Environmental impact assessment of a ceramic tile supply chain – a case study

The beginning of the twenty-first century saw a surge in the growth of construction industry, particularly the housing sector in India. This led to the growing demand of ceramic tiles. This growth is responsible for large-scale consumption of natural resources and generation of solid waste. The objective of this paper is to assess the environmental impact of vitrified ceramic floor tile supply chain by performing life cycle assessment (LCA) following international standards of ISO 14040 series guidelines. The impact has been determined by conducting a LCA using Umberto NXT software (eco-invent 3.0 database) with ReCiPe endpoint and midpoint methods. It has been found that the manufacturing stage of supply chain is generating highest impact on environment in all the categories. Impact analysis of different input resources/material shows that red oxide used in glaze preparation, electricity in manufacturing, packaging material, distribution by trucks, installation of tiles using concrete and disposal of packaging material are responsible for most of the environmental impact. This study will offer the essential quantitative assessment to recognise the phases and materials which are highly responsible for the degradation of environment so that appropriate interventions by the different stakeholders can be planed.     

Seizure modeling of Pb(II) and Cd(II) from aqueous solution by chemically modified sugarcane bagasse fly ash: isotherms, kinetics, and column study

Heavy metal pollution is a common environmental problem all over the world. The purpose of the research is to examine the applicability of bagasse fly ash (BFA)—an agricultural waste of sugar industry used for the synthesis of zeolitic material. The zeolitic material are used for the uptake of Pb(II) and Cd(II) heavy metal. Bagasse fly ash is used as a native material for the synthesis of zeolitic materials by conventional hydrothermal treatment without (conventional zeolitic bagasse fly ash (CZBFA)) and with electrolyte (conventional zeolitic bagasse fly ash in electrolyte media (ECZBFA)) media. Heavy metal ions Pb(II) and Cd(II) were successfully seized from aqueous media using these synthesized zeolitic materials. In this study, the zeolitic materials were well characterized by different instrumental methods such as Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, XRF, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopic microphotographs. The presence of analcime, phillipsite, and zeolite P in adsorbents confirms successful conversion of native BFA into zeolitic materials. Seizure modeling of Pb(II) and Cd(II) was achieved by batch sorption experiments, isotherms, and kinetic studies. These data were used to compare and evaluate the zeolitic materials as potential sorbents for the uptake of heavy metal ions from an aqueous media. The Langmuir isotherm correlation coefficient parameters best fit the equilibrium data which indicate the physical sorption. Pseudo-second-order and intra-particle diffusion model matches best which indicates that the rate of sorption was controlled by film diffusion. The column studies were performed for the practical function of sorbents, and breakthrough curves were obtained, which revealed higher sorption capacity as compared to batch method. Synthesized zeolitic material (CZBFA and ECZBFA), a low-cost sorbent, was proven as potential sorbent for the uptake of Pb(II) and Cd(II) heavy metal ions.     

Metals in Herring and Great Black-Backed Gulls from the New York Bight: the Role of Salt Gland in Excretion

We examined the tissue distribution ofmetals in the herring (Larus argentatus) andgreat black-backed (Larus marinus) gullsobtained near the John F. Kennedy Airport, on LongIsland, New York, to determine whether there werespecies differences and whether levels in the saltgland were sufficiently high to suggest that thisorgan may be serving an excretory function. For mostorgans, herring gulls had significantly higher levelsof lead (except for liver), but significantly lowerlevels of mercury (except in the salt gland) thangreat black-backed gulls. For all metals exceptarsenic, there were significant differences inconcentrations among tissues for both species. Greatblack-backed gulls had much higher concentrations ofcadmium in kidney than in any other organ and this wasmuch higher than the level in herring gulls; herringgulls had much higher levels than black-backs of leadin salt glands. For both species, concentrations inkidney, liver and salt gland were generally higherthan in heart muscle or pectoral muscle. For herringgulls, the concentrations of all metals in the saltglands were not significantly different from the organwith the highest values (liver or kidney). For greatblack-backed gulls this was true only for lead,selenium, chromium, and mercury. We examined theratio of metals in all organs to the liverconcentration. Very low ratios (<0.25) were foundfor lead in heart and muscle of both species, andselenium in heart and muscle of herring gulls. Highratios (>2) included lead (2.75:1) and cadmium(14.3:1) in kidney of black-backs. In greatblack-backs the kidney:salt gland ratio was >1.5:1except for mercury (1.31:1) and chromium (0.83:1),while in herring gulls all ratios were between 0.7 and1.2, except for mercury (0.46:1), reflecting therelatively higher concentrations of metals in the saltgland of this species. We suggest that most heavymetals seem to be concentrating in the salt glands ofgulls, within an order of magnitude of the kidneyconcentration, and that salt glands may be serving asignificant excretory function for these cations.     

Removal of bisphenol A from wastewater by physical,chemical and biological remediation techniques. A review

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Bisphenol A is a well-known endocrine-disrupting compound that is commonly detected in industrial effluents and wastewater treatment plants. It is extensively used...