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Biomonitoring of Water Bodies in Metro Manila, Philippines Using Heavy Metal Analysis and Erythrocyte Micronucleus Assay in Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

Environmental biomonitoring of water bodies is routinely done to assess the ecological state of aquatic systems by detecting the hazardous and genotoxic pollutants. In this study, a combination of atomic absorption spectroscopy and the fish micronucleus assay was used to determine and compare the genotoxic potential of water bodies specifically the two Esteros namely, Estero de Vitas and Estero de Paco, which are part of the Pasig River System, Philippines. As part of the strategy, the Esteros are being rehabilitated to control pollution in the river systems whereby Estero de Paco was recently rehabilitated, whereas, Estero de Vitas is still largely neglected. The elevated levels of micronuclei and nuclear abnormalities were observed in the erythrocytes of the genetic model, the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) exposed to water samples from the two sources tested when compared to a control group indicating the presence of genotoxic and hazardous pollutants in the water bodies of Estero de Paco and Estero de Vitas. Further, the water samples from Estero de Vitas were found to be far more genotoxic as compared to the water samples from Estero de Paco (p<0.05). The observed genotoxic effects of the water samples appeared to be related to the physico-chemical characteristics studied using atomic absorption spectroscopy, which showed the presence of heavy metals in the water samples from both the sources. The AAS results also confirm the presence of heavy metals in the fish tissue exposed to the water samples from the two locations. Hence, the tilapia fish (a component of Filipino diet) should be consumed with precautions as it can absorb the heavy metals present in ecosystems. The results establish that the fish micronucleus test is an effective assay for environmental biomonitoring. The lower genotoxicity potential of Estero de Paco clearly demonstrates that the restoration of the Esteros can be an effective approach to control pollution of the water bodies, especially the Pasig river system.

Zeba F. Alam, Charilen Kei V. Concepcion, Johnray D. Abdulrahman and Miguel Alvaro S. Sanchez

Multi-Level Air Quality Classification in China Using Information Gain and Support Vector Machine Hybrid Model

Machine learning and data mining are the two important tools for extracting useful information and knowledge from large datasets. In machine learning, classification is a widely used technique to predict qualitative variables and is generally preferred over regression from an operational point of view. Due to the enormous increase in air pollution in various countries especially China, air quality classification has become one of the most important topics in air quality research and modelling. This study aims at introducing a new hybrid classification model based on information theory and support vector machine (SVM) using the air quality data of 4 cities in China namely Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Tianjin from January 1, 2014 to April 30, 2016. China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection has classified the daily air quality into 6 levels, namely, serious pollution, severe pollution, moderate pollution, light pollution, good and excellent based on their respective air quality index (AQI) values. Using the information theory, information gain (IG) is calculated and feature selection is done for both categorical features and continuous numeric features. Then SVM machine learning algorithm is implemented on the selected features with cross-validation. The final evaluation reveals that the IG and SVM hybrid model performs better than SVM (alone), artificial neural network (ANN) and K-nearest neighbours (KNN) models in terms of accuracy as well as complexity.

Bingchun Liu, Hui Wang, Arihant Binaykia, Chuanchuan Fu and Bingpeng Xiang

Life Cycle Assessment of the Oil Palm Production in the Philippines: A Cradle to Gate Approach

Despite its small share of 0.15% in the global market, the oil palm production in the Philippines is being contested with environmental issues on continued deforestation, increased emissions from illegal burning of trees, and the marginalization of indigenous communities. As a developing industry, there is a need to further conduct of social and environmental impact studies to gain more acceptance, thereby, pursue growth and expansion. In view of the environmental concerns, this study aimed to conduct a life cycle assessment of the crude oil palm with North Cotabato, Philippines as the case study. Using cradle to gate approach, the potential environmental impacts were established: non-renewable energy of 0.394 MJ/kg oil, carbon footprint of 1.150 kgCO2/kg oil, ozone creation potential of 2.429×10-3 kg NOx /kg oil, acidification potential of 0.0138×10-3 kg SO2 /kg oil and water footprint of 5,797.3 L/kg oil. Compared to six locations in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, the environmental impacts and performance of the oil palm production in North Cotabato were satisfactory given the same topographical conditions. Opportunities to mitigate and decrease the impacts were also identified, namely improving oil extraction rates; increasing ratio of shell as biomass fuel; prudent application of nitrogen fertilizers and optimizing delivery loads and schedules. The results of this study can be a reference for future environmental assessments in other locations.

Ma. Theresa M. Espino, Rocky Marius Q. de Ramos and Luzvisminda M. Bellotindos

Forecasting of Heavy Metal Contamination in Coastal Sea Surface Waters of the Karachi Harbour Area by Neural Network Approach

The major and overriding factors affecting water quality and the aquatic ecosystems in the coastal areas are sewage and nutrient inputs from municipal and industrial wastewater, depletion of seaside contrivances, risks of public health as well as loss of biodiversity. The coastal area of the Karachi harbour is most heavily polluted due to these reasons. In this study, we proposed the artificial neural network (ANN) models to monitor and control the sea surface water quality of the Karachi coastal area along the harbour. Recently, various types of ANN have been successfully applied in hydrological fields. In this study, Nonlinear Auto Regressive eXogenous Neural Network (NARX-NN) shall be applied to predict the concentration of heavy metals in coastal sea surface water of the Karachi harbour area. This method provides significant insight into the comparative study of two different training functions of NARX-NN, namely, Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) and Scale Conjugate Gradient (SCG). The physical parameters like sea surface temperature (SST), salinity, tides and pH are taken as an input and the chemical parameters chromium, copper, lead, nickel and zinc are taken as output individually for all six locations. The performance of the model was evaluated by statistical criteria that include a correlation coefficient (r) and mean square error (MSE). The prediction results indicated that the LM training function is superior to SCG training function. Hope this study is helpful for local authorities and policy makers to develop a new infrastructure and install a water treatment plant to reduce the water pollution of the harbour area.

Muhammad Ayaz and Nasir-Uddin Khan

Land Evaluation by Integrating Remote Sensing and GIS for Rainfed Agriculture in Koranahalli Subwatershed

In the present study, an assessment of land suitability potential for agriculture in the Koranahalli subwatershed area has been conducted through a close examination of the different indicators of land characteristics and qualities. The objective of this study is to assess the land resource and generate a potential map of the study area. The database on soil resources and land use/land cover data was generated by using remote sensing satellite data and soil survey to perform an integrated analysis in the GIS environment. Fourteen series were identified after detailed soil survey based on the soil characteristics. About 150 soil mapping units were grouped into good and moderate and fairly good cultivable land. Soil site suitability evaluation for different crops revealed that, about 4.36 percent of area is highly suitable for sorghum, followed by 36.92, 35.20, 34.89, 33.60, 31.75 percent and 31.11 percent of area is moderately suitable for chilli, chickpea, ragi, pomegranate, sorghum and sunflower respectively. About 37.44, 31.33, 30.07, 29.81 and 29.76 percent of area is marginally suitable for cultivating tomato, redgram, ragi, sunflower and sorghum or chickpea. However, 30.94, 25.39, 5.89 and 4.95 percent of the area is not suitable for cultivating castor, sapota, pomegranate and redgram or sunflower due to the limitation of soil depth and gravelliness or stoniness.

