Pollutants, Volume 2, Issue 3 (September 2022) – 9 articles

The determination of various physio-chemical parameters and water quality index of Kundapura Taluk uses nine parameters: pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, total hardness, alkalinity, acidity, chlorides, dissolved oxygen and chemical oxygen demand, measured in 40 places. The weighted arithmetic water quality index (WAWQI) method is used for the calculation of water quality index. The present study area is Kundapura Taluk in Udupi district, Karnataka located between a 74°34′40.0″ E to 75°4′57.35″ E longitude, and a 13°59′33.26″ N to 13°28′40.82″ N latitude. According to post-summer values of pH, places such as MITK, Margoli and Kodi have high pH, and Kumbashi and Amavasyebailu have low pH. Places such as Margoli, Beejadi, Senapura, Kollur and Kodi show higher E.C, and Amparu shows a lower value of E.C. Alkaline water balances the pH of the body, and we found higher alkalinity in Kodi, Beejadi, Marvanthe and lower alkalinity in Yedthare, Mullikatte and Trasi. All water samples with higher COD content were found post-summer which diminishes the amount of D.O content in water. Pre-summer and post-summer values shows numerous changes in values. In the post-summer, water level decreases mechanically due to increases in water extraction: it causes a cone of depression at ground water level, creating a saltwater intrusion in which water loses its quality, thus pre-treatment is additional, post-summer. Full article

The adsorption of bisphenol A into untreated montmorillonite clay, doped titanium composite and cationic polymer modified tripartite magnetic montmorillonite composite was investigated under different conditions. The magnetic property of the modified adsorbent was ascertained by action of external magnetic field on the materials when dispersed in aqueous media. The XRD results for the unmodified and modified adsorbents showed that interlayer spacing of the clay material increases due to intercalation of the precursor molecules. The textural properties of the adsorbents from BET analysis showed that pore size and specific surface area of the tripartite magnetic composite was calculated to be 288.08 m²/g while that of the unmodified clay was 90.39 m²/g. The TGA results showed the tripartite magnetic composite was more stable with the lowest percentage mass loss compared to the unmodified montmorillonite. The tripartite magnetic composite showed higher adsorption capacity. Adsorption was best described by the Freundlich isotherm model, which confirmed that the adsorption process was multilayer coverage unto the uneven surface of the adsorbents. Kinetic treatment of the adsorption data confirmed the the process followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model and predominantly chemisorption process. The standard Gibb’s free energy computed for the adsorbents showed that the adsorption processes were favourably spontaneous with highly negative energy values of −336.70, −533.76 and −1438.38 KJ/mol, respectively, for the unmodified montmorillonite, doped titanium composite and the tripartite magnetic composite. It was observed that the addition of cationic aromatic moiety to the clay material increased pollutant-adsorbent interactions and improved adsorption capacity for micro-pollutants in a simulated industrial effluent. Full article

Climate change has already had observable effects due to greenhouse gases (GHG) produced by human activities. Over the years, this becomes more evident as the concentration of GHG released in the atmosphere is concerningly increased as does the earth’s average temperature too. Hence, all countries and many independent organizations are taking actions to reduce the Global Warming phenomenon by setting targets for carbon dioxide emissions. The energy sector is proved to play the most important role in emissions reduction. Greece’s target for this sector is very ambitious in total transformation of energy mixture in the forthcoming years. Universities are also contributing to GHG emissions through their operations and members’ activities. Energy management at the University of Patras in Greece has already started since 2019 by installing energy meters going from manual calculations to an online system. The reliable records and accurate calculations proved as a very important action and a starting point for performing detailed analysis. In this study, there was an effort to calculate the CO₂ emissions of the University of Patras using the Carbon Campus Calculator. The results showed that the students commuting is the main source of GHG emissions at the University of Patras and the purchased electricity comes next. These two factors together comprise 60.2% of the total emissions and priority should be given to reducing their footprint. Specific targets were set up for 2030 in compliance with the National Plan for Energy and Climate of Greece. Moreover, an Action Plan managing carbon and energy more efficiently and creating a strong environmental culture among the community is proposed. In the future, the university’s management team should act proactively in every change at Patras University. An assessment on the environmental impact should take place before any decision making. If necessary, extra actions should be defined in order not to deviate from the targets and new standards set. Full article

