Iranica Journal of Energy and Environment (IJEE)

161-166

Authors: P. Goyal, S. K. Sharma, R. K. Tyagi,

There are great concerns, that the IC Engines are responsible for extreme atmospheric pollution. Therefore, the studies on use of alcohols in 4-Stroke spark ignition (SI) Engines are important. In this study, the properties of the blended fuels were calculated. The effect of methanol-gasoline blends on emissions was investigated experimentally. The emissions were measured with the use of methanol-gasoline blends (M5 and M10) have been compared with the pure gasoline. The test was conducted at the constant speed of 90 km/h and at different wheel powers. From the analysis, it was concluded that when the engine was fuelled on methanol gasoline blends, CO2, CO, HC and NOx vehicular emissions were found to decreased at all wheel powers at 90 km/h. In addition, air-fuel ratio also increased with the increase percentage of methanol in the gasoline.

173-180

Authors: M. Yusuf, F.M. Elfghi, S. K. Mallak

This study aimed to investigate how safranin-O can be removed from aqueous solutions by adsorption on pineapple peels. The effect of solution pH, initial dye concentration, contact time and adsorbent dose were studied. The optimum adsorption capacity of 26.08 mg/g was achieved under the experimental condition of pH, temperature and contact time of 6, 293K and 80 min, respectively. Also further analysis revealed that 93.24% of safranin-O was significantly removed at 120 mg/L dye concentration in 80 minutes contact time. From the result of the isotherm studies, it was revealed that the equilibrium data is well fitted to Freundlich model while the adsorption kinetic data showed that the adsorption process was well described by the pseudo-second order kinetic model. Finally, it can be deduced that pineapple peels had a great potential in adsorbing and removal of safranin-o from aqueous solution.

188-194

Authors: A. Talebi, T.T. Teng, I. Norli, A. F. M. AL-Karkhi

Application of an ionic liquid (4-Methyl-2-pentanone) carrier on liquid-liquid extraction of nickel and cadmium from aqueous solutions is reported. 4-Methyl-2-pentanone was found to dissolve in octanol (as diluent) and was capable of extracting both nickel and cadmium ions, however in terms of extraction efficiency, 4-Methyl-2-pentanone has higher capability for nickel extraction in compare to cadmium. The effects of feed phase pH, carrier concentration, mixing time, stripping phase pH and inert salt concentration on extraction of nickel and cadmium were analyzed using factorial design for screening experiment and face centered composite design of experiments for optimization. The results of liquid-liquid extraction process led to removal of 91% of nickel ions and 32% of cadmium from mixed Ni-Cd aqueous feed phase with carrier concentration of 250 mM, feed phase pH of 4, mixing time of 5 minutes and 1.5 M of sodium sulphate as inert salt. In stripping phase, both nickel and cadmium were highly stripped while stripping phase pH was set at alkaline range of 10-11. The effect of feed phase pH on distribution ratio (Feed/Org) for both metals was investigated and the results revealed that one nickel ion is extracted into the organic phase by an average 3.2 of 4- Methyl-2-pentanone molecules to form nickel-4-Methyl-2-pentanone complex, while for cadmium extraction, the carrier molecules involved in metal-carrier complexation is equal to 2.

207-211

Authors: B. A. Almayahi

This study conducted using a NaI (Tl) gamma-ray spectrometer for the assessment of naturally radioactive materials. This apparatus is devoted to the quantitative and qualitative determination of U, Th, and K in soil samples collected from the city of Najaf, Iraq. The average of concentrations in the surveyed soil samples were ranged from 55 to 102 Bq/kg, ND to 448 Bq/kg and 79 to 1887 Bq/kg for 238 U, 232 Th, and 40 K, respectively. To assess the radiological hazard of radioactivity in the soil samples, the radium equivalent activity, annual effective dose, external hazard, and internal indices were calculated. The Raeq values of soil samples were lower than 370 Bq kg-1 recommended maximum levels of radium equivalents in soil.

