Effect of Losing Nitrogen Fertilizers on Living Organism and Ecosystem, and Prevention Approaches of their Harmful Effect

The world’s population is drastically increasing; therefore, an enormous amount of nitrogen and other fertilizers are used to produce enough food for their feeding. Furthermore, since the applied nitrogen amount is not completely absorbed by plants, its big proportion is released to the environment in different ways. The released nitrogen amount damages both humans’ health and the environment. Some technical and agronomical techniques help to minimize the loss of this nitrogen. The fertilizer's loss not only affects farmers' economic condition, but their effects are integrated. Nitrogen fertilizers pollute water, soil, air, as well as our foods. Leaching nitrate can cause eutrophication in sea, lakes, and water bodies. This condition poses a big threat to the lives of fish and other aquatic organisms. It also causes various diseases in humans such as blue baby syndrome, carcinoma, and others. For instance, Nitrate-N (NO3-N) leads to the blue baby syndrome, carcinoma, and other diseases in humans. NO3-N leaching stimulates the growth of blue-green algae and creates hypoxic zones in the water. Moreover, cyanobacteria produce toxins that affect the liver`, kidney, brain, skin, and other parts of the human body, as well as cause complicated diseases. Ammonia and nitrogen oxides contribute to acid rains and have adverse effects on ecosystems. Nitrous oxides (N₂O) deplete the ozone layer, a layer that prevents harmful rays from reaching the earth. N₂O contributes extremely to global warming due to its potentiality. Although Nitrogen fertilizers have contributed to produce high yields in the world, their excessive application has created different problems in our environment. To reduce nitrogen leaching, some agronomical, technical, and other practices are required to be used in the large and small farming system.

Impact of Biogas Blends with Diesel on Emission of Compression Ignition Engine

Main objective of the work was to investigate the output like emission from compression ignition engine which has been run by diesel as well as the blends of biogas with diesel. Volume flow rate of biogas with petrol as a major parameter to reach the expected outcome. The engine was operated with diesel, and blends of biogas 15%, 25% and 35% with petrol. The study focused on the variation of outputs hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide(CO) Nitrous oxides(NOX) and smoke for the brake power generated by the engine. The engine exhibits better results when the proportion of biogas was increased.

Life-Cycle Assessment of Brazilian Transport Biofuel and Electrification Pathways

Biofuels and electrification are potential ways to reduce CO2 emissions from the transport sector, although not without limitations or associated problems. This paper describes a life-cycle analysis (LCA) of the Brazilian urban passenger transport system. The LCA considers various scenarios of a wholesale conversion of car and urban bus fleets to 100% electric or biofuel (bioethanol and biodiesel) use by 2050 compared to a business as usual (BAU) scenario. The LCA includes the following phases of vehicles and their life: fuel use and manufacturing (including electricity generation and land-use emissions), vehicle and battery manufacturing and end of life. The results are presented in terms of CO2, nitrous oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) emissions, electricity consumption and the land required to grow the requisite biofuel feedstocks. Biofuels result in similar or higher CO2 and air pollutant emissions than BAU, while electrification resulted in significantly lower emissions of all types. Possible limitations found include the amount of electricity consumed by electric vehicles in the electrification scenarios.

MESOSCALE PROCESSES OF ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTANTS TRANSFER IN THE SOUTH BAIKAL REGION

The article considers the results of experimental studies of mesoscale processes of atmospheric pollution transfer to the southern Baikal in the system of low-level atmospheric jet flows in the atmospheric boundary layer at heights up to 100–600 m. It is shown that the plumes of atmospheric emissions of large coal-fired power plants can be captured by the atmospheric jets and transferred to hundreds of kilometers without significant scattering and deposition. Such cases are observed, as a rule, at night and more often in the cold season of the year. The main pollutants in these plumes are sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxides, concentration of which in the region of Lake Baikal (70 km from the source) can reach the level from hundreds to thousands µg/m3. In the process of transfer, nitrogen oxides are partially oxidized by atmospheric ozone to nitrates (mainly to nitric acid), while ozone concentrations in the plume zone drop to zero, completely expending on oxidation.

Quantification and qualification of exhaust gases in agricultural diesel engine operating with biodiesel mixtures

ABSTRACT Diesel cycle engines are widely used in agricultural machinery. Biodiesel offers the possibility of partial or total replacement of mineral diesel, thus reducing the dependence of agriculture on this non-renewable resource and decreasing pollutant emissions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the emissions of CO, NOx, SO2, CO2, and O2 from various biodiesel mixtures (B0 = 0%, B7 = 7%, B10 = 10%, B20 = 20%, B30 = 30% and B100 = 100%) in a single-cylinder tractor engine at 1000, 1600 and 2400 rpm. The exhaust gases were identified using a gas probe meter. Fuels with a higher percentage of biodiesel have the lowest SO2 emissions, with the B30 mixture releasing 65.78, 52.47 and 32.25 parts per million at 1000, 1600 and 2000 rpm, respectively. Nitrous oxides and carbon dioxide emissions decreases with higher engine rotation speed. Higher percentages of biodiesel result in less polluting fuels.

Nitrous oxide emissions from aerobic granular sludge

The emissions of climate-relevant nitrous oxides from wastewater treatment with aerobic granular sludge (AGS) are of special interest due to considerable structural as well as microbiological differences compared with flocculent sludge. Due to the compact and large structures, AGS is characterised by the formation of zones with different dissolved oxygen (DO) and substrate gradients, which allows simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND). N2O emissions from AGS were investigated using laboratory-scale SBR fed with municipal wastewater. Special attention was paid to the effects of different organic loading rates (OLR) and aeration strategies. Emission factors (EF) were in a range of 0.54% to 4.8% (gN2O/gNH4-Nox.) under constant aerobic conditions during the aerated phase and different OLR. Higher OLR and SND were found to increase the N2O emissions. A comparative measurement of two similarly operated SBR with AGS showed that the reactor operated under constant aerobic conditions (DO of 2 mg L−1) emitted more N2O than the SBR with an alternating aeration strategy. Total nitrogen (TN) removal was significantly higher with the alternating aeration since non-aerated periods lead to increased anoxic zones inside the granules. The constant aerobic operation was found to promote the accumulation of NO2-N, which could explain the differences in the N2O levels.