Heavy metals in the SPM of air in the environment surrounding a ferro-alloy industrial plant in India

Prices for ferro-alloys have hardened due to the closure of plants in developed countries on account of increasingly stringent pollution control legislation, resulting in a higher cost of production. A ferro-alloy industry with a capacity of 80000 MT per annum was selected to study the nature of pollution. Because of the objectionable nature of polluting air in and around the plant it was located in a rural area where there was no other industry. The area was agriculturally active and there was no effective control system for this plant.The quality of ambient air around the plant site is discussed in this paper along with the meteorological conditions. The maximum concentration of suspended particulate matter (SPM) was 768 µg/NM³ downwind of the plant, minimum 184 µg/NM³, and the average was more than 446 µg/NM³. The presence of heavy metals, viz. Fe, Mn, Cr and Pb, was also assessed. The concentration of Fe was 50 µg/NM³ downwind and 10 µg/NM³ upwind. The concentration of other metals followed a similar trend.     

From Forest Regulation to Participatory Facilitation: Forest Employee Perspectives on Organizational Change and Transformation in India

Despite the critical role of government agencies in decentralizing natural resource governance, little work to date has focused on the organizational aspects of the responsible government bureaucracies. Based on a qualitative investigation of the perspectives of Forest Department employees involved in India's Joint Forest Management (JFM) program, this paper aims to provide an understanding of these internal dynamics. Elaborating on why bureaucracies with a learning orientation are essential if participatory natural resource management is to succeed, the paper underlines the constraints to transforming forest agencies' hierarchical work cultures. Foresters describe JFM as a radical departure from traditional forest governance, but suggest that corresponding transformation within the Forest Department has not occurred. Foresters cite as reasons: (1) a target-based incentive system that leaves little room for establishing the relationships with local people needed for collaborative management; (2) rigid rules and regulations that prevent the flexibility needed for adaptive, site-specific problem-solving; (3) a hierarchical, top-down style of communication that prevents the upper administration from learning what is happening on the ground and stifles initiative by field staff; (4) the need for a committed leadership to reverse this hierarchical culture. They point to the few such team-oriented leaders as the key to transforming the Forest Department and enabling participatory forest management to succeed. The authors also recommend accompanying changes in training and reward systems.     

Seasonal Variation of Toxic Benzene Emissions in Petroleum Refinery

Petroleum refineries are largest chemical industries that are responsible for the emission of several pollutants into the atmosphere. Benzene is among the most important air pollutants that are emitted by petroleum refineries, since they are involved in almost every refinery process. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are a major group of air pollutants, which play a critical role in atmospheric chemistry. These contribute to toxic oxidants, which are harmful to ecosystem, human health and atmosphere. The variability of pollutants is an important factor in determining human exposure to these chemicals. The ambient air concentrations of benzene were measured in several sites around the Digboi petroleum refinery, near the city of Gowahati in northeast India, during winter and summer 2004. The seasonal and spatial variations of the ambient air concentrations of this benzene were investigated and analyzed. An estimation of the contribution of the refinery to the measured atmospheric levels of benzene was also performed. The ambient air mixing ratios of benzene in a large area outside the refinery was generally low, in ppbv range, much lower than the ambient air quality standards. This article presents the temporal and spatial variation of air pollution in and around petroleum refinery and showed that no health risk due to benzene is present in the areas adjacent to the refinery.     

Potential toxicity of amphenicol antibiotic: binding of chloramphenicol to human serum albumin

Antibiotics are widely used in daily life but their abuse has posed a potential threat to human health. To evaluate the toxicity of chloramphenicol (CAP) at the protein level, the interaction between CAP and human serum albumin (HSA) was investigated by fluorescence, Ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) absorption, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and molecular docking methods. Fluorescence data revealed that the fluorescence quenching of HSA by CAP was the result of the formation of CAP–HSA complex, and the binding constant was determined to be 3.196?×?10⁴ L mol^?1 at 310 K. The thermodynamic determination indicated that the interaction was driven by enthalpy change and entropy change together, where the multiple hydrogen bonds (CAP and the residues Arg 222 and His 242 of HSA) and van der Waals forces were the dominant binding force. The site marker competition revealed that CAP bound into sub-domain IIA of HSA. The binding of CAP induced the drastic reduction in α-helix conformation and the significant enhancement in β-sheet conformation of HSA. Molecular docking study further confirmed the binding mode obtained by experimental study. This work provides a new quantitative evaluation method for antibiotics to cause the protein damage.     

