Thailand faces a persistent PM2.5 challenge, with pollution levels consistently exceeding the World Health Organization’s guidelines. In response, the Thai government has made air pollution a national priority, implementing various policies and city-level plans to reduce exposure. These policies are often temporary and do not fully address root causes, whereas the limited monitoring coverage across Thailand restricts a comprehensive assessment of PM2.5 exposure severity. This study addresses the data gap by constructing a public attention index for PM2.5, using internet search data from Google Trends, to quantify public awareness and concern regarding PM2.5 exposure. This index aims to improve the understanding of PM2.5 exposure across Thailand and support more effective air quality management strategies. The findings indicate a statistically significant positive relationship between public attention, PM2.5 pollution levels, willingness to pay for PM2.5 reduction, and economic and social costs associated with PM2.5. The PAI_PM2.5 index serves as a valuable tool for policymakers, offering a data-driven method to align public perceptions with the true severity of pollution issues. The results further indicate that public attention is notably high in severely impacted areas, particularly Bangkok and the northern provinces, yet reveal an awareness gap in regions with significant pollution but low public concern. These findings have important policy implications, highlighting the need for targeted public awareness campaigns and specialized initiatives to improve air quality.

Agricultural drought sensitivity (ADS) is highly diverse across regions, primarily due to differences in climate, soil types, and farming practices. Agricultural drought impacts depend on drought intensity, severity, duration and timing relative to crop growth stages. Therefore, spatial and temporal pattern assessments of ADS and its potential impact on economic crops in three scenarios via multicriteria decision-making methods were conducted. As a result, the spatial distributions of the ADS index and its classification at 3 m7, 3 m10 and 6 m10, covering the planting and growing periods, displayed different patterns. The percentages of moderate, high and very high severity levels at 3 m7, 3 m10 and 6 m10 covered 56.06%, 59.14%, and 56.02%, respectively, of the study area. These results suggest that the study area is moderately sensitive to agricultural drought. A high and very high severity level of ADS at the district and subdistrict levels persistently occurred in three periods, with 8 districts and 72 subdistricts; these persistent areas should be intensively monitored for agricultural drought by the Department of Agricultural Extension (DOAE) and the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM). In addition, the potential impact areas of ADS with moderate, high, and very high severity levels indicated that ADS has a high potential impact on rice and corn. Nevertheless, it has a moderate effect on cassava and sugarcane. Hence, if drought occurs, rice and sugarcane areas should be prioritized with a field survey on the impact of drought by DOAE and DDPM. This research methodology can be used as a guideline for managing crops via the DOAE and monitoring agricultural drought via the DDPM. The government should establish early warning systems for droughts jointly by government agencies and universities to prevent and mitigate the impact of drought in the future.

Managing waste with grease traps poses a challenge because of the potential environmental issues associated with its disposal. In this study, two approaches were investigated to increase the biodegradability of grease trap waste: 1) converting raw grease trap waste into soap and 2) supplementing grease trap soap as inoculum with calcium material. The preparation of grease trap soap was optimized to attain a soap yield of 103% by utilizing a water-to-ethanol ratio of 9:1 at 80 °C for a processing time of 3 hours. A comparison of the composting results revealed higher nitrate yields with increased ratios of grease trap soap. Specifically, composting with 100% raw grease traps yielded 523.4 mg kg-1 nitrate, whereas composting with 100% grease trap soap produced 1,331.0 mg kg-1 nitrate. This indicated greater biodegradability of the modified grease trap, as evidenced by the BOD values, which were 3.81 times greater in the grease trap soap than in the raw grease trap waste. Microbial community analysis revealed distinct patterns between the compost mixed with 100% raw grease traps and that mixed with 100% grease traps. While both compost types contained predominant microorganisms linked to oil-degrading bacteria and biosurfactant producers, notable differences in microbial taxa were detected. Despite the high nitrogen content of grease trap soap compost, the germination index of mung bean seeds revealed that increasing grease trap soap loading tended to reduce the germination index. The addition of calcium hydroxide and calcium carbonate to the compost system, which uses grease trap soap as the inoculum and raw grease trap waste as the feedstock, could result in an increased germination index.

