Oil-Induced environmental Kuznets curve in organization of petroleum exporting countries (OPEC)

This study investigates the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in 10 of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). To realize the study’s aims a time series model is built based on the period 1977–2008, utilizing the ecological footprint as an environmental indicator and income, labour, capital, oil consumption and oil price as economic indicators. Employing the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach, by comparing the short and long-run income elasticities, the EKC hypothesis is present in six OPEC countries namely Algeria, Iraq, Venezuela, Nigeria, Qatar and Kuwait. Moreover, the Toda–Yamamoto–Dolado–Lütkepohl (TYDL) causality tests outcome show that, after oil consumption, the most significant factors in increasing ecological footprint are labor and capital. This implies the relocation of pollution intensive industries to almost all of the OPEC countries. However, oil prices reduce environmental damage by its negative effect on the ecological footprint. From the outcome of this study it is important for the investigated countries to reduce their consumption of fossil fuel energy since it represents an important source of pollution. This can be achieved by allocating more labor and capital in projects and investments on renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy saving.     

Investigation of the removal of heavy metals from sediments using rhamnolipid in a continuous flow configuration

Heavy metal contamination of sediments is hazardous to benthic organisms and needs more attention in order to prevent entry of these heavy metals into the food chain. Biosurfactants have shown the capability to remove heavy metals from soils and sediments. The objective of this research was to evaluate the performance of rhamnolipid, a glycolipid biosurfactant, in a continuous flow configuration (CFC) for removal of heavy metals (copper, zinc, and nickel) from the sediments taken from Lachine Canal, Canada, to simulate a flow through remediation technique. In this configuration, rhamnolipid solution with a constant rate was passed through the sediment sample within a column. Important parameters such as the concentration of rhamnolipid and the additives, time and the flow rate were investigated. The removal of heavy metals from sediments was up to 37% of Cu, 13% of Zn, and 27% of Ni when rhamnolipid without additives was applied. Adding 1% NaOH to 0.5% rhamnolipid improved the removal of copper by up to 4 times compared with 0.5% rhamnolipid alone. This information is valuable for designing a remediation protocol for sediment washing.     

Economic growth and environmental pollution in Myanmar: an analysis of environmental Kuznets curve

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This empirical study examines the short- and long-run relationship between GDP as an economic growth indicator and CO2 emissions as an environmental...     

Preparation and Characterization of PVDF/g-C3N4/Chitosan Polymeric Membrane for the Removal of Direct Blue 14 Dye

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)/g-C3N4/Chitosan thin film membranes were prepared by immersing of PVDF/g-C3N4 membrane in solution containing various...