Residential solid waste generation and classification study of ten headquarter cities of Azad Jammu & Kashmir,Pakistan

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Effective municipal solid waste collection and disposal system is not possible without reliable solid waste generation and classification data...     

Low digestibility of phytate phosphorus,their impacts on the environment,and phytase opportunity in the poultry industry

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Phosphorus is an essential macro-mineral nutrient for poultry, needed for the body growth, development of bones, genomic function, good...     

Production of natural and recycled aggregates: the environmental impacts of energy consumption and CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> emissions

Natural aggregates (NA) are crushed and processed in crushing plants after the extraction stage in quarries. In the present study, the aggregates are divided into three scenarios, depending on the production methods. The first scenario considers the production of NA, the second scenario deals with the production of recycled aggregates (RA) with respect to construction and demolition waste, and the third scenario, which is a hybrid scenario, handles the combination of NA and RA by assuming a 50% mixing percentage. In this research, we assess the environmental impacts on the production of aggregates via each scenario, using life cycle assessment; in addition, energy consumption and CO₂ emissions are considered as the environmental variables. We conclude that Iran’s current policy with an annual energy consumption of 1.48 million tons of oil equivalent (toe) can have a footprint of 2.88 million tons of CO₂ eq emissions per year (the first scenario). Achieving 30 and 36% reduction in annual energy consumption and CO₂ emissions, respectively, by the third scenario compared to the first scenario indicates the destructive effect of the first scenario from the environmental outlook.     

Effect of vermicast generated from an allelopathic weed lantana (Lantana camara) on seed germination,plant growth,and yield of cluster bean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba)

In perhaps the first-ever study of its kind, the effect of vermicompost, derived solely from an allelopathic weed, on the germination, growth, and yield of a botanical species, has been carried out. In test plots, the soil was treated with the vermicompost of lantana (Lantana camara) at the rates of 5, 7.5, and 10 t ha^?1, and cluster bean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba) was grown on it. The performance of these systems was compared with the systems in which the soil was fortified with inorganic fertilizers (IFs) in concentrations equivalent to those present in the respective vermicompost (VC) treatments. Additionally, a set of control was studied in which the soil was used without fortification by either VC or IF. It was seen that up to 51.5 % greater germination success occurred in the VC treatments compared to controls. VC also supported better plant growth in terms of stem diameter, shoot length, shoot mass, number of leaves, and leaf pigments. The positive impact extended up to fruit yield. In addition, vermicast application enhanced root nodule formation, reduced disease incidence, and allowed for a smaller number of stunted plants. The results indicate that allelopathic ingredients of lantana seem to have been totally eliminated during the course of its vermicomposting and that lantana vermicompost has the potential to support germination, growth, and fruit yield better than equivalent quantities of IFs.     

Effect of land use changes on non-carcinogenic health risks due to nitrate exposure to drinking groundwater

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This study aimed to determine the effect of land-use changes on the non-carcinogenic health risk of nitrate ion exposure of underground drinking water...     

Qualidex – A New Software for Generating Water Quality Indice

Water quality indice are necessary for resolving lengthy, multi-parameter, water analysis reports into single digit scores. This, in turn, is essential for comparing the water quality of different sources and in monitoring the changes in the water quality of a given source as a function of time and other influencing factors.In this paper we present the computer-automated tool QUALIDEX (water QUALIty inDEX), which has been developed by us to generate and operate water quality indice. Several popular indice – such as the Oregon Water Quality Index developed in the 1970s by Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and later updated in 1995, the Aquatic Toxicity Index developed by Wepener and coworkers for protection of aquatic life at the Olifants river, Kruger National Park, South Africa, the water quality index developed by Dinius in 1987, the Overall Index of Pollution (of surface waters) developed at the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), and the water quality index of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) – have also been added to QUALIDEX in modular form. There is also a New water quality index sub-module which enables the user to generate his or her own index and compare its performance with these well-known indice. The package is also capable of analyzing the variations in the water quality of different sites at different times. The software has been coded in Visual C++ and has been integrated with MS Access database.     

TOPHAZOP: a knowledge-based software tool for conducting HAZOP in a rapid, efficient yet inexpensive manner

Hazard and operability (HAZOP) studies constitute an essential step in the risk analysis of any chemical process industry and involve systematic identification of every conceivable abnormal process deviation, its causes and abnormal consequences. These authors have recently proposed optHAZOP as an alternative procedure for conducting HAZOP studies in a shorter span of time than taken by conventional HAZOP procedure, with greater accuracy and effectiveness [Khan, F. I. and Abassi, S. A., optHAZOP. An effective and efficient technique for hazard identification and assessment Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 1997, 10, 191–204]. optHAZOP consists of several steps, the most crucial one requires use of a knowledge-based software tool which would significantly reduce the requirement of expert man-hours and speed up the work of the study team. TOPHAZOP (Tool for OPTmizing HAZOP) has been developed to fulfil this need.

The TOPHAZOP knowledge-base consists of two main branches: process-specific and general. The TOPHAZOP framework allows these two branches to interact during the analysis to address the process-specific aspects of HAZOP analysis while maintaining the generality of the system. The system is open-ended and modular in structure to make easy implementation and/or expansion of knowledge. The important features of TOPHAZOP and its performance on an industrial case study are described.     

A comprehensive review of hydrophobic silica and composite aerogels: synthesis,properties and recent progress towards environmental remediation and biomedical applications

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The hydrophobicity of silica and composite aerogels has enabled them to acquire applications in a variety of fields. With remarkable structural,...