Current Issue : July-September Volume : 2023 Issue Number : 3 Articles : 5 Articles
This study aimed to investigate the performance of composite photocatalytic membranes fabricated by incorporating multiple nanoparticles (TiO2, carbon nanotubes, BiVO4) into polyvinylidene fluoride membrane material for real dairy wastewater treatment. The composite photocatalytic membranes exhibited superior antifouling behavior, lower filtration resistance, better flux, and higher flux recovery ratio than the pristine membrane. Salinity, pH, and lactose concentration are determinant factors that affect filtration resistance and rejection performance during the ultrafiltration of dairy wastewater. Generally, higher irreversible and total resistances and slightly lower chemical oxygen demand (COD) rejections were found at higher salinity (expressed by electric conductivity values of >4 mS/cm) than lower salinity (<4 mS/cm) levels. The presence of lactose in dairy wastewater increased irreversible resistance and severely reduced COD rejection during ultrafiltration due to the ability of lactose to pass through the membranes. It was ascertained that membranes require further treatment after filtrating such wastewater. Lower resistances and slightly better COD rejections were observed at pH 7.5 and pH 9.5 compared to those observed at pH 4. Photocatalytic membranes fouled during the ultrafiltration of real dairy wastewater were regenerated by visible light irradiation. The membrane containing all constituents (i.e., TiO2, carbon nanotubes, and BiVO4) showed the best regeneration performance, exceeding that of the pristine membrane by 30%....
Saudi Arabia is one of the most oil-rich countries in the world, and oil production is the country’s primary source of income. The aspects of greenhouse gas emissions and the harm they cause to the environment and residents have been overlooked because of the continuous emphasis on economic growth and a high reliance on oil resources. Consequently, environmental issues have become challenging for residents and questionable for industries. Despite various environmental awareness and pollution control studies around the world, Saudi Arabia’s pollution rate appears to be increasing. This study attempted to understand the impact of pro-environmental factors on pollution control and sustainable gasoline consumption in order to fill a research gap in the literature. Environmental awareness, self-efficacy and self-identity, ecological attitude, contextual factors, and social norms were considered as factors to investigate local residents’ sustainable consumption and pollution control behaviors. Primary data were collected from 416 local residents and analyzed using multiple regression. The results demonstrate the positive significant impact of pro-environmental variables on sustainable consumption and efforts toward pollution control. This study further presents practical implications for the Saudi government and environmentalists....
This study examined land use land cover (LULC) dynamics in Upper Benue River Basin, Nigeria. The study makes use of primary and secondary data. Landsat Imageries for the years 1981, 2001 and 2021 were used in the study. Supervised approach with maximum likelihood classifier was adopted for the classification and generation of LULC maps. Markov Cellular Automata model was used to predict the status of LULC of the catchment for year 2070. The findings of the study reveal remarkable changes in the land use land cover of the Upper Benue River Basin. The land cover has witnessed downward trend in the percentage area covered by vegetation and bare surface resulting in 15.4% and 2.6% losses respectively. The result of the findings reveals that the built-up area and rock outcrop has shown significant gains of 15.2% and 2.9% of the study area respectively. Water body has been stable with 0% change, though, it witnessed a marginal decline in 2001. The land use land cover change observed in the Upper Benue River Basin was as a result of anthropogenic factors characterized by deforestation, expansion of agricultural lands, overgrazing among others. Based on the findings, the study recommended controlled grazing activity, deforestation and indiscriminate fuelwood exploitation and improved agronomic practices in the basin....
Oral reference dose (RfD) is a key parameter for deriving the human health ambient water quality criteria (AWQC) for non-carcinogenic substances. In this study, a non-experimental approach was used to calculate the RfD values, which explore the potential correlation between toxicity and physicochemical characteristics and the chemical structure of pesticides. The molecular descriptors of contaminants were calculated using T.E.S.T software from EPA, and a prediction model was developed using a stepwise multiple linear regression (MLR) approaches. Approximately 95% and 85% of the data points differ by less than 10-fold and 5-fold between predicted values and true values, respectively, which improves the efficiency of RfD calculation. The model prediction values have certain reference values in the absence of experimental data, which is beneficial to the advancement of contaminant health risk assessment. In addition, using the prediction model constructed in this manuscript, the RfD values of two pesticide substances in the list of priority pollutants are calculated to derive human health water quality criteria. Furthermore, an initial assessment of the health risk was performed by the quotient value method based on the human health water quality criteria calculated by the prediction model....
This article aims to analyze the importance of preserving the environment in the Brazilian Amazon, in view of the relevant role it plays in climate stability, in the preservation of fauna and flora and as a reserve of drinking water. The research method will be hypothetical-deductive, using legislative and bibliographic research techniques, with documentary collection in electronic files and press agencies. This investigation is expected to present proposals that may influence the search and implementation of measures that promote efficient preservation of the environment in that important region....
Loading....