217-222

Authors: W. M. A. Wan Mohd Khalik, M. P. Abdullah, M. R. Othman

Comparative study of trace level of extracted mercury in different types of water was successfully carried out. Data sets of batch samples were grouped in two clusters (C I; 4, C II; 4) to represent similarity of data structure under optimized and direct extraction procedure respectively. Similarity level for inter batch samples (optimized procedure) was obtained in the range of 96.7 – 99.2 %; which was better than by direct extraction (67.2 – 92.5 %) with mean distance from centroid was calculated at 0.462. The first two components (PC1 and PC2) on score plot explained about 86.2 % (ultrapure) and 73.9 % (salt water) of the total variance in signal data sets. In discriminant analysis, latent variables namely pH, extraction time and temperature were able to enhance the correctness of inter batch sample variations accounted to be 80 and 91.7 %. A fitted model expressed by multiple linear regressions obtained with two organomercury species (methyl and ethyl) were recognized as independent variables explained about 90.04 % (ultrapure) and 90.85 % (salt water) traceability from sum of peak areas. Analysis of real samples gave relative standard deviation value of less than < 0.33 % indicating that good performance in terms of repeatability. Recovery was found to range from 75.62 – 95.46% (river water) and 73.44 - 91.14 % (sea water).

232-242

Authors: S. K. Mallak, M. B. Ishak, M. R. M. Kasim, M. A. B. Abu-Samah

Waste minimization plays an important role in sustainable industrial waste management. It is the most effective method in controlling waste arising. There are some common factors contribute in effective practicing of waste minimization in both developing and developed countries. This study examines and compares the most important solutions and approaches in enhancement of practicing waste minimization among 214 manufacturing industries in Shah Alam, Malaysia. Quantitative data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. It was revealed that improvement in internal monitoring system has the higher effectiveness in practicing waste minimization among other factors (SI=67.40%). Also respondent‘s perception toward approaches regarding awareness, encouragement and cooperation were found significantly higher than other approaches (p<0.05). The findings of this study highlight the necessity of training programs and technology modification as well as improvement in monitoring systems.

86-91

Authors: N. Awang, S. A. Azmi

Air pollution is defined as the presence of any air pollutants in the air that have the potential to cause health effect or cause harm to the environment. This study was conducted to investigate the exposure levels to air pollutants among workers in a depot, and the relationship between the exposure levels and the respiratory level of the workers in the depot. The methods used in this study included measuring the concentration of air pollutants namely CO, CO2, total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs), PM10 and two types of heavy metals namely lead (PB) and arsenic (As). Lung function test was also done for workers who were exposed. Three sampling points were chosen to measure the concentrations of air pollutants, namely Loco, power generating car (PGC) and coach lines. Kuala Lumpur Central Office Depot was selected as the control station. Low volume sampler and sampling devices were used to measure the concentration of the air pollutants. This study found that there were three air pollutants with concentrations exceeding the standard limits of suspended particles PM10, lead, and arsenic. The highest concentrations of PM10 and Pb recorded were in the PGC line with 0.49 ± 0.03 mg/m3 and 160 ± 5.13 μg/m3, respectively. The highest concentration of As recorded was in coach line with 36.00 ± 15.50 μg/m3. Statistical test results showed that only the concentration of As had a significant difference between the sampling stations. For the lung function test, the values of forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) for the exposed group were below normal. These findings showed that the depot workers had a lower respiratory level compared to the workers at the depot office. Statistical analysis showed a significant difference between spirometry diagnosis of employees who had served more than ten years and spirometry diagnosis of employees who had served for ten years and less. In conclusion, the depot workers who had long exposure to air pollutants had low respiratory levels.

