Potential for electricity savings by reducing potable water consumption in a city scale

Nowadays, it is very important that water and energy resources are used appropriately as this is a challenge to promote sustainable development. In some sectors, such as water and sewerage utilities, energy consumption depends on water consumption. The main objective of this work is to estimate the potential for electricity savings in a water and sewerage utility by reducing potable water consumption in the residential, commercial and public sectors in the city of Florianópolis, southern Brazil. These three sectors account for 98.9% of the total water consumption in the city. By using data related to energy consumption and costs that apply to the local water utility for water and sewage treatment, and also the potential for potable water savings over the three sectors, it is possible to estimate the potential for energy savings by reducing potable water consumption and sewage treatment. Potable water savings were estimated by using data available in the literature about water end-uses for different types of buildings located in Florianópolis. Three options were considered: installing dual-flush toilets, reusing greywater and using rainwater. The average potential for potable water savings were 30.0%, 53.4% and 60.3%, respectively, for the residential, commercial and public sectors. Thus, the average potable water savings amount to about 10,153,835 m³/year, and the electricity savings amount to 4.4 GW h/year, which would be enough to supply 1217 houses or flats in Florianópolis, with an average energy consumption of 300 kW h/month.     

Geographic,population, and seasonal patterns in the reproductive parameters of the sea urchin <Emphasis Type="Italic">Paracentrotus lividus</Emphasis>

Generalized additive models were used to synthesize the data from 52 publications on the gonad growth and spawning seasonality of Paracentrotus lividus and identify spatial and temporal patterns in the reproductive processes. According to our results, Atlantic populations spawn in spring and develop large gonads (6.4 ± 0.2% of fresh body weight (mean ± SE)), which increase in size toward higher latitudes. While in the Mediterranean, the gonads are smaller (3.1 ± 0.1%), possibly as the result of successive spawnings which impede nutrients accumulating in the gonads. Differences were also observed between habitats: gonad production was higher in seagrass meadows in the Mediterranean and in subtidal rocky substrates in the Atlantic. Food availability might cause these variations as well as the negative correlation observed between depth and the gonad index for rocky substrates. Sex and body size do not seem to influence greatly gonad growth.     

Amplifying the benefits of agroecology by using the right cultivars

Tropical soils are particularly vulnerable to fertility losses due to their low capacity to retain organic matter and mineral nutrients. This urges the development of new agricultural practices to manage mineral nutrients and organic matter in a more sustainable way while relying less on fertilizer inputs. Two methods pertaining to ecological engineering and agroecology have been tested with some success: (1) the addition of biochar to the soil, and (2) the maintenance of higher earthworm densities. However, modern crop varieties have been selected to be adapted to agricultural practices and to the soil conditions they lead to and common cultivars might not be adapted to new practices. Using rice as a model plant, we compared the responsiveness to biochar and earthworms of five rice cultivars with contrasted selection histories. These cultivars had contrasted responsivenesses to earthworms, biochar, and the combination of both. The mean relative increase in grain biomass, among all treatments and cultivars, was 94% and 32%, respectively, with and without fertilization. Choosing the best combination of cultivar and treatment led to a more than fourfold increase in this mean benefit (a 437% and a 353% relative increase in grain biomass, respectively, with and without fertilization). Besides, the more rustic cultivar, a local landrace adapted to diverse and difficult conditions, responded the best to earthworms in terms of total biomass, while a modern common cultivar responded the best in term of grain biomass. This suggests that cultivars could be selected to amplify the benefit of biochar- and earthworm-based practices. Overall, selecting new cultivars interacting more closely with soil organisms and soil heterogeneity could increase agriculture sustainability, fostering the positive feedback loop between soils and plants that has evolved in natural ecosystems.     

Active Biodegradable Film Based on Chitosan and Cenostigma Nordestinum' Extracts for Use in the Food Industry

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - Bioactive biodegradable films are emerging biomaterials in the food packaging field. This study aims to investigate the effect of different Cenostigma...     

Regional-scale meteorological characteristics of the Vento Norte phenomenon observed in Southern Brazil

Environmental Fluid Mechanics - The sudden increase in air temperature associated with strong gusty winds of northerly direction is a phenomenon occasionally observed during the cold season in the...     

