Improvement of Co-Composting by a combined pretreatment Ozonation/Ultrasonic process in stabilization of raw activated sludge

The enhancement of composting technology to stabilize sludge pretreated by ozonation and ultrasonic was tested for 35 days. Secondary sludge produced by biological process are characterized with endogenous residue and inert solid matter which inhibit fully degrade bacterial cell walls. The composting process was performed with sludge pretreated with ozonatian and ultrasonics and green waste in a ratio of 2:1. The composting characteristics was evaluated for different physico-chemical and microbiological parameters in five different reactors. A high degree of composting quality was achieved with respect to significant reduction in volatile solids (VS) (32), total organic carbon (TOC) (35.0), C/N ratio (23.74), total coliform (TC) (168) along with the substantial increase in availability of nutrients like N (1.2) and P (8.77). High removal efficiency of TC and Fecal Coliform (FC) were observed in composting results, where simultaneous ultrasonic and ozonation were considered as primary-stabilization process. Therefore, applying integrated ultrasonic/ozonation with composting system for sludge stabilization is potentially useful technology in sustainable land restoration practices to meet standards and produce soil conditioner. © 2020, The Author(s)

Landfill site selection using a hybrid system of AHP-Fuzzy in GIS environment: A case study in Shiraz city, Iran

Landfilling with simplicity and economic advantages is the most common element for waste management in both developed and developing countries. Landfill site selection in a proper way is an important municipal planning process which prevent environmental issues including water pollution imposed for insanitary landfills. The present research was developed to exhibit a simplified method of multi criteria decision making (MCDM) and Fuzzy memberships in GIS environment to ascertain best landfill sites for Shiraz county, located south of Iran. 15 most common sub-criteria, documented in literature and implicated by Iranian environmental protection organization (IEPO) including surface water, ground water, land use, distance to well, soil type, slope, protected area, fault in environmental group, residential area, road, airport, village, infrastructure, historical area, wind direction in socio-economical group were selected and the weight of each criterion was determined based on expert's knowledge with use of analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The results of the present research are as follows: � Distance to residential area and groundwaters with weight of 0.36 and 0.28 were recognized as the most important criteria for landfill site selection. � The six suitable areas for landfill in Shiraz county is 1.003 of total area equal to 8710 ha. � AHP and Fuzzy memberships has a great potential and ability for landfill site selection. © 2019 The Author(s

Modification of activated carbon with magnetic Fe<inf>3</inf>O<inf>4</inf>nanoparticle composite for removal of ceftriaxone from aquatic solutions

Abstract Recently, Antibiotics have been extensively applied in various industries including agricultural, pharmaceutical and veterinary. Great concerns of antibiotics are about discharge into environment, especially water sources supplied for water demand over the world. The present study was developed to investigate the performance of powder activated carbon modified with magnetite nanoparticles (PAC-MNPs) in removal of Ceftriaxone from aquatic solutions with response surface methodology (RSM). A co-precipitation was applied to synthesize magnetized powdered activated carbon and its characteristics were analyzed with TEM, SEM and XRD. The effects of independent parameters pH (3−11), initial Ceftriaxone values (10–100 mg/L), temperature (298–313 K), and adsorbent dosage (1.05–2 g/L) on removal efficiency were analyzed by RSM based Box-Benhken Design (BBD). The optimum conditions for maximum removal of Ceftriaxone (97.18% with desirability of 0.9720) were recorded from desirability function (DF) at pH: 3.14, contact time: 90 min, adsorbent dosage: 1.99 g/L, initial concentration: 10 mg/L and temperature: 298 K. The survey of isotherms and Kinetics indicated that the experimental data are fitted to Langmuir and second-pseudo-order models. Thermodynamic studies revealed that the CTX removal was spontaneous and exothermic. Regeneration experiments were performed for 6 cycles and the results indicate a removal efficiency loss of <10%. Keywords Adsorption Powdered activated carbon (PAC) Fe3O4 Ceftriaxine Response Surface Methodology (RSM

Modification of activated carbon with magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticle composite for removal of ceftriaxone from aquatic solutions