D. Ravikumar and Govindaraju

Influence of Tourism Industry Development on Environmental Pollution and Eco-compensation Measures in Chongqing City, China

Ecological environment is not only the basis for human survival and development but also the carrier of tourism industry development. However, such a basis for survival and development of the tourism industry is damaged given the excessive pursuit of economic benefits and neglect of ecological environmental protection in tourist attractions. Eco-compensation measures protect the tourism ecosystem and coordinate the contradiction between tourism industry development and ecological protection. Thus, the sustainable development of the tourism industry can be facilitated. In this study, research on environmental pollution caused by the tourism industry in Chongqing City, China, and relevant eco-compensation measures were first reviewed. Second, an empirical study on the relations of total tourism revenues with waste gas emission, wastewater discharge, and industrial solid waste emission in Chongqing City was conducted using a vector autoregression model. The study findings show that tourism industry development can influence environmental pollution slightly and that an eco-compensation mechanism coordinates the relationship between tourism and ecological environment. Tourism economic growth has long-term equilibrium relations and mutual Granger causality with waste gas emission, wastewater discharge, and industrial solid waste emissions. The conclusions provide a reference to understand the dynamic relations between tourism industry development and environmental pollution, construct a guarantee system for tourism eco-compensation mechanism, and achieve sustainable development of tourism industry and environmental protection.

Jixia Zhou

Purification, Molecular Cloning and Expression of Three Key Saponin Hydrolases from Trichoderma reesei, Trichoderma viride and Aspergillus fumigatus

Microbial transformation is an environment-friendly approach to produce diosgenin from natural plant tubers. However, improving the bioconversion efficiency of this process remains a challenge. Saponin hydrolase plays a major role during the transformation. a-rhamnase, b-glycosidase and C3 b-glycosidase have been identified as three key enzymes in the stepwise conversion of saponins to diosgenin. The three enzymes have not been molecularly characterized. Here, a-rhamnase, b-glycosidase and C3 b-glycosidase were purified from Trichoderma reesei, Trichoderma viride and Aspergillus fumigatus, respectively. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that the molecular masses of the three enzymes were approximately 60, 36 and 56 kDa, respectively. a-rhamnase could efficiently hydrolyse the terminal rhamnoside on the C3 site in saponins. b-glycosidase could cleave the terminal b-glycoside at the C3 position, while C3 b-glycosidase demonstrated significant affinity to the b-glycoside at the C3 position. The amino acid sequences of the three saponin hydrolases were determined. Reverse transcription-PCR was used to clone the three plasmids with lengths of approximately 1035, 1416 and 1752 bp from the strains and expressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant saponin hydrolases from the recombinant strains also demonstrated the hydrolysing of rhamnoside and glycosides of saponins similar to those of the wild-type hydrolases from T. reesei, T. viride, and A. fumigatus. The findings could facilitate the construction of recombinant cells by gene fusion to produce diosgenin from plant tubers.

Jiamin Huang, Yangyang Wang, Linshan Fang, JiaojunJin, Suhui Ye, Wenjing Dun and Yuling Zhu

Microencapsulation of Phenolic Compounds from Waste Mango Seed Kernel Extract by Spray Drying Technology

Mango seed kernel, a byproduct of the mango processing industry, is known to be a rich source of phenolic compounds. Phenolic compounds are bioactive in nature and highly valuable due to a number of potential health and therapeutic benefits making it a good component in functional food formulations and for the nutraceutical industry. Through spray drying, the bioactive fraction from an industrial waste mango seed kernel extract was recovered through encapsulation using maltodextrin (MD), gum Arabic (GA), and starch (ST) as encapsulating agents. The encapsulating agent type used alongside inlet drying air temperature was varied and observed to have an influence on encapsulation yield and on the powder qualities measured such as total phenolic content, antioxidant activity, moisture content, bulk density and water solubility index. Among the encapsulating agents used, MD was found to be the most desirable encapsulating material with regards to the desirable properties of spray-dried powders in terms of functionality and applicability.

Kramer Joseph A. Lim, Alden A. Cabajar, Mahaleel Karl V. Migallos, Camila Flor Y. Lobarbio and Evelyn B. Taboada

Simultaneous Removal of Cu(II) and 1-Naphthol in Wastewater by Magnetic Nanoparticle-Graphene Oxide Composites

A graphene-based magnetic composite (Fe3O4/GO) was prepared and used for simultaneous removal of Cu(II) and 1-naphthol. The composite was characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, FT-IR and Raman. Electron microscopy reflected that Fe3O4 spheres were dispersed on graphene layers. The pseudo-second-order kinetic and Langmuir isotherm models could best describe the sorption kinetics and isotherms. The sorption of Cu(II) and 1-naphthol increased with increasing temperature, and thermodynamic parameters calculated from temperature dependent sorption revealed that sorption of Cu(II) and 1-naphthol on Fe3O4/GO was spontaneous and endothermic. The results indicated that Fe3O4/GO can be utilized as potential adsorbents for purification of co-contaminated water systems.

Jie Luo, Donglin Zhao, Linxia Wang, Abdullah M. Asiri and Khalid A. Alamry

Microbial Fuel Cells as Source of Clean Energy - Potential and Pitfalls

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is one among several other technologies which are being vigorously explored on the assumption that they can achieve pollution control with concomitant generation of ‘clean’ energy. In this study, the techno-economical problems associated with MFCs have been identified and catalogued in the context of the fuel cell technology in general and MFCs in particular. It is shown that even as the attention of the supporters of MFCs is riveted on the ability of MFCs to generate electricity directly from organic waste, the high costs and the pollution that the making, operation, decommissioning, and disposal of MFCs entails, is not taken into account. Once this is done, MFCs prove not only prohibitively costly but environmentally incompatible as well. In this respect MFCs are one among numerous other waste-to-wealth technologies whose promise was never fulfilled because the energy they generated might have been clean but the process of that generation was very unclean as well as expensive. The study underscores the harm caused by the expectations associated with MFCs and other similar, perpetually ‘likely to succeed’, technologies because in the vain hope that such options will one day enable ‘clean’ treatment of waste we keep generating ever larger quantities of waste instead of focusing on what is viable: waste reduction and conservation of resources.

Tabassum-Abbasi, Tasneem Abbasi and S. A. Abbasi

Energy Efficiency and Energy Conservation in China’s Transportation Industry: A Three-stage Data Envelopment Analysis Approach

China’s transportation industry holds high energy consumption. The energy consumption of China’s transportation industry climbs up gradually with progress in urbanization and growing volume of passenger and freight traffic, which causes heavy environmental pollution. Improving energy efficiency is an important factor and management goal that influences the sustainable development of the transportation industry. In this study, an energy efficiency evaluation system of transportation industry was initially constructed, and the three-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) model was adopted to estimate the energy efficiency of China’s transportation industry during 2001-2016. Subsequently, environmental variables were introduced to further perfect the calculation results. Results demonstrate that the technical efficiency (TE) of China’s transportation industry is 1 in 6 years during the study period in the traditional DEA model, reaching the technological frontier level. TE still has a large potential for improvement. The input redundancy of energy efficiency in China’s transportation industry may increase as per capita gross domestic product increases. However, such input can be effectively decreased by increasing the total export-import volume and total retail sales of consumer goods. After eliminating environmental and random factors, the low energy efficiency of China’s transportation industry is mainly caused by scale inefficiency. Conclusions in this study can provide theoretical references to understand and improve the energy efficiency of the transportation industry and thus formulate effective transportation energy and environmental policies.

