I. Kayes; S.A. Shahriar; K. Hasan; M. Akhter; M.M. Kabir; M.A. Salam
Abstract
Meteorological parameters play a significant role in affecting ambient air quality of an urban environment. As Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, is one of the air pollution hotspot among the megacities in the world, however the potential meteorological influences on criteria air pollutants for this ...
Read More
Meteorological parameters play a significant role in affecting ambient air quality of an urban environment. As Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, is one of the air pollution hotspot among the megacities in the world, however the potential meteorological influences on criteria air pollutants for this megacity are remained less studied. The objectives of this research were to examine the relationships between meteorological parameters such as daily mean temperature (o C), relative humidity (%) and rainfall (mm) and, the concentration of criteria air pollutants (SO2, CO, NOx, O3, PM2.5 and PM10) from January, 2013 to December, 2017. This study also focused on the trend analysis of the air pollutants concentration over the period. Spearman correlation was applied to illustrate the relationships between air pollutants concentration and temperature, relative humidity and rainfall. Multiple linear and non-linear regressions were compared to explore potential role of meteorological parameters on air pollutants' concentrations. Trend analysis resulted that concentration of SO2 is increasing in the air of Dhaka while others are decreasing. Most of the pollutants resulted negative correlation with atmospheric temperature and relative humidity, however, they showed variable response to seasonal variation of meteorological parameters. Regression analysis resulted that both the multiple non-linear and linear model performed similar for predicting concentrations of particulate matters but for gaseous pollutants both model performances were poor. This research is expected to contribute in improving the forecast accuracy of air pollution under variable meteorological parameters considering seasonal fluctuations.
Environmental Management
R.J. Isaifan
Abstract
The outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was first reported from Wuhan, China, on December 31st, 2019. As the number of coronavirus infections has exceeded 100,000 with toll deaths of about 5000 worldwide as of early March, 2020, scientists and researchers are racing to investigate the nature of ...
Read More
The outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was first reported from Wuhan, China, on December 31st, 2019. As the number of coronavirus infections has exceeded 100,000 with toll deaths of about 5000 worldwide as of early March, 2020, scientists and researchers are racing to investigate the nature of this virus and evaluate the short and long term effects of this disease. Despite its negative impacts that obliged the World Health Organization to declare COVID-19 epidemic as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, the rate of mortality of this infection has not exceeded 3.4% globally. On the other hand, the mortality rate caused by ambient air pollution has contributed to 7.6% of all deaths in 2016 worldwide. The outbreak of COVID-19 has forced China to lockdown its industrial activities and hence dropped its NO2 and carbon emissions by 30 and 25%, respectively. This work reports on the first case study that compares the air quality status before and after the crisis. It sheds light on the facts related to the demographics of deaths by gender, age and health status before infection. The historical data on air quality, estimates of annual deaths and its economic burden have been presented and analyzed. The actual daily deaths due to COVID-19 have been obtained from the official records of the daily Situation Reports published by World Health Organization as of March 11th. The rate of mortality due to COVID-19 was impacted by two factors: age and health status. Results show that 75% of deaths were related to cases that had underlying present diseases with the majority aged of 80+ years. The reported figures were compared with the average daily mortality due to poor air quality which reached up to 3287 deaths due to high levels of NO2, O3 and PM. The air quality status before the crisis was compared with the current situation showing that COVID-19 forced-industrial and anthropogenic activities lockdown may have saved more lives by preventing ambient air pollution than by preventing infection.
Environmental Management
Y. Asnawi; A.V.H. Simanjuntak; U. Muksin; M. Okubo; S.I. Putri; S. Rizal; M. Syukri
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Soil or rock properties where buildings are situated play an important role in the ground shaking caused by an earthquake. The highly populated Banda Aceh city in the northernmost Sumatra is flanked by two active faults, the Seulimeum and the Aceh segment. Therefore, it is ...
Read More
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Soil or rock properties where buildings are situated play an important role in the ground shaking caused by an earthquake. The highly populated Banda Aceh city in the northernmost Sumatra is flanked by two active faults, the Seulimeum and the Aceh segment. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate the subsurface characteristics of the region to reduce the earthquake risk as there was no regional study has been conducted so far.METHODS: Characteristics of the soil or rock of the subsurface were derived from various seismic parameters. The seismic microtremors were recorded at 36 sites covering the highly populated city and the two active faults. The spatial autocorrelation method was used to obtain a dispersion curve based on the relationship between seismic frequencies and phase velocity from triangular geophones array to determine the shear wave velocity of the subsurface layer. The seismic amplification, dominant frequency and vulnerability value at each measurement point were measured using the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio method. The maps of velocity structure and HVSR parameters were generated from the interpolation of those seismic parameters.FINDING: Based on the variation of the four geophysical parameters: shear wave velocity, seismic amplification, dominant frequency, and seismic vulnerability, the study area can be clustered into five different groups: I) Banda Aceh, II) Jantho, III) Krueng Raya, IV) Lhoknga-Lhoong, and V) Seulawah, which classify the different types of rocks. The classification of soil properties from the combination of shear wave and horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio data correlates with the geology of the study area.CONCLUSION: The Banda Aceh city, flanked by the two active faults, is characterized by low shear wave velocity and high amplification because the city stands on the sedimentary basin; thus, it requires a detailed investigation prior to constructing infrastructures. The other clusters are located on the relatively less vulnerable areas, indicated by moderate shear wave velocity and moderate to low seismic vulnerability indexes. The joint analysis shows that the combination of physical properties, including the shear wave velocity, seismic amplification, and dominant frequency, can be used to investigate lithology and seismic vulnerability into a specific cluster. The research results are essential for hazard mitigation and can be used for disaster risk management by the local government. A detailed investigation with denser measurement points needs to be conducted to comprehensively describe the types of rocks in Banda Aceh and its surrounding.
