Pollution

A multi layer artificial neural network (ANN) and multiple regression (mathematical) models were developed for the investigation of cadmium removal efficiency of powered activated carbons of coconut oilcake, neem oilcake and commercial carbon. Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) Back-propagation algorithm is used to train the network. The network topology was optimized by varying number of hidden layers and number of neurons in hidden layers. The effective parameters on the removal of cadmium (%R) by adsorption process, which included the pH, contact time (T), distinctiveness of activated carbon (Cn), amount of activated carbon (Cw) and initial concentration of cadmium (Co) were investigated. The model was developed in terms of training; validation and testing of experimental data, the test subsets that each of them contains 60%, 20% and 20% of total experimental data, respectively. Standard deviation (SD) with respect to experimental output was calculated for outputs of ANN and regression model. The experimental data were best fitted with the artificial neural network model.

Present investigation deals with the role of plankton indicators to assess the pollution status of the Yamuna river at Kalpi (U.P.). Pollution status of the river was assessed by employed Palmer’s Algal species Pollution Index. Samples were collected at four sampling sites on the Yamuna river for a period of one year in each month of every season. Samples were analyzed for physico-chemical parameters and identification of recorded planktons with try to find correlation between them. 25 genera of phytoplankton, belonging four groups Chlorophyceae, Euglenophyceae, Bacillariophyceae and Cyanophyceae. and 16 genera of zooplankton belonging four groups Protozoa, Rotifera, Cladocera and Copepoda were recorded and identified. Recorded pH, Conductivity, Turbidity, T.D.S., PO4, B.O.D. and C.O.D. were beyond the drinking water limit of WHO while T.H., Cl, SO4 and NO3 were under the limit and D.O. was satisfactory to good condition. Presence of pollution indicator algal forms i.e, Euglena viridis, Oscillatoria limosa, O. tenuis, Scenedesmus quadricauda, Stigeoclonium tenue, Synedra ulna, Ankistrodesmus falcatus, Oscillatoria chlorina, Chlorella vulgaris, Cyclotella meneghiniana and presence of dominant Rotifer’s zooplankton population with Brachionus calyciflorus shows signs of organic pollution in studied water. Sampling site S4 was more polluted but S3 and S2 site was moderately polluted and S1 lack of organic pollution. In S4 sampling site pollution index score was high with high physico-chemical parameters.

In this project water samples were collected from, two villages in Ernakulam District of Kerala State in India, namely Cherukadappuram and Nettoor. The water samples included river water, bore well water and well water from Cherukadapuram. The water samples from Nettoor included pond water and well water. The analysis of the water quality parameter of different water samples were found to be similar in case of Dissolved Oxygen while it was highly varying in other parameters of study. Pond water sample collected from Nettoor has a salinity of 63.93 PPT Dissolved chloride ions was found to be 34.84 mg/l . It has comparatively high amount of sulphate and nitrite. Therefore among the collected samples pond water sample collected from Nettoor was the most polluted one. In the study, river water sample collected from Cherukadapuram is also polluted . The salinity was found to be 130.32PPT .The dissolved chloride ions were estimated to be 71.02mg/l. It contains highest amount of sulphate as well as nitrite. Bore well water is mainly used for house hold purposes. The sample had a pH of 7.15 and normal salinity. But the sulphate content is high with low nitrite content. So it is not suggested for consumption without proper treatment. The well water samples collected from Cherukadapuram and Nettoor is found to be less polluted. Sulphate and nitrite are absent in both the water samples.

This study was aimed at assessing the concentrations of heavy metals and other elements in surface dust at Agbogbloshie, where crude methods are used for e-waste processing. Dust samples were collected from fourteen locations within Agbogbloshie including the dismantling site and burning site of the scrap market. The X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) was used to evaluate the concentrations of the heavy metals and other elements in the samples. Heavy metals such as Zn, Cu and Pb gave concentrations in the range of (422.54 – 181752.94mg/kg), (101.83 – 9144.50mg/kg) and (117.03 – 14448.46mg/kg). All these concentrations and that of most elements exceeded the New Dutch List Action Values (for which intervention is required) over thousand times. The road surface, dismantling site, burning site and the Domod office recorded very high concentrations of heavy metals. The Ayalolo cluster of schools also gave alarming concentrations of heavy metals. Assessment of human heath risk of these heavy metals indicated that, exposure to dust through dermal contact posed the highest health risk to children under 6 years. Hg was the only element which indicated a higher risk through the inhalation of vapour. The hazard indices (HI) computed indicated that the values from all the sites were above the safe level of one. The dismantling site gave the highest HI value of 882.57 for Pb from all the sites. Further research work on health risk assessment should be conducted for those directly involved in the recycling activities.

The vegetation around Lake Naivasha is under great threat by the horticultural and livestock farming common in the region through irrigation practices and overgrazing. The vegetation is heterogeneous varying from aquatic plants, grassland, shrubland, woodland and a forest. The study was conducted to analyse the effect of soil properties and environmental variable on plant communities. A total of 227 plant species were collected and identified representing 65 families. Plant species were classified into five community types using Hierachical Agglomerative Clustering Technique of the Syntax computer programme. These were: Acacia brevispica - Acacia drepanolobium community, Acacia xanthophloea–Pennisetum clandestinum community, Euphorbia candelabrum-Euphorbia buseii community, Digitaria abyssnica-Eragrostis superba - Sida cuneifolia community, and Tarchonanthus camphoratus- Solanum incanum community. Soil samples collected from each sample plot were analysed for soil pH, electrical conductivity, cation exchange capacity, organic matter, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, nitrogen and soil texture (sand, clay and silt content). Plant species diversity and richness decreased with distance from the lake as the woodlands and shrublands vegetation types near the lake had high plant species diversity than the grasslands. The results support the prediction that species diversity and richness decrease with increase in habitat degradation. Recommedations towards the conservation of plant species diversity around Lake Naivasha area are also put forward.