Influence of palladium content dispersed in the TiO2 photocatalyst for degradation of volatile organic compounds in gas emission

Heterogeneous photocatalysis is highlighted to treat volatile organic compound (VOC) emission. Then, this work analysed the influence of palladium (Pd) content loaded in TiO₂ on n-octane and iso-octane photodegradation. For this, TiO₂ was loaded with Pd in different contents: 0.4%, 0.7%, and 1.0%. The samples were characterized, and the photodegradation experiments were conducted by Pd/TiO₂/UV process. The characterization analyses showed that the metal presence did not change the catalyst structure or its surface area; however, it reduced the bandgap energy. The photocatalytic results proved that palladium improved n-octane degradation from 62% (pure TiO₂) to 92.6% (0.4%Pd/TiO₂) and, iso-octane degradation enhanced from 59% (pure TiO₂) to 90.6% (0.7%Pd/TiO₂); all results were obtained in the space time of 39 s. Therefore, 0.4%Pd/TiO₂ and 0.7%Pd/TiO₂ showed better oxidation results to degradation n-octane and iso-octane, respectively. The kinetic model of pseudo-first order showed a good fit for the data of both VOCs. Heterogeneous photocatalysis with Pd/TiO₂ showed to be an adequate technique to reduce VOCs emission.

     

Characterization of Santa Catarina (Brazil) coal with respect to human health and environmental concerns

The current paper presents the concentration, distribution, and modes of occurrence of trace elements of 13 coals from south Brazil. The samples were collected in the state of Santa Catarina. Chemical analyses and the high ash yields indicate that all studied coals are rich in mineral matter, with SiO₂ and Al₂O₃ dominating as determined by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). Quartz is the main mineral species and is associated with minor levels of feldspars, kaolinite, hematite, and iron-rich carbonates. The contents of trace elements, including As, Pb, Cd, Ni, Cr, Mn, Be, V, U, Zn, Li, Cu, Tl, and Ni, in coals were determined. A comparison of ranges and means of elemental concentrations in Santa Catarina, Brazil, and world coals shows that the ranges of most elements in Santa Catarina coal are very close to the usual worldwide concentration ranges in coal.     

A model of Cellular Automata for the spatial and temporal analysis of Citrus Sudden Death with the fuzzy parameter

Citrus Sudden Death (CSD) is a disease that has affected sweet orange trees grafted on Rangpur lime in the south of Minas Gerais state and in the north of São Paulo state (Brazil). This is a worrying characteristic because the Rangpur lime responds to 85% of the Brazilian citrus rootstocks. This disease is believed to be caused by a virus transmitted by aphids (vector) of the citrus. In this work, we have adopted the Cellular Automata model (CA) to study the temporal evolution of the disease. We take into account the effect of the wind in the space covered by the aphid. To establish the relationship between the space covered by the aphid and the intensity of the wind, we have adopted the rule-based fuzzy system. Simulations were performed and compared to real data. Through the use of the mean absolute error (MAE) method, it was possible to verify a 70% of similarity between our model of data and the real one.     

Development,validation, and application of a method for the GC-MS analysis of fipronil and three of its degradation products in samples of water,soil, and sediment

A method for the identification and quantification of pesticide residues in water, soil, and sediment samples has been developed, validated, and applied for the analysis of real samples. The specificity was determined by the retention time and the confirmation and quantification of analyte ions. Linearity was demonstrated over the concentration range of 20 to 120 µg L^?1, and the correlation coefficients varied between 0.979 and 0.996, depending on the analytes. The recovery rates for all analytes in the studied matrix were between 86% and 112%. The intermediate precision and repeatability were determined at three concentration levels (40, 80, and 120 µg L^?1), with the relative standard deviation for the intermediate precision between 1% and 5.3% and the repeatability varying between 2% and 13.4% for individual analytes. The limits of detection and quantification for fipronil, fipronil sulfide, fipronil-sulfone, and fipronil-desulfinyl were 6.2, 3.0, 6.6, and 4.0 ng L^?1 and 20.4, 9.0, 21.6, and 13.0 ng L^?1, respectively. The method developed was used in water, soil, and sediment samples containing 2.1 mg L^?1 and 1.2% and 5.3% of carbon, respectively. The recovery of pesticides in the environmental matrices varied from 88.26 to 109.63% for the lowest fortification level (40 and 100 µg kg^?1), from 91.17 to 110.18% for the intermediate level (80 and 200 µg kg^?1), and from 89.09 to 109.82% for the highest fortification level (120 and 300 µg kg^?1). The relative standard deviation for the recovery of pesticides was under 15%.     

Cytogenetic biomonitoring of oral mucosa cells of crack cocaine users

The aim of the present study was to comparatively evaluate genomic damage (micronucleus) and cellular death (pyknosis, karyolysis, and karyorrhexis) in exfoliated oral mucosa cells from crack cocaine users by micronucleus test. A total of 30 crack cocaine users and 30 health controls (non-exposed individuals) were included in this setting. Individuals had epithelial cells from cheek mechanically exfoliated, placed in fixative, and dropped in clean slides, which were checked for the above nuclear phenotypes. The results pointed out significant statistical differences (p?<?0.05) of micronucleated oral mucosa cells from crack cocaine users. Exposure to crack cocaine caused an increase of other nuclear alterations closely related to cytotoxicity such as karyolysis in oral cells as well. In summary, these data indicate that crack cocaine is able to induce chromosomal breakage and cellular death in oral mucosa cells of users.