Environmental Management
D. Asteria; J. T. Haryanto
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Empowering activities is the key in building awareness and individual capacity of household waste management, especially for women as the main actors. This study aimed to explore empowering activities as the key factor in shaping women's awareness of household waste management.METHODS:This ...
Read More
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Empowering activities is the key in building awareness and individual capacity of household waste management, especially for women as the main actors. This study aimed to explore empowering activities as the key factor in shaping women's awareness of household waste management.METHODS:This study was conducted using quantitative methods. The data collection technique used was survey. The sampling was carried out by purposive sampling technique. The criteria for sampling were those women who attended training in waste management in Jagakarsa Sub District, South Jakarta, Indonesia. The analytical technique used was Ordinary Least Square regression.FINDINGS: Based on the findings of this study, it was known that women who had good adaptability to technology were likely to have a greater chance score of 0.908. Education in schools was also found to have a positive impact on the opportunity score to earn good living environment. It was found that an increase in 1 year of schooling will increase the score of chance by 0.0755 (estimation 5). This is not significantly different from estimation 4 which would increase the chance by 0.0745. In waste management training, The womens’ participation are likely to increase the score chance of having a good environment by 0.944 points (estimation 5). Besides, the womens’ participation were found to be statistically significant at 95% confidence level in all estimations, particularly in the waste management training. Based on the comparison of the participation coefficient parameters in waste management training, it was found that there were no significant differences or signs (+ and -) between the estimations. All coefficient parameters ranged from 0.83 to 0.94.CONCLUSION: Empowerment activities that utilize access to education and easily adapt to a technology might have a significant correlation with women's involvement in waste management training. This is the basis for building awareness to carry out more sustainable household waste management and achieve change to get a good living environment.
X.Z. Yu; M.R. Lu
Abstract
Hydroponic experiments were performed to exam the dynamic change of endogenous proline in rice seedlings exposed to potassium chromate chromium (VI) or chromium nitrate chromium (III). Although accumulation of both chromium species in rice seedlings was obvious, more chromium was detected in plant tissues ...
Read More
Hydroponic experiments were performed to exam the dynamic change of endogenous proline in rice seedlings exposed to potassium chromate chromium (VI) or chromium nitrate chromium (III). Although accumulation of both chromium species in rice seedlings was obvious, more chromium was detected in plant tissues of rice seedlings exposed to chromium (III) than those in chromium (VI), majority being in roots rather than shoots. Results also showed that the accumulation capacity of chromium by rice seedlings was positively correlated to chromium concentrations supplied in both chromium variants and the accumulation curve depicted an exponential trend in both chromium treatments over the entire period of exposure. Proline assays showed that both chromium variants induced the change of endogenous proline in shoots and roots of rice seedlings. Chromium (VI) of 12.8 mg/L increased proline content significantly (p<0.05) compared to control, while the effect of chromium (III) on proline content was more evident at 30.0 mg/L (p<0.05). The results collected here suggest that both chromium variants are able to cause the change of endogenous proline in rice seedlings, but the response was found to be different between the two chromium treatments.
Environmental Management
D. Tomacheski; M. Pittol; D.N. Simões; V.F. Ribeiro; R.M.C. Santana
Abstract
There is a growing consumer market for products that proclaim to decrease microorganism counts to prevent infections. Most of these products are loaded with silver in its ionic or nanoparticle form. Through use or during production, these particles can find their way into the soil and cause an impact ...
Read More
There is a growing consumer market for products that proclaim to decrease microorganism counts to prevent infections. Most of these products are loaded with silver in its ionic or nanoparticle form. Through use or during production, these particles can find their way into the soil and cause an impact in microbial and plant communities. This study aims to evaluate the impact of silver based particles in Avena byzantina (oat), Lactuca sativa (lettuce) and Raphanus sativus (radish) development and in the soil microorganism abundance. Oat, lettuce and radish plants were cultivated in soil contaminated with particles of bentonite organomodified with silver (Ag+_bentonite), silver phosphate glass (Ag+_phosphate) and silver nanoparticles adsorbed on fumed silica (AgNp_silica). Plant development and microorganisms’ abundance were evaluated. To some degree, Ag+_bentonite impacted plants development and AgNp_silica causes an adverse effect on microbial abundance. The impact on plants and microorganisms was contradictory and varied according to soil and particles physicochemical characteristics.
Environmental Engineering
A. Suharyanto; A. Maulana; D. Suprayogo; Y.P. Devia; S. Kurniawan
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study aims to determine the relationships between land cover presented by vegetation index and land surface temperature, between vegetation index and the built-up index, between built-up index and land surface temperature, and between land surface temperature and rainfall ...