Thailand has been facing air pollution, e.g., PM2.5, and impacts from climate phenomena, e.g., the El Niño‒Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Both air pollution and climate interact with each other. Changes in the planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) can affect PM2.5, represented by the aerosol optical depth (AOD), and are influenced by ENSO related to changes in the PBLH. The relationships among the PBLH, ENSO, and AOD were investigated via an empirical orthogonal function (EOF), which decomposes the spatiotemporal data of the PBLH into spatial patterns and corresponding time series. Correlation analysis was used to determine the relationships between the PBL variability time series and the ENSO and AOD variations in terms of interannual variability. The analysis focuses on December–February from 1991–2020 to identify dominant PBLH variability modes and their statistical relationships with ENSO and AOD. EOF analysis reveals three interesting principal components (DecPC2, JanPC3, and FebPC2) that account for 11.3–23.5% of the total PBLH variance and that exhibit spatial correlation patterns resembling ENSO-induced patterns. These modes show patterns that are consistent with the ENSO-driven influence on PBLH variations. However, the spatial correlations between the PBLH and AOD vary across Thailand. This finding indicates that AOD changes are not driven solely by ENSO. Some regions show strong PBLH-AOD correlations, whereas others exhibit weaker relationships. For example, the PBLH increases (decreases) over the northeastern region (west side) of Thailand, which is correlated with a reduction (increase) in AOD in February during the positive phase year. These findings highlight that the PBLH and ENSO alone do not fully determine the AOD changes in Thailand. Factors, such as fire emissions, monsoonal influences, and regional transport processes, play significant roles. Further studies are needed for a better understanding of the mechanism affecting air pollution to address the impacts of both air pollution and climate.

This study introduces a novel composite catalyst formed by anchoring delta iron oxyhydroxide (δ-FeOOH) onto pyrolyzed Pili nutshell biochar via a room-temperature coprecipitation technique, marking the first application of Pili nutshell waste in advanced oxidation processes for wastewater treatment. This innovative methodology enhances catalyst dispersion and stability, facilitating the activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to generate reactive sulfate radicals (SO4•–) for the degradation of methylene blue (MB), a thiazine dye commonly used in the medical field and the dye industry. Different techniques have been used to characterize synthesized composites in terms of their morphology, elemental composition, surface functional groups, and crystalline phase structure. The system achieved a maximum MB degradation efficiency of 90.88% within 30 min at pH 6.0 when low dosages of PMS and the δ-FeOOH/biochar composite were used, following pseudo-first-order degradation kinetics. Radical scavenging experiments confirmed that SO4•– radicals were primarily responsible for the degradation process. Notably, the composite maintained over 70% removal efficiency after four reuse cycles, indicating its potential for sustainable and cost-effective wastewater treatment. This research highlights the effectiveness of the δ-FeOOH/biochar/PMS system as a promising solution for treating MB-laden wastewater, contributing to environmental sustainability and waste valorization.

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is a major indoor air pollutant and a significant ambient air contaminant associated with health effects, especially for students and teachers who attend schools in the areas of traffic, roads and industry. This study aims to assess the impacts of NO2 exposure on the health of students in haze and industrial areas from November 2023 to March 2024. Researchers utilized tube-type passive samplers to collect indoor and outdoor NO2 samples, which were subsequently analyzed via spectrophotometry. The results revealed that the weekly mean indoor and outdoor NO2 concentrations in the haze areas (HA1–HA5) ranged between 4.4–29.0 and 4.0–37.9 µg m-3, respectively. The ranges of indoor and outdoor NO2 in industrial areas (ID1–ID5) were 4.9–34.7 and 5.0–37.9 µg m-3, respectively. The indoor levels of NO2 were lower than the World Health Organization (WHO) standard of 40 µg m-3, whereas the outdoor levels were above the WHO recommended limit of 10 µg m-3, approximately 84–89%. The highest levels of NO2 in haze and industrial areas were influenced by the haze episode in Thailand. NO2 and PM2.5 levels in haze (r = 0.441–0.475) and industrial areas (r = 0.667–0.734) were significantly correlated. The noncarcinogenic risk for chronic exposure to NO2, both indoors and outdoors (HQ>1.0), indicates that exposure significantly affects children and that long-term exposure could result in the accumulation of effects in adults, especially in industrial areas.