98-102

Authors: A. A. Alexeev, A.S. Syromyatnikova, K. N. Bolshev, A. M. Bolshakov, A. R. Ivanov

In this article, fracturing in large-scale metal structures such as main gas pipelines, fuel and oil tanks operated in Arctic were investigated. It is shown that catastrophic accidents involved in large thin-walled metal structures in large diameter pipelines, tanks and pressure vessels. The fractures occurred not only due to stretch propagation of brittle or viscous fractures, but also followed branching that leads to fragmented fractures with simultaneous movement of many cracks. The character of the fracture depends on the level of the fracture strength. At high levels cracks propagated at a high speed by a mechanism of separation; as a result of crack branching fragment damage occurred. At low level, cracks propagate at a low speed by a cutting mechanism; that does not cause extensive fracturing. The cracks may cause structural and environmental damages.

111-118

Authors: R. Jain, V. Garg

Pesticides poses great threat to the environmental sustainability by affecting its microbial flora and fauna. Fungi are well known for the secretion of extracellular hydrolases for the degradation of these hazardous chemicals from its ambient environment. Hydrolase secreting soil fungi Penicillium aculeatum ITCC 7980.10 was selected for the study of its monocrotophos degrading efficiency under in vitro conditions in phosphorus free liquid culture medium. Fungal strain was molecularly characterized by 18S rDNA analysis as Penicillium aculeatum JQ660374. Monocrotophos degrading efficiency of the isolate was studied under optimum conditions each, at an interval of 5 days for 15 days incubation period. The isolated strain possessed meagre extracellular phosphatase activity 28.33 ± 0.40 U which resulted in the formation of 614.62 ± 0.38 μg ml-1 inorganic phosphates. Degradation process was studied by spectrophotometric analysis at 254nm, HPTLC and FTIR. Spectrophotometric analysis revealed 98.88% degradation of monocrotophos with a prominent decrease in the standard peak of monocrotophos (standard rf 0.19- 0.21) within 15 days of incubation as evident by HPTLC chromatograms. Molecular mechanism as studied by FTIR analysis revealed hydrolytic cleavage of vinyl bond with the formation of PO–4. Degradation of monocrotophos followed first order kinetics with the rate constant (kdeg) of 0.0115 day-1 and half life of 2.53 days. The results of the study conclude that Penicillium aculeatum JQ660374 could be used as an efficient candidate for the detoxification of monocrotophos contaminated sites.

127-133

Authors: M. Derradji, L. Souiki, A.H. Belaze, A. Alayat, H. Berrebbah, M.R. Djebar

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the physicochemical quality of urban sewage from the Annaba region and to recommend appropriate treatment for their reuse and reducing their harmful receptors such as Boukhadra (Site 1), El Bouni (Site 2) and Oued Forcha (Site 3). Analysis carried out for duration of one year (from March 2012 till February 2013). It was revealed that as an organic pollution resulted in a high BOD5 and COD which can reach respectively (140.66 ± 26.62 mg/l of O2) and (298.83 ± 84.40 mg/l of O2) in Site 1, Site 2 is (147.16 ± 33.10 mg/l of O2) for BOD5, and (280 ± 55.67 mg/l of O2) for COD and in site 3 the pollution load is represented by BOD5 (149.5 ± 22.71 mg/l of O2) and COD (287.33 ± 19.09 mg/l of O2). Regarding the TSS, their annual average in three sites were 352.83, 340.83 and 369.26 mg/l, respectively. The reported data were far exceeded the Algerian standard (50 mg/l). The annual average ratio BOD5/ COD for sites 1, 2 and 3 were in the order of 0.47, 0.52 and 0.5, respectively. These results lead the conclusion that the three sewage sites were polluted by organic pollution which was characterized by partially degradable.