Read More
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study aims to determine the relationships between land cover presented by vegetation index and land surface temperature, between vegetation index and the built-up index, between built-up index and land surface temperature, and between land surface temperature and rainfall characteristics in East Java Province, Indonesia.METHODS: Three cities and four regencies were used as examples. Landsat imagery scanned in 1995, 2001, 2015, and 2020 were used. Daily rainfall data recorded in the same years with Landsat data are used. The pixel values along the urban heat island line were used to analyze the interrelationships between vegetation index, built-up index, and land surface temperature. The land surface temperature and daily rainfall data from each Thiessen polygon were used to analyze the relationship between land surface temperature and rainfall characteristics. Image processing analysis was used to analyze the vegetation index, built-up index, and land surface temperature. The mathematical interrelationship between vegetation index, built-up index, land surface temperature, and rainfall intensity was analyzed using linear regression.FINDINGS: The results of the analysis show that the relationship between vegetation index and built-up index is inversely proportional and with land surface temperature is nearly inversely proportional to a coefficient of determination greater than 0.5. For the relationship between the built-up index and land surface temperature, the results of the analysis show that both have a directly proportional relationship, with a significant coefficient of determination (R2>0.5). For the relationship between land surface temperature and rainfall characteristics, the results of the analysis show that land surface temperature has a directly proportional but weak relationship with rainfall intensity and an inversely proportional but weak relationship with the number of rainfall days. Decreasing environmental conditions indicated by decreasing vegetation index will influence increasing land surface temperature and its effect on increasing rainfall intensity and decreasing rainfall days.CONCLUSION: Changes in land use/land cover are characterized by a change in vegetation cover to built-up land. These changes affect the land surface temperature. Changes in land surface temperature affect the occurrences of rainfall intensity. When the vegetation index decreases, the built-up index increases, and the land surface temperature increases as well. The increase in land surface temperature will increase the rainfall intensity. Satellite remote sensing imagery is effective and efficient for analyzing vegetation index, built-up index, and land surface temperature.
Environmental Management
C.E. Akumu; J. Henry; T. Gala; S. Dennis; C. Reddy; F. Tegegne; S. Haile; R.S. Archer
Abstract
The understanding of inland wetlands’ distribution and their level of vulnerability is important to enhance management and conservation efforts. The aim of the study was to map inland wetlands and assess their distribution pattern and vulnerability to natural and human disturbances such as climate ...
Read More
The understanding of inland wetlands’ distribution and their level of vulnerability is important to enhance management and conservation efforts. The aim of the study was to map inland wetlands and assess their distribution pattern and vulnerability to natural and human disturbances such as climate change (temperature increase) and human activities by the year 2080. Inland wetland types i.e. forested/shrub, emergent and open water bodies were classified and mapped using maximum likelihood standard algorithm. The spatial distribution pattern of inland wetlands was examined using average nearest neighbor analysis. A weighted geospatial vulnerability analysis was developed using variables such as roads, land cover/ land use (developed and agricultural areas) and climate data (temperature) to predict potentially vulnerable inland wetland types. Inland wetlands were successfully classified and mapped with overall accuracy of about 73 percent. Clustered spatial distribution pattern was found among all inland wetland types with varied degree of clustering. The study found about 13 percent of open water bodies, 11 percent of forested/shrub and 7 percent of emergent wetlands potentially most vulnerable to human and natural stressors. This information could be used to improve wetland planning and management by wetland managers and other stakeholders.
Z.A. Buisan; A.E. Milano; P.D. Suson; D.S. Mostrales; C.S. Taclendo; J.G. Blasco
Abstract
The study aimed to determine the impact of sound land use management to the runoff in Kabuntalan, Maguindanao in Tamontaka river basin. This was done through simulation and the comparison of the three land cover scenarios such as 2015 land cover, 2025 projected land cover and desired land use to determine ...
Read More
The study aimed to determine the impact of sound land use management to the runoff in Kabuntalan, Maguindanao in Tamontaka river basin. This was done through simulation and the comparison of the three land cover scenarios such as 2015 land cover, 2025 projected land cover and desired land use to determine its difference in terms of runoff. Hydrologic Engineering Center-Hydrologic Modeling System was used for simulating runoff. The geographic Information system was used for the preparation of the land use/cover and as an interface between GIS and HEC-HMS. Based on the result, 2025 land cover values in runoff volume and peak outflow increase from 2015 land cover while decrease in desired land use. There is shorter time to peak in 2025 land cover than desired land use. The 2025 land cover, represented the land cover without intervention, showed that agriculture will dominate the area with 78.28% of the total area, closed canopy forest and open forest cover will reduce with 4.57% and 6.78% of the total area respectively. The desired land use represented the sound land use management, showed that there will be 13.9% decreased in agriculture. This can, however, result to increase in close canopy forest (112.3%), grassland (125.7%), and open forest (4.3%). The study showed that desired land use will most likely reduce the magnitude of the flood than the 2015 and 2025 land covers. Thus, adopting sound land use management in Tamontaka river basin is crucial to reduce runoff and thereby mitigate flooding in the study area.
Environmental Management
H. Herdiansyah; Nuraeni .
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Plastic waste in Indonesia increased significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic. With this surge in plastic consumption and waste, awareness of environmental sanitation becomes essential, especially regarding the use of plastic. Society must consider the impact of single-use ...
