Environmentally sustainable applications of agro-based spent mushroom substrate (SMS): an overview

Agricultural wastes such as lignocellulosic residues are renewable resources can be used for mushroom cultivation. Spent mushroom substrate (SMS) is defined as leftover of biomass generated by commercial mushroom industries after harvesting period of mushroom. Mushroom cultivation using agricultural wastes promises a good quality of SMS for producing beneficial products such as animal feeding and fertilizers. Based on the published papers, the major applications of SMS are animal feedstock, fertilizer, energy production and wastewater treatment. For instance, some species of mushroom such as Pleurotus spp. and Agaricus bisporus are suitable for applications of ruminant feedstock and fertilizers. This paper reviews the recent studies about the beneficial usage of SMS which is considered as a waste since 2013.     

ANN-based mapping of monthly reference crop evapotranspiration by using altitude, latitude and longitude data in Fars province, Iran

The main goal of this study was to evaluate the different feed-forward back-propagation artificial neural networks’ (ANNs) potential to estimate and interpolate the reference crop evapotranspiration (ET₀) in Fars province of Iran. ET₀ was calculated using the FAO-56 Penman–Monteith method over 24 synoptic stations. Then, altitude, latitude, longitude and the month’s number as inputs and the monthly ET₀ as output (target) were used to train the ANNs. In addition, the three-layered ANNs optimized with different training algorithms including gradient descent back-propagation (gd), gradient descent with adaptive learning rate back-propagation (gda), gradient descent with momentum and adaptive learning rate back-propagation (gdx) and scaled conjugate gradient back-propagation (scg). The results indicated that scg algorithm with architecture (4 2 1) had more satisfactory results with the RMSE and R correlation coefficient equal to 18.538 mm and 0.967 in validation phase, respectively. Based on the mentioned architecture of scg algorithm, and input data form different parts of Fars province and surrounding areas, monthly ET₀ maps were produced and annual one achieved by summation of monthly maps. The maps particularly annual one showed that highest values of ET₀ could be found in the southern and especially southeastern regions, while the lowest values of ET₀ could be seen in the northern parts. Contribution of geographic and topographic variables improved the accuracy and spatial details of the resulting maps. It is interesting to note that the fundamental capability of this model is the usage of just a few parameters for ET₀ mapping. Since ET₀ is a key parameter in water demand planning, therefore, the derived maps could be useful and applicable for many purposes mainly irrigation scheduling in Fars province, Iran.     

Study on assessment of slope stability and mixed disposal of overburden in voids of Singrauli Coalfield

The mining industry can be considered the backbone of the Indian economy as well as facilitating the power that drives most of the other industries in the company. The overburden and waste rocks produced during coal mining are major concerns in regard to the amount of land that is required for their disposal, as well as the stability of dumps for these materials, which are of increasing height. Land reclamation issues are also a concern. In this work the adverse impacts caused by the dumping of overburden on land and acidic mine water on water bodies is discussed. Remote sensing tools were used along with the laboratory experimentation to assess the various impacts. This study also shows that silt released from waste dumps, can affected the angle of repose of the overburden dump slope. The angle of repose of the overburden materials varies with particle size composition. Thus, use of in‐pit crushers in large opencast mining operations can effectively reduce the area locked under the waste dumps. The acid neutralization potential of fly ash and overburden for the treatment of acid water was tested in the laboratory by using fly ash and waste rock materials on acidic coalfield water. The results are encouraging, and fly ash may prove to be a good acid neutralizer when used in conjunction of coal overburden material.     

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) in four fish species from different trophic levels in the Persian Gulf

Concentration of ten polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds were determined in liver of four fish species from different trophic levels (Aurigequula fasciata, omnivore; Alepes djedaba, carnivore; Liza abu and Sardinella albella, phytoplanktivores). In all the species, similar distributions were observed in which pyrene predominated and followed by naphthalene and acenaphthylene. L. abu accumulated the highest concentration of ΣPAH, followed by S. albella, A. fasciata, and A. djedaba. No correlation between PAH content in fish liver and fish size has been found at the level of individual compounds, except for benzo[a]pyrene (p?r?=??0.704). Female fish exhibited significantly lower mean ΣPAH concentrations than male in all the species, except for L. abu.     

Green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles loaded on activated carbon prepared from walnut peel extract for the removal of Eosin Y and Erythrosine B dyes from aqueous solution: experimental approaches,kinetics models,and thermodynamic studies

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Water contamination due to release of dye containing effluents is one of the environmental problems of serious concern today. The present study...