Cheng Zhang and Zhaoyu Yu

Effects of a Novel Soil Remediation Agent on Cadmium Contaminated Soil

A novel type of NH2-functionalized carbon-coated Fe3O4 core-shell nanoparticles (Fe3O4@C-NH2) soil remediation agent was prepared. The effects of the Fe3O4@C-NH2 application rate, pH, water content, soil conductivity, soil organic matter (SOM) and solidification time on the solidification efficiency of cadmium (Cd) in Cd-contaminated soils were investigated. The results showed that the structure of Fe3O4@C-NH2 had a hollow core-shell, the carbon shell was well dispersed, the -NH2 bonding was obvious and the adsorption of Fe3O4@C-NH2 to Cd2+ in water quickly reached equilibrium within 20 min, with a saturated adsorption capacity of 78.83 mg.g-1. The Fe3O4@C-NH2 application rate and soil organic matter (SOM) had a great influence on solidification efficiency. SOM mainly affected the transition from weak acidity to reducible and oxidizable state, while solidification time affected the transition from oxidizable state to residual state. The optimal conditions for Fe3O4@C-NH2 solidification of Cd are: application rate of 3%-4% (3.3%), pH of 6-10 (7.33), moisture content of 40%-60% (50%), conductivity of 90-400 µS.cm-1 (142.6 µS.cm-1), SOM of 45.00-65.00 g.kg-1 (63.04 g.kg-1) and solidification time of no less than 10 days. Under the optimal conditions, the solidification efficiency of Fe3O4@C-NH2 for Cd was 42.95±1.89%, which significantly reduced the leaching and migration of Cd and achieved the goal of remediation.

Chuang Ma, Bin Hu, Fu-Yong Liu, Chang-Chang Jia, Ming-Bao Wei and Hong-Zhong Zhang

Review of the Sedimentological and Geochemical Approaches for Environmental Assessment of River Sadong, Samarahan-Asajaya District Sarawak, Malaysia

This paper presents an overview of the implication of geomorphology and sedimentology on the chemical characteristics of sediments of River Sadong, Malaysia. There is limited published work on the effect of topography, climate, soil and geology on the sediments lying in the River Sadong. Studies have been undertaken around Kota Samarahan and Asajaya areas whereby some heavy metal constituents and their environmental effects were determined. The study entails the description of the depositional processes alongside with physical and geochemical changes, without neglecting natural and anthropogenic effects.

Omolayo Ajoke Omorinoye, Zaini Bin Assim, Ismail Bin Jusoh, Naseer Inuwa Durumin Iya and Isaac John Umaru

Variations of Environmental Isotopes in Precipitation and Surface Water in Plain Area Influenced by Summer Monsoon: A Case Study in Jinjiang River Basin, Chengdu, China

Monsoon is a typical wind system, which influences a quarter of continental area on the earth and is closely bound up with the life of one half of the earth’s population. Therefore, it is important to explore the information on monsoon activities. In the present study, samples of precipitation and surface water collected in the summer of 2018 were analysed to reveal the variation of stable isotopes influenced by summer monsoon and its relationship with the sources of water vapour. The temporal variation of stable isotopes in precipitation is great during the monsoon period, which is primarily the result of the varying proportions of water vapour from continental and oceanic sources. The heavy isotopes in precipitation grew gradually as the proportion of ocean-source water vapour increased from May to August. The meteorological parameters of temperature and precipitation amount are not the main factors that influence the isotopic composition in precipitation, for the determination coefficient (R2 value) is low. The isotopic characteristics of river water are similar to those of precipitation, indicating that the rivers are mainly recharged by precipitation. The temporal-spatial variations of isotopes surface water are complex for the joint influence of the distribution of isotopes in precipitation, isotopic compositions of the river source, rainfall amount and evaporation, which can be considered as the indirect effects of monsoon activities.

Chengcheng Xia, Jie Mei, Wen Liu, Jing Zhou and Guodong Liu

Regeneration of Wind Power Waste Lubricating Oil by a Combination Use of Chitosan, Sodium Carbonate and Silica Gel

Waste lubricant oil can be regenerated by flocculation and adsorption to get rid of impurities. In this work, the performance of flocculants (chitosan, sodium carbonate and sodium silicate) and sorbents (carclazyte and silica gel) were evaluated experimentally. The results showed that the combination of chitosan and sodium carbonate had beat results in removal of acid value and mechanical impurities. Silica gel contacting adsorption had the best colour removal. Thermal precipitation (80°C, 24h) was adopted as primary step before flocculation to wipe off heavier particulate matter. The best ratio of chitosan, sodium carbonate and silica gel was 1:1:1, and the best dosage of chitosan was 2% compared to oil. After the re-refining process, viscosity decreased from 186.34 (mm2/s, 40°C) to 155.21 (mm2/s, 40°C), the acid value from 0.26 (mg KOH/g) to 0.06 (mg KOH/g), mechanical impurities content from 3.62% to 1.41%, water content from 0.45% to 0.06%, and light absorbance from 4.31 to 1.17.

Yanli Zhu, Youxian Zhang, Zhongyang Shi and Bo Li

Comparative Study on the Treatment of Landfill Leachate by Coagulation and Electrocoagulation Processes

Landfill leachate is a complex mixture of organic and inorganic compounds and their concentration level highly depends on the type of waste dumped, age of the landfill, etc. Last few decades, the researchers are exploring the feasibility of treating landfill leachate using physicochemical, biological, advanced processes and combination of these methods. The current study focused on the comparison of two commonly adopted technologies for landfill leachate treatment, chemical coagulation/flocculation and electrocoagulation process. The leachate samples were collected from two different places and examined for the following parameters: pH, turbidity, chemical oxygen demand, chlorides, alkalinity, hardness, solids and nutrients. The current study focused on studying the effect of different inorganic coagulants (alum and ferric chloride), coagulant dosages, different electrode material (titanium coated with platinum/stainless steel and aluminium/stainless steel), electrolysis time and current intensity on the removal of pollutants from leachate and reuse for non-potable applications. The raw leachates collected from the two sites were found to be significantly different in their characteristics due to the age of landfill and physiognomies of wastes dumped. The batch treatment studies showed that both the treatment systems are nearly displaying a similar kind of removal efficiency (more than 74%). Amongst that, the coagulation/flocculation process showed a better removal efficiency and cost effectiveness compared to electrocoagulation process. Additionally, the treated water was found to be not meeting the Indian Standard for inland disposal. Therefore, an additional post treatment like reed bed process or sand filtration will be a viable option for non-potable applications.

C. Ramprasad, Karthik Sona, Mohammed Afridhi, Ram Kumar and Naveenatha Gopalakrishnan

Development Performance and Influencing Factors of Environmental Protection Industry in China

As a strategic emerging industry, environmental protection industry is important in the development of national economy. However, few empirical studies on the performance of environmental protection industry are carried out. In order to explore development performance and influencing factors of environmental protection industry in China, the selection of development data of China’s 31 provincial regions under the environmental protection industry was conducted based on industrial efficiency, economic contribution, industrial scale, and development speed. Development performance of environmental protection industry was qualitatively analysed and influencing factors were explored by using the method of factor analysis. Results show that the factor score of the eastern region is positive in both industry scale and pollution treatment. Factor score of industry scale, industry contribution and pollution treatment in the central region is positive. Development of environmental protection industry in the western region lags far behind other areas, and only factor score of industry contribution are positive and significantly higher than other areas. Factor score of industrial scale, industrial contribution, and pollution treatment in the northeast region is lower than that in the eastern and central region. Suggestions and countermeasures are proposed to promote the development of the environmental protection industry.