Read More
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Plastic waste in Indonesia increased significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic. With this surge in plastic consumption and waste, awareness of environmental sanitation becomes essential, especially regarding the use of plastic. Society must consider the impact of single-use plastics and implement good plastic waste management. This study aimed to determine the environmental awareness of a community and what factors contributed to its plastic waste utilization activities during the Covid-19 pandemic.METHODS: The data collection in this study was conducted using a questionnaire with a cross-sectional analytical approach. The study was conducted in Makassar City, South Sulawesi, the largest city in Eastern Indonesia, and purposive sampling was used to determine selected respondents. Data analysis was carried out using chi-square to identify partial relationships and logistic regression to distinguish relationships simultaneously.FINDINGS: This study found that 53.2 percent of respondents frequently used plastic during the Covid-19 pandemic. Partial relationship analysis showed that general knowledge about waste and its impact was not significantly related to plastic use activities during the pandemic. Meanwhile, knowledge about plastic use during the pandemic, knowledge of protecting the environment, attitudes toward plastic use, attitudes toward waste management, behavior toward plastic use, and behavior regarding processing plastic waste were significantly related to plastic use activities during the Covid-19 pandemic, with respective test values of 0.000 each. Willingness to pay was also significantly related to plastic use activities during the pandemic, with a test value of 0.007. Simultaneous analysis showed that knowledge about plastic use during the pandemic was related to plastic use activities during the same time frame, with an odds ratio value of 0.398 and a negative relationship direction. Plastic waste-processing behavior was the most dominant factor influencing plastic use activities during the Covid-19 pandemic, with a test value of 0.000 and a positive relationship direction. Respondents who did not have good waste management behavior were 3.963 times more likely to use plastic frequently in their daily activities during the pandemic.CONCLUSION: The study results show the importance of increasing knowledge regarding plastic use and waste management. Good knowledge will intervene in attitudes that encourage good behavior. This study focuses on the relationship between plastic processing behavior and the intensity of plastic use during the Covid-19 pandemic. It emphasizes the need for intervention in the form of education about the importance of protecting the environment and providing facilities that enable people to implement good waste-processing behavior.
Environmental Engineering
F.M. Torres-Bejarano; M. Verbel-Escobar; M.C. Camila Atencia-Osorio
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: One of the negative impacts of polluting activities on aquatic ecosystems is the loss of its natural self-purification ability, for this reason, the purpose of this research was to evaluate the Sinú river capacity to assimilate wastewater discharges.METHODS: Monitoring ...
Read More
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: One of the negative impacts of polluting activities on aquatic ecosystems is the loss of its natural self-purification ability, for this reason, the purpose of this research was to evaluate the Sinú river capacity to assimilate wastewater discharges.METHODS: Monitoring of several water quality parameters was carried out in the river at different seasons and a numerical method was used to simulate different scenarios through the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code model. The model calibration process was tested applying the Root Mean Square Error and after calibrating the model, scenarios of increase and decrease of discharge concentrations and flows, and river flows were simulated. Finally, the results were compared to water quality reference limits.FINDINGS: Results show that the model accurately represented the real conditions of the studied river section for all the evaluated parameters. Also, assimilative capacity was affected mostly by the scenario in which the river flow was decreased by 50%, and the flows and discharges concentrations were increased five times; causing parameters such as ammonia nitrogen, chemical oxygen demand, phosphates, and total nitrogen, to exceed the established reference limits with maximum concentrations of 2.7 mg/L, 30.9mg/L, 0.98 mg/L and 6.3 mg/L; respectively. Higher concentrations of water quality parameters were mostly found in the dry season since lower velocities and river flows promote less pollutants mixing and dilution processes.CONCLUSION: The model spatiotemporal simulations showed the effect of the wastewater discharges on the Sinú River assimilative capacity and made it possible to find those scenarios where water quality parameters exceeded the reference limits, becoming an essential tool for water management and the development of strong water quality objectives by stakeholders and environmental authorities.
Environmental Engineering
A. Nuryadin; T. Imai
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Fixed-bed column has been considered an industrially feasible technique for phosphate removal from water. Besides the adsorption capacity, the effectiveness of an adsorbent is also determined by its reusability efficiency. In this study, phosphate removal by a synthesized amorphous ...
Read More
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Fixed-bed column has been considered an industrially feasible technique for phosphate removal from water. Besides the adsorption capacity, the effectiveness of an adsorbent is also determined by its reusability efficiency. In this study, phosphate removal by a synthesized amorphous zirconium (hydr)oxide/MgFe layered double hydroxides composite in a fixed-bed column system was examined. METHODS: The effects of flow rate, bed height, phosphate concentration, solution pH, and adsorbent particle size on the phosphate adsorption ability were examined through a series of continuous adsorption experiments. The appropriate breakthrough curve models, phosphate adsorption from real anaerobic sludge and synthetic seawater, column regeneration and reusability, and adsorption mechanism were also investigated for practical application feasibility. FINDINGS: The results showed that the increased bed height and phosphate concentration, and reduced flow rate, pH, and adsorbent particle size were found to increase the column adsorption capacity. The optimum adsorption capacity of 25.15 mg-P/g was obtained at pH 4. The coexistence of seawater ions had a positive effect on the phosphate adsorption capacity of the composite. Nearly complete phosphate desorption, with a desorption efficiency of 91.7%, could be effectively achieved by 0.1 N NaOH for an hour. Moreover, the initial adsorption capacity was maintained at approximately 83% even after eight adsorption-desorption cycles, indicating that the composite is economically feasible. The high phosphate adsorption capacity of the composite involves three main adsorption mechanisms, which are electrostatic attraction, inner-sphere complexation, and anion exchange, where the amorphous zirconium hydr(oxide) on the surface of the layered double hydroxides likely increased the number of active binding sites and surface area for adsorption. CONCLUSION: The amorphous zirconium (hydr)oxide/MgFe layered double hydroxides composite, with its high adsorption capacity and superior reusability, has the potential to be utilized as an adsorbent for phosphorus removal in practical wastewater treatment. This study provides insights into the design of amorphous zirconium (hydr)oxide/MgFe layered double hydroxides composite for phosphorus removal and recovery in a practical system.
Environmental Management
T. Puspaningrum; N.S. Indrasti; C. Indrawanto; M. Yani
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Coconuts and their derivatives, such as copra and charcoal, are leading commodities of Indonesia contributing to local consumption and exports. Life cycle assessment is a tool for evaluating the inputs, outputs, and potential impacts of a product system throughout its life ...