141-146

Authors: Md P. Abdullah, Y.F. Abdul Aziz, M. Rozali Othman, W.M.A. Wan Mohd Khalik

The occurrence of organochlorine pesticide (OCPs) residues in surface water of Bertam and Terla River, Cameron Highlands was investigated. Monitoring work was carried out starting from August to December 2014 consisted of six stations. Nine of organochlorine residues were detected throughout that period of study, namely aldrin, heptachlor epoxide, endosulfan II, endosulfan sulfate, methoxychlor, endrin ketone, 4,4'-DDE, beta and gamma HCH. The level concentration of pollutant were found to be in the order endrin ketone (mean 0.317 μgL-1)> beta HCH (0.153 μgL-1)> endosulfan sulfate (0.112 μgL-1)> endosulfan II (0.072 μgL-1)> aldrin (0.071 μgL-1)> methoxychlor (0.06 μgL-1)> heptachlor epoxide (0.023 μgL-1)> 4,4'-DDE (0.011 μgL-1)> gamma HCH (<0.002 μgL-1). The highest total organochlorine residue is detected at 0.955 μgL-1. The highest concentrations for compounds namely methoxychlor (0.06 μgL-1), endrin ketone (0.63 μgL-1) and 4,4'-DDE (0.018 μgL-1) were found at station S2 (Kuala Terla). An analysis in tap water (station S5; Brinchang town) also found some compounds namely aldrin, endosulfan II, endrin ketone and 4,4'-DDE to be within the range of 0.008 to 0.18 μgL-1. To mitigate this present status from continuing to become worse, improving water quality for water supply or reuse for agriculture purpose in Cameron Highlands must be put in high priority among all stakeholders.

5-12

Authors: M. S. Okundamiya,O. Omorogiuwa

Present study investigates the viability of a photovoltaic-diesel-battery hybrid system for electricity generation in Nigeria. It aims to determine the economic, technical and environmental benefits of running a solar photovoltaic (PV) system in Nigeria climatic conditions. The solar irradiation for Abuja (latitude 9.08 °N and longitude 7.53 °E) and residential energy profile are used. The optimum size of the hybrid system is determined by making energy-balance calculations based on Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) software. The impact of interest rate and cost of PV system on the optimum configuration is investigated. Sensitivity analysis is performed by varying the annual average solar irradiation based on solar radiation map of Nigeria and diesel price to determine the viability for other locations. Results showed that the use of PV-diesel-battery system in Nigeria can bring benefits of cost saving and emission reduction without compromising the reliability. However, the range of economic benefits depends on the site meteorology, which varies from 21 to 61%.

20-25

Authors: Y.S. Mohammad, E.M. Shaibu-Imodagbe, S.B. Igboro, A. Giwa, C.A. Okuofu

Activated carbon was produced from rice husk via thermal pretreatment preceding chemical modification with phosphoric acid. In order to study the effect of phosphoric acid modification, the characteristics of the activated carbon produced were determined before and after acid modification and subsequently compared. These characteristics include surface morphology, surface functional groups, surface area, average pore diameter and pore volume. Characterization results showed that modification of the thermally treated rice husk with phosphoric acid enhanced the surface area of the activated carbon from 12.47 to 102.4m2/g. The average pore diameter was also enhanced from 2.4 to 1.82nm. It also shows improvement in micropore volume from 0.0052 to 0.034cm3/g. SEM analysis confirmed the improvement in surface area and pore development resulting from the phosphoric acid modification while FTIR analysis revealed the existence of phosphorous-oxy-containing functional groups on the surface of the phosphoric acid modified activated carbon.

34-38

Authors: O.A. Oyelaran, B.O. Bolaji, M.A. Waheed, M.F. Adekunle

Desertification and deforestation are great problems facing developing nations. Adequate means of disposing wastes are also lacking, hence, converting them to other useful products such as briquettes for domestic fuel is desirable. The purpose of this work is to study some properties of briquettes made from groundnut shell and waste paper admixture with a view of addressing handling, transportation, and storage problems which is associated with biomass when used as fuels. Briquettes were manufactured using a motorized briquetting machine using five groundnut shells, waste paper mixing ratios (by weight), i.e., 10:90; 20:80; 30:70; 40:60; and 50:50. Obtained results showed that briquette produced using 10:90 waste groundnut shell - waste paper ratios exhibited the largest (though minimal) linear expansion on drying. While the compressed (maximum) density of the briquettes ranged between 627.59 kg/m3 and 878.10 kg/m3. For the relax density ranged from 281.43 kg/m3 and 499.38 kg/m3, there was little variation in the relax ratio of 2.22 or 2.23. The durability rating of the briquettes ranged in 55 and 91%. It was concluded that stable briquettes could be formed from waste paper mixed with groundnut shell of up to 20% groundnut shell admixture.

