Recommendations on chemicals management policy and legislation in the framework of the Egyptian–German twinning project on hazardous substances and waste management

The sustainable management of chemicals and their associated wastes—especially legacy stockpiles—is always challenging. Developing countries face particular difficulties as they often have insufficient treatment and disposal capacity, have limited resources and many lack an appropriate and effective regulatory framework. This paper describes the objectives and the approach of the Egyptian–German Twinning Project under the European Neighbourhood Policy to improve the strategy of managing hazardous substances in the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) between November 2008 and May 2011. It also provides an introduction to the Republic of Egypt’s legal and administrative system regarding chemical controls. Subsequently, options for a new chemical management strategy consistent with the recommendations of the United Nations Chemicals Conventions are proposed. The Egyptian legal and administrative system is discussed in relation to the United Nations’ recommendations and current European Union legislation for the sound management of chemicals. We also discuss a strategy for the EEAA to use the existing Egyptian legal system to implement the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals, the Stockholm Convention and other proposed regulatory frameworks. The analysis, the results, and the recommendations presented may be useful for other developing countries in a comparable position to Egypt aspiring to update their legislation and administration to the international standards of sound management of chemicals.     

Social learning and sustainable communities: An interim assessment of research into sustainable communities projects in the UK

The delivery of many of the most pressing environmental issues will rely on changes in environmental attitudes and behaviour at community level. At a UN Special Session in 1997, the British Government highlighted its initiatives on Local Agenda 21 (LA21) and Going for Green (GFG) as significant advances. This paper adds a new perspective, drawing on the range of experiences of some of the research teams that have been working with local authorities on pilot Sustainable Community Projects (SCPs) in England and Scotland. It sheds light on three substantive themes: the tensions inherent in the implementation of internationally and nationally agreed goals through local action; the ambiguity of local agencies acting as facilitators of community ownership of processes, and the requirements for successful partnership between local authorities and higher education.     

Health risk assessment of heavy metal intake due to fish consumption in the Sistan region,Iran

The heavy metal (Pb, Cd, Cr, and Ni) content of a fish species consumed by the Sistan population and its associated health risk factors were investigated. The mean concentrations of Pb, Cd, and Cr were slightly higher than the standard levels. The Ni content of fish was below the maximum guideline proposed by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). The average estimated weekly intake was significantly below the provisional tolerable intake based on the FAO and WHO standards for all studied metals. The target hazard quotients (THQ) of all metals were below 1, showing an absence of health hazard for the population of Sistan. The combined target hazard quotient for the considered metals was 26.94 × 10^?3. The cancer risk factor for Pb (1.57 × 10^?7) was below the acceptable lifetime carcinogenic risk (10^?5). The results of this study reveal an almost safe level of Pb, Cd, Cr, and Ni contents in the fish consumed by the Sistan population.

Open image in new window

Graphical abstract ?

     

Highly efficient degradation of metronidazole drug using CaFe2O4/PNA nanohybrids as metal-organic catalysts under microwave irradiation

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Catalytic degradation based on microwave irradiation is an emerging technique which promises prompt and efficient catalytic degradation of organic...     

Production of sugarcane bagasse-based activated carbon for formaldehyde gas removal from potted plants exposure chamber

Agricultural wastes such as rice straw, sugar beet, and sugarcane bagasse have become a critical environmental issue due to growing agriculture demand. This study aimed to investigate the valorization possibility of sugarcane bagasse waste for activated carbon preparation. It also aimed to fully characterize the prepared activated carbon (BET surface area) via scanning electron microscope (SEM) and in terms of surface functional groups to give a basic understanding of its structure and to study the adsorption capacity of the sugarcane bagasse-based activated carbon using aqueous methylene blue (MB). The second main objective was to evaluate the performance of sugarcane bagasse-based activated carbon for indoor volatile organic compounds removal using the formaldehyde gas (HCHO) as reference model in two potted plants chambers. The first chamber was labeled the polluted chamber (containing formaldehyde gas without activated carbon) and the second was taken as the treated chamber (containing formaldehyde gas with activated carbon). The results indicated that the sugarcane bagasse-based activated carbon has a moderate BET surface area (557 m²/g) with total mesoporous volume and microporous volume of 0.310 and 0.273 cm³/g, respectively. The prepared activated carbon had remarkable adsorption capacity for MB. Formaldehyde removal rate was then found to be more than 67% in the treated chamber with the sugarcane bagasse-based activated carbon. The plants’ responses for this application as dry weight, chlorophyll contents, and protein concentration were also investigated.

Implications: Preparation of activated carbon from sugarcane bagasse (SCBAC) is a promising approach to produce cheap and efficient adsorbent for gas pollutants removal. It may be also a solution for the agricultural wastes problems in big cities, particularly in Egypt. MB adsorption tests suggest that the SCBAC have high adsorption capacity. Formaldehyde gas removal in the plant chambers indicates that the SCBAC have potential to recover volatile gases. The results confirmed that the activated carbon produced from sugarcane bagasse waste raw materials can be used as an applicable adsorbent for treating a variety of gas pollutants from the indoor environment.     