Read More
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Coconuts and their derivatives, such as copra and charcoal, are leading commodities of Indonesia contributing to local consumption and exports. Life cycle assessment is a tool for evaluating the inputs, outputs, and potential impacts of a product system throughout its life cycle and is associated with product sustainability. The cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment of copra and coconut shell charcoal aims to determine the impacts of coconut, copra, and charcoal production from copra byproducts quantitatively and identify scenario improvements to reduce the impacts and enhance sustainability.METHODS: Field observations were conducted in tall coconuts in Agrabinta, South Cianjur, and in copra and coconut shell charcoal factories in Sukabumi, West Java, Indonesia. The life cycle assessment method comprises the following four stages: goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, impact assessment, and interpretation. The scope of this study was based on land preparation, nurseries, planting, fertilization, harvesting of mature coconuts, transportation of mature coconuts, copra production, transportation of coconut shells, and charcoal production. Ten impacts were calculated using the Center of Environmental Science of Leiden University Impact Assessment baseline method with Simapro software.FINDINGS: This study obtained ten impact categories, not only the global warming potential impact similar to most studies of perennial crop products in Indonesia. Normalization results showed that the category with enormous impacts on humans from coconut cultivation and copra processing activities had terrestrial ecotoxicity potential. The largest impact on charcoal production was on the human toxicity potential. Separated coconut factories from plantations have a high impact because of high fuel transportation. Four recommendation scenarios were formulated: 1) utilization of smoke from pyrolysis into liquid, 2) implementation of organic coconut cultivation practices, 3) integration of coconut plantations with copra and charcoal processing plants and processing smoke into liquid, and 4) combining scenarios 1, 2, and 3. In scenario 3, seven of ten impacts showed the lowest value among other scenarios. This scenario potentially decreases the impact from 68.35 to 99.62 percent. The human toxic potential of coconut shell charcoal decreased from 2.92 × 105 to 109.43 kilogram 1,4-dichlorobenzene equivalent, terrestrial ecotoxicity potential decreased from 59 to 19 kilogram 1,4-dichlorobenzene equivalent, and the global warming potential decreased from 1753.55 to 93.03 kilogram carbon dioxide equivalent.CONCLUSION: Life cycle assessment can evaluate the impacts of copra and coconut shell charcoal from the coconut cultivation to the production stages. Opportunities for improvement can be identified from the interpretation and hotspots. Scenario analysis results showed the potential of developing integrated coconut agroindustry with coconut plantations, copra factories, and charcoal factories to produce liquid smoke in one location. This integration markedly reduces the impact due to the reduction of transportation fuel and emissions and the treatment of air pollution from pyrolysis.
Environmental Management
Y.A. Pratama; M.Y.A. Kadir; A. Rivaldi; I.C. Mulya; S. Amirah; M. Iqhrammullah
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Climate change and pollution present severe threats to the environment and human well-being. Women are disproportionately affected by health challenges, including reproduction, cardiovascular, and neurological challenges. To address this issue, gender-inclusive environmental ...
Read More
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Climate change and pollution present severe threats to the environment and human well-being. Women are disproportionately affected by health challenges, including reproduction, cardiovascular, and neurological challenges. To address this issue, gender-inclusive environmental policies must be implemented. This aspect is particularly important with a setback observed in the environmental management regulations in Indonesia, where the government ratified the Omnibus Law on Job Creation, which removes the stringent licensing process for environmentally impactful activities. This situation highlights government negligence, emphasizing the urgent necessity for enhanced women’s participation in the legislature. This study has two objectives. First, evidence of environmental impact on women’s health is subject for evaluation. Second, this study aims to highlight the urgent need for increased women’s participation in environmental policy-making and legislative processes.METHODS: This study used bibliometric analysis, examining metadata from published literature indexed in the Scopus database. The search, conducted on 10 January 2024, utilized the keywords “Women” AND “Environment” and their synonyms, covering records from 1909 to 2024. Bibliometric analysis was conducted using Biblioshiny, with network and density visualization performed using VOSviewer. The participation of women in decision-making was analyzed based on their number of seats in Parliament and a literature survey. The selection of frequently occurring keywords and clusters of keyword co-occurrence was carried out independently by two independent reviewers.FINDINGS: The bibliometric analysis included metadata from 3770 records, revealing an exponential increase in trends from 2000 to 2020. Keyword co-occurrence analysis identified eight research topic clusters focused on the environmental impact on women’s health. Thereafter, the co-occurring keywords were utilized to trace the evolution of study themes, resulting in the identification of four main themes with well-established scientific evidence: (1) air pollution impact on pregnancy and its outcome, (2) pollution impact on women’s hormones, (3) environmental impact in urban settings, and (4) heavy metal pollution. Indonesia has never achieved 30 percent women representation in Parliament, highlighting the unsatisfactory participation of women in legislative elections. The underrepresentation of women directly impacts the insufficient attention to their well-being throughout the policy-making.CONCLUSION: The environment significantly influences women’s health, potentially making the population markedly vulnerable owing to societal roles and hormonal factors. To address this issue, a crucial step is actively involving women in policy-making, particularly through a reserved seat concept in Parliament. This approach, applicable globally, acknowledges the widespread impact of environmental issues on women across countries.
Environmental Management
S. Bogachov; A. Kirizleyeva; O. Mandroshchenko; S. Shahoian; Y. Vlasenko
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The crisis in the energy sector of Eastern European countries determines the search for alternative ways to solve the above problem, one of which is the development of economic policy in the field of energy in the context of European integration. The purpose of the article ...
