The aim of the article is to study the implementation of European standards in the field of transportation of solid household waste (SHW). The relevance of the study is associated with the lack of ...coverage in the professional literature of the issues of solid household waste management in Ukraine, the transition to European standards in this area. During the study, methods of comparison, analysis and synthesis were used to determine the features of solid household waste management in Ukraine and the EU countries. The recommendation approach was used in the process of drafting proposals for the transition to European standards for solid household waste management. The analysis of the current state of SHW management in Ukraine has identified the following trends: growth in the volume of SHW; the composition of SHW is becoming more diverse; positive attitude of the population towards greening the collection of SHW. The main problems in the system of municipal enterprises engaged in the transportation of solid household waste and in the system of public administration in the field of waste management were identified. When comparing European and national legislation in the field of SHW transportation, the legal framework and basic principles of waste management were described. Comparing the experience of waste management in Ukraine and abroad allowed to identify the gap in the scale and pace of creating a SHW management infrastructure. The article proposes measures to improve the national SHW management system: determining the stages of development of SHW management systems; intensification of the transition to the organization of the separate waste collection and the process of implementation in Ukraine of European legislation in this area.
Clear understanding of the links between ecological functions and biodiversity is needed to assess and predict the true environmental consequences of human activities. Several key ecosystem functions ...are provided by coprophagous beetles in the subfamily Scarabaeinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), which feed on animal excreta as both adults and larvae. Through manipulating feces during the feeding process, dung beetles instigate a series of ecosystem functions ranging from secondary seed dispersal to nutrient cycling and parasite suppression. Many of these ecological functions provide valuable ecosystem services such as biological pest control and soil fertilization. Here we summarize the contributions of dung beetles to nutrient cycling, bioturbation, plant growth enhancement, secondary seed dispersal and parasite control, as well as highlight their more limited role in pollination and trophic regulation. We discuss where these ecosystem functions clearly translate into ecosystem services, outline areas in critical need of additional research and describe a research agenda to fill those gaps. Due to the high sensitivity of dung beetles to habitat modification and changing dung resources, many of these ecological processes have already been disrupted or may be affected in the future. Prediction of the functional consequences of dung beetle decline demands functional studies conducted with naturally assembled beetle communities, which broaden the geographic scope of existing work, assess the spatio-temporal distribution of multiple functions, and link these ecosystem processes more clearly to ecosystem services.
•Sulphate and carbonate impregnation into Cu-Al LDH•Bi2O3 hybrid composites•Improved physicochemical and surface structural properties of Cu-Al LDH•Bi2O3•Superior photocatalytic activity of SO42− and ...CO32− impregnated Cu-Al LDH•Bi2O3•Lower degree of electron hole-pair recombination upon SO42− and CO32- loading•Photocatalytic decomposition of diclofenac sodium under visible light irradiation
Nowadays, the non-steroidal drug diclofenac sodium (DCF) has emerged as hazardous pollutant due to its eco-toxic nature and its efficient elimination from wastewater is emerging as crucial problem. But, low activity, high cost and instability of the conventional photocatalysts restrain their uses.
In this study, different anion impreganted Cu-Al layered double hydroxides (LDH) and Bi2O3 derived heterocomposites have been examined as plausible photocatalysts for degradation of DCF under visible light radiation. These composites have synthesized by simple wet impregnation methods and characterized by several methods such as XRD, HR-TEM, XPS SEM-EDX, XPS, DRS, phototuminescence(PL), BET etc.
The BET sorption isotherms indicate that the anion loaded composites are having larger specific surface area than the pristine one. Also, upon anion impregnation the zeta potential values shift towards more negative values confirming absorption of anions. They show significantly higher (65% for carbonate and 83% for sulphate) photcatalytic activity compare to the parent hybrid (53%). Here, the anions act as efficient electron scavengers to suppress the electron-hole pair recombination. The individual photocatalytic reactions follow pseudo-first order kinetics. Due to low cost, simpler preparation, enhanced activity and recyclability the anion loaded derivatives can emerge as excellent photocatalyst for eradicating DCF.
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This article describes how different Lean principles and techniques have been adapted and applied to identify, analyze, and improve the value chain of a Software Project Management module in a ...computer science curriculum. This research is part of an initiative to improve the processes related to higher education teaching management, at a university, with the main goal of maximizing the value that is provided to students when taking a module. To represent and visualize the whole value chain of the module, the value stream mapping Lean management tool has been used. The essential module activities and the necessary elements to teach each one of these activities, from the first session to the final mark, were detected, collected, and represented using diagrams. The value chain analysis and review were performed by applying Lean principles and techniques. This article details several improvements to be applied to the module to eliminate the waste that did not add value to students.