Ming Wei

Preparation, Characterization and Adsorption Capacity of Bauxite-Carbon Nanotube Composite

Iraqi bauxite clay was modified by using multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNTs) as a modifying agent. The characterization of bauxite and bauxite/carbon nanotube was accomplished by using the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic forces microscopy and X-Ray diffraction techniques. Uses the bauxite and bauxite/carbon nanotube composite for methyl green dye adsorption were achieved in a batch system. The adsorption equilibrium was attained at 60 and 45 min and adsorption efficiency reached maximum of 22 and 31% for bauxite and bauxite/carbon nanotube composite respectively, at an adsorbent dose of 0.01 g and initial dye concentration of 16 mg/L. Relying on the above shows that bauxite/carbon nanotube is a suitable adsorbent for the adsorption of methyl green dye, better than the bauxite clay.

Suha Sahib Abd and Ahmed Mohammed Abbas

Synergetic effects of Zero-valent iron and Morganella morganii on the Removal of Cr(VI) from Wastewater

Zero-valent iron permeable reactive barrier (ZVI-PRB) has attracted great attention for its high efficiency and low cost in the in-site remediation process. However, passivating oxide layers are usually yielded and covered on the surface of ZVI, which shorten the service life of PRB. In this study, Morganella morganii subsp was used to hydrolyse the passivating oxide layers on ZVI. The hydrolysing condition was optimized. The highest Cr(VI) removal efficiency was achieved with glucose of 4 g/L, yeast powder of 6 g/L and pH = 7. With Morganella morganii subsp, the maximum removal quality of ZVI was increased from 19.96 mg/g to 24.35 mg/g, indicating Morganella morganii subsp could improve the reduction ability of ZVI. SEM-EDS analysis also showed that M. morganii subsp could promote the surface corrosion of ZVI and adsorb Cr simultaneously.

Jiamin Huang, Yizi Ye, Zheng Fu, Wen Jing Dun, Yangyang Wang, Linshan Fang, Suhui Ye, Xiaoying Ye, Jiaojun Jin, Qingyuan Hu and Yuling Zhu

Biomass and Soil Organic Carbon Stocks under Cedrus deodara Forests in Mandi District of Himachal Pradesh

The estimation of carbon sequestration in forest ecosystem is necessary to plan for mitigating the impacts of climate change. The present study was conducted in the Cedrus deodara (CD) forests of Mandi district in Himachal Pradesh to estimate the biomass and soil organic carbon stock at various sites of the study area. Overall, 18 plots of 0.1 ha were laid at six sites randomly in the year 2014-15. In CD forest, the mean stem density was 354 trees/ha and the mean basal area and mean volume were 62.28 m2/ha and 719.71 m3/ha respectively. The mean carbon stock for tree aboveground, tree belowground, understorey and litter were 189.93 ton/ha, 37.99 ton/ha, 1.71 ton/ha and 0.72 ton/ha respectively. The soil organic carbon percentages varied from 1.98-2.83%, 1.72-2.11% and 1.56-1.74% at soil depth of 0-15cm, 15-30cm and 30-45cm respectively, and the soil organic carbon stocks ranged from 24.41-32.22 ton/ha, 21.59-29.03 ton/ha and 19.17-26.78 ton/ha at soil depths of 0-15cm, 15-30cm and 30-45cm respectively. The total mean soil organic carbon (SOC) stock up to a depth of 0-45cm was found to be 76.16 ton/ha. The organic carbon percentage showed a decreasing trend with increasing soil depth.

Manoj Thakur and R. K. Verma

Biofuel from Bryophyta as an Alternative Fuel for Future

Today’s growing demand for energy has emphasized the need for the search for renewable resources. This demand can be met with by using alternative resources such as biofuel, rather than just depending on non-renewable resources. Therefore, the present study has been undertaken to extract lipid from a species of Bryophyta, i.e. Marchantia polymorpha. 0.044 g of lipid was extracted from 8 g of the bryophyte. Bligh and Dyer method was used for the extraction of lipid. It is a multi-step process in which methanol, chloroform, and NaCl play an important role in the extraction of bioproduct in the form of oily bodies. This small step taken towards energy utilization and conservation will open the new vista to mitigate the problem of energy crisis.

Sandeep Sirohi, Chitra Yadav and Debjyoti Banerjee

Games Strategy Study of Power Generation and Carbon Emission Rights Trading

It is of great significance to reduce carbon emissions from electric power generation for green development. In addition to technical measures, two trading mechanisms are built to optimize China’s electric power generation: generation rights trading, and carbon emission rights trading. However, as the carbon emission rights trading are initiated, the issues of how to choose the right trading mechanism, and determining the appropriate strategy under the corresponding trading mechanism continue to confuse generation enterprises. In order to clarify these issues, the game theory was used to identify the proper trading strategies for generation enterprises under the two highly similar trade mechanisms. Results show that the two trading mechanisms are complementary to each other to some extent, and the generation enterprises should choose a proper trade strategy according to the endowment of generation prices, the technical abilities, the grid-loss price and the ratio of carbon-electricity conversion. The equilibrium solutions of trading scales and prices for the two trading mechanisms are mostly related to the endowments of generation prices. Generally, the buyers with higher endowments of generation prices should choose the carbon emission rights trading, and the buyers with lower endowments of generation prices can only benefit in generation rights trading. The bigger gaps between the endowments of generation prices of buyers and sellers are, the more likely the trade can be made and further result in a better environmental consequence. The conclusions provide suggestions to the government that, the grid-loss pricing and the ratio of carbon-electricity conversion could be used as key tools to regulate the market for both of the trade mechanisms.

Kun Xiao and Jingdong Zhang

Effects of Flax Straw Biochar on Soil Properties, Fractions and Maize Availability of Lead and Cadmium in Light Sierozem

Bioavailability of heavy metals can be reduced in acidic soils with biochar amendment but the situation in alkaline soils is not much clear. Effects of four rates (1%, 5%, 10% and 15% w/w) of flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) straw biochar (FBC) prepared at 600oC on the properties of soil, fraction and phytoavailability of Pb and Cd, and plant growth in the simulated Pb (1000 mg.kg-1) or Cd (20 mg.kg-1) contaminated light sierozem were assessed with pot experiments using maize (Zea mays L.) as an indicator plant. The amendment of FBC significantly enhanced the pH value, cationic exchange capacity (CEC) and organic matter of soil (P < 0.05). The BCR sequential extraction results indicated that the acid extractable fraction of Pb or Cd only decreased by 12.80% or 5.56% when FBC was added with the high rate of 15%. The uptake of Pb or Cd by maize shoots scarcely decreased with 1% and 5% of FBC amendment. Significant inhibitory effects of FBC on the growth of maize shoots were observed with FBC amendment at the rates of 10% and 15%. The results could provide a different implication for immobilization remediation of loess soils (e.g., light sierozem) contaminated with heavy metals.

