Recent advances in thin film composites membranes for brackish groundwater treatment with critical focus on Saskatchewan water sources

Drinking water scarcity is an ever-increasing global concern. This issue appears as a greater threat to the countries with no access to sea water resources or rivers, since their potential water resources are only limited to ground waters only. There are serious concerns with the treatment of ground water resources, including landfill leachates, agricultural contaminations (pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers), and rural contaminations. Membrane separation has been proved to be the governing technology in water and wastewater treatment plants, as these methods are responsible for more than half of the market share of the world's desalination capacity. This study intends to offer a holistic view of the groundwater contamination with specific focus on Saskatchewan province in Canada, and the recent efforts in the groundwater treatment using thin film composite membrane technology. This study begins with an introduction of the general aspects of ground water and membrane separation, polluting agents, and their sources. It is followed by a discussion of Saskatchewan's groundwater status and various issues. Furthermore, the recent research that became available since 2010 is reviewed in details and the results are summarized with respect to purification efficiency. Different affecting parameters in a groundwater-thin film composite system are synthesized and an in-depth overview is presented.     

Investigation of the association between pesticide exposure and the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in Shahedieh population in Yazd

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This study aimed to investigate the effect of exposure to pesticides and the prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D). In a cross-sectional study with a...     

Biofilm growth-percolation models and channeling in biofilter clogging

Biomass accumulation is a load-limiting factor in the operation of biofilters used for air pollution control. As the biofilm thickens, portions at the base are no longer exposed to contaminants and oxygen and, thus, provide no treatment. Smaller pores are filled with biomass so that air no longer flows into them. As airflow paths are restricted, air may be prevented from reaching some pores even before they are filled. Eventually blockage becomes sufficiently widespread so that increasing head loss and decreasing removal efficiency require that the system be shut down. Optimization of biofilter design requires a better understanding of the mechanisms by which biofilters clog. In this work, a numerical percolation model of the blockage process was developed for application to biofilters. It allows comparison of pore blockage histories for various pore size distributions and predicts biomass accumulation, head loss, and treatment efficiency as a function of time, as well as total time, until blockage prevents further operation. Although the model was reasonably accurate in predicting the time before complete clogging, it underestimated intermediate values of head loss. Observations of a clogged biofilter suggest that this occurs because clogging later in the process is nonuniform at scales that are large in comparison with individual pores.     

Performance enhancement of a solar still using a V-groove solar air collector—experimental study with energy,exergy, enviroeconomic,and exergoeconomic analysis

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This paper intended to evaluate the performance of a new design of solar still integrated with a V-groove solar air collector. In this system, an air...     

Larvicidal,repellent, and histopathologic effects of Citrullus colocynthis against the malaria vector

Abstract

This research is conducted to determine the larvicidal, repellent and pathological effects of fruit extracts of C. colocynthis on malaria vector mosquito, Anopheles stephensi Liston, 1901. The fruit water and ethanol extract of C. colocynthis were concentrated for larvicidal and repellent activities on human volunteer against An. stephensi. The temephos larvicide was tested as the positive control. A concentration of 300?mg/L had full-scale mortality and the most toxic effect. The LC₅₀ and LC₉₀ values of C. colocynthis water and ethanol extracts were 180and 283?mg/L, respectively. The LC₅₀ and LC₉₀ values of temephos were 0.2706 and 1.6932?mg/L, respectively. The ED₅₀ and ED₉₀ values of the plant extract were 0.2 and 1.3?mg/cm², respectively. Thin sections from treated larvae exhibited gross histopathologic effects of C. colocynthis fruit extracts on gut epithelial cell layer by vacuolization of foregut cuboidal and midgut columnar cells. This study suggested that the fruit extracts of C. colocynthis had significant larvicidal and repellent activity to be used as an ideal approach to control the malaria vector mosquito.     

Reliable method for prediction of the flash point of various classes of amines on the basis of some molecular moieties for safety measures in industrial processes

This work presents a novel, reliable and simple method of estimating the flash point of various types of flammable amines, which are important for safety measures in industrial processes. Different amines include aliphatic amines such as primary, secondary, tertiary and cyclic amines as well as aromatic amines and hetero arenes containing nitrogen heteroatom. The proposed correlation is based on the contribution of some specific molecular moieties and functional groups, which can easily be used for any types of amines. Intermolecular forces are important in the new method, which are counted by two increasing and decreasing parameters. The root mean square (rms) deviation is 18 K for different classes of amines including 133 diverse compounds. The estimated flash points have been compared with one of the best available predictive methods, which gives much lower value of the rms deviation.     

Spatio-temporal modeling of striped-bass egg, larval movement, and fate in the San Francisco Bay-Delta

Most models developed for the movement and fate of eggs and larvae of aquatic species are based on a particle tracking approach. Although this method has many advantages due to its high flexibility, particle tracking may become computationally intensive for complex geometries and when large numbers of particles are needed to simulate the population properly. In continuous models based on advection and dispersion mechanisms, the computational burden is independent of the size of the population. We developed a continuous fate and transport model for striped bass eggs and larvae in the San Francisco Bay-Delta. The model predicts the concentration of eggs and larvae at any location over time. The method of moments was used to account for the effect of temperature and age on the transition of eggs to larvae and larvae to juveniles. Egg and larval mortality were represented as functions of temperature, and eggs also experienced settling mortality. The fate and transport model used the same one-dimensional spatial grid as the existing Delta Simulation Model II (DSM2) hydrodynamics model. DSM2 output of flow rates, water depths, and cross-sectional areas were inputted into the fate and transport model to determine transport. The model was applied to striped bass eggs and larvae data collected during years 1990-1994; agreement between the modeled and the measured data was acceptable in most cases. Exploratory simulations were performed to demonstrate how the model could be used to evaluate the effects on egg and larval survival and total juvenile production of water diversions for supply and agricultural use and changes in the long-term mean water temperature. The model can be further used to examine the impact of various operation strategies in the San Francisco Bay-Delta, where diversion losses of early life stages of fishes remain a major management issue.     

Survey and determination of Anzali wetland trophic state through geographic information systems (GIS)

The trophic state of the Anzali wetland was determined by nutrient analysis, indicating an alarming hypertrophic state. The Anzali wetland is environmentally and economically one of the most important ecosystems that is located in north-west Iran. This wetland was registered as a Ramsar site in September 1975, but due to many problems, particularly eutrophication created by excessive amounts of nutrients, it was registered in the Montreux record. This study was conducted for a year on 21 stations in three zones including receiving rivers, surface water and exiting rivers. Geographic information systems were used to better understand the prevailing situation. Analysis was conducted according to international standards and classification of OECD for freshwaters. The indicators used were levels of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorous (TP), and the trophic state index (TSI). Data showed an increase of excess nutrients from domestic and agricultural sources, leading to human, cultural eutrophication processes rather than natural eutrophication.