Read More
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The crisis in the energy sector of Eastern European countries determines the search for alternative ways to solve the above problem, one of which is the development of economic policy in the field of energy in the context of European integration. The purpose of the article is to develop conceptual, theoretical-methodological and methodical-practical foundations of economic policy in the field of energy.METHODS: The methodological basis of the paper is a set of techniques, principles, general theoretical, special, interdisciplinary methods of scientific study. The method of metric ranking is used in assessing the levels of energy security in countries with high energy use. Based on the method of system equations, a functional system of critical infrastructure of the country is built.FINDING: A model of compatibility of energy infrastructure with other components of critical infrastructure (institutional and technological) was developed in order to ensure uninterrupted interaction between all key elements of critical infrastructure of the country and increase the level of energy, economic and national security of the country. Based on the content analysis of the legislation of the countries, it has been proven that in the system of critical infrastructure the energy sector is a key factor of national security. The calculated indicators of the level of energy efficiency of the energy system of Ukraine until 2035 based on the use of blockchain technology proved that the level of energy intensity of Gross domestic product should be reduced by more than half (53.57 %).CONCLUSION: As a conclusion, the developed model of the system of management of distribution of energy resources in the country using blockchain technology will contribute to decentralization of energy transactions, generation and supply of energy based on renewable and traditional sources, will allow to solve the problem of significant distance between renewable energy sources and industrial centers (its main consumers).
A.M. Hatami; M.R. Sabour; A. Amiri
Abstract
Oil refining is an inevitable step in production of edible and industrial oil. Bleaching is the most important process among the refining processes. Bleaching adsorption is the most common method and clay is the most widely used adsorbent in this method. Disposal of bleaching clay, as a waste from re-refining ...
Read More
Oil refining is an inevitable step in production of edible and industrial oil. Bleaching is the most important process among the refining processes. Bleaching adsorption is the most common method and clay is the most widely used adsorbent in this method. Disposal of bleaching clay, as a waste from re-refining plants, makes many environmental problems and economic losses. In the current study, the effects of possible factors such as solvent to clay ratio, temperature, time, aggregation size and rotation speed of the stirrer (degree of mixing) on the efficiency of extracted lubricating oil were investigated by solvent extraction method. By conducting experiments at different reaction times and rotation speeds, it was concluded that the most important factor in obtaining the appropriate output was solvent to clay ratio. The tests conducted to investigate the effect of grain size on the efficiency indicated that agglomerates size did not have a positive effect on efficiency. Finally, for the solvent to clay ratios ranging from 2.48-9.53 ml/g and a time period ranging from 5 to 40 minutes, the main tests designed by the response surface methodology. The best efficiency was obtained at the highest level of solvent to clay ratio (9.53 ml/g) and at the time of 22.5 minutes that led to 88.60% oil extraction from the clay. The accuracy of the model output was estimated to be 96%.
Environmental Science
N.T. Abdel-Ghani; E.S.A. Rawash; G.A. El-Chaghaby
Abstract
The present work was carried out to evaluate the removal of p-nitrophenol by adsorption onto olive cake based activated carbon having a BET surface area of 672 m²/g. The batch adsorption experimental results indicated that the equilibrium time for nitrophenol adsorption by olive cake-based activated ...
Read More
The present work was carried out to evaluate the removal of p-nitrophenol by adsorption onto olive cake based activated carbon having a BET surface area of 672 m²/g. The batch adsorption experimental results indicated that the equilibrium time for nitrophenol adsorption by olive cake-based activated carbon was 120min. The adsorption data was modeled by equilibrium and kinetic models. The pseudo- first and second order as well as the Elovichkinetic models were applied to fit the experimental data and the intraparticle diffusion model was assessed for describing the mechanism of adsorption. The data were found to be best fitted to the pseudo-second order model with a correlation coefficient (R2=0.986). The intraparticle diffusion mechanism also showed a good fit to the experimental data, showing two distinct linear parts assuming that more than one step could be involved in the adsorption of nitrophenol by the activated carbon. The equilibrium study was performed using three models including Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin. The results revealed that the Temkin equilibrium model is the best model fitting the experimental data (R2=0.944). The results of the present study proved the efficiency of using olive cake based activated carbon as a novel adsorbent for the removal of nitrophenol from aqueous solution.
Environmental Management
V. Pelitli; Ö. Doğan; H.J. Köroğlu
Abstract
In accordance with waste strategy for Turkey, the study was carried out to analyses waste engine crankcase oils and waste gearbox oils generated from vehicle maintenance services in order to determine their suitability for recycling, recovery or final disposal based on regulation published by Turkish ...
Read More
In accordance with waste strategy for Turkey, the study was carried out to analyses waste engine crankcase oils and waste gearbox oils generated from vehicle maintenance services in order to determine their suitability for recycling, recovery or final disposal based on regulation published by Turkish Ministry of Environment and Forestry on 21 January 2004. The regulation requires all waste oil neither abandoned nor released into the environment and all batches must be analyzed for arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, chlorine, total halogens, polychlorinated biphenyls, and flash points. The content analysis showed that the heavy metal concentrations in waste engine crankcase oils were varied considerably, between the metals analyzed, lead the highest is followed by chromium, arsenic and cadmium. In addition, higher amount of chlorine and total halogens, were detected in some samples, while polychlorinated biphenyls concentrations remained below regulatory limits for all samples. The analyses revealed that waste engine crankcase oils from fifteen to thirty five years old vehicles contained chromium, lead, chlorine and total halogens levels above legal limits set by Ministry of Environment and Forestry for recycling. Conversely, in comparison to the findings from the analyzed series of old vehicles, the waste engine crankcase oils samples from new vehicles and all waste gearbox oils are eligible for recycling.