Wastewater treatment has been widely focused on the undesirable pollutants derived from various activities such as coking, coal gasification, oil spills, and petroleum. These activities tend to release organic pollutants, however polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) happen to be highlighted as the most carcinogenic pollutant that easily comes into contact with the environment and humans. It causes major challenges due to its lingering in the environment and chemical properties. Although various techniques such as ions exchange, advanced oxidation, and reverse osmosis have been conducted, some of them have been ignored due to their cost-effectiveness and ability to produce a by-product. Therefore, there is a need to develop and implement an effective technique that will alleviate the organic pollutants (PAHs) in various water sources. In this study, a self-made flat-bed photoreactor was introduced to degrade PAHs in various water sources such as acidic mine drainage, alkaline mine drainage, and sewage wastewater. A previous study was conducted, and only 7.074 mg/L, 0.3152 mg/L and 1.069 mg/L in 4 weeks and thereafter 19.255 mg/L, 1.615 mg/L and 1.813 mg/L in 8 weeks in acidic mine drainage, alkaline mined, drainage, and sewage wastewater leachate from a 2916.47 mg/L of PAHs in coal tar, was analysed. It was found that the flat-bed photoreactor was highly effective and able to obtain a removal efficiency of 64%, 55%, and 58%, respectively; without the flat-bed photoreactor, happened the removal efficiency was of 53%, 33%, and 39%, respectively, in 60 min in acidic mine drainage, alkaline mine drainage, and sewage wastewater. The photodegradation of PAHs was favoured in the acidic mine drainage, followed by sewage wastewater and alkaline mine drainage respective, showing time and solar irradiation dependence. Full article

For monitoring spatio-temporal variations of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) content, passive diffusive samplers have been deployed in 14 near-road and residential sites for 14 days. In parallel with the winter campaign to measure the NO2 tracer, road traffic counting sessions were carried out on the city’s main roads. The coupling of the results of the measurement campaigns and the counting sessions under Arcgis 9.3 made it possible to determine the areas most affected by automobile pollution and to carry out a high spatial resolution mapping of the pollutant prospected. The results of this study show that atmospheric NO₂ concentrations reach maximum values in the city center and decrease towards its periphery. The analysis of the epidemiological situation of the principal diseases related to air pollution in the city of Meknes during the study period (2010–2014) showed that among subjects aged five years and older, acute respiratory diseases occurred more in women than men. The most affected age group was between 15 and 49 years, while asthma attacks were noted mainly among women aged 50 years and older. Acute respiratory illness and asthma attacks were prevalent in the winter and fall. Among children under five years of age, the age group most affected by pneumonia was those under 11 months. Our integrative approach combined spatialized GIS-based health indicators of these diseases, the location of stationary and mobile sources of air pollution, and measured NO₂ levels. This combination has made it possible to detect that residents in areas with heavy road traffic are likely to be more affected than those in areas near industrial activity. The habitat type also contributes significantly to the development and exacerbation of the pathologies studied, especially in the districts of the old Medina. Full article

To curb greenhouse gas emissions and reduce atmospheric pollutants in Canada, many pieces of environment legislation are targeted at reducing industrial emissions. Traditional regulation prescribes penalties through fines to discourage industries from polluting, but, in the past two decades, alternative forms of environmental regulation, such as the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI), have been introduced. NPRI is an information management tool which requires industries to self-report emissions data based on a set of guidelines determined by Environment and Climate Change Canada, a federal agency. The tool works to inform the public regarding industry emissions and provides a database that can be analyzed by researchers and regulators to inform emissions trends in Canada. These tools have been successful in other jurisdictions (e.g., United States and Australia). However, research assessing the U.S. Toxic Release Inventory suggests there are fundamental weaknesses in the self-reported nature of the data and incidences of under-reporting. This preliminary study aimed to explore NPRI in Canada and test its effectiveness against the National Air Pollutant Surveillance Network (NAPS), an air quality monitoring program administered by the federal government. While instances of under-reporting were undetected, this study identified areas of weakness in the NPRI tool and instances of increasing emissions across various industrial sectors in Canada. Full article

The ecological and children’s Health Risk Assessments (HRA) of Copper (Cu) in aquatic bodies ranging from rivers, mangrove, estuaries, and offshore areas were studied using the Cited Cu Data in The Sediments (CCDITS) from 125 randomly selected papers published from 1980 to 2022. The ecological and children’s HRA were assessed in all CCDITS. Generally, local point Cu sources (8%) and lithogenic sources were the main controlling factors of Cu concentrations. The present review revealed three interesting points. First, there were 11 papers (8%) documenting Cu levels of more than 500 mg/kg dw while China was the country with the highest number (26%) of papers published between 1980 and 2022, out of 37 countries. Second, with the Cu data cited from the literature not normally distributed, the maximum Cu level was higher than all the established guidelines. However, the median Cu concentration was lower than most of the established guidelines. The median values of the geoaccumulation index (I_geo) indicated a status of ‘unpolluted‘ and ‘moderate contamination’ for the contamination factor (CF), and ‘low potential ecological risk’ for the ecological risk (ER) of Cu. However, the Cu ER could be based at present on the above mentioned 8% of the literature in the present study. Third, the calculated hazard index (HI) values were found to be below 1, indicating no potential chance of Cu non–carcinogenic effects in both adults and children, except for children’s HI values from Lake Pamvotis of Greece, and Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong. Thus, regular monitoring (every 2 years), depending upon the available resources, is recommended to assess the ecological–health risk of Cu pollution in aquatic bodies to abate the risk of Cu exposure to children’s health and avoid injurious impacts on the biota. It can be concluded that there is always a need for the mitigation and management of a Cu exposure risk assessment that can be used successfully for screening purposes to detect important human health exposure routes. Consequently, any sediments contaminated with Cu require rapid sediment remediation techniques. Full article