Antioxidant, Antiprotoscolices Activity of Ethanolic Extracts of Some Medicinal Plants Against Echinococcus granulosus as Eco-friendly System

The principal objective of the study is to investigate the use of Mentha spicata, Thymus vulgaris and Ocimum basilicum as a good alternative option to Antiprotoscolices in-vitro. Hydatid disease, a zoonotic parasitic infection caused by Echinococcus granulosus, an important economic and human public health problem with a wide geographical distribution. Fertile hydatid cysts were collected from livestock and the viability of the protoscolices was confirmed. Protoscolices were subjected to four different concentrations of organic extracts (12.5, 25, 50 and 75 mg/ml) for 10, 20 and 30 min. Each extract was investigated and viability of the protoscolices was tested using 0.1% eosin staining. The highest efficacy was by T. vulgaris, M. spicata (100%), and O. basilicum (98.8%) respectively, after exposure of 20 minutes at 75 mg/ml, that lead to the significant reduction in the viability of protoscolices. The extract had time-dependent effect. Phytochemical were identified qualitatively and weighted quantitatively, that help in the identification of bioactive compounds involved in selective action on the protoscolices tegument layer. In conclusion, all the selected medicinal plants could be a promising source of potent antiprotoscolices effect. The mechanism by which plant extracts killed protoscolices and also their safety for living cells are unclear and need to be investigated further.

Energy Use and Carbon Footprint for Potable Water Treatment in Haiderpur Water Treatment Plant, Delhi, India

With the advent of the environmentally conscious decision-making period, the carbon footprint of any engineering project becomes an important consideration. Despite this, the carbon footprint associated with water resource projects is often overlooked. Water production, its supply and treatment processes involve significant energy consumption and thus, are source of emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) which contribute to global warming. The emissions are not direct but come as a by-product of burning of fossil fuels to produce electricity to carry out these processes. Since water demand is continuous and keeps on rising, the quantification of carbon footprint associated with the water industry is vital. This paper studies and attempts to quantify the carbon footprint of one such urban water system, that is the Haiderpur Water Treatment Plant in Delhi, capital region of India by using the Life Cycle Assessment methodology and evaluate its performance from the point of view of energy consumption and make suggestions.

Prediction of Sand Production Through Porous Media: Mechanisms and Challenges to Optimising the Inefficiencies

One of the challenges facing drilling companies in the completion and production of oil and gas wells is sand production from the formation. The ability to predict sand production in the wells of a reservoir, to decide to use different methods of control is considered a fundamental issue. Therefore, analysis and study of sand production conditions and selecting the optimal drilling route before drilling wells are significant issues that are less considered. According to the findings of this study, due to the sand grains adhesion issue, saturation increase has caused to increase in the intermolecular uptake, and therefore moisture has been decreased. It leads to reduction in the sand production rate. Pressure increase has a direct relationship with the sand production rate due to increased induced drag forces. Moreover, phenol–formaldehyde resins provided an acceptable measurement as there are no significant changes in porosity and permeability.

Application of Multivariate Statistical Methods and Water Quality Index for the Evaluation of Surface Water Quality in the Cunas River Basin, Peru

Watershed management requires information that allows the intervention of possible sources that affect aquatic systems. Surface water quality in the Cunas river basin (Peru) was evaluated using multivariate statistical methods and the CCME-WQI water quality index. Twenty-seven sampling sites were established in the Cunas River and nine sites in the tributary river. Water samples were collected in two contrasting climatic seasons and the CCME-WQI was determined based on physicochemical and bacteriological parameters. The PCA generated three PC with a cumulative explained variation of 78.28 %. The generalised linear model showed strong significant positive relationships (p < 0.001) of E. coli with Fe, nitrate, Cu and TDS, and a strong significant negative relationship (p < 0.001) with pH. Overall, the CCME-WQI showed the water bodies in the upper reaches of the Cunas River as good water quality (87.07), in the middle reaches as favourable water quality (67.65) and in the lower reaches as poor water quality (34.86). In the tributary, the CCME-WQI showed the water bodies as having good water quality (82.34).

Application of Sewage Sludge and Its Impact on Soil Characteristics, Including Morphological and Biochemical Properties of Vigna radiata Plant

This experiment was conducted in pots to study the effects of sewage sludge application on some morphological, physiological and accumulation characters of Vigna radiata. The experiment contained the following treatments: control (C) 0 gm sludge/30 kg soil, (T1) 300 gm sludge/30 kg soil, (T2) 600 gm sludge/30 kg soil and (T3) 900 gm sludge/30 kg soil. All sludge treatments showed a significant increase in all morphological, physiological and accumulation characters compared with control. (T2 ) treatment gave a significant increase as compared to other treatments in all morphological characters (height of the plant, leaf area, and total dry weight for shoots and roots). It increased by 34.1 cm, 33.1 cm2, 29.8 gm and 3.3 gm, respectively, compared with the control. T2 treatment also gave significant values in all physiological characters (chlorophyll and protein content) as compared to other treatments and the control treatment, (2.60 μg/gm and 17.7%) respectively compared with the control. T3 treatment showed a higher accumulation of Cd and Pb in all plant parts, the root system showed greater susceptibility to bioaccumulation than the shoot system for both the heavy metals.