Baowei Zhao, Renzhi Xu, Fengfeng Ma, Yewei Li and Lu Wang

In-Situ Water Quality Improvement by Hypolimnion Oxygenation and Artificially Induced Mixing in a Drinking Water Reservoir

Faced with the problems of hypolimnion dissolved oxygen (DO) depletion and water quality deterioration, a newly designed water quality improvement technology named water-lifting aerators (WLAs) was put into utilization to solve these problems in Jinpen Reservoir. During the hypolimnion oxygenation period, after 20 days operation of 8 WLAs with compressed air volume of 10 m3/h, the thickness of anaerobic layer was compressed from 17 m to 3.2 m. As for artificially induced mixing, after 18 days operation of 8 WLAs with compressed air volume of 50 m3/h (full capacity), the reservoir was mixed, and DO of the bottom water increased to more than 8 mg/L. Removal rates of TN, TP, NH4-N and TOC reached 25.5%, 50%, 29.8% and 19.4% respectively. Results of Biolog method showed that the activity of microbes and carbon source utilization were improved in the water of the controlled area compared with the uncontrolled area during the operation. WLAs have been proved to be an efficient technology in water quality improvement especially in hypolimnion oxygenation and artificially induced mixing.

Zhou Zi-zhen, Huang Ting-lin, Gong Wei-jin, Li Yang, Liu Yue, Zhao Fu-wang, Bai Yang, Dou Yan-yan, Lv Jing-jing and Liu Hai-fang

Study on the Influence of Land Use Patterns on the Comprehensive Harnessing Effects of Soil and Water Erosion

Comprehensive harnessing of soil and water erosion can change the regional surface environment, improve ecological conditions, and promote regional social and economic development, which can also achieve good ecological, social, and economic benefits for the purpose of preventing and controlling soil erosion. Scientific evaluation of soil erosion comprehensive harnessing benefits is presented, and analysis of influencing factors is adopted, which is an important basis for further understanding of work effectiveness and optimization of governance measures. The research selects Taihang Mountain Area of Hebei Province as the research area. This paper evaluates the comprehensive treatment benefits of 16 typical small watersheds by multi-level fuzzy evaluation method, and uses the exponential, linear, logarithmic, power function and polynomial as the model. The correlation between land use type area and comprehensive treatment benefit was studied, and the corresponding improvement of management efficiency has been proposed in order to provide a reference for optimizing the comprehensive management mode of small watersheds in Taihang Mountain area and improving the efficiency of comprehensive management.

Zhaoya Chen, Lijun Ma, Fengyu Guo, Xiangling Ma, Yu Chu

Effect of Population Density and Surroundings on the Environmental RF Radiation

The cell-phone radiation is a potential health hazard not only to the singular user but to the whole population through the environmental pollution. The environmental radiation density may vary from place to place depending upon its absorption or reflection by surroundings, e.g., trees, buildings, human population, water bodies, etc. The present work was taken to study the effect of population density and surroundings on the environmental radiation. The power density values of radiation were measured using a hand-held portable power density meter TES 593, and specific absorption rates (SAR) were estimated from the measured values. The SAR values were compared with the safe limit of 1 mW/kg above which biological system of humans and animals starts getting affected. The studies indicated that the average environmental radiation power density values were higher in unpopulated and open areas than densely populated regions by 300%.

Jagbir Kaur, A. K. Dhami and S. A. Khan

Urban and Rural Residents’ Willingness to Pay for Desertification Prevention and Control and its Influencing Factors

The prevention and control of desertification cannot be separated from the active participation of local urban and rural residents. However, only a few studies on the difference in urban and rural residents’ willingness to pay for the prevention and control of desertification and its influencing factors are available. To explore the differences in urban and rural residents’ willingness to pay for desertification prevention and control, the status quo and influencing factors of willingness to pay for desertification prevention and control among urban and rural residents were analysed by linear regression analysis method and the micro-survey data of 300 urban and rural residents in the middle and lower reaches of the Tarim River in Xinjiang, China. Results show that urban and rural residents’ willingness to pay for desertification prevention and control is affected by education level, ecological environment concern, ecological environment protection needs, attention to desertification, and cognition of desertification control effect. Several preventive measures were provided with respect to enhancing residents’ awareness of desertification prevention and control, raising residents’ income and push forward systematic innovation.

Weipeng Chao, Changjiang Zhang and Pengcheng Wang

Solar Thermal Pyrolysis of Karanja Seeds for a Sustainable Approach for Liquid Biofuel Utilization

The present study is based on the conversion from biomass to biofuels of karanja (Pongamia glabra) seeds via solar thermochemical pyrolysis process. Karanja seeds were pyrolysed at a cavity type reactor temperature of 280-340°C. The pyrolysis process was occurring in the range of 210-550°C. The ultimate and proximate analysis of the pyrolysed bio-oil was performed based on ASTM standards. The FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) analysis of the liquid product indicated the presence of alkenes, alkanes, ketones, carboxylic acids and aromatic rings. GC-MS (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) demonstrated the presence of hydrocarbons having between 15 and 34 carbon atoms in a chain.

Surajit Mondal, Jitendra K. Pandey and Suresh Kumar

HPTLC Based Screening of b-sitosterol from Andrographis paniculata

Sterols are secondary metabolites of plants known for their inhibitory effects on cancer cell growth, lower cholesterol and enhance immunity. b-sitosterol belongs to phytosterol which enhances antioxidant enzymes and thus reduces the oxidative stress. In present experiment, b-sitosterol was detected from Andrographis paniculata belonging to family Acanthaceae by using HPTLC. The plant is popularly known as Kalmegha having multiple pharmacological properties used for treatment of several diseases. Leaf, stem and root extracts prepared in chloroform, methanol and petroleum ether were used for detection of b-sitosterol from the plant. The chromatography was performed on TLC plates coated with Al silica gel 60 F254 and solvents used for mobile phase was toluene:ethyl acetate:formic acid (15:4.5:1.5). After development, the plates were derivatized with 10% methanolic sulphuric acid, scanned and quantified at 510 nm. The results showed the presence of b-sitosterol in all the parts with Rf value 0.62. Calibration curve was prepared and the amount of b-sitosterol was quantified in the extracts by comparing the respective peak areas with that of the standard. The correlation coefficient for b-sitosterol against reference sample was found significant (r= 99.769057%) for the concentration range of 0.5 to 4.0 µg. Leaf methanol extract showed the highest concentration of b-sitosterol, i.e., 147.6 µg/mL. The extraction efficiency of b-sitosterol was found higher in methanol followed by petroleum ether and chloroform extract. Thus, our finding shows that Andrographis paniculata has a significant concentration of b-sitosterol, which may be useful for pharmacological application against cancer, hypercholesterolemia, inflammation and for angiogenesis process.

Rajeshwari Prabha Lahare and Anil Kumar

Study on the Effect of Water, Fertilizer and Biochar Interaction on N2O Emission Reduction in Paddy Fields of Northeast China

Taking the black soil of northeastern cold land as the research object, this paper adopts the three-factor quadratic saturation D311 optimal design scheme, uses static black box-gas chromatography to analyse the irrigation season, nitrogen fertilizer and straw biochar to the impact of greenhouse gas emissions for N2O growing season in the northeast cold paddy field. This paper also studies the optimal water and fertilizer application scheme for N2O control. The results show that the effects of three factors on N2O emissions are as follows: nitrogen fertilizer > biochar > water. The irrigation and biochar have an inhibitory effect on N2O emissions, while nitrogen fertilizer has a promoting effect on N2O emissions. The performance is as follows: water + nitrogen fertilizer can promote the emission of N2O; water + biochar can inhibit the emission of N2O; nitrogen fertilizer + biochar can promote the emission of N2O. Combined with the yield, the integrated water and biochar optimization schemes, when controlling the increase of N2O growth season in paddy fields to not exceed 10% are as follows: The amount of irrigation is 4252~5531 kg/hm2; the nitrogen application rate is 103.30~117.35 kg/hm2; and the amount of biochar is 15.12~24.42 t/hm2.