A simple and efficient multi-residue method based on QuEChERS for pesticides determination in palm oil by liquid chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry

In this study, a rapid, specific and sensitive multi-residue method based on acetonitrile extraction followed by dispersive solid-phase extraction (d-SPE) clean-up was implemented and validated for multi-class pesticide residues determination in palm oil for the first time. Liquid-liquid extraction followed by low-temperature precipitation procedure was evaluated in order to study the freezing-out clean-up efficiency to obtain high recovery yield and low co-extract fat residue in the final extract. For clean-up step, d-SPE was carried out using a combination of anhydrous magnesium sulphate (MgSO(4)), primary secondary amine, octadecyl (C(18)) and graphitized carbon black. Recovery study was performed at two concentration levels (10 and 100 ng g(-1)), yielding recovery rates between 74.52% and 97.1% with relative standard deviation values below 10% (n?=?6) except diuron. Detection and quantification limits were lower than 5 and 9 ng g(-1), respectively. In addition, soft matrix effects (≤±20%) were observed for most of the studied pesticides except malathion that indicated medium (20-50%) matrix effects. The proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of suspected palm oil samples.     

Modified Grey Model and its application to groundwater flow analysis with limited hydrogeological data: a case study of the Nubian Sandstone, Kharga Oasis, Egypt

Groundwater flow at Kharga Oasis, located in the western desert of Egypt, was previously analyzed using numerical models; however, the lack of basic data often limits the implementation of these models, as well as introducing a problem for model calibration and validation. The Grey Model (GM) was used to overcome these difficulties of data limitation and uncertainty of hydrogeological conditions. However, no clear theories exist for selecting the number of input model trends and the most suitable values of input parameters. Therefore, in the current study, a modification of the GM is newly proposed and called the Modified Grey Model (MGM) in an attempt to determine a process for selecting the best input models' trends with the appropriate values of input parameters to achieve acceptable fitting to observations. The sensitivity analysis results showed that the MGM produced more stable results than the GM using a wide range of values for input parameters. Moreover, the MGM reduced the calculation time required for fitting the measured piezometric level trends by 99.8 %. Three development scenarios of groundwater withdrawal were proposed that involved either expanding the present extraction rate or redistributing the groundwater withdrawal over the recent working production wells (RWPWs). The results concluded that the groundwater table in the northern part of the oasis could be temporally recovered to an economical piezometric level; however, the table in the southern part is severely decreased. Therefore, new production wells are recommended to be constructed in the southern part far enough from the RWPWs.     

A comparative decision-making model for sustainable end-of-life vehicle management alternative selection using AHP and extent analysis method on fuzzy AHP

Environmental protection and sustainable development are getting increasing attention in the automobile industries. Environmental consciousness has increased, and sustainability has become an important requirement for the management of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs). The proper management of ELVs can bring improved sustainability performance for any society or organisation. There are several alternative options for ELVs management such as reuse, repair, reconditioning, remanufacturing and recycling. Environmental legislation is forcing original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to manage their products at the end of their life cycle to reduce their potential environmental impact. An appropriate selection model for sustainable ELV management alternatives in the dynamic, competitive and regulatory environment can enable a firm to satisfy economic, environmental, social and technological requirements. This study proposes an integrated model to select the dimensions and criteria for evaluating sustainable alternatives for the proper management of ELVs. First, the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method is used to select the most important dimensions and criteria for sustainable alternative selection. Next, a hierarchy has been constructed to develop a systematic technique to solve the alternatives selection problem. An analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and extent analysis method on the fuzzy AHP (FEAHP) model have been used based on the hierarchy to evaluate the most suitable alternatives from the sustainability point of view. The strength of the proposed model is that it compares the results of both methods, the imprecision of experts’ opinions is considered in the evaluation process and the model is easy to use.     

The conceptual framework to determine interrelations and interactions for holistic Water,Energy, and Food Nexus

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Several models with a variety of concepts and approaches have been proposed to address different aspects of the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus system....     

Synthesis,Characterization and Application of α, β, and γ Cyclodextrin-Conjugated Graphene Oxide for Removing Cadmium Ions from Aqueous Media

In this study, a novel and facile route for the synthesis of cyclodextrin-conjugated graphene oxide (CDs–GO) nanocomposites by esterification reaction in the presence of EDC/DMAP as catalyst, was developed. The formation of CDs–GO was successfully approved by FT-IR, SEM, TEM, TGA and BET analyses. Then competitive adsorption capacity of cadmium ion by CDs–GO composites and the impact of different empirical parameters like contact time, initial metal ion concentration, and initial pH on the adsorption process were studied. The results showed that β-CD–GO at pH 7 is suitable for removing Cd(II) with 90?% removal efficiency. Also, the adsorption capacity experiment at constant concentration of 50 ppm of Cd(II) showed that more than 50?% of Cd(II) ions could be adsorbed by γ-CD–GO reaching an equilibrium within 2 h. Therefore, the γ-CD–GO and α-CD–GO showed high adsorption capacity toward Cd²⁺ (222.22 mg/g) which were pointedly more than that of β-CD–GO (208.33 mg/g). Furthermore, adsorption kinetics, isotherm studies, and thermodynamic analyses were evaluated. The adsorption data exhibited excellent fit to the pseudo-second-order (R²?>?0.99) and Freundlich isotherm models.