These days, plastic trash is exponentially overwhelming our waterways. The catastrophe has attracted global attention at this point. As a result, protecting the environment on the water's surface has ...received increasing focus. Currently, manpower can be used to clean up contaminated water bodies like ponds, rivers, and oceans. Using the current cleaning approach results in low efficiency and hazard. The detection, collection, sorting, and removal of plastic trash from such water surfaces has been the subject of relatively little robotic research, despite the dire circumstances. From private sources, there are very few individual efforts to be found. In order to attain great efficiency without human assistance or operation, a fully autonomous water surface cleaning robot is proposed in this study. The robot was created to adapt to any type of water body found in the real world. An efficient object identification machine learning technique can be suggested for the creation of autonomous cleaning robots. This study improved the Single Short Detection (SSD) method to recognise objects accurately. Because of the enhanced detection techniques, the robot is able to collect trash on its own. With a mean average precision (mAP) of 94.099 % and a detection speed of up to 64.67 frames per second, experimental findings show that the enhanced SSD has exceptional detection speed and accuracy.
Microalgae have been reported to exhibit mutualistic interactions with other microorganisms like bacteria, filamentous fungi, and yeast and help each other co-exist. The potential of microalgae to ...perform photosynthesis and accumulate lipids make them suitable candidates for lipid production. Biofuel production from various single oleaginous microorganisms is already in practice. However, the high cost of biomass harvesting, extraction of lipids, and contamination issues are significant challenges of biofuel bioprocess commercialization. Recent microalgal co-culture studies showed considerable potential for easy biomass harvesting and reduction in overall energy consumption cost. Therefore, microalgal co-culture could be an alternative to overcome these constraints and enhance biomass and lipid production. Additionally, the integration of the nutrient sequestration process from potential agro-industrial wastewater using microalgal co-culture can reduce the cost of the substrate requirement for cultivation as well as ecological load. The co-culture in wastewater has shown excellent total phosphate removal efficiencies by microalgae
Chlorella sorokiniana
and yeast
Rhodotorula glutinis
, nitrogen removal by microalgae
C. sorokiniana
with activated sludge, and ammonium-nitrogen removal by
C. vulgaris
and fungi
Aspergillus
sp. co-culture. This review summarized the current advances towards biofuel and its value-added production from various microalgae co-culture and compared it with monoculture fermentation. It also includes some critical challenges of co-culturing for the economically viable bioprocess development for biofuel production. Furthermore, techno-economic analysis and life-cycle assessment of co-culture technology were also discussed for biofuel production feasibility from microalgal co-culture.
Ammonia is a common contaminant in municipalities where human waste causes nitrification of local water bodies. In mining, ammonia contamination occurs as a byproduct of biological water treatment, ...from the use of ammonium nitrate fuel oil in explosives, and from the exposure of ammonia rich soils during the excavation process. In particular, gold mine effluent represents a significant source of ammonia and nitrogen-based contaminants. Current biological and abiotic treatment processes are difficult to employ at the scale required at mine sites due to the high operating costs, or are limited in effectiveness due to a lack of natural resources required to facilitate the treatment. This article evaluates the use of electrooxidation as a cost effective alternative to treating ammonia-laden wastewater in mining applications. Two mixed metal oxide electrodes are assessed in this article: IrO<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">_{2}</tex-math></inline-formula>/Ti and RuO<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">_{2}</tex-math></inline-formula>/Ti anodes. A Monte Carlo simulation is performed to determine a probabilistic range of capital and operating expenditure for a mining operation deploying an electrooxidation wastewater treatment system. The lowest capital cost of operating the electrochemical treatment occurs at a current density of 200 A/m<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">^{2}</tex-math></inline-formula>, where the number of cells required for treatment is minimized.
