Search

The economic cost of urban air pollution is measured by considering household health production function model which consists of health production function, demand function for mitigating activities and demand function for averting activities. To supplement the analysis of cost of illness approach, on the contingent valuation survey is also employed. The ordered logistic regression model is used to analyze the factors affecting willingness to pay for reducing urban air pollution.The total suspended particulate matter (TSPM or PM10) and the respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM or PM2.5) are considered as criteria pollutants. It is found that PM10and PM2.5 concentration has exceeded the National Ambient Air Quality Standards Suggested by in all the monitoring stations of study area. It is two to three times higher than the average annual standard. The results have shown that cough, dust allergy and asthma are more prevalent in the study area.

A concrete structure mainly depends upon the protective action provided by the cover concrete. Corrosion of rebars due to chlorides and deterioration of concrete are mainly responsible for the reduction of service life of concrete particularly in marine environment. The service life ends when the protective action provided by the cover concrete is lost. The prediction of service life would be very useful to arrive at a cost effective strategy to be adopted regarding inspection, repairing, strengthening and replacement of corrosion affected concrete structures at appropriate time to prevent premature failure. This would be further useful in estimating the structural capacity to withstand the extreme aggressive conditions during the remaining service life of the concrete structures.

An ocean is a body of saline water that composes much of a planet's hydrosphere. On Earth, an ocean is one of the major conventional divisions of the World Ocean, which occupies two-thirds of planet's surface. These are, in descending order by area, the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern (Antarctic), and Arctic Oceans. The word sea is often used interchangeably with “ocean” in American English but, strictly speaking, a sea is a body of saline water (generally a division of the World Ocean) that land partly or fully encloses. The sea water consist of an average of 35 g/1000 ml of dissolved compounds collectively called salts or practical salinity units (psu) which include CI− (55.04%), Na+ (30.61%), SO42− (7.68%), Mg2+ (3.69%), Ca2+ (1.16%), K+ (1.10%) as major constituents and HCO3− (0.41%), Br (0.19%), H3B03 (0.07%) and St2+ (0.04%) apart from 0.01% of dissolved substances of several inorganic salts needed for the marine organisms living in the ecosystem.

Several treatment methods, applying physical, chemical and biological processes were developed in the past decades. Physicochemical measures are capable of removing most of the contaminants, but the main disadvantages of these methods lie in the increased energy consumption and the need of additional chemicals. Furthermore, with physico chemical treatments, such as incineration, the transfer of pollutants from one environmental compartment to another may occur (e.g. from soil to atmosphere). Most potent strains characterized were predominantly from the Bacillus species which showed mixed resistance patterns against antibiotics and heavy metals. All the bacterial cultures when treated with 0.1% benzene showed 100% degradation in 30 and 40 days of incubation. In case of toluene treatment the degradation was enhanced after 10 days and reached 100% in 20 days. Degradation of naphthalene reached a maximum of 99.4% for A. migulans SA1, A. migulans SA2 and B. aneurinilyticus after 40 days of incubation. Highest degradation (99.9%) was observed when B. thuringiensis was treated with acenaphthene during 40 days of incubation.

Thermal Power plants cater the energy needs in many of the countries across the globe, but they indeed pose health hazard to the atmosphere by the release of pollutants such as fly ash, particulate matter, dust, smoke-laden with gaseous pollutants etc., As it is mandatory to meet the energy demand of the increasing population, it is also important to manage the waste produced as the result of these industries. Though there exist various methodologies to manage the waste, vermicomposting is one of the cost-effective and simple techniques available to manage many of the solid waste emanated from different industries. Hence, this study was made to manage the fly ash waste by vermicomposting technique after the addition of carbon substrate namely, the cow dung in different rations such as 1:1, 1:4, 4:1, 2:3 and 3:2. The organism selected for the research was Eisenia fetida. The number of days for the process was about 60 days. The physico-chemical changes were monitored throughout the study period at regular intervals. The bacterial strains were isolated from the end product, namely the vermicast or vermicompost. Their enzyme activity was also checked and the end product was characterized using FTIR and XRD. Of the different proportions, 1:4 was found to be a suitable proportion in terms of the parameters checked.