Environmental Management
D. Yadav; H. Maheshwari; U. Chandra
Abstract
Origin of the coronavirus was the seafood market of Wuhan city, Hubei province in China. The cases of someone suffering from COVID-19 can be traced back to the end of December 2019 in China. This is the most infectious disease and spread worldwide within three months after the first case reported. The ...
Read More
Origin of the coronavirus was the seafood market of Wuhan city, Hubei province in China. The cases of someone suffering from COVID-19 can be traced back to the end of December 2019 in China. This is the most infectious disease and spread worldwide within three months after the first case reported. The World Health Organization renames Coronavirus as COVID-19. COVID-19 is the β-Coronavirus family virus, effect on the lung of human and common symptoms are cough, fever, fatigue, respiratory problem, and cold. The full name of the coronavirus is severe acute respiratory syndrome SARS-CoV. It spread on humans as well as animals and infected more than 183 countries with 2959927 confirm cases and 202733 deaths till 28 April 2020. 84 days data is used to predict confirmed and death cases for the next 10 days by using prophet and daily average based algorithm. Predicted confirmed cases are 2886183 and death cases 190540 till 25 April 2020. This study introduces the spreading pattern of COVID-19 in the top ten infected countries. After China, European countries are the most infected ones. In this study, data was analyzed on the attributes confirmed, active, recovered and death cases, and next ten days outbreak prediction. Some countries state-wise data confirmed active and death cases also analyzed.
Environmental Science
A.B. Achasov; A.A. Achasova; A.V. Titenko
Abstract
Soil erosion is one of the vital factors contributing to the loss of fertility and environmental degradation. Generally accepted diagnostics of eroded soils is based on comparison of the sloping soils profile depth with the watershed soils. In this case, there is a separate problem of slope soils with ...
Read More
Soil erosion is one of the vital factors contributing to the loss of fertility and environmental degradation. Generally accepted diagnostics of eroded soils is based on comparison of the sloping soils profile depth with the watershed soils. In this case, there is a separate problem of slope soils with a naturally shortened profile and eroded soils. Formation of the soil’s natural profile on the slopes, caused by the action of natural factors of soil formation, can be described using a mathematical model, characterizing hydrothermal conditions of the slope areas through relative parameters of insolation (Ki) and moisture. These parameters describe the difference in soil formation conditions on the slopes from the upland areas. They are calculated based on the landforms parameters – incline and slope exposure. Their ratio, xeromorphy coefficient, can be used to forecast humus content and profile thickness of non-eroded soils on the slopes. As studies have shown, for non-eroded chernozem soils of Ukraine, the parameter xeromorphy describes 49% of the profile thickness dispersion, while for eroded soils it does not depend on this parameter. Thus, this model of profile thickness P versus xeromorphy can be used to forecast the thickness of non-eroded soil for specific conditions. Deviation of the profile thickness from the forecast one can be considered as the manifestation of erosion or denudation.
L. Luo; J.-D. Gu
Abstract
The distribution of extracellular enzyme activities in particle-size fractions of sediments was investigated in a subtropical mangrove ecosystem. Five enzymes involved in carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) cycling were analyzed in the sand, silt, and clay of sediments. Among these fractions, ...
Read More
The distribution of extracellular enzyme activities in particle-size fractions of sediments was investigated in a subtropical mangrove ecosystem. Five enzymes involved in carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) cycling were analyzed in the sand, silt, and clay of sediments. Among these fractions, the highest activities of phenol oxidase (PHO), β-D glucosidase (GLU), and N-acetyl-glucosiminidase (NAG) were found in sand, and greater than bulk sediments of both intertidal zone (IZ) and mangrove forest (MG). This result implied that sand fractions might protect selective enzymes through the adsorption without affecting their activities. Additionally, the enzyme-based resource allocation in various particle-size fractions demonstrated that nutirents availability varied with different particle-size fractions and only sand fraction of MG with highest total C showed high N and P availability among fractions. Besides, the analysis between elemental contents and enzymes activities in particle-size fractions suggested that enzymes could monitor the changes of nutrients availability and be good indicators of ecosystem responses to environmental changes. Thus, these results provided a means to assess the availability of different nutrients (C, N, and P) during decomposition of sediment organic matter (SOM), and thus helping to better manage the subtropical mangrove ecosystems to sequester C into SOM.
A.C. Affam
Abstract
Conventional steam activation pyrolysis of waste materials such as oil palm kernel shell for production of biochar was investigated using central composite design. Conventional steam activation was carried out via an initial carbonization of oil palm kernel shell to obtain biochar and thereafter steam ...
Read More
Conventional steam activation pyrolysis of waste materials such as oil palm kernel shell for production of biochar was investigated using central composite design. Conventional steam activation was carried out via an initial carbonization of oil palm kernel shell to obtain biochar and thereafter steam activation of the biochar using the conventional heating to produce activated carbon. Additionally, removal of chemical oxygen demand and colour was studied alongside the production. Optimum yield was obtained at about 90 min and 725oC. Out of the time duration, 80 min was for carbonation and 10 min was for steam activation. Further extension of time was not significant whereas increasing temperature was able to increase the pores found on the biochar. Under the optimum condition, fixed carbon was 19.39%, chemical oxygen demand and colour removal were 32.02 and 61.15%, respectively at 90 min adsorption time. However, when time was extended to 120 min, chemical oxygen demand (48.2%) and colour (94.19%) removal were achieved. The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area and micropore area of the oil palm kernel shell based activated carbon was 620.45 m2/g and 550.4 m2/g, respectively. The conventional steam activation is an effective method that can be employed in production of activated carbon from waste oil palm kernel shell.
