Municipal solid waste management in refugee hosting communities: Analysis of a case study in northern Jordan

The Syrian civil war, which broke out in 2011, caused the displacement of more than one million refugees to Jordan. Most of them settled in the Northern Govenorates of Jordan. Due to this, the local services and infrastructures of the hosting communities, in particular the solid waste management (SWM), were put under great pressure. The aim of this study is to evaluate how the off-camp refugees impacted the SWM in the Greater Irbid Municipality (GIM; in the Irbid Governorate), both quantitatively and qualitatively. Data and results obtained from the studies carried out before the Syrian crisis are compared with data collected by the authors in 2016 using similar or comparable methodologies. Moreover, local citizen perceptions of and satisfaction with the solid waste (SW) service level were assessed. A deterioration of the SWM in GIM between 2011 and 2016 was observed in terms of service performance indicators (e.g., an increase of SW collection and transportation costs by 2.5 times and of fines for improper SW disposal by 2.2 times) and of citizens’ views (a decline in SWM quality was felt by 59% of the respondents). An attempt to cope with this situation has been made in recent years with international donors mobilizing efforts and resources to enable municipalities to meet the growing demand in basic SW services. There is however, still much to be done

Desalination using low biofouling nanocomposite membranes: From batch-scale to continuous-scale membrane fabrication

This study shows the results of low-biofouling nanocomposite membranes, when using batch-scale fabrication and testing techniques, and when using continuous-scale fabrication and testing techniques. This holistic study begins with nanoparticle manufacturing and selection, then focuses on nanocomposite membrane synthesis and fabrication, and ends with testing and characterization. Nanocomposite membranes loaded with casein-coated silver nanoparticles (Casein-AgNPs) were cast using two approaches, doctor-blade extrusion (batch-scale) and slot-die casting (continuous-scale), to determine their biofouling control properties. In short-term dead-end filtration, cellulose acetate (CA) membranes showed a flux decline of approximately 26% as compared to 20% for nanocomposite (Casein-AgNPs CA) membranes, while the flux recovered after backwashing was higher for the nanocomposite membranes (93%) than for the CA membranes (84%). Cross-flow filtration experiments were conducted for 26 days. No flux decline was observed for nanocomposite membranes and SEM imaging indicated that bacterial cell damage might have occurred. Overall, filtration experiments and membrane testing following biofouling tests showed that laboratory-scale composite membranes operated for 24 h were effective in mitigating biofouling formation. Conversely, continuous-scale nanocomposite membranes operated for 26 days did not show clear improvement in biofouling control, however there was visible damage to cells accumulated on the membrane