In present study, water quality was assessed by collecting ten water samples in and around Tiruppur city of India. The physico-chemical characterisation of the water samples were analyzed using standard protocols. The samples with higher chloride content (3106 mg/L) was found in Ganapathy Palayam sample, the value was higher than the BIS prescribed limit. The sample was subjected to treatment with various dosages of the phyto coagulating agent Tamarindus indica L. seed powder and its polysaccharide. The maximum 51 % of chloride reduction was obtained with 0.3 g of seed polysaccharide, and it was taken as optimum dosage. The raw seed removed 47 % of chloride by the dosage 0.4 g. The seed powder was characterized by GC-MS and FT-IR analysis. The GC-MS chromatogram showed the presence of various phytocompounds such as lupanine, cyclopropane octanoic acid, ascorbic acid, octadecanoic acid in the plants. The functional groups found in the seed powder were characterized by FTIR analysis. The evaluated results confirmed the contamination of potable water in Tiruppur city by the dyeing industries located near the water sources. The present work concluded that tamarind seed coagulants are efficient, eco-friendly, low-cost and easily available material, which could be used for the treatment of potable water.

Phytoremediation is a promising green technology for the remediation of various industrial effluents. Notably, aquatic plants are widely applied to remove dyes and toxic metals from polluted environments. In the present study, the phytoremediation potency of aquatic macrophytes such as Pistia stratiotes L, Salvinia adnata Desv, and Hydrilla verticillata (L.f) Royle were assessed based on the removal capability of pollutants from dyeing effluent. Physicochemical characterizations were carried out for industrial wastewater collected from a cotton material dyeing unit located in the Karur District of Tamilnadu, India. The physicochemical characteristics of the dyeing effluent, such as color, odor, pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), alkalinity, acidity, chloride, sulfate, phosphate, nitrate, chemical oxygen demand (COD), fluoride, and toxic metal levels were determined. The core parameters such as total dissolved solid (TDS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and chloride level were determined and found to be 6500 mg/L, 2400 mg/L, and 2050 mg/L, respectively, which exceeded the regulatory limit prescribed by the Central Pollution Control Board of India. The levels of toxic metals such as Hg, Ni, and Zn were under the acceptable concentration but Cr and Pb levels in the dyeing effluent were a little bit higher. The effluent was subjected to treatment with Pistia stratiotes L, Salvinia adnata Desv and Hydrilla verticillata (L.f) Royle separately. After the treatment, the toxic metal results were recorded as below detectable levels and the same results were obtained for all three aquatic plants samples used for treatment. Among the three plants, P. stratiotes L efficiently removed 86% of color, 66% of TDS, 77% of COD, and 61.33% of chloride. The variation in phytochemicals of the macrophytes was studied before and after treatment using GC&ndash, MS which revealed the reduction of ascorbic acid in the plant samples. The toxic effect of treated effluent was investigated by irrigating an ornamental plant, Impatiens balsamina L. The plant biomass P. stratiotes L obtained after the treatment process was subjected to manure production and its nutrient quality was proved, which can be applied as a soil conditioner. Among the aquatic plants, the results of P. stratiotes L indicated a higher remediation potential, which can be used as an ecologically benign method for treatment of industrial effluents and water bodies contaminated with dyeing effluents.

Melanoidins are composite biopolymers which consist of amino carbonyl compounds which are the major coloring and polluting elements of distillery effluent. In this study, a synthetic melanoidin was...

Disposable Paper cups are a threat to the environment and are composed of 90% high strength paper with 5% thin coating of polyethylene. This polyethylene prevents the paper cup from undergoing degradation in the soil. Hence, in the present study two different approaches towards the management of paper cup waste through vermicomposting technology has been presented. The experimental setup includes 2 plastic reactors namely Vermicompost (VC) (Cow dung + Paper cup waste + Earthworm (Eudrillus eugeinea)) and Vermicompost with bacterial consortium (VCB) (Cow dung + Paper cup waste + Eudrillus eugeinea + Microbial consortia such as Bacillus anthracis, B. endophyticus, B. funiculus, B. thuringiensis, B. cereus, B. toyonensis, Virigibacillius chiquenigi, Acinetobacter baumanni and Lactobacillus pantheries). After treatment the physicochemical parameters were analysed. The results showed that the values of TOC (26.52 and 37.47%), TOM (36.01 and 33.13%) and C/N (15.02 and 11.92%) ratio are reduced in both VC and VCB whereas, the values of pH (8.01 and 7.56), EC (1.2–1.9 µs−1 and 1.4–1.9 µs−1), TP (46.1 and 51%), TMg (50.52 and 64.3%), TCa (50 and 64%), TNa (1.39 and 1.75%) and TK (1.75 and 1.86%) have increased. This study substantiates the addition of the microbial consortia augmenting the degradation in VCB reactor by reducing the period of process from 19 to 12 weeks. Further the characterisation of the vermicompost prepared from paper cup with FT-IR shows high degradation of carboxylic and aliphatic group; SEM analysis shows the disaggregation of cellulose and lignin; XRD shows the degradation of cellulose. All these analyses endorse the degradation of the paper cup waste faster with microbes (VCB). Thus, this present study high lights management of the paper cup waste in a relatively short period of time.

