Present study was envisaged to examine the impact of vehicular traffic on the contamination status of urban traffic sites in Delhi with respect to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH). Surface soil ...(0–5
cm) from three traffic sites and one rural site was analyzed and the content of 16 priority PAHs was determined. Total PAH concentration at traffic sites ranged from 1062
μg
kg
−1 to 9652
μg
kg
−1 with an average value of 4694
±
3028
μg
kg
−1. At the rural site average concentration of total PAHs was found to be 886
±
303
μg
kg
−1. Carcinogenic potency of PAH load in traffic soil was nearly 21 times higher as compared to the rural soil. PAH pattern was dominated by five- and six-ring PAHs (contributing >50% to the total PAHs) at all the three traffic sites. On the other hand, rural soil showed a predominance of low molecular weight two- and three-ring PAHs (contributing >50% to the total PAHs). A lack of correlation was observed between total PAH and total organic carbon (TOC) content in traffic soils but in rural soil both were positively correlated (
r
=
0.76). In rural soil naphthalene (
r
=
0.88,
P
=
<0.05) displayed strongest correlation with TOC. Indeno123-cdpyrene/benzghiperylene (IP/BgP) ratio indicated that PAH load at the traffic sites is predominated by the gasoline-driven vehicles. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) provided the fingerprints of vehicular traffic emission and coal combustion in the study area.
•PAHs are known as environmental carcinogens.•Diet plays an important role in PAHs’ exposure in humans.•Post harvest processing and cooking techniques favor PAHs’ formation in food.•Interventions may ...prevent or reduce PAHs’ formation in food.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) emerged as an important contaminant group in a gamut of processed food groups like dairy, nuts, herbs, beverages, meat products etc. Different cooking processes and processing techniques like roasting, barbecuing, grilling, smoking, heating, drying, baking, ohmic-infrared cooking etc. contribute towards its formation. The level of PAHs depends on factors like distance from heat source, fuel used, level of processing, cooking durations and methods, whereas processes like reuse, conching, concentration, crushing and storage enhance the amount of PAHs in some food items. This review paper provides insight into the impact of dietary intake of PAHs, its levels and formation mechanism in processed food items and possible interventions for prevention and reduction of the PAHs contamination. The gaps and future prospects have also been assessed.
Natural resources are consumed in food production, and food loss is consequently accompanied with a loss of resources as well as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study analyses food loss based on ...India-specific production data (for the year 2013) and reported food loss rates during production and post-harvest stages of major food crops and animal products in India. Further, the study evaluates the environmental impacts of food loss in terms of utilization of water, land resources and GHG emissions. The total food loss in harvest and post-harvest stages of the food supply chain for the selected food items amounted to 58.3 ± 2.22 million tonnes (Mt) in the year 2013 with the highest losses by mass in sugarcane and rice. The volume of water associated with the food losses was found to be 115 ± 4.15 billion m
3
, of which 105 ± 3.77 billion m
3
was direct water use (blue + green) and 9.54 ± 0.38 billion m
3
was indirect water use (grey). Wasted sugarcane and rice were found to be the largest contributors for water loss. Land footprint and carbon footprint associated with food loss were found to be 9.58 ± 0.4 million hectares (Mha) and 64.1 ± 3.8 Mt CO
2
eq, respectively, with rice accounting for the largest impact in both. This highlights the immediate need for quantification and taking measures for minimization of losses across the food supply chains in India.