Recently, Antibiotics have been extensively applied in various industries including agricultural, pharmaceutical and veterinary. Great concerns of antibiotics are about discharge into environment, especially water sources supplied for water demand over the world. The present study was developed to investigate the performance of powder activated carbon modified with magnetite nanoparticles (PAC-MNPs) in removal of Ceftriaxone from aquatic solutions with response surface methodology (RSM). A co-precipitation was applied to synthesize magnetized powdered activated carbon and its characteristics were analyzed with TEM, SEM and XRD. The effects of independent parameters pH (3�11), initial Ceftriaxone values (10�100 mg/L), temperature (298�313 K), and adsorbent dosage (1.05�2 g/L) on removal efficiency were analyzed by RSM based Box-Benhken Design (BBD). The optimum conditions for maximum removal of Ceftriaxone (97.18 with desirability of 0.9720) were recorded from desirability function (DF) at pH: 3.14, contact time: 90 min, adsorbent dosage: 1.99 g/L, initial concentration: 10 mg/L and temperature: 298 K. The survey of isotherms and Kinetics indicated that the experimental data are fitted to Langmuir and second-pseudo-order models. Thermodynamic studies revealed that the CTX removal was spontaneous and exothermic. Regeneration experiments were performed for 6 cycles and the results indicate a removal efficiency loss of <10. © 201

Pattern of disinfectants use and their adverse effects on the consumers after COVID-19 outbreak

Background and objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the pattern of disinfectants use within outbreak of COVID-19 and estimate their adverse effects on the consumer�s health. Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, 1090 participants were entered into the study without age and gender limitations. A researcher-made electronic checklist containing 43 questions was applied to collect data. The checklist included three sections: demographic characteristics (8 questions), disinfection of body and non-living surfaces (21 questions), and adverse effects of disinfectants on health (15 questions). Results: 87 of participants used the incorrect proportions of water and alcohol to make this disinfectant available at home. The percentage of people with wrong proportion of sodium hypochlorite was 74.2. Approximately 42 of participants experienced at least one disorder on their hands, feet, eyes, respiratory or gastrointestinal systems after sequential uses of disinfectants. The most common disorders among the participants were found to be skin dryness (76.3), obsession (42.2), skin itching (41.2), coughing (41.1), and eyes irritation (39.5). The mean frequency of hand washing and hand disinfecting were 15.28 and 10.74 times per a day, respectively, and the clean-up in case of surfaces was 2.99 times a day. The frequency of hand washing and disinfecting in women group (16.4 and 11.2 times a day) were higher than in men (14.0 and 10.3 times a day) group. In addition, these self-care actions in married people (15.6 and 11.0 times a day) were higher compared to those in single people (14.0 and 10.6 times a day). Conclusion: Being unaware of participants with instruction for preparation and use disinfectants may harm their health. Therefore, it is suggested that the authorities provide the necessary training program for public through official media. © 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG

The influence of combined low-strength ultrasonics and micro-aerobic pretreatment process on methane generation and sludge digestion: Lipase enzyme, microbial activation, and energy yield

Low-frequency ultrasonics is a potential technology to reduce the hydrolysis phase period in anaerobic digestion process. In this study, the influence of combined low frequency ultrasonics and micro-aerobic (MA) pretreatment on sewage sludge solubilization, enzyme activity and anaerobic digestion were assessed. Initially, the effect of ultrasonic density (0.012, 0.014, 0.016, 0.018, 0.1, 0.12 and 0.14 W/mL) and irradiation time (1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10 and 12 min) of 20 kHz frequency waves were investigated. Accordingly, the effect of micro-aerobic pretreatment (Air flow rate (AFR) = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.5 VVM) within 20, 30, 40.48 and 60 h were examined. In addition, the effect of combined pretreatment on COD solubilization, lipase enzyme activation, ATP, percentage of live bacteria and methane gas production during the anaerobic process were examined. The results showed that the highest lipase activity (14.9 Umol/mL) was obtained under the effect of ultrasonic density of 0.1 W/ml within 9 min. The highest solubilization (65) was observed under optimal micro-aerobic conditions: AFR = 0.2 (VVM) and micro-aerobic time: 40 h. Combined ultrasonic and micro-aerobic (US + MA) pretreatment increases the solubilization (70), microbial activity (2080) and lipase enzymatic activity (129) compared to individual pretreatment. The Biogas production during anaerobic digestion pretreated with combined methods increased by 193 compared to the control, while the elevated values of biogas production in reactors pretreated by ultrasonic and micro-aerobic pretreatment alone were observed to be 101 and 165, respectively. The net energy in reactor with the combined pre-treatment methods was calculated to be 1.26 kWh, while this value for control, pretreated ultrasonic and micro-aerobic reactors were obtained to be 0.56, 0.67 and 1.2 kWh, respectively. © 2021 The Author