Distillery sludge contains good nutrition because it is agro-based industrial waste and it has been recommended as a potential soil conditioner. Simultaneously, they contain heavy metals also. Hence, they need proper treatment before their usage as a soil conditioner and plant nutrient. However, the metal reduction in sludge was directly related to the bioaccumulation of metals in the tissues of composting earthworms. The inoculated earthworms showed a considerable level of Cd, Zn, Fe, Mn and Cu in their tissues and metallothionein protein was increased in the final when compared to initial. Histology and bioaccumulation factors also confirmed that the DSV1 (distillery sludge vermicompost set 1) inoculated earthworm’s tissues were severely damaged than the DSV2 (distillery sludge vermicompost set 2) because of their concentration. Finally, we conclude that earthworms could be used effectively for removal of heavy metals from distillery industrial sludge.

Toxicology tests on earthworms were conducted in artificial soil, which is composed of 10% Kaolin clay (Fisher Scientific), 20% of coir pith and 70% of sand (grade 70 particle size 0.1–0.3 mm). Melanoidins were applied to artificial soil in different concentrations ranging from 0 (control), 250, 500, 750 and 1000 µg per kg. The toxicological analysis of earthworms treated with synthetic melanoidins and distillery effluent includes antioxidant enzyme analysis (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione S-transferase), comet assay and histopathological analysis. The investigation facilitates us to conclude that melanoidin stimulates adverse effects on earthworms such as oxidative stress and DNA damage which may be the important mechanisms of melanoidin toxicity to earthworms.

The efficiency of the distillery sludge-based vermicompost to enhance the growth of Raphanus sativus (radish) was tested with distillery sludge-based compost (DSC) and vermicompost (DSV), vegetable waste vermicompost (VV), and commercially available chemical fertilizer (CF). This study reveals the suitability of distillery sludge-based vermicompost to facilitate the growth of Raphanus sativus. An enhancement of the biomass, antioxidants (38.45–52.49%), total phenolics (22.56 mg GAE/g), and flavonoids (32.59–45.69 mg QE/g) was reported in the plants treated with the organic manures. However, reducing sugars (0.61 mg/50 g) was found to be in higher quantity in the plants treated with chemical fertilizer. Significant increase in the antioxidants including phenols and flavonoids along with enhanced DPPH and FRAP activity suggests the suitability of application of organic fertilizers to promote plant growth. Among the treatments offered, distillery sludge-based vermicompost was found to enhance the content of antioxidants (52.49 ± 0.002%), phenols (31.24 ± 0.002 mg GAE/g), flavonoids (45.69 ± 0.002 mg QE/g), mineral content (Ca, Mg, Na, K, P, Cu, Mn), and growth parameters too of Raphanus sativus, thus making the eco-friendly management of the distillery sludge possible. Further, there are no significant polymorphisms in the protein band of the DSV-grown radish.

In the present study, the possible utilization of natural and artificial banana leaf waste which were discharged from Marriage halls were collected and investigated for the enzymatic studies. The Natural and artificial banana leaf waste were mixed with cowdung in the ratio of 1:1 and kept aside in a shed for vermicomposting and composting. The isolated microbes were subjected for qualitative and the quantitative enzyme analysis for the naturaland artificial banana leaf waste. In that the presence of enzymes such as amylase, cellulase , protease and lipase contents in vermicompostand compost were identified. Thus the vermicompost and the compost enriched with enzymes greatly enhance the fertility of the soil. These technologies help in reduction of the organic load on land fill. According to obtained results the left over and old banana leaves processed to as vermicompost and compost may help boost crop yields in terms of economical production and organic farming.