Yanyu Lin, Shujuan Yi, Zhongxue Zhang, Mengxue Wang and Tangzhe Nie

Degradation of Dye C.I. Reactive Red 15 in Aqueous Solution by Kaolinite Supported Zero Valent Iron

Dyes are important source of water pollution and their degradation products may be carcinogens and toxic to mammals. For evaluation of oxidative degradation of dye wastewater, the kaolinite supported zero valent iron were synthesized. The surface morphology of kaolinite and kaolinite supported zero valent iron were observed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The degradation of dye C.I. Reactive Red 15 in aqueous solution by kaolinite supported zero valent iron was investigated in details. The effects of the dosage of kaolinite supported zero valent iron, pH in solution, reaction time and the initial dye concentration on the degradation were studied. The results showed that the pH value, the dosage of kaolinite supported zero valent iron and the initial dye concentration had an important impact on dye degradation. Under these conditions, such as 80 mg/L dye C.I. Reactive Red 15, 20 min of reaction time, 0.5 g kaolinite supported zero valent iron particles, pH value of 2.0, temperature of 308 K and 120 rpm respectively, the degradation rate of dye C.I. Reactive Red 15 reached 82.3%.

Sheng Fang, Ningcan Yang, Muqing Qiu and Chengcai Huang

Solid Reductant Based Selective Catalytic Reduction System for Exhaust Emission Control of Compression Ignition Engines

Increasing concern over rising pollution levels in city limits has resulted in stringent emission regulations for automotive diesel engines. Exhaust emissions from diesel engines are composed of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, nitrates, soot particles and soluble organic faction. Post treatment, emission control technique including diesel oxidation catalysis system, diesel particulate filtration system and selective catalytic reduction system have been developed to reduce the emission levels from automotive engines to meet the latest emission norms. Selective catalytic reduction system, which is used for control of nitrate emission has to be intensified to bring down the emission levels as per the requirements for EURO VI and Bharat Stage VI emission norms. This paper provides a comprehensive overview on the post treatment exhaust emission control systems. A detailed literature survey has been conducted on the state of art nitrate emission control technologies including the use of alternate solid reactants for ammonia generation and catalysts for deNOx reactions, considering the adverse effects of byproducts released by these systems.

Caneon Kurien and Ajay Kumar Srivastava

Heavy Metal Accumulation in some Fishes Preferred for Consumption by Egrets in Odisha, India

The reduction of wetlands due to the increase of urbanization and industrialization has been an emerging global concern and is a threat to the fish population. Fishes have been proved as excellent indicators of heavy metal contamination of the aquatic ecosystems. The present research aims to determine the metal accumulation in fishes of different wetlands. Fish samples were collected for analysis of different metals like lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Pb concentration varies from 0.41-44.33 µg/g and found to be highest at Hirakud, whereas Cr, Cu and Zn were highest at Koraput which vary from 1.3-10.36 µg/g, 1.29-4.17 µg/g and 20.97-54.99 µg/g, respectively.

Bibhu Prasad Panda, Biswajit Panda, Siba Prasad Parida, Biswajita Mahapatra, Aditya Kishore Dash and Abanti Pradhan

Influencing Factors of the Energy Consumption Behaviour of Civil Buildings in Hubei Province, China

Civil buildings are among the structures that consume the most energy in society. Reducing the energy consumption of civil buildings has become an important component of China’s energy policy. Identifying the key influencing factors of the energy consumption of civil buildings and formulating effective energy-saving countermeasures are important to enhance the energy efficiency of civil buildings. This study conducted a systematic analysis of the influencing factors of the energy consumption of civil buildings in Hubei Province, China. First, existing studies on the influencing factors of the energy consumption of buildings in foreign developed countries were reviewed. The status of the population, economic life, and social life that influenced the energy consumption of civil buildings in Hubei Province in the past 10 years was summarized. Relevant influencing factors were estimated via ridge regression. Results demonstrated that developed countries generally investigated the influencing factors of the energy consumption of civil buildings from the energy supply-demand relation, family factors, and out-of-family factors. Gross domestic product (GDP), total population, tertiary industry development, per capita floor space, household consumption level, and urbanization facilitated the energy consumption of civil buildings in Hubei Province during the aforementioned period, and the regression coefficients were significant at the 5% level. Lastly, policy countermeasures were proposed to accelerate the energy-saving development of civil buildings. Research conclusions are important to enrich theories regarding the energy consumption reduction of civil buildings, to help relevant government sectors of Hubei Province recognize action points for the energy-saving development of civil buildings, and to accelerate the benign development of energy-saving buildings.

Wei Xian Zhong

Detection of Metallothionein Protein Biomarkers (MTs) and Pinocytosis Activity in Gambusia Fish (Gambusia affinis) Exposed to Cadmium

This study aims at detecting the metallothionein protein that binds cadmium in Gambusia fish using MT ELISA kit and Western Blotting testing. The continuation of the detection is used as a basis for analysing the macrophage and pinocytosis activity on Gambusia fish exposed to cadmium. The methods used to detect metallothionein protein are the MT ELISA kit and Western Blotting test. Meanwhile, to check the fish immunity, macrophage cells and pinocytosis activity were tested. The results indicated that the total proteins detected by the method of MT ELISA kits showed an increasing number with concentrations of exposure to Cd good at acute doses and sub-chronic higher doses (treatment A: 0.066 ± 0.019 ng/mL; B: 0.053 ± 0.022 ng/mL; C: 0,045 ± 0,014 ng/mL; D : 0,021 ± 0,012 ng/mL; E : 0,032 ± 0,019 ng/mL; and control k : 0,018 ± 0,018 ng/mL). Similarly, in the pinocytosis activity, the number of macrophage cells between treatment and control was significantly different (Cd ³ 3x106 treatment; Cd ³ 1x106 no treatment) and the number of pinocytosis activity was significantly different (Cd ³ 24 PA treatment; Cd ³ 10 no PA treatment). Increasing pollutants from cadmium exposure affect the fish health. Pollution causes changes in macrophage’s immune cells and phagocytosis Gambusia affinis, which can change the overall innate immunity system and fish health. The change of immune cells associated with the species and biological conditions is not present. Analysis of the number of immune cells revealed that Gambusia has decreased its macrophage pinocytosis activity, thereby indicating that phagocyte activity is a sensitive biomarker and a good bio-indicator for cadmium pollution.

Moh. Awaludin Adam, Maftuch, Yuni Kilawati and Yenny Risjani

Effect of the Olive Mill Wastewater on Corrosion Behaviour of Carbon Steel

Olive mill wastewater (OMW) is a major problem in the olive oil producing countries, because of its highly polluting power. Its physico-chemical characterization showed that this effluent has an acidic character (pH = 4.9) and it is rich in organic and mineral matter (chemical and biochemical oxygen demands, polyphenols, chlorides, sulphates, nitrites, nitrates, etc.). In this work, the corrosion behaviour of carbon steel (X70) immersed in olive mill wastewater sample solution, collected from an agro-industry, was studied. The obtained results show that the rate of corrosion increases because of the attack of acids exist in the OMW (Cl-, polyphenols, Ni, Fe). For two days of immersion, the potential stretches toward more positive values due to the oxidization of carbon steel. After the extension of the immersion until 7 days, we recorded the formation of the corrosion product on the surface of the working electrode. On the other hand, the analysis of surface samples by scanning electron microscope coupled with EDX confirms the formation of a layer obtained after the corrosion process.

