A Synthetic Aperture Radar-Based Robust Satellite Technique (RST) for Timely Mapping of Floods

Satellite data have been widely utilized for flood detection and mapping tasks, and in recent years, there has been a growing interest in using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data due to the increased availability of recent missions with enhanced temporal resolution. This capability, when combined with the inherent advantages of SAR technology over optical sensors, such as spatial resolution and independence from weather conditions, allows for timely and accurate information on flood event dynamics. In this study, we present an innovative automated approach, SAR-RST-FLOOD, for mapping flooded areas using SAR data. Based on a multi-temporal analysis of Sentinel 1 data, such an approach would allow for robust and automatic identification of flooded areas. To assess its reliability and accuracy, we analyzed five case studies in areas where floods caused significant damage. Performance metrics, such as overall (OA), user (UA), and producer (PA) accuracy, as well as the Kappa index (K), were used to evaluate the methodology by considering several reference flood maps. The results demonstrate a user accuracy exceeding 0.78 for each test map when compared to the observed flood data. Additionally, the overall accuracy values surpassed 0.96, and the kappa index values exceeded 0.78 when compared to the mapping processes from observed data or other reference datasets from the Copernicus Emergency Management System. Considering these results and the fact that the proposed approach has been implemented within the Google Earth Engine framework, its potential for global-scale applications is evident

Assessment of organo-mineral fraction during storage of oil refinery sludge

The biotransformation during storage of petroleum refinery sludge was evaluated by physicochemical and spectroscopy analyses. The abatement rate of organic matter  has reached 50.5% after 14 months of storage. The humic substances have decreased of about 49% at the end of storage indicating that the OM was mineralized into inorganic compounds (CO2, N2…). The XRD of dried samples shows the presence of a large proportion of silica (SiO2), carbonate (CaCO3), Hercynite (Al2FeO4) and hemihydrate calcium sulphate (2CaSO4.H2O).  Hematite (Fe2O3) and anhydrite (CaSO4) were found as a new appeared phase. Pb, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni and Zn were the most identified heavy metals in the petroleum samples. Their increase at the end of storage was explain by the organic matter degradation. FTIR analysis show that the carbonate, sulphate and silica are the most identified compounds beside the organic matter

Study of refining wastewater pollution: Case of vegetable oil refining industry Morocco

Rapid industrial development and growth of cities throughout the world especially in developing nations have led to the recognition and an increase in understanding of the relationship between pollution, public health and the environment at large. Generally, industries produce more pollutants than any other sector in society. Previously, effluents from the vegetable oil industry were directly discharged into the soil or ground water. However, due to their important environmental impact, national legislations have become stricter and imposed stringent norms. The oleaginous industry produces large volumes of aqueous wastes that must be first characterized as a step to their management. This study is focused on the sources, characteristics, and composition of vegetable oil refinery wastewaters. The obtained results were very much useful in identification and rectification of operational and maintenance problems as well as the future expansion to be carried out in the plant to meet the increased hydraulic and organic loadings. Types of wastewaters evaluated are refinery, soap, acidic and process wastewater. Samples were collected and analysed for the following water quality parameters: biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS) and oil & grease phenol and surfactant. Results present data for 13 week sampling period. In our characterization studies, the maximum values COD were 205800 mgL-1 and 240500 mgL-1 for acidic and soap wastewater respectively. These results confirm that the vegetable oil refinery wastewater has a high organic pollution load. Knowledge of the effluent quality parameters and subsequently the treatability of wastewater would help for the development of sustainable treatment strategies