In this present assessment, fabric dyeing wastewater was subjected to the characterization of physical-chemical parameters in terms of colour, TDS, COD and chloride. The indigenous bacterial strains were isolated from the effluent and identified as Bacillus velezensis, Chryseomicrobium imtechense, Planococcus maritimus and Sphingobacterium daejeonense by 16S rRNA gene sequencing method. The bioremediation competency of the strains was evaluated by conducting treatment process with monoculture and bacterial consortium. The consortia removed about 98%, 71.5%, 79%, 69.65% of colour, TDS, COD and chloride, respectively. Among the four isolates, monoculture of B. velezensis showed effective diminution of pollutants from the effluent than other strains. The bacterial degradation of pollutants was determined by GC–MS based on the disappearance of certain peaks after bioremediation. The results suggested that the bioremediation efficiency of bacterial strains can be utilized as an eco-friendly and inexpensive method for dyeing effluent treatment.

The efficiency of indigenous bacteria to remove colour, TDS and COD pollutants from coffee cherry pulping wastewater (CCPWW) in an acidic pH without any manipulation of the effluent was studied. For the removal of such pollutants, the CCPWW was subjected to treatment with four indigenous microbial test strains isolated from CCPWW and characterised using 16S rRNA molecular technique, namely Enterobacter ludwigii, Bacilllus cereus, Enterobacter aerogenes and Enterobacter cloacae. Among the individual microbial treatments, the Enterobacter cloacae bacterial strain removed higher amount of TDS (37.6%) and COD (40.1%). Treatment with the bacterial consortia removed about 40.9% TDS, 48.7% COD from CCPWW after 48 h. The correlation coefficient ‘r’ between TDS and COD removal for each individual treatment was 1, showed the positive linear relationship. The microbes had endured in the harsh–low pH environment of the effluent and effectively removed the pollutants without any addition of other nutrient support.

Organic and postconsumer wastes are the major waste of today's concern in our living environment. Though they are one of the very rich sources of nitrogen and carbon, improper disposal results in different types of pollution including aesthetic pollution too. Hence, our aim is to manage the dried paper cup waste, temple waste and bay leaf waste in an eco friendly manner. Vermicomposting is a method involving biooxidation and stabilization of organic matter with the help of earthworms and microorganisms thereby turning waste into valuable soil amendments. The intensive objective of this study is to investigate the physico chemical characteristics, biomass, microbial population and also the histopathalogical analysis of the three different types of waste. Three different sets were prepared for this study, which includes paper cup waste and cowdung along with E. eugenia (A), Temple waste, cow dung along with E. eugenia (B), Bay waste, cow dung along with E. eugenia (C) in 1:1 ratio to carry out the degradation process in an eminent way. These materials were left for pre-composting followed by the introduction of the selected earth worms. Physico-chemical parameters (pH, Electrical conductivity (EC), Total organic matter (TOM), Total Nitrogen (TKN), C:N and Total Phosphorus) were analyzed. We have found that the aging of vermicompost reduce the microbial biomass of both bacteria and fungi. The histopathology analysis showed differences in the tissue damage of earthworm employed in different types of waste. Coherently, we have found noticeable earthworm behaviour during the addition of bay leaf waste and temple waste when compared to the paper cup waste. By this way the earthworms were active till the end of the process of degradation. Thus the addition of organic waste along with the post-consumer waste is justified.

Concern about the climate change coupled with the increasing demand for fossil fuels makes us think and concentrate about the alternative energy resources which are renewable and clean. Biological resources for energy, also called biomass, include a range of materials originating from living matter. Biological resources were the first source of energy and materials used by man and remained the main one until the expansion of fossil fuels in the mid-nineteenth century. During 1970's, the increase in the petroleum price sparked a renewed interest in biomass as an alternative energy source possible, and several research and demonstration programmes commenced worldwide (Klass 1998) Biomass for renewable energy, fuels and chemicals, Academic Press, San Diego). Biomass has been widely recognized as an important energy source with high potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while minimizing environmental pollution. The most commonly used biofuels are bioethanol and biodiesel, which are normally produced using various methods (Zhu et al Sci Total Environ 408:914–21, 2010). Further, these biofuels serve as an important fuel substitute resulting in low harmful emissions (Huang et al. Appl Energy 87:38–46, 2010). Presently, biomass is being focussed as a high-potential renewable resource. Security and access to reliable, affordable, sustainable and modern sources of energy are the key concerns driving renewable energy deployment. This chapter focusses on the possibility, potential and barriers of utilizing biological energy resources in particular.