47-55

Authors: A.E.A. Sherif, M.M. El-Kholy, T. M. Salem

To assess the leakage of sanitation service in urban areas on the contamination of water streams and soil besides, a risk assessment study was conducted through the intake of edible plants from irrigated suburban area of El-Zomor area, Egypt. The results revealed that concentrations of trace elements were several folds higher in the studied site compared to the background level in the earth crust indicating that the soil of the studied area is contaminated with heavy metals. Therefore, contamination factor (CF) values of this area indicate that soils were considerably contaminated with Cd, moderately contaminated with Co, Cu, Pb and Mn, but showed signs of low contamination with other metals. Enrichment factor (EF) indicating that moderate enrichment of Cu and very significant enrichment for Cd were contributed to anthropogenic source. To assess the health risk, estimated exposure and risk index were calculated. For the non-carcinogenic risk, the studied elements were not found to cause any risks to the local population, since the hazard index (HI) for studied trace elements were lower than the safe level. The level of cancer risk associated with exposure to these elements falls within the range of safe limits (10-4–10-6) so we consider the risk is unacceptable.

63-71

Authors: A. E. Urusov, A. V. Zherdev, B. B. Dzantiev

Analytical parameters of immunochromatographic test-systems, such as the detection limit and working range, depend on many factors. However, the process of choosing the concentration and composition of reagents applied to test strip membranes, and choosing the membranes themselves has not been systematically described for commercially produced tests or for scientific studies. Here, we present the results of a study to determine how the properties of the test system components, using mycotoxin aflatoxin B1 as an example, affect its analytical performance. A comparison of different membranes used for immunochromatography was performed as well as reagent concentrations and composition of intermolecular conjugates. Optimization of the immunochromatographic system indicated a limit of aflatoxin B1 detection equal to 0.2 ng/mL. The effectiveness of the system in testing plant extracts with minimal (twice) dilution prior to analysis was determined and the final content of methanol in the course of immunoassay was 35%.

345-353

Authors: Faridon Ghadimi

The degree of soil contamination in an urban region can be changed by heavy metals. This might result in endangering safety of an urban region. This paper presents an approach to build a prediction model for the assessment of degree of contamination index, based upon heavy metals changes. The heavy metal concentration of Pb, Cu, Ni, Zn, As, Cr and Ni as input was used to build a prediction model for the assessment of degree of contamination. Two prediction models were implemented such as support vector regression (SVR) and k-nearest neighbor regression method (KNNR). A comparison was made between these two models and the results showed the superiority of the SVR model. Furthermore, a case study in Arak, Iran was conducted to illustrate the capability of the support vector machines (SVM) model.

369-375

Authors: Fatemeh Jafari and Farzin Salmasi

Dam embankments are complex geotechnical structures. In design of the earth dams, the finite element method (FEM) is very often used. The FEM is used in analysis of expected displacements, strains, and stresses of the structure caused by changeable loading or boundary conditions. Deformation of an embankment dam starts occurring during the construction of the dam. These deformations are caused by the increase of effective stresses during the construction of the consecutive layers of earth material and also by the effects of creep of material. In this study, Alavian earth dam was selected for stress-strain analysis using Geo-Studio software. The settlements from the single layer embankment simulations were compared with the settlements calculated for 3, 7, 10 and 15 soil layers considered in construction processes. Results showed that maximum displacement in single layer dam has happened in the crest of the dam. Increase in embankment layers, resulted in the maximum displacement creation in the middle of the downstream shell. The simulation layers for the construction have little effect on the stresses in the dam; however, that may cause a significant effect on the deformations of the dam.