Monitoring of salt iodisation programme in Iran; Health outcomes, shortages and perspective

Iodine deficiency disorders include a wide range of metabolic and nonmetabolic disorders including goiter. To control IDDs, the World Health Organization and responsible agencies in countries established daily iodine uptake. Almost all the countries in the world provide the required iodine through salt iodisation. IDDs are not completely eradicable, so monitoring the salt iodisation programme is necessary for control of IDDs. In Iran, a salt iodisation programme was started in 1996. In this study, we took salt samples from all legally produced salt brands in Iran in 30 provinces and measured iodine concentration. The results of the monitoring programme for iodine concentration in schoolchildren's urine was used to compare accessibility to iodized salts and health outcomes. The results show that more than 80 of available salts have a suitable or acceptable concentration of iodine. Despite large variance in iodine concentration in available salt in some provinces, the median of iodine concentration in salts is within an acceptable range. Also, the urinary concentration of iodine (national median = 161) confirms that shortage of iodine intake is very low in Iran. The high rate of salt consumption of the Iranian people also has a significant effect on iodine uptake, but can lead to hyperthyroidism and hypertension that must be controlled. © 2018 Elsevier Gmb

Assessment of groundwater quality and evaluation of scaling and corrosiveness potential of drinking water samples in villages of Chabahr city, Sistan and Baluchistan province in Iran

The aims of this study were to assess and analysis of drinking water quality of Chabahar villages in Sistan and Baluchistan province by water quality index (WQI) and to investigate the water stability in subjected area. The results illustrated that the average values of LSI, RSI, PSI, LS, and AI was 0.5 (±0.34), 6.76 (±0.6), 6.50 (±0.99), 2.71 (±1.59), and 12.63 (±0.34), respectively. The calculation of WQI for groundwater samples indicated that 25 of the samples could be considered as excellent water, 50 of the samples were classified as good water category and 25 of the samples showed poor water category. © 2017 The Author

Management of landfill leachate in Iran: valorization, characteristics, and environmental approaches

The quantity and quality of leachate generated in a landfill are very important when it comes to waste management. Sanitary landfill is still being considered as most common element for waste management. Leachate is generated in both fluctuating quantity and quality during landfilling. To eliminate the adverse effects arising from leachate and meet standards for discharge into the environment, the authorities have forced to use suitable and effective methods and technologies for leachate treatment. �Here we review (1) comprehensive information on landfill leachate (LFL) in terms of quantity, quality, and treatment methods mostly used in Iran. (2) In the present review, the treatment methods have been classified into four categories: (a) physical, (b) physicochemical, (c) biological, and (d) combined biological and physicochemical and their advantages, drawbacks, and efficiency are discussed�. Given the presence of bio-recalcitrant and refractory elements in leachate and also strict standards enacted for protection the environment, application physicochemical, as a pretreatment and biological technology seems to be a complementary option for landfill leachate treatment in Iran. However, unfortunately there are no valid information in view both points of valorization and characteristics, therefore, it can fascinate researchers to pay attention these critical parameters in LFL treatment and waste management. © 2018, Springer Nature Switzerland AG

Application of ozone/magnetic graphene oxide for degradation of diazinon pesticide from aqueous solutions

Diazinon (O, O-diethyl-O-[6-methyl-2-(1-methylethyl)-4-pyrimidinyl] phosphorothioate) is one of the most widely used organophosphorus pesticides that are being increasingly detected in water bodies. However, Diazinon is persistent to conventional biological treatment and sole ozonation with lack of hydroxyl radical. Studies on the effective elimination of Diazinon are still quite sporadic and scarce. In this research magnetic graphene oxide/ ozonation (MGO/O3) were used to Diazinon removal from aqueous solution. The results of this research indicate that the Diazinon abatement rate was considerably accelerated via the hybrid MGO/O3 which can generate abundant hydroxyl radical, compared to sole ozonation according to scavenging runs, hydroxyl (·OH) radical was obtained to play a main role in synergistic degradation of Diazinon. All results showed that the MGO/O3 hybrid system is an efficient and suitable option for the removal of emerging organic contaminants from the aqueous solutions. © 2018 Desalination Publications. All rights reserved