The increasing solid waste generation rates and their high collection cost were some of the major problems in India. This paper deals with the effective management of Temple wastes. The temple waste consists of coconut, leaves, flowers, fruits etc which are of biodegradable in nature.It also includes milk products, grains and water, which could facilitate the growth of microorganisms. Such biodegradable temple wastes are released as such into the water bodies (or) dumped haphazardly which causes environmental pollution. Recycling of such temple waste is performed through vermitechnology employing Eisenia fetida. Three types of waste were prepared. They were as follows: TA (control), TB (Temple waste+ Cow dung), TC (Temple waste+ Cowdung+ Microbial inoculum) in different proportions in the 1 kg capacity Reactor vessels. The physic chemical parameters like pH, Electrical Conductivity, Total Kjeldahl nitrogen, Total Organic Carbon, Total Organic Matter and Carbon-Nitrogen ratio and phosphorus were tested in the vermicompost. Bacterial strains isolated from vermicompost and identified and are used as an inoculum to check whether they could enhance the rate of degradation. The impact of the prepared vermicompost on chick pea seed germination was also studied. These studies showed a significant growth in terms of length and height of the plant with TC vermicompost when compared to TA and TB vermicompost. Thus, it is concluded that the vermicomposting supplemented with the bacterial cultures is comparatively efficient technology for the effective management of the temple waste in an eco friendly manner. Keywords: Vermicompost, Temple waste, Eisenia fetida, Chick pea.

The objective of this study is to investigate the reduction of nitrate-nitrogen from aqueous nitrate-nitrogen solution containing 30 ppm of nitrate-nitrogen using the leaves of Citrus medica in a powdered form. The reduction was found to be 85% from 30 ppm nitrate-nitrogen containing solution. The mechanism of the reduction could be attributed to the antioxidant property of the Citrus medica leaves, which is found to be contributed by the flavonoids of the leaf material. This is confirmed by the DPPH activity of Citrus medica which signifies the H+ ion donation to the nitrate-ions thereby facilitating reduction. The powdered leaves of Citrus medica were subjected to FT-IR analysis too which reveals certain changes in the peaks obtained for 2920 and 2855 cm- ¹. (Keywords: Nitrate-nitrogen; Citrus medica; aqueous solution; Reduction; Antioxidant)

The aim of the present study was to subject the post-consumer waste, namely paper cups for vermicomposting along with cow dung in three different ratios for a period of 90–140 days employing Eisenia fetida. The post-consumer wastes are a menace in many developing countries including India. This waste was provided as feed for earthworms and was converted to vermicompost. Vermicompost prepared with paper cup waste was analyzed for their physicochemical properties. Based on the physicochemical properties, it was evident that the best manure is obtained from type A (paper cup/cow dung in the ratio 1:1) than type B (paper cup/cow dung in the ratio 1.5:0.5) and type C (paper cup/cow dung in the ratio 0.5:1.5). The results showed that earthworms accelerated the rate of mineralization and converted the wastes into compost with needed elements which could support the growth of crop plants. The predominant bacterial strains in the vermicompost were characterized biochemically as well as by 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing. The bacterial strains like Bacillus anthracis (KM289159), Bacillus endophyticus (KM289167), Bacillus funiculus (KM289165), Virigibacillius chiquenigi (KM289163), Bacillus thuringiensis (KM289164), Bacillus cereus (KM289160), Bacillus toyonensis (KM289161), Acinetobacter baumanni (KM289162), and Lactobacillus pantheries (KM289166) were isolated and identified from the final compost. The total protein content of E. fetida involved in vermicomposting was extracted, and the banding pattern was analyzed. During final stages of vermicomposting, it was observed that the earthworm did not act on the plastic material coated inside the paper cups and stagnated it around the rim of the tub. Further, the degradation of paper cup waste was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis. Hence, vermicomposting was found to be an effective technology for the conversion of the paper cup waste material into a nutrient-rich manure, a value-added product.