387-392

Authors: Leila Faraji Sorbaghi, Ali Beheshti, Mohammad Amin Karbala and Amirabas Kamanbedast

Building dam is very rapidly developing in Iran; then caring the technical points will help us to maintain their firmness and strength and also use it in suitable manor. One of the problems of soil dams in the world is the seepage and leaking phenomena. The problem of leaking of water and the ways of controlling the leakage in soil dams is one of the most important technical problems in designing, building, well maintaining and use of soil dams. In this analysis, hydraulic circulation in spongy environments and numeral methods of solving equation of water circulation in saturated soils was analyzed and then leakage analysis was performed using mathematical models. Finally, analyzing of applied model was conducted using Flac2d, Seep/w2d software. The soil dam of Gotvand Olya was considered as special study and the amounts of leakages in heights of 135, 150, 185, 209, 230, 234 and 244, were analyzed. Data at the height of 135,150,185 were compared. In conclusions using exact tools it was found that the obtained results of Flac2d software was more precise than Seep/w2d software.

400-406

Authors: Pedram Mohebbi, Mehdi Parvini and Hassan Zavar Mousavi

In this paper, the feasibility of using a low-cost agricultural waste, Ziziphus nummularia kernel, for the removal of erythrosine toxin color from wastewater that causes inflicts irreparable damage on environmental cycle and human health was investigated. Erythrosine is known as severely pollutant to the aquatic environment. Ziziphus nummularia kernel had no significant application; it was suggested that the Ziziphus nummularia kernel to be used as a natural adsorbent of erythrosine dyes. From the experimental data, the low cost natural adsorption material responded very efficient for the removal of dye. It this work, the effect of pH, contact time, dye concentration, temperature and the amount of adsorbent for the rate of bleaching of the dye were investigated. Application of adsorption models, Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms were evaluated. The adsorption process was in good agreement with Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Result of bleaching erythrosine dyes with concentration of 20 mg L 1 on Ziziphus nummularia kernel sorbent with concentration of 0.1 g L 1 showed 93.7% of dye efficiently removed. The adsorbent capacity 101 mmol of dye g 1 of adsorbent was achieved.

419-435

Authors: Fateme Ahmadi Boyaghchi and Reihaneh Taheri

This paper proposes and investigates an improved ejector-absorption refrigeration system for providing the cooling load of an office building. Performance hourly modeling of the system is performed based on modeling the hourly required cooling load and hourly solar insolation rate on July 21 with maximum solar insolation. The results indicate that during the given day thermodynamic coefficient of performance (COPth) and exergetic coefficient of performance (COPexe) increase 150 and 300%, respectively. While, the product cost per exergy unit of the whole system (cPtot) decreases 90%. The results of thermodynamic and thermoeconomic analysis determine effective design parameters on COPth, COPexe and cPtot. Also, single and multiple objectives optimizations are applied to maximize COPs and minimize cPtot. According to the results, the single objective optimization for maximizing COPs increases COPs by about 1.1% and decreases cPtot by about 7.4%. Moreover, single objective optimization for minimizing cPtot results in 2.2 and 11.5% decrease in COPs and cPtot, respectively. Finally, multiple objectives optimization for maximizing COPs and minimizing cPtot simultaneously causes about 1.9% decline in COPs while cPtot decreases 10.9%.

