Physicochemical parameters aid microbial community? A case study from marine recreational beaches,Southern India

A total of 176 (water and sediment) samples from 22 stations belonging to four different (urban, semi-urban, rural, and holy places) human habitations of Tamil Nadu beaches were collected and analyzed for physiochemical and microbial parameters during 2008–2009. Bacterial counts were two- to tenfold higher in sediments than in water due to strong bacterial aggregations by dynamic flocculation and rich organic content. The elevated bacterial communities during the monsoon explain rainfalls and several other wastes from inlands. Coliform counts drastically increased at holy and urban places due to pilgrimage and other ritual activities. Higher values of the pollution index (PI) ratio (>1) reveals, human fecal pollutions affect the water quality. The averaged PI ratio shows a substantial higher microbial contamination in holy places than in urban areas and the order of decreasing PI ratios observed were: holy places?>?urban areas?>?semi-urban areas?>?rural areas. Correlation and factor analysis proves microbial communities were not related to physicochemical parameters. Principal component analysis indicates 55.32 % of the total variance resulted from human/animal fecal matters and sewage contaminants whereas 19.95 % were related to organic contents and waste materials from the rivers. More than 80 % of the samples showed a higher fecal coliform and Streptococci by crossing the World Health Organization's permissible limits.     

Oxidative environment causes molecular remodeling in embryonic heart—a metabolomic and lipidomic fingerprinting analysis

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Environmental factors including pollution affect human health, and the unifying factor in determining toxicity and pathogenesis for a wide array of...     

Ecofriendly lime and sulfide free enzymatic dehairing of skins and hides using a bacterial alkaline protease

The ever-increasing attention to the environmental impact of leather industry has necessitated the development of enzyme-based processes as potent alternatives to pollution causing chemicals. In this study, a hair saving process is developed for dehairing of skins and hides using a bacterial alkaline protease preparation, completely eliminating the use of lime and sulfide. To evaluate the efficacy of the enzymatic process, comparative studies have been carried out with two controls; a conventional lime-sulfide process and enzyme-assisted process using commercial dehairing enzyme with reduced quantities of lime and sulfide. The developed process requires a shorter duration of 6h for complete dehairing of skins and hides than control groups and also, it avoids the use of silicate carriers since the enzymatic dehairing is carried out by dip method. Histological and scanning electron microscopic analyses of the dehaired pelts obtained from enzymatic process reveal complete removal of hair and epidermis with moderate opening up of fiber structure in both dermis and corium. Moreover, the collagen is not damaged and resulting in a leather of good quality. The developed process has resulted in a remarkable reduction of effluent load in terms of biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, total dissolved solids and total suspended solids. Physicochemical studies conclusively show that the leathers produced by enzymatic process are equivalent to or better than that obtained by control systems. Thus, the developed enzymatic process offers immense potential for greener mode of dehairing of skins and hides in leather industry coupled with environmental excellence.     

A prototype of proposed treatment plant for sago factory effluent

Sago processing industries discharge wastewater, which poses a threat to water bodies due to their higher organic loading. Concerns about pollution related problems in the global scenario are persuading all the processing industries to adopt cleaner manufacturing practices. Hence, this study was aimed at developing a cost-effective and eco-friendly treatment plant based on microbial system to treat the sago factory effluent effectively in order to reuse the water for industrial purposes. The experimental results showed that, anaerobic treatment with mixed inoculum for 10 days followed by 6 days of fungal treatment was found to be effective in effluent treatment. The fusant showed a higher efficiency in the treatment of sago factory effluent than the parental strains.     