Utilization of corncob as the feedstock for biochar production would be a great idea to achieve the waste management, environmental pollution remediation, and circular bioeconomy goals. To achieve ...this goal, corncob biochars were prepared at 350, 450, 550, and 650 °C and characterized for various physicochemical parameters in order to know the variations due to different pyrolysis temperature. Further, all the prepared biochars were investigated for Cr(VI) remediation from water. This study is a comprehensive analog of all prepared biochars. The physicochemical properties of the biochars were found to be strongly correlated with pyrolysis temperature. The adsorption capacity of biochars was found to be negatively correlated with the increasing pyrolysis temperature and the initial solution
pH
. All the biochars showed 100% Cr(VI) removal at 50 mg/L Cr(VI)
initial
and CCB/350 showed highest monolayer adsorption capacity of 65.75 ± 0.28 mg/g at Cr(VI)
initial
of 10 to 500 mg/L. With a notable impact of pyrolysis temperature, biochar’s intrinsic properties (
pH
, surface polarity) rather than surface area were found to be the most influencing factors that affect the Cr(VI) adsorption potential of the biochars.
Surface soil (0–5
cm) from various agricultural sites in Delhi was analyzed to discern the contents of 16 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Reference and deuterated standards were ...used for identification and quantification of PAHs by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with UV detection. ∑
16PAHs ranged from 830 to 3880
μg
kg
−1 (dry wt.) with an arithmetic mean of 1910
±
1020
μg
kg
−1 ∑
16PAHs values at the urban sites were 2–5 times higher as compared to the rural sites. In general, low molecular weight PAHs were predominant. Total organic carbon (TOC) was found to be significantly correlated with ∑
16PAHs. Isomer pair ratios and Principal component analysis (PCA) suggested biomass and fossil fuel combustion as the main sources of PAHs. The toxic equivalency factors (TEFs) were used to estimate benzo
apyrene-equivalent concentration (B
aP
eq). Therewith, PAH content of urban agricultural soil was found to have more carcinogenic potential.
In this study, the separation of 16 Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) was investigated on a non-PAH-specific column (Spherisorb ODS2 (80 Å, 5 μm, 4.6 mm × 250 mm, 1/pkg)) using reversed-phase ...high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) analytical technique. Moreover, the effect of detector (photodiode array (PDA) and fluorescence (FLR)), flow conditions (isocratic and gradient), temperature (30, 40, and 50 °C), injection volume (5 and 10 μL), and wavelength on the chromatographic performance was studied. The performance was tested to meet the challenges of low-level PAH detection associated with food matrix. An improved chromatographic performance was observed with FLR detector using isocratic conditions. This study will prove beneficial in simple, rapid, and low-level detection of PAHs on a non-PAH-specific column.
Abstract
The agriculture sector is vulnerable to climate change and related changes in the hydrological cycle. In order to understand the changes in climatic variables and their implications for ...agricultural water consumption, the present study aims to analyse the temporal variability of climatic factors and water footprint (WF) of rice and wheat during the period 1986–2017 in Ludhiana, Punjab. Further, it aims to identify the dominant climatic factors that cause variation in reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and WF of rice and wheat. WF was estimated using CROPWAT, and Path analysis was used to determine the dominant climate variables. Temporal trends of climate variables were analysed using the Mann–Kendall test. The total WF of both rice and wheat shows a significant declining trend over the past 32 years. Sunshine duration and wind speed were the dominant factors influencing the variability of total WF of rice and wheat, respectively, whereas rainfall strongly influenced the green and blue WF of rice and wheat. Rainfall had a high variability, and consequently, irrigation water requirement was highly fluctuating. This indicates the significant impact of present and projected erratic pattern of precipitation on agriculture due to climate change and reiterates the importance of adaptive measures like rainwater harvesting and capacity building.
