Assessment of the impact of petroleum and petrochemical industries to the surrounding areas in Malaysia using mosses as bioindicator supported by multivariate analysis

Biomonitoring of multi-element atmospheric deposition using terrestrial moss is a well-established technique in Europe. Although the technique is widely known, there were very limited records of using this technique to study atmospheric air pollution in Malaysia. In this present study, the deposition of 11 trace metals surrounding the main petroleum refinery plant in Kerteh Terengganu (eastern part of peninsular Malaysia) has been evaluated using two local moss species, namely Hypnum plumaeforme and Taxithelium instratum as bioindicators. The study was also done by means of observing whether these metals are attributed to work related to oil exploration in this area. The moss samples have been collected at 30 sampling stations in the vicinity of the petrochemical industrial area covering up to 15 km to the south, north, and west in radius. The contents of heavy metal in moss samples were analyzed by energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence technique. Distribution of heavy metal content in all mosses is portrayed using Surfer software. Areas of the highest level of contaminations are highlighted. The results obtained using the principal components analysis revealed that the elements can be grouped into three different components that indirectly reflected three different sources namely anthropogenic factor, vegetation factor, and natural sources (soil dust or substrate) factor. Heavy metals deposited mostly in the distance after 9 km onward to the western part (the average direction of wind blow). V, Cr, Cu, and Hg are believed to have originated from local petrochemical-based industries operated around petroleum industrial area.     

Effect of data pre-treatment procedures on principal component analysis: a case study for mangrove surface sediment datasets

Principal component analysis (PCA) is capable of handling large sets of data. However, lack of consistent method in data pre-treatment and its importance are the limitations in PCA applications. This study examined pre-treatments methods (log (x?+?1) transformation, outlier removal, and granulometric and geochemical normalization) on dataset of Mengkabong Lagoon, Sabah, mangrove surface sediment at high and low tides. The study revealed that geochemical normalization using Al with outliers removal resulted in a better classification of the mangrove surface sediment than that outliers removal, granulometric normalization using clay and log (x?+?1) transformation. PCA output using geochemical normalization with outliers removal demonstrated associations between environmental variables and tides of mangrove surface sediment, Mengkabong Lagoon, Sabah. The PCA outputs at high and low tides also provided to better interpret information about the sediment and its controlling factors in the intertidal zone. The study showed data pre-treatment method to be a useful procedure to standardize the datasets and reducing the influence of outliers.     

Effects of multi-metal toxicity on the performance of sewage treatment system during the festival of colors (Holi) in India

The present study investigated the effects of heavy metals (Ni, Zn, Cd, Cu, and Pb) toxicity on the performance of 18 MLD activated sludge process-based sewage treatment plant (STP) during celebration of Holi (festival of colors in India). The composite sampling (n?=?32) was carried out during the entire study period. The findings show a significant decrease in chemical oxygen demand removal efficiency (20%) of activated sludge system, after receiving the heavy metals laden wastewater. A significant reduction of 40% and 60% were observed in MLVSS/MLSS ratio and specific oxygen uptake rate, which eventually led to a substantial decrease in biomass growth yield (from 0.54 to 0.17). The toxic effect of metals ions was also observed on protozoan population. Out of the 12 mixed liquor species recorded, only two ciliates species of Vorticella and Epistylis exhibited the greater tolerance against heavy metals toxicity. Furthermore, activated sludge shows the highest metal adsorption affinity for Cu, followed by Zn, Pb, Ni, and Cd (Cu?>?Zn?>?Pb?>?Ni?>?Cd). Finally, this study proves the robustness of activated sludge system against the sudden increase in heavy metal toxicity since it recovered the earlier good quality performance within 5?days.     

Synthesis of linear low-density polyethylene-g-poly(acrylic acid)-co-starch/organo-montmorillonite hydrogel composite as an adsorbent for removal of Pb(Ⅱ) from aqueous solutions

The purpose of this work is to remove Pb(II) from the aqueous solution using a type of hydrogel composite. A hydrogel composite consisting of waste linear low density polyethylene, acrylic acid, starch, and organo-montmorillonite was prepared through emulsion polymerization method. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR), Solid carbon nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy(CNMR)), silicon-29 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy(Si NMR)), and X-ray diffraction spectroscope((XRD) were applied to characterize the hydrogel composite. The hydrogel composite was then employed as an adsorbent for the removal of Pb(II) from the aqueous solution. The Pb(II)-loaded hydrogel composite was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR)),scanning electron microscopy(SEM)), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy((XPS)). From XPS results, it was found that the carboxyl and hydroxyl groups of the hydrogel composite participated in the removal of Pb(II). Kinetic studies indicated that the adsorption of Pb(II)followed the pseudo-second-order equation. It was also found that the Langmuir model described the adsorption isotherm better than the Freundlich isotherm. The maximum removal capacity of the hydrogel composite for Pb(II) ions was 430 mg/g. Thus, the waste linear low-density polyethylene-g-poly(acrylic acid)-co-starch/organo-montmorillonite hydrogel composite could be a promising Pb(II) adsorbent.     

Interaction between Cu and different types of surface-modified nanoscale zero-valent iron during their transport in porous media

This study investigated the interaction between Cu^2 + and nano zero-valent iron (NZVI) coated with three types of stabilizers (i.e., polyacrylic acid [PAA], Tween-20 and starch) by examining the Cu^2 + uptake, colloidal stability and mobility of surface-modified NZVI (SM-NZVI) in the presence of Cu^2 +. The uptake of Cu^2 + by SM-NZVI and the colloidal stability of the Cu-bearing SM-NZVI were examined in batch tests. The results showed that NZVI coated with different modifiers exhibited different affinities for Cu^2 +, which resulted in varying colloidal stability of different SM-NZVI in the presence of Cu^2 +. The presence of Cu^2 + exerted a slight influence on the aggregation and settling of NZVI modified with PAA or Tween-20. However, the presence of Cu^2 + caused significant aggregation and sedimentation of starch-modified NZVI, which is due to Cu^2 + complexation with the starch molecules coated on the surface of the particles. Column experiments were conducted to investigate the co-transport of Cu^2 + in association with SM-NZVI in water-saturated quartz sand. It was presumed that a physical straining mechanism accounted for the retention of Cu-bearing SM-NZVI in the porous media. Moreover, the enhanced aggregation of SM-NZVI in the presence of Cu^2 + may be contributing to this straining effect.     

Catalytic evaluation of promoted CeO2-ZrO2 by transition, alkali, and alkaline-earth metal oxides for diesel soot oxidation

Series of mixed metal oxides were synthesized by gel-combustion method and their catalytic activities for soot oxidation were investigated. The catalysts were M-Ce-Zr （M = Mn, Cu, Fe, K, Ba, Sr）, and χK-20Mn-Ce-Zr （χ= 0, 5, 10, 20）, they were characterized by XRD, SEM, TPR and BET surface area techniques. The results of soot temperature programmed oxidation （TPO） in an O2 oxidizing atmosphere indicate that K-Ce-Zr has the highest catalytic activity for soot oxidation under loose contact condition, due to enhancement of the soot and catalyst contacts. On the other hand, under a tight contact condition, Mn-Ce-Zr and Cu-Ce-Zr nano-composites have high activities for soot oxidation and lower the soot TPO peak temperatures by about 280 and 270℃, respectively, as compared to non-catalytic soot oxidation. Furthermore, the addition of up to 10 wt.% potassium oxides into Mn-Ce-Zr increases its catalytic activity and further reduces the soot TPO peak temperature by about 40℃ under loose contact condition.