (anode) was responsible for the flocculation-coagulation process of suspended solids followed by sedimentation under gravity. The production of hydrogen gas from POME during EC was also compared with hydrogen gas production by electrolysis of tap water at pH 4 and tap water without pH adjustment under the same conditions. The main advantage of this study is to produce hydrogen gas while treating POME with EC to reduce COD and turbidity effectively.     

Performance improvement potential of sensor embedded products in environmental supply chains

Environmental supply chain is a desirable alternative to traditional supply chain due to new and stricter environmental regulations by local governments and increasing consumer awareness towards environmental issues. The two most common types of environmental supply chains are reverse supply chains and closed-loop supply chains. In reverse or closed-loop supply chains, collected used products are subjected to one of four recovery options, viz., reuse, recycling, remanufacturing or disposal. Regardless of the chosen recovery option, all products are disassembled up to some level. However, there is a high level of uncertainty associated with the disassembly yield due to non-functional and/or missing components. Sensor embedded products (SEPs) is a viable approach to cope with this uncertainty since they involve sensors which can detect non-functional and/or missing components prior to disassembly. This study presents a quantitative assessment of the impact of SEPs on the various performance measures of a kanban-controlled disassembly line. First, separate design of experiments studies based on Orthogonal Arrays are carried out for conventional products and SEPs. Then, the results of paired t-tests comparing the two cases based on different performance measures are presented.