Application of a chemically modified green macro alga as a biosorbent for phenol removal

Phenol and substituted phenols are toxic organic pollutants present in tannery waste streams. Environmental legislation defines the maximum discharge limit to be 5–50 ppm of total phenols in sewers. Thus the efforts to develop new efficient methods to remove phenolic compounds from wastewater are of primary concern. The present work aims at the use of a modified green macro alga (Caulerpa scalpelliformis) as a biosorbent for the removal of phenolic compounds from the post-tanning sectional stream. The effects of initial phenol concentration, contact time, temperature and initial pH of the solution on the biosorption potential of macro algal biomass have been investigated. Biosorption of phenol by modified green macro algae is best described by the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. Biosorption kinetics of phenol onto modified green macro algal biomass were best described by a pseudo second order model. The maximum uptake capacity was found to be 20 mg of phenol per gram of green macro algae. A Boyd plot confirmed the external mass transfer as the slowest step involved in the biosorption process. The average effective diffusion coefficient was found to be 1.44 × 10⁻⁹ cm²/s. Thermodynamic studies confirmed the biosorption process to be exothermic.     

Dye house wastewater treatment through advanced oxidation process using Cu-exchanged Y zeolite: a heterogeneous catalytic approach

Catalytic wet hydrogen peroxide oxidation of an anionic dye has been explored in this study. Copper(II) complex of NN'-ethylene bis(salicylidene-aminato) (salenH2) has been encapsulated in super cages of zeolite-Y by flexible ligand method. The catalyst has been characterized by Fourier transforms infra red spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffractograms, Thermo-gravimetric and differential thermal analysis and nitrogen adsorption studies. The effects of various parameters such as pH, catalyst and hydrogen peroxide concentration on the oxidation of dye were studied. The results indicate that complete removal of color has been obtained after a period of less than 1h at 60 degrees C, 0.175M H2O2 and 0.3g l(-1) catalyst. More than 95% dye removal has been achieved using this catalyst for commercial effluent. These studies indicate that copper salen complex encapsulated in zeolite framework is a potential heterogeneous catalyst for removal of color from wastewaters.     

Deployment of Trichoderma harzianum WL1 laccase in pulp bleaching and paper industry effluent treatment

The ability of Trichoderma harzianum WL1 crude laccase and the fungal system for the biobleaching of wastepaper pulp and treatment of paper industry effluent was investigated. Three different modes of treatment, enzyme, enzyme-alkali and enzyme-EDED were employed for the bleaching of wastepaper pulp. The process parameters such as treatment period, pulp consistency, temperature and enzyme charge had a great influence on the quality of paper pulp. The paper industry effluent was subjected to eight different treatments via. aerobic, anaerobic, fungal and combination of these treatments. Fungal followed by anaerobic treatment was found to be effective in paper industry effluent treatment.     

Role of nano-additive blended biodiesel on emission characteristics of the research diesel engine

The current experimental study is aimed to analyze the influence of single-walled Carbon Nano Tubes (CNT) on the emission characteristics of neem biodiesel-fueled (NBD-fueled) diesel engine and the results compared with conventional diesel. Experiments were conducted in a single-cylinder, 4-stroke, diesel engine with an eddy current dynamometer at a constant speed of 1500 rpm. Two samples of CNT are characterized and dispersed into 100% of the NBD in a mass fraction of 50 and 100 ppm using ultrasonicator, and the physicochemical properties were measured. Experimental results indicated that by adding CNT nanoparticles in NBD reduces its NO_x, HC, CO, and smoke emission by 9.2%, 6.7%, 5.9%, and 7.8%, respectively, at all load conditions.     

Emission study of a diesel engine fueled with higher alcohol-biodiesel blended fuels

This work examines the effect of butanol (higher alcohol) on the emission pattern of neat neem oil biodiesel (NBD100) fueled diesel engine. Single-cylinder, 4-stroke, research diesel engine was employed to conduct the trial. Blends comprising the mixture of biodiesel and higher alcohol were prepared by employing an ultrasonic agitator. Four test fuels such as neat neem oil biodiesel, diesel, and two blends of higher alcohol/neem oil biodiesel: 10% and 20% (by volume). Experimental result showed that increasing alcohol content to biodiesel brought down the various emissions such as Smoke, NO_x, HC, and CO by 6.8%, 10.4%, 8.6%, and 5.9%, respectively, at all loads. It was also concluded from the trail that a 20% higher alcohol/neem oil biodiesel blends show the promising signs in reducing all the emissions associated with biodiesel fuelled diesel engine.