Zineb Yahia, Mounir Ziati, Nabila Aissiou, Moussa Bounoughaz

Influence of Rainfall as an Environmental Factor on the Distribution of Faunal Biodiversity in Nallamala Forest (Kurnool District), Andhra Pradesh

Climate change ordinarily indicates a change in behaviour of the weather elements over an area during a time span. The change is attributable directly or indirectly to human activities or the natural causes that have the effect of altering the atmospheric composition. One aspect of this complexity is that climate change will impact unevenly across the ecosystems that prove vulnerable to climate changes. Biodiversity means variation of life forms within a given ecosystem. The present work attempts to trace down the nature of interrelationship between the climate change and faunal biodiversity especially with regard to rainfall variations in Nallamala forest (Kurnool district) of Andhra Pradesh. Rainfall is also one of the limiting factors of the species expansion that determines its distribution in boundaries of the area. The trend of rainfall time-series data indicates a decreasing trend in the rainfall pattern over forest and agricultural and grassland areas from 2014 along with northern, central and southern Western Ghats.

M. Nagabhushan Reddy, P. Kavitha, T. Baleeswaramma and K. Nirosha

Carbon Emission Efficiency of Construction Industry in Hunan Province and Measures of Carbon Emission Reduction

The construction industry is among the pillars of China’s economic development. However, it causes high carbon emission and high energy consumption, which should be considered when drafting energy saving and emission reduction policies. The sustainable development of this industry lies in the effective estimation of carbon emission efficiency and implementation of energy-saving and emission reduction measures in accordance with local practical situations. First, investigations on the emission efficiency of the construction industry and relevant emission reduction policies in foreign developed countries were reviewed in this study. Second, the carbon emission efficiency of the construction industry in 13 prefecture-level cities in Hunan Province (China) from 2011 to 2017 were estimated using the SBM (Slack Based Measure) model involving unexpected outputs. Finally, specific suggestions on reducing the carbon emission of the construction industry were proposed. CO2 emissions in the construction industry increase annually as a response to economic development and urbanization. The carbon emission efficiency of Hunan Province’s construction industry maintained a stable growth rate in 2011-2017. The industry achieved an annual growth rate of 2.7% in 2017 from that in 2011. The carbon emission efficiency of Changsha City, Zhangjiajie City, and Yiyang City were relatively higher than those of other cities in the province. Such findings serve as a reference to the quantification of potential of Hunan Province in reducing the carbon emission, the formulation of specific carbon emission reduction goal, the augmentation of the means to evaluate energy saving and emission reduction, and the development of a low-carbon construction industry.

Liu Hua and Zhu Min

Pollution Evaluation of a Phosphorus-Rich Area of Zhongxiang City

An extensive survey was carried out to understand the spatial distribution and possible sources of soil heavy metals in a phosphorus-rich area. A total of 615 topsoil samples were gathered, utilizing a regular sampling grid of 1×1 km squares, and the contents of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), vanadium (V) and zinc (Zn) were analysed to investigate the spatial distribution of these heavy metals, identify their sources, and assess levels of pollution. The results showed that the enrichment factor (EF) of the studied metals decreased in the order Cd > As > Pb > Co > Ni > Cr = Cu > Zn, and the mean contents of Cd, As and Pb were significantly higher than the background values. According to potential ecological risk (RI), 11.2% of the study areas had considerable potential ecological risk and the other areas had low to moderate potential ecological risk. The results of multivariate and geostatistical analyses indicated that Co, Cr, Ni and V, and to a lesser extent Cu and Zn, mostly originated from natural sources; while As and Pb, and to a lesser extent Cd, Cu and Zn, mainly originated from phosphorus-related industrial activities. The results also showed that Cd was affected by water with Cd pollution from the Hanjiang River. These results are useful for establishing policies for protecting local soil quality.

Miao Song

Estimation of Wood Residues Generation from Sawmilling Activities and Energy Potential in Kwara State, Nigeria

The global concerns about the rise in anthropogenic gases have resulted in alternative clean energy sources. Biomass is one of the most prominent renewable energy sources, which can be found in wood and wood wastes, agricultural crops and their waste byproducts, municipal solid waste (MSW), animal wastes, food processing, aquatic plants and algae. Wood and by-products obtained from forest biomass stand at the centre of Renewable Energy Source (RES) due to its availability and usefulness in most developing countries. Sawdust is one of the wood processing residues that is in excess of local demand because of the near absence of its industrial demand in Kwara State. Data relating to its availability, industrial usage and energy potential are rarely available in this study area. This study investigates its availability and inherent energy potential that can be a vital tool for energy policy, planning and development. Wood wastes generated in the state were estimated to be 8012.8 m3/yr with inherent energy potential of 31298 GJ. By putting sawdust, seen as wastes in most wood processing plants, into efficient use will help reduce the competition for wood as a source of heat for cooking and heating.

E. A. Alhassan, J. O. Olaoye, T. A. Adekanye and C. E. Okonkwo

Preparation of New Surfactant and Study on its Application in Ultra-low Emission of Flue Gas

In this paper, with different types of optimal surfactant monomers and potentiators mixed, the optimum formula of the new surfactant was obtained. The new surfactant with low toxicity, low cost and good dust removal effect was developed by the simulated flue gas experiment and verified the removal efficiency of the new surfactant on the particulate matter in the flue gas. It provided a reference for the industrial application in ultra-low emission of coal smoke. The results showed that the new surfactant could effectively reduce particulate matter in the simulated flue gas, and be the best to the dust particle size less than or equal to 1 micron. The optimum formula was worked out to be: anionic surfactant sodium dodecylbenzene-sulfonate (SDBS) 0.06%, anionic surfactant rapid penetrant T 0.06% and inorganic salt NaCl 1%.

Zhang Lei, Jia Yang, Zhang Lei, Zeng Tianyou, Wen Xin and Kong Tingting

Factors Affecting Carbon Emissions in the Construction Industry based on STIRPAT Model: Taking Henan Province of China as an Example

The construction industry of China is characterized by its huge consumption and carbon emissions, thereby making this industry one of the most important areas that require energy conservation efforts. Identifying those factors that affect carbon emissions in the construction industry carries great significance in reducing building carbon emissions, promoting low-carbon cities, and achieving China’s emission reduction goals. This paper firstly reviews the literature on those factors that affect the carbon emissions in the construction industries of developed countries. Second, by using Henan Province as an example, those factors that influence carbon emissions are measured by using the classical STIRPAT (Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology) model. Third, some measures for reducing carbon emissions in the construction industry are developed. Those factors that influence the carbon emissions of buildings are multi-dimensional and diversified. Resident population, urbanization rate, building carbon emission intensity, per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product), and per capita added value of the tertiary industry all have significant effects on the carbon emissions of buildings in Henan Province. Some policy suggestions can be derived from the findings of this work, such as encouraging building energy conservation, improving the energy efficiency of the construction industry, adjusting the use of building materials, and improving the extant policies for building emission reduction. The results also provide a theoretical basis for identifying those factors that affect the carbon emissions in the construction industry and for formulating and implementing strategies for the low-carbon development of this industry.