In the present study, biochar was prepared using waste pineapple peel biomass with slow pyrolysis at 350, 450, 550 and 650°C to explore the effect of temperature treatment on characteristic ...properties of biochars. Various characterization parameters were analyzed to elucidate the temperature driven changes. Pyrolysis temperature had a significant impact on the properties of the developed biochar, leading to morphological and physiochemical changes. The relationship between pyrolysis temperature and induced physicochemical properties with Cr(VI) adsorption onto biochars was also investigated. Various adsorption parameters as pH (1.5–8), initial Cr(VI) concentration (10–500mg/L), biochar dose (0.5–10g/L) and adsorption time (0–96h) were studied. Freundlich isotherm (R2=0.957–0.972) and pseudo-second-order kinetics model (R2=0.981–0.994) best fitted the experimental data suggesting multilayer adsorption with chemical interactions between Cr(VI) ions and biochar surface. Biochar prepared at 350°C was found to have the highest adsorption capacity of 41.67mg/g among biochars. Complete Cr(VI) removal was achieved at 10mg/L Cr(VI) concentration with all the biochars. Rather than surface area polarity of biochar was found to be the influencing character of biochar for Cr(VI) adsorption. Feasibility of produced biochars for reuse was also explored. The study suggested that pineapple peel residue can be recycled to biochars with high carbon stability and can be used as a low-cost alternative adsorbent for wastewater treatment.
•Adsorption capacity of biochars decreased with an increase in pyrolysis temperature.•Highly acidic condition was found to be favorable for Cr(VI) adsorption.•Among all biochars, maximum adsorption i.e. 41.67mg/g was obtained with PPB/350.•Polarity of biochar was found to be the influencing factor for Cr(VI) adsorption.•Repeated usability suggested potential for practical application of the biochars.
Phthalates are ubiquitously present environmental contaminants. Air and dust are the most important mediums of exposure to phthalates. The present study reviews the presence of phthalates in the air ...and dust reported from different countries in the last ten years (2007–2017). The phthalate concentrations revealed wide heterogeneity with a mean and median value 6 ± 19 μg/m3 and 0.5 μg/m3 respectively in the air and 1.5 × 103 ± 2.2 × 103 μg/g and 7.8x102μg/g respectively in the dust. The highest phthalates levels in the air were reported from India (1.1 × 102 μg/m3) and in dust from Bulgaria (1.2 × 104 μg/g). Overall higher levels were reported from developing countries as compared to developed countries. Di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and Di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) were found to be predominant in both air and dust. Temperature, humidity, air exchange rate, building material and indoor maintenance were reported as the important factors influencing the levels of phthalates in the air and dust. In addition to policy level interventions, reducing the use of phthalate containing materials and controlling the factors which enhance the emission from existing sources can help in reducing human exposure to phthalates.
Graphical representation of the occurrence of phthalates in air and dust. Display omitted
•Global phthalate levels in the air and dust along with factors associated with their presence were reviewed.•Asian countries were found to contain the highest level of phthalates.•DEHP and DBP were found to be predominant in both air and dust.•Temperature, air exchange rate and use of PVC materials were found to be strongly associated with presence of phthalates.
Evidence from climate-smart village (CSV) approach to mainstream climate-smart agriculture (CSA) demonstrates improved productivity, income, and reduced climatic risks. However, its contribution to ...gender empowerment in diverse farming households is not documented. This study creates a Gender Empowerment Index for climate-smart villages (GEI-CSV) based on four major measurable indicators—political, economic, agricultural, and social. The gender gap was derived by mapping difference in empowerment levels across selected CSVs and non-CSVs. These indicators can be used as a vital tool to understand the process of gender empowerment that can trigger the entry points to achieve gender equality, which is also an important aspect in the adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices (CSAPs). The study measures empowerment at the inter-household and intra-household level across CSVs and non-CSVs from the individual household survey with both female and male members of the same household. This paper provides evidence demonstrating how gender empowerment differs in CSVs and non-CSVs from selected climate-smart villages (community-based approach) in two contrasting ecologies and socio-economic settings of India. The study documents the existing gender gap in CSVs and non-CSVs across India’s western (Haryana) and eastern (Bihar) Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP). Irrespective of CSVs and non-CSVs, considerable differences in outlook and gender gap were observed between Bihar and Haryana. Both women and men in Bihar are less empowered than they are in Haryana. High empowerment level in CSVs than non-CSVs shows that the concept of CSVs has brought a change towards knowledge and capacity enhancement of both women and men farmers promoting gender equality in farming households with a varying scope of interventions made and required for scaling CSAPs across the diversity of farming households.
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