Study on Treatment of Blood from Abattoir using Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) Technology with Production of Green Energy

Zero energy technologies and sustainable energy production are the two major concerns of present day researches. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are bioreactors that extract chemical energy stored in organic compounds, into electric potential, through bio-degradation. The core reason for the high strength of effluent generated from slaughterhouses is animal blood. The current study evaluates the potential of MFC technology to reduce the pollution strength of cattle blood in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD). The current study was piloted in three stages using lab scale two chambered MFC: The first stage was to determine the best oxidising agent as compared to natural aeration from three accessible options, KMnO4, diffused aeration and tape grass aquatic plant. KMnO4 was found to be the superlative with a 30% reduction in COD in 100 hrs batch reactor and a maximum power of 0.97 mW using 125 mL livestock blood. The second stage of the study optimised the concentration of KMnO4. At 500 mg/L KMnO4 concentration, 50% COD removal efficiency was acquired in a batch reactor of 60 hrs with an average energy output of 1.3 mW. In the final stage on the addition of coconut shell activated carbon with an Anolyte at a rate of 40 mL/125 mL of substrate COD removal efficiency increased to 74.9%.

Green Biosynthesis of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles and Testing Their Inhibitory Efficacy Against Some Pathogens

The biosynthesis of iron oxide (Fe2O3, also known as haematite) nano particles (NPs) using Hydra helix and Beta vulgaris aqueous extracts were adduced, respectively, where the extracts act as a stabiliser and reductant reagent. The crystal structure and size of particles were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), while the morphology was examined using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), XRD patterns showed the synthesised nanoparticles with well-crystallised structure from Beta vulgaris extract with size 12 nm, while the results by using Hydra helix showed many peaks back to Goethite phase with 16 nm. The antibacterial and antifungal activity were examined using Staphylococcus (showed inhibition zone diameter 23 mm, 16 mm using Hydra helix and Beta vulgaris, respectively), E. coli (showed no inhibition) and Candida fungi (showed inhibition zone 16 mm, 11 mm using Hydra helix and Beta vulgaris, respectively).

Jatropha integerrima, Duranta erecta and Hibiscus rosa-sinensis as Potential Lead Absorbent from Polluted Air in Dense Traffic Area

Lead (Pb) is one of the contaminants found in polluted air, especially in the area with dense traffic. Herbaceous plants are potentially used to reduce the Pb content in the polluted air. This study was designed to evaluate the potential of several plants, such as Jatropha integerrima, Duranta erecta and Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, as Pb absorbents from polluted air based on Pb accumulation and chlorophyll levels. The lead content was measured using atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS), while the chlorophyll content was tested using spectrophotometers at wavelengths of 649 nm and 665 nm. Results showed that the three plant species had potential as Pb absorbents from the air. The highest lead content was found from J. integerrima at 1.293 mg/kg, followed by H. rosa-sinensis at 1.232 mg/kg and D. erecta at 0.840 mg/kg. On the other hand, the highest level of leaf chlorophyll content was H. rosa-sinensis at 16.116 mg/kg, followed by D. erecta L. at 12.594 mg/kg and J. integerrima Jacq. of 10.297 mg/kg. No correlation was found between the Pb level and chlorophyll content of the three plants. It can be concluded that the three herbaceous plants have potential as Pb absorbents in the polluted air.

A Parametric Study on the HDPE/PP and Marble Slurry Waste Utilisation Using Single Screw Extruder

Due to the increased socio-economic development, the manufacturing of different products based on various polymers for different applications such as space crafts, airplanes, automobiles, boats, and sports equipment are increasing continuously. This huge increase in solid polymer commodities is also creating the extravagant quantity of solid waste polymers (SWPs) due to their non-degradable characteristics. These SWPs, for example, high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), and nylon, etc., are used frequently in various applications and create new challenges to the industries, government, as well as end-users for systematic waste recycling/recovery in an eco-friendly manner. Moreover, in this modernisation era, almost all marble industries are also facing a huge problem as marble slurry (MS) yields a great burden not only due to its limited degradability characteristics but also wider environmental hazard towards water bodies, and rivers. Fine particles in the range size of 45-300 micron in the MS create air pollution which in turn increases breathing problems. Moreover, it also creates an ecological adverse impact on soil fertility and reduces the percolation rate of rain water which in turn reduces the recharging of groundwater. Therefore, keeping in view the above facts, the simultaneous recycling of HDPE, PP and marble slurry is adopted through single screw extrusion in order to reduce the burden on the environment. Moreover, the effect of various process parameters viz barrel temperature, screw speed (rpm), feed composition, and grain size of PP and HDPE on extrudate output was envisaged. It was found that the extrudate output increases steeply on increasing the average barrel temperature from 100 to 120°C and linearly with screw speed range from 65 to 85 rpm. The effect of grain size had shown decreasing trend in throughput whereas on increasing the polymer content in the feed, throughput was found to be enhanced. Additives such as HPMC were found to be effective when used in synergy with HDPE and PP along with MS. The extrudate throughput was found to be a maximum of 33.01 g/minute at 120°C, 85 screw rpm, 1.40-grain size underfeed with equal proportionate of HDPE/PP with 2% HPMC and 8% MS. This clearly opens the ways for proper utilization of HDPE, PP and MS waste by extrusion and provides the environmental protection solution by utilizing these polluted materials in the fabrication of value-added products through extrusion.

Application of GIS in Rainwater Harvesting Research: A Scoping Review

The spatial and temporal variability of quantity and quality of water are important aspects of water resources management. Water demand has been increasing across the globe, but the fresh water supply is limited. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems are increasingly being embraced as an alternative freshwater source. This study reviews the dynamics of global research on RWH that utilises geographic information systems (GIS). It is found that the interest and use of RWH utilising GIS have increased over the recent years. However, the full potential of GIS in large scale RWH is yet to be untapped. We make recommendations for future research on RWH based on GIS. This includes new software and model development that links RWH with GIS to plan and design large scale RWH and automated building footprint extraction for estimating RWH potential. GIS can play a bigger role in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by incorporating GIS with RWH since GIS can handle large spatial data efficiently, which can help in locating areas that are suitable for rainwater harvesting.