Environmental Management
R. Torres; N. Baker; G. Bernal; F. Peres; A. Maldonado; D.D. Caceres
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The goal of this study is to evaluate in a time-series study the short-term effects of particulate matter-2.5exposure on respiratory emergency visits in six central-southern Chilean cities highly contaminated by wood smoke.METHODS: Association was assessed using both distributed ...
Read More
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The goal of this study is to evaluate in a time-series study the short-term effects of particulate matter-2.5exposure on respiratory emergency visits in six central-southern Chilean cities highly contaminated by wood smoke.METHODS: Association was assessed using both distributed lag linear and non-linear Poisson models constrained to a 7-day lag period, adjusting for temporal trends and meteorological variables and stratifying seasonally into cold and warm periods.FINDING: The results showed that the daily average concentrations of particulate matter-2.5in the cold period were 3 to 6 times those recorded in the warm period, exceeding the daily norm of 50 µg/m3 the 93.3% of the time versus 6.7%, respectively. The average daily number of respiratory emergency visits were between 30% and 64% higher in the cold period compared to the warm one. From linear models, cumulative relative risk ratios over 0-7 day lags per 10 mg/m3 of fine particle increase were between 1.004 (95% confidence Interval: 0.998 - 1.010) and 1.061 (95% confidence Interval: 1.049 - 1.074); these annual effects are attributable to the cold period impact where the cumulative risk ratios were between 1.008 (95% confidence Interval: 1.004 - 1.012) and 1.036 (95% confidence Interval: 1.026 - 1.047), since significant effects of fine particles on the studied risk were not found for the warm period.CONCLUSION: With non-linear models we observed strong increasing associations with the level of particles for the overall period. High levels of fineparticles from firewood are associated with respiratory effects observable several days after exposure. Health effects found in this study suggest that current policies tending to mitigate woodsmoke-related emissions should continue and reinforce.
Environmental Management
U. Muksin; E. Riana; A. Rudiyanto; K. Bauer; A.V.H. Simanjuntak; M. Weber
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Soil or rock types in a region are often interpreted qualitatively by visually comparing various geophysical properties such as seismic wave velocity and vulnerability, as well as gravity data. Better insight and less human-dependent interpretation of soil types can be obtained ...
Read More
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Soil or rock types in a region are often interpreted qualitatively by visually comparing various geophysical properties such as seismic wave velocity and vulnerability, as well as gravity data. Better insight and less human-dependent interpretation of soil types can be obtained from a joint analysis of separated and independent geophysical parameters. This paper discusses the application of a neural network approach to derive rock properties and seismic vulnerability from horizontal-to-vertical seismic ratio and seismic wave velocity data recorded in Majalengka-West Java, Indonesia.METHODS: Seismic microtremors were recorded at 54 locations and additionally multichannel analyses of surface wave experiments were performed at 18 locations because the multichannel analyses of surface wave experiment needs more effort and space. From the two methods, the values of the average shear wave velocity for the upper 30 meters, peak amplitudes and the dominant frequency between the measurement points were obtained from the interpolation of those geophysical data. Neural network was then applied to adaptively cluster and map the geophysical parameters. Four learning model clusters were developed from the three input seismic parameters: shear wave velocity, peak amplitude, and dominant frequency.FINDINGS: Generally, the values of the horizontal to vertical spectral ratios in the west of the study area were low (less than 5) compared with those in the southeastern part. The dominant frequency values in the west were mostly low at around 0.1–3 Hertz, associated with thick sedimentary layer. The pattern of the shear wave velocity map correlates with that of the horizontal to vertical spectral ratio map as the amplification is related to the soil or rock rigidity represented by the shear wave velocity. The combination of the geophysical data showed new features which is not found on the geological map such as in the eastern part of the study area.CONCLUSION: The application of the neural network based clustering analysis to the geophysical data revealed four rock types which are difficult to observe visually. The four clusters classified based on the variation of the geophysical parameters show a good correlation to rock types obtained from previous geological surveys. The clustering classified safe and vulnerable regions although detailed investigation is still required for confirmation before further development. This study demonstrates that low-cost geophysical experiments combined with neural network-based clustering can provide additional information which is important for seismic hazard mitigation in densely populated areas.
M.B. Kulkarni; P.M. Ghanegaonkar
Abstract
There is a great need to implement low-cost and user-friendly methods for further propagation of biogas technology in India. Environment unfriendly disposal of floral waste causes serious environmental pollution. Literature shows a limited research work regarding the anaerobic ...
Read More
There is a great need to implement low-cost and user-friendly methods for further propagation of biogas technology in India. Environment unfriendly disposal of floral waste causes serious environmental pollution. Literature shows a limited research work regarding the anaerobic digestion of floral waste for biogas generation. The present experimental work aims to propagate floral waste as a sustainable source of biogas energy in India. Using different techniques like novel alkaline pretreatment, solar heating of the digester and co-digestion with food waste give enhanced biogas production from floral waste. A novel alkaline pretreatment of the floral waste using sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate gives an improvement in biogas output by 106%, with a saving in the cost of chemical pretreatment up to 96%, compared to traditional sodium hydroxide pretreatment. Also, solar heating of the digester increases the biogas output by 122% as compared to digesters in ambient conditions. Co-digestion of the floral waste with food waste also improves biogas output by 32.6%. Raw biogas from floral waste contains over 57% methane, which is higher than the previous studies. Large-scale application of the techniques can benefit the society.