446-452

Authors: Sawaira Adil, Azhar Mashiatullah, Maliha Asma, Jawaria Abid and Abdul Ghaffar

Paper mulberry bio-char produced was characterized and evaluated for heavy metals removal from simulated industrial wastewater in compare to silica powder. The batch adsorption study was conducted under different conditions like, the effects of solution pH, contact time and temperature. The paper mulberry bio-char (PMB) was more effective and exhibited a higher adsorption potential for cadmium, copper, chromium, lead and zinc than commercially available silica powder. Experiments conducted with an initial metal concentration of 50 mg/l at pH 2, 4, 8, 12. Maximum removal of cadmium, copper, chromium, lead and zinc by PMB was higher than silica powder. Contact time of 2, 3, 4 h showed maximum removal of cadmium, copper, chromium, lead and zinc removal for PMB and was found higher than that of silica powder. The thermodynamic parameters such as dG°, dH° and dS° were calculated for predicting the nature of sorption. The results showed that plant-residue bio-char can act as effective alternative sorbent instead of silica powder for the removal of heavy metal ions from industrial wastewater.

461-468

Authors: H.R. Bhargava, S. Elakkiya, K. Mathumitha, E. Keerthika, Uma Rani and Varsha Uma Eswaran

Propolis is a resin like substance collected from various botanical sources. It is commonly used as a bee product for the enhancement of human health. It is rich in antioxidants due to which their therapeutic value is enhanced. It is well known for the treatment of inflammation, minor burns, wounds, ulcers and certain cancers and also has an excellent anti-microbial activity against different pathogens. These properties majorly are dependent on the floral sources of different geographical areas. Present work investigate on antioxidative and antagonistic activity of ethanol extracted propolis collected from Apis and Trigona species. The antioxidative potential of propolis samples were determined using the Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP), Total Phenolic content (TPC) and antiradical scavenging activity. The results revealed that the 5 and 10% Apis mellifera propolis samples had maximum antioxidative and antagonistic property compared to that of Trigona propolis. From this it is evident that samples collected from Karnataka have the medicinal property; can be used as an alternative medicine for treating the selected pathogens and promoting the use of natural bee products.

233-239

Authors: P. Rejani, Asha Radhakrishnan and B. Beena

ZnO nano rod was prepared by microwave assisted method. The crystal structure of the nano powders were confirmed by X-Ray diffraction analysis and the mean particle size was estimated by the Scherrer’s formula. The surface morphology of the nano particles were analyzed by SEM and TEM. The absorption spectrum of the material in the UV-Vis range was recorded. The prepared ZnO rod was used as a photocatalyst in presence of UV light against Malachite Green dye. The ZnO nanoparticle was found to be an efficient low cost photocatalyst which degraded Malachite Green dye in presence of UV light in a relatively short period of time.

247-258

Authors: A.A. Ismailova, A.K. Zhamangara, Park S. Ya, A.I. Abakumov, A.A. Adamov and R.M. Muratov

The information-analytical system (IAS) "Monitoring of aquatic ecosystems" was developed for the analysis of ecological lakes condition in Kazakhstan. It consists of a database on hydrochemical and hydrobiological characteristics for lakes Burabai and Ulken Shabakty in Shchuchinsk-Borovoye resort area of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as a set of statistical data processing methods. Qualitative analysis of data was made on the lakes. Data on biogenic substances for the years 2007-2013 were analyzed based on statistics. Dynamic characteristics and seasonal features of changes were identified in the concentrations of biogens. There is an absence of significant relationships between the concentrations of various biogenic substances in lakes and between lakes. Nitrogen substances were compared. The phosphorus compounds have a large stability that can contribute to a more stable life of phytoplankton species which are related to phosphorus.

270-276

Authors: Mohammad Javad Jafari, Leila Omidi, Mansour Rezazadeh Azari, Mohammad Reza Massoudi Nejad and Mahshid Namdari

used to remove the ammonia gas from air stream. Three gas flow rates as well as three ammonia concentrations and three pH of scrubbing liquid were applied. The level of ammonia at the inlet and out let of the packed tower was measured through a direct reading device. The removal efficiency of column significantly increased in both modes, packed with raschig rings and PVC (p<0.001) as the inlet concentration of ammonia gas was increased. With decreasing pH of scrubbing liquid from 7 to 5, the removal efficiency of the tower packed with raschig rings significantly increased (p< 0.01). The head loss across the bed was significantly increased(p< 0.001) as air flow rate increased from 5 to 10 and 10 to 15 l/s. The head loss across the bed was also higher when column was packed with racshig rings rather than packed with PVC. The lower ammonia removal efficiency of PVC rings could be ignored considering their other advantages such as light weight, low head losses, low initial and operating costs.