Electrocoagulation method is carried out to remove methyl orange from synthetic wastewater using iron-iron electrodes as anode and cathode. Effects of several experimental parameters treatment of ...methyl orange (MO) dye removal such as pH, initial concentration, current density and electrode
'
s distance have been studied. The Taguchi method using
L
16
orthogonal array
experimental design was applied to optimize the experimental operating conditions that varied at four levels, initial pH (4–10), current density (1–4 mA/cm
2
), electrode distance (0.5–1.5 cm), and initial concentration (25–100 mg/L), while the removal efficiency (%R) was considered as the response variable. The Taguchi method based on the average S/N graph method, in combination with analysis of variance (ANOVA), was applied to determine the significant parameters that affect the dye removal. The optimum conditions for removal of MO were determined to be initial concentration (25 mg/L)
,
electrode distance (0.5 cm)
,
pH (8), and current density (3 mA/cm
2
). The Acidity pH factor represents the most significant factor affecting on removal of MO. The optimum response variables are 97.19 and 97.24% for observed and predicted values, respectively at 39.7575 S/N ratio. As a result, an excellent removal of methyl orange dye from wastewater was attained depending upon the best parametric conditions that obtained from Taguchi method.
The natural and synthetic rubber (NR and SR) products are made up of poly-cis-isoprene which are estimated as one of the major solid-wastes and need to be cleared through bacterial bioremediation. ...The present research reports isolation and characterization of a gram-positive, non-spore forming, filamentous actinomycete
Nocardia
sp. BSTN01 from the waste of a rubber processing industry. We found NR- and SR-dependent growth of BSTN01 over a period of time. BSTN01 has been found to degrade NR by 55.3% and SR by 45.9% in 6 weeks. We have found an increase in the total protein of BSTN01 cells up to 623.6 and 573.9 µg/ml for NR and SR, respectively, after 6 weeks of growth in rubber-supplemented MSM medium. Scanning electron microscopy revealed adhesive growth of BSTN01 on the surface of NR and SR. Formation of aldehyde groups due to the degradation was indicated by Schiff’s test and confirmed by FTIR-ATR analysis. The genome sequence of BSTN01 revealed the gene responsible for rubber degradation. The presence of
lcp
gene and structural analysis of the latex clearing protein further confirmed the reliability. Studies on quantification of rubber degradation capability by the isolated strain prove it to be an efficient degrader of NR and SR. This study revealed the genome sequence and structural analysis of the proteins responsible for degradation of rubber. A new fast-growing
Nocardia
strain can degrade both NR and SR with higher efficiency and have future potential for rubber solid-waste management either alone or in consortia.
•KBM-1 efficiently removed ammonium-N (0.004 kg N m−3d−1) and nitrate-N (0.005 kg N m−3d−1) from RAS solid wastes.•KBM-1 rapidly valorized the wastes into organic acids (230 mg L−1, 3.5 mM, 0.018 kg ...m−3 d−1) after two days.•The valorized products can be reused as an electron donor source for denitrification in the RAS.
This study was performed to establish valorization technology for solid wastes from a seawater recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) by using beneficial microorganisms. An efficient microbial agent (KBM-1) was selected based on the degradation activity of the RAS solid wastes (20% slurry) in a lab-scale reactor system considering the removal rates of chemical oxygen demand, solid material, total nitrogen, ammonium-N, and nitrate-N and the production of organic acids as electron donors for denitrification. The microbial consortium KBM-1 was particularly efficient in the removal of ammonium-N and nitrate-N with removal efficiencies of 42% and 50%, respectively, in eight days and in the rapid production of organic acids (230 mg L−1, 3.5 mM, 0.018 kg m−3 d−1) after two days. There was a concomitant removal of NO3--N (41%, 0.005 kg N m−3 d−1) after two days when a significant production of organic acids occurred. Comamonas sp. was a dominant genus after eight days in all treatments. The level of nitrate-N in the treatments with KBM-1 decreased by 50.4% after eight days, as opposed to that of the control sample (27.7%), indicating the potential denitrification activity of Citrobacter freundii and Comamonas sp. The bioaugmented species (Sporolactobacillus inulinus, Lactobacillus mali, Lactobacillus casei, and Clostridium tyrobutyricum), constituting 41% of the total communities, appeared to facilitate the growth of indigenous microbial communities that were involved in the degradation (hence valorization) of solid wastes (mostly remaining fish feed and fish feces) into simple metabolites (organic acids and inorganic materials such as ammonium, nitrite, nitrate, and CO2). The simultaneous generation of organic acids through the valorization of solid wastes and their subsequent reuse in the denitrification of an RAS biofilter system can provide a significant contribution to the eco-friendly management of RASs and provide meaningful economic merit to the solid wastes of RASs.