Relationship between Urban and Rural Sulfate Levels

Abstract

The topic of global warming as a result of increased atmospheric CO₂ concentration is arguably the most important environmental issue that the world faces today. It is a global problem that will need to be solved on a global level. The link between anthropogenic emissions of CO₂ with increased atmospheric CO₂ levels and, in turn, with increased global temperatures has been well established and accepted by the world. International organizations such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have been formed to address this issue. Three options are being explored to stabilize atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and global temperatures without severely and negatively impacting standard of living: (1) increasing energy efficiency, (2) switching to less carbon-intensive sources of energy, and (3) carbon sequestration. To be successful, all three options must be used in concert. The third option is the subject of this review. Specifically, this review will cover the capture and geologic sequestration of CO₂ generated from large point sources, namely fossil-fuel-fired power gasification plants. Sequestration of CO₂ in geological formations is necessary to meet the President’s Global Climate Change Initiative target of an 18% reduction in GHG intensity by 2012. Further, the best strategy to stabilize the atmospheric concentration of CO₂ results from a multifaceted approach where sequestration of CO₂ into geological formations is combined with increased efficiency in electric power generation and utilization, increased conservation, increased use of lower carbonintensity fuels, and increased use of nuclear energy and renewables.

This review covers the separation and capture of CO₂ from both flue gas and fuel gas using wet scrubbing technologies, dry regenerable sorbents, membranes, cryogenics, pressure and temperature swing adsorption, and other advanced concepts. Existing commercial CO₂ capture facilities at electric power-generating stations based on the use of monoethanolamine are described, as is the Rectisol process used by Dakota Gasification to separate and capture CO₂ from a coal gasifier.

Two technologies for storage of the captured CO₂ are reviewed—sequestration in deep unmineable coalbeds with concomitant recovery of CH4 and sequestration in deep saline aquifers. Key issues for both of these techniques include estimating the potential storage capacity, the storage integrity, and the physical and chemical processes that are initiated by injecting CO₂ underground. Recent studies using computer modeling as well as laboratory and field experimentation are presented here. In addition, several projects have been initiated in which CO₂ is injected into a deep coal seam or saline aquifer. The current status of several such projects is discussed. Included is a commercial-scale project in which a million tons of CO₂ are injected annually into an aquifer under the North Sea in Norway. The review makes the case that this can all be accomplished safely with off-the-shelf technologies. However, substantial research and development must be performed to reduce the cost, decrease the risks, and increase the safety of sequestration technologies.

This review also includes discussion of possible problems related to deep injection of CO₂ . There are safety concerns that need to be addressed because of the possibilities of leakage to the surface and induced seismic activity. These issues are presented along with a case study of a similar incident in the past. It is clear that monitoring and verification of storage will be a crucial part of all geological sequestration practices so that such problems may be avoided. Available techniques include direct measurement of CO₂ and CH4 surface soil fluxes, the use of chemical tracers, and underground 4-D seismic monitoring.

Ten new hypotheses were formulated to describe what happens when CO₂ is pumped into a coal seam. These hypotheses provide significant insight into the fundamental chemical, physical, and thermodynamic phenomena that occur during coal seam sequestration of CO₂ .     

Predicted concentrations of biocides from antifouling paints in Visakhapatnam Harbour

The concentrations of biocides leached from antifouling coatings are monitored in most of the developed countries. However, in India and many other developing countries, there is very little data available on the concentrations of biocides in ports and harbours. The first step was to obtain the order of magnitude levels of concentrations of biocides in the marine environment of the Visakhapatnam Harbour, and the MAM-PEC (Marine Antifoulant Model to Predict Environmental Concentrations) model was used to predict these values. The Visakhapatnam Port lies on the eastern coast of India, roughly halfway between Chennai and Kolkata, and is the largest port in India. This port is a natural harbour; the long and narrow outlet to the open sea makes it a 'poorly flushed' harbour. Predicted concentrations of tributyltin (TBT), copper, dichlofluanid, seanine, irgarol, diuron, tolylfluanid, and zinc pyrithione were computed. The results of the computations indicate that the levels of these biocides are comparable to those in many western countries. This gives credence to the fact that persistence of TBT and some other biocides is a global problem that cannot be ignored.     

A new approach to quantify the degradation kinetics of linuron with UV, ozonation and UV/O3 processes

The degradation of linuron, one of phenylurea herbicides, was investigated for its reaction kinetics by different treatment processes including ultraviolet irradiation (UV), ozonation (O₃), and UV/O₃. The decay rate of linuron by UV/O₃ process was found to be around 3.5 times and 2.5 times faster than sole-UV and ozone-alone, respectively. Experimental results also indicate overall rate constants increased exponentially with pH above 9.0 while the increase of rate constants with pH below 9 is insignificant in O₃ system. All dominant parameters involved in the three processes were determined in the assistant of proposed linear models in this study. The approach was found useful in predicting the process performances through the quantification of quantum yield (rate constant for the formation of free radical HOO⁻ from ozone decomposition at high pH), rate constant of linuron with ozone (k_O3,LNR), rate constant of linuron with hydroxyl radical (k_OH,LNR), and α (the ratio of the production rate of OH and the decay rate of ozone in UV/O₃ system).     

Seasonal variation of chemical composition and source apportionment of PM2.5 in Pune,India

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Particulate matter with size less than or equal to 2.5 μm (PM2.5) samples were collected from an urban site Pune, India, during April...