287-294

Authors: Nur Zulaikha Yusof, Mohd Azraai Kassim, Razali Ismail and Abdull Rahim Mohd Yusoff

In the present study, eight locally available low cost adsorbents (raw and heat treated) have been screening for its capability to remove As(III). The shale sedimentary rock (SSR) was selected as a good adsorbent based on high As(III) removal. The activation of adsorbent was carried out by heat (250 - 550°C) and acid treatment (0.1 - 1 M H2SO4) in order to chose the best treatment method for As(III) removal. Sorption experiments were conducted to examine the effect of initial As(III) concentration, contact time and initial pH on As(III) removal by SSR. Results show that, only by heating the adsorbent at 500°C for 1h, 0.2 g of SSR adsorbent capable to reduce the residual As(III) concentration below than maximum concentration limit (10μg/L) for initial concentration from 100 to 700 μg/L and optimum pH ranges between 3 to 9 after 24 h of contact time. The adsorption data fits well with Langmuir isotherm and yielded Langmuir monolayer capacity of 0.987 mg As(III)/g of SSR at pH 7. The SSR adsorbent has been successfully used for the removal of arsenic from seven real groundwater samples containing arsenic in the range of 20.2 to 697.34 μg/L with 86.73 to 97.86% removal efficiency.

303-312

Authors: P. Kanmani, E. Dhivya, J. Aravind and K. Kumaresan

Pectin is a structural hetero polysaccharide, commonly obtained from the peels of citrus fruits and finds prime commercial use as a gelling agent and stabilizer in food industries. In the present study, pectin was extracted using alcohol precipitation method from the peels of orange (Citrus sinensis), sweet lime (Citrus limetta) and lemon (Citrus limon). When the extraction conditions were varied one-at-a-time, a maximum yield of 36.71% was obtained from C. limon, after which the yield was further enhanced using the Box-Behnken Design of Response Surface Methodology. Optimum conditions for the extraction process were established to be pH 3.5, temperature 65°C and time 67.5 min. The interaction effects of these variables were studied using 3-D and contour plots. A 1.5-fold increase in pectin yield was obtained as a result of this experimental design. Analysis of variance indicated the significance of the model. The pectin obtained was then subjected to qualitative and quantitative analyses and found to contain desirable methoxyl, hyaluronic acid contents and degree of esterification. Functional groups present in the pectin were investigated using FTIR spectroscopy. The overall results point towards the amenability of the extracted pectin for industrial applications.

323-336

Authors: A.M. Mansouri, A.A.L. Zinatizadeh and A. Akhbari

The kinetics of simultaneous removal of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus from a synthetic wastewater in an innovative up-flow aerobic/anoxic sludge fixed film (UAASFF) bioreactor was investigated. The kinetic analysis was performed using the experimental data obtained in an earlier study where the UAASFF bioreactor was examined under different operating conditions by changing three independent variables, HRT, COD:N:P ratio and aeration time. In the analysis, different kinetic models (Monod, first-order, second-order and Stover-Kincannon models) were evaluated. The maximum removal efficiency of COD, total nitrogen (TN) and phosphorus (TP) were obtained to be 95.42, 79 and 79.1 %, respectively. All the models examined, gave high correlation coefficients for carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus removal. Biokinetic coefficients were determined as Y= 0.417-0.496 g VSS/g COD, kd= 0.027-0.053 d , μmax =1.36 g VSS /g VSS.d, KB=37.96 g/l.d, Umax=38.46 g/l.d, KB(N) =0.271-7.2 g/l.d 6, Umax(N) =0.33-5.4 g/l.d, KB (P)=0.09-0.89 g/l.d, Umax (P)=0.07-0.42 g/l.d.