This paper presents the sorption studies of reactive orange -16 by using the nut shell of Arachis hypogaea. Batch experiments were conducted to study the effect of sorbent dosage, solution pH and initial dye concentration. Sorbent, net shell of Arachis hypogaea was characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm models were used to represent the equilibrium data. The Langmuir isotherm model was found to be fitted well with the experimental data. The results of sorbent dosage showed that the equilibrium uptake capacity was found to be increase from 7.23mg/g to 25.53mg/g with decrease in amount of Sorbent from 0.5g to 0.1g. The equilibrium uptake capacity was increase from10.283mg/g to 26.950mg/g when increasing the initial dye concentration from 50mg/L to 200mg/L. This indicates that the dye removal was influenced by the initial dye solution concentration. The sorption results were analyzed for pseudo first order, pseudo second order kinetic and intra particle diffusion model. The values of dimensionless separation factors (RL) and Freundlich constant (n) showed that net shell of Arachis hypogaea could be used to remove reactive orange -16 from their aqueous solution.

The suitability and the performance of activated carbon produced from flamboyant pod back, milk bush kernel shell and rice husk for the effective removal of acenaphthene from simulated wastewater under the influence of carbonization temperature and initial concentration were investigated. The adsorption capacities of all the activated carbons obtained from the selected raw materials are influenced by increasing carbonization temperature. Activated carbons obtained from rice husk at carbonisation temperature of 600 0C had the maximum adsorption capacity (5.554 mg/g) while carbons produced from milk bush at carbonisation temperature of 300 0C had the minimum adsorption capacity (1.386 mg/g), for the adsorption of acenaphthene from the simulated wastewater. The removal efficiencies of the investigated adsorbents generally rank high and the highest value (80.56 %) was obtained for the adsorption of acenaphthene by rice husk carbonized at 600 0C. Furthermore, the removal efficiencies obtained in the study decreased as the initial concentrations of the adsorbate increased. The four selected isotherm models; Freundlich, Langmuir, Temkin and Dubinin-Radushkevich described well the equilibrium adsorption of acenaphthene unto activated carbon derived from Flamboyant pod bark, milk bush kernel shell and rice husk. Sequence of suitability of the selected isotherms in the study was Temkin ? Freundlich > Dubinin-Radushkevich > Langmuir for adsorption of acenaphthene. It therefore shows that Temkin isotherm is the most suitable model for fitting experimental data obtained from adsorption of acenaphthene from simulated wastewater unto activated carbon produced from Flamboyant pod bark, milk bush kernel shell and rice husk.

Bauxite residue (red mud) is mineral slurry left behind after extracting alumina from bauxite ores using the Bayer process. It is estimated that over 248 million tons of this waste is impounded annually in the world. This paper describes the effective utilization of red mud in brick manufacturing. Red mud consists of high pH value in the range of 10.5 -13. Seawater neutralization is preferred to reduce the pH value to an optimum range of 8.5-8.9. After the neutralization process, red mud is used in brick manufacturing by replacing the clay and red soil in various percentages and it is tested. The compressive strength of all the samples were more than 3.5N/mm2. The water absorption value for most of the samples was below 20%. The result of the tests showed that the red mud did not negatively affect the quality of the produced bricks. It is thus concluded that the red mud can be utilized as a raw material in brick manufacturing, thus maintaining sustainability in the construction sector.

Electrocoagulation is an emerging water treatment technology that has been applied successfully to treat various wastewaters such as potable water, urban wastewater, heavy metal laden wastewater, restaurant wastewater, and colored water. Electrocoagulation offers possibility of anodic oxidation and in situ generation of adsorbents (such as hydrous ferric oxides, hydroxides of aluminum) on which As(III) might be oxidized to As(V) gets adsorbed on to the metal hydroxides (HFO) generated. Therefore, electrocoagulation would be a better choice for arsenic removal from water. In the present study an attempt has been done to develop a simple process employing electrocoagulation with iron electrodes and separation of HFO has been achieved by cloth filtration. Arsenic laden water is passed through a double layer cotton cloth in 2 L volume beaker at flow rate 44ml/min with current 0.2 ampere at pH 7.0. Results show that arsenic levels below 50 ?g/L would e achieved which is drinking water standard in India and Bangladesh.

This paper is aimed at understanding the critical issues like urbanization, population growth, transport demand, growth of vehicles, and air pollution in Urban India. The trends in urban growth are discussed along with the impact of high urban population growth rates on various facets like transport demand, GDP, and its impact on the urban society’s wellbeing. Rapid motorization and urbanization can bring many issues that can endanger the sustainability of Indian cities. This paper reviews the existing urban environmental problems, poor transport system and increasing accidents rate and suggests that High speed railways will be an efficient, economical and environmentally friendly transportation system which can make urban India more sustainable.