Jun Jie Peng

Application of Geospatial Technology in Evaluating the Impact of Mining Associated Urbanization on Agricultural Lands

In this study an attempt was made to assess the mining associated urbanization impact on rural agricultural lands due to expansion of mining dump yards, pulverizing mills and beneficiation plants in and around Govindampalle village, YSR District, A.P by using Geospatial technologies. Various land use and land cover (LULC) classes, mainly, cropland, plantation, fallow land, mining/industrial, water body, settlements and scrub lands were recognized and their impact on the environment has been discussed. Google earth historical imagery during 2010 and 2017 are used to map and assess these land use and land cover changes in the ArcGIS flat form. LULC change detection analysis data showed that cropland, water bodies and scrublands were decreased by 10, 2, 14 and 20 percent, respectively from 2010 to 2017. On the other hand industrial areas and agricultural plantations showed an increasing trend with 14 and 20 percent growth rate respectively.

M. Prasad, Y. Sudharshan Reddy, E. Balaji, V. Sunitha and M. Ramakrishna Reddy

Water Quality Situation of the Tha Chin River and the Riverbank Community’s Understanding

The Tha Chin River is a branch river of the Chaophraya River, which is one of the four main rivers in the central area of Thailand. Currently, the Tha Chin River is experiencing serious problems regarding water quality. Our study was carried out to analyse the river quality status, classify the health of the river according to Water Quality Index (WQI) and assess the riverbank community’s understanding of the Tha Chin River water quality. The results indicated that the water quality in the estuary of the Tha Chin River has been seriously polluted. In addition, the results also found that the WQI of the wet period was significantly lower than that of the dry period at p-value < 0.05. While the results from the riverbank community’s understanding assessment revealed that they feel the water quality in this river is still good, especially in the upstream and the midstream. Therefore, the assessed water quality according to WQI method showed that the riverbank community had a misunderstanding of the water quality of the Tha Chin River.

Chitsanuphong Pratum, Noppol Arunrat, Sukanya Sereenonchai, Jung-Chen Huang and Tian Xu

Modelling of Chlorophyll-a Concentration Patterns from Satellite Data Using Cubic Spline Function in Pattani Bay, Thailand

The modelling of chlorophyll-a concentration helps to restrict the harmful effects in marine species caused by increased nutrient loads. The derived satellite data are often used for the monitoring of marine ecology. The common usage of satellite data is monthly average data to avoid the problem of missing values. In order to reduce the effect of missing data, this study employed the cubic spline model by using a satellite data for investigating seasonal variations of chlorophyll-a mapped in an eight-day interval consisting of missing values in Pattani Bay, Thailand from the year 2003 to 2017. This study further used the spline-fitted data for creating the baseline model of chlorophyll-a in Pattani Bay, and for examining the difference between spline fitted and monthly average data. This study revealed that the cubic spline method was able to handle the missing values in satellite data to gain the smoothness in data. When both models were compared, the spline-fitted observation yielded a smoother curve pattern than the monthly average observation. The spline fitted model was also able to display the chlorophyll-a data at any particular day of the year. It was also shown that the chlorophyll-a concentration level in the coastal area of Pattani Bay was higher in the inshore pixels, especially in rainy season.

Pratistha Sharma, Attachai Ueranantasun, Phattrawan Tongkumchum and Mayuening Eso

Application of Single Factor and Multi-Factor Pollution Indices Assessment for Human-Impacted River Basins: Water Quality Classification and Pollution Indicators

Anthropogenic activities are most likely to alter the natural composition of waters. Extensive phosphate mining in Huangbaihe River Basin (HRB), China, has resulted in the reduction of the self-purification capacity of freshwater reservoirs in the basin. Based on a three-year (2014-2016) water quality monitored data and the application of three pollution index assessment (PIA) methods: Single Factor Pollution Index (SFPI), Nemerow’ Pollution Index (NPI), and Water Quality Index (WQI), the main objective of this study was to determine the water quality standards of surface water in the river basin. Research findings indicated that a holistic approach, a combination of a single factor and multi factor pollution indexes (MFPIs) method was able to distinguish pollutant characteristics and used to classify water quality of the river system. Comparison of the results showed that the SFPI classification is more conservative and highly influenced by the worst evaluated index. On the other hand, the MFPIs: the NPI and the WQI methods classified the water quality into a more reasonable grade because they integrate the effects of different impacting factors. The most impaired pollutants affected the water quality classification were total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN). Application of the PIA result for the water quality management purpose in the basin showed that there is a direct causal relationship between the TP concentration and water quality of reservoir water; low water quality reservoirs were correlated with high TP. On the other hand, the reservoir water quality did not show any significant dependence on TN. A linear regression equation was proposed to determine WQI of reservoirs’ water using measured TP. The equation may be used to characterize the pollution level of reservoir water for prioritizing water quality management measures in HRB.

Gebrehiwet Reta, Xiaohua Dong, Zhonghua Li, Huijuan Bo, Dan Yu, Hao Wan and Bob Su

Characteristic Behaviour of the Air Pollutant NO2 over an Urban Coastal Area along the Bay of Bengal

To study the characteristic behaviour of NO2 is quite necessary. Nitrogen dioxide is a major pollutant in the atmosphere, being a precursor to acid rain, photochemical smog, and ozone accumulation. Measurements of NO2 data over a period of one year (October 2014-September 2015) have been used to evaluate the NO2 concentration levels. The frequency distribution of NO2 reveals that out of the total 8760 data points, about 86% of NO2 lies between 5 ppb and 20 ppb. The lowest distribution is found in the range of 0-5 ppb, while the highest lies in the range of 10-15 ppb. The NO2 measurement level has been examined on a diurnal and seasonal scale. The diurnal scale of NO2 shows lesser values during daytime and higher values during night hours. The NO2 concentration levels are high in summer and minimum in the north-east monsoon. The daytime and night-time NO2 concentration pattern is found to be similar to the global scenario. It is observed that the NO2 concentrations in the study area are not high enough to pose health problems. The observed NO2 concentration levels at the study area are well within the National Ambient Air Quality standard for the entire period of study.

B. Muthulakshmi, S. Johnson Jeyakumar and I. Kartharinal Punithavathy

Detection of Sewage Discharge by Density Peak Search and Differential Expression Analysis

Nowadays, water pollution is a part of the major environmental problems. Industrial sewage that does not meet the emission standards will pollute the surface water and groundwater when it is discharged into water bodies, causing serious adverse impacts on human beings and environment. In view of industrial sewage privately discharged without properly monitoring, we present a method for detection of sewage discharge using clustering and differential analysis on image sequences derived from satellite photos taken when focusing on a certain place. The proposed method helps to indicate key images containing sewage, make the sewage area and leave evidence for the retrospective incident. Clustering based on the search of fast density peaks is used for detecting images containing sewage. In addition, two sample’s t-test and Fisher linear discriminant analysis are combined to extract the key pixels representing the area of sewage discharge. Experiments were made on 200 images corresponding to a certain area at different times of the day and 25 key frames with areas labelled to be sewage discharge were extracted, which indicated the effectiveness of this method.

Weiguo Sun, Xudong Zhao and Hong Chen