Electronic waste (e-waste) management is a critical global pollution concern. This study investigates government support; local residents' perceptions, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to e-waste management; and collaborative governance in southern Thailand. Employing both quantitative and qualitative methods, this research involves expert government officers who are well versed in e-waste management and local residents. The study utilized in-depth interviews, questionnaires, and workshops. The results revealed that the government is responsible for four e-waste management approaches, encompassing various e-waste collection, transportation, and disposal methods. Local residents exhibited low perceptions of e-waste news but possessed substantial knowledge and positive attitudes toward e-waste management. Surprisingly, general characteristics do not significantly influence e-waste management behavior. A statistically significant connection was found between perceptions (B = 0.065, t = 6.657, p value = 0.000) and attitudes (B = 0.079, t = 4.350, p value = 0.000) toward e-waste management, which had a positive relationship with e-waste management behavior in southern Thailand (p value < 0.01). Repairing appliances is the most common action taken (44.5%). Despite longer lifespans for electronic appliances than they did a decade ago, revisions to the draft waste electrical and electronic equipment Act are underway, aiming to incorporate stakeholder involvement and the extended producer responsibility principle. This study provides valuable insights into government and local community concerns regarding e-waste management and evaluates the efficacy of recent management procedures. These findings can inform the development of action plans that consider crucial aspects of e-waste management.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a significant greenhouse gas. This causes harm to the environment and to humans. In 2023, atmospheric CO2 levels rose to 420 ppm, marking a new record high. Therefore, technology for capturing CO2 has been developed. At present, a wide variety of technologies have been proposed to capture CO2. Adsorption technology is more affordable and requires less energy for regeneration. There are many potential solid adsorbents for CO2 capture, such as zeolites, alumina, metal‒organic frameworks (MOFs), and mesoporous silicas. Silica materials possess unique properties that make them promising candidates as solid sorbents for CO2 capture. They provide several benefits, such as high adsorption capacity under dry conditions at ambient temperature, along with low energy requirements for regeneration. Amine-functionalized silica adsorbents are among the most promising methods for CO2 capture, offering high efficiency and high uptake rates. In this study, silica gels were grafted and impregnated with amines via methyl diethanolamine (MDEA). The effects of water content and amine loading on CO2 capture performance were investigated. The MDEAs grafted and impregnated on silica gel exhibited excellent CO2 efficiencies of 0.36 and 0.38 mg CO2 per gram sorbent, respectively, which are higher than the 15% efficiency of the unmodified adsorbent. The results showed that the modified silica gel had high CO2 efficiency during the first three adsorption‒regeneration cycles when the water content and amine loading increased. Moreover, the nitrogen content increased with increasing water content, leading to an increase in the adsorption capacity.

This research aimed to investigate the effects of hydroponically cultivated vetiver grass (Vetiveria zizanioides) on the treatment of tannery wastewater for chromium (Cr) removal in Bangladesh. The field experiment involved 9 containers, which were separated into 3 groups: tannery wastewater with hydroponically planted vetiver, tannery wastewater without vetiver (control), and a group with vetiver grown in tap water. The tap water group was used solely for plant growth assessment, whereas only the control and hydroponic vetiver groups were evaluated for Cr and water quality parameters. Throughout the 45-day trial period, Cr and other water quality parameters were analyzed at 15-day intervals. The findings showed that the floating platform method of cultivating vetiver grass was significantly effective (p<0.05) in eliminating pollutants. The observed reduction rate for pH was 15.19%, whereas the treatment efficiencies for electrical conduc-tivity, biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, turbidity, total suspended solids, total dissolved solids, and Cr were 35.42%, 84.66%, 81.21%, 33.17%, 83.28%, 72.55%, and 79.71%, respectively. With respect to plant growth, vetiver grass is well established and thrives in tannery wastewater, achieving a root length of 22.5 cm after 45 days. Most contaminants significantly decreased (p<0.05) after treatment and were below the maximum permissible discharge limits, with only a few parameters remaining above the standards. The results provide evidence to support extensive research and application of the vetiver hydroponic technique as a cost-effective wastewater treatment method in Bangladesh.

Nutrient pollution, also known as eutrophication, is a severe environmental problem that leads to harmful algal blooms in water bodies and affects water supplies for human use. This study aims to determine the trophic state of the reservoir based on the trophic state index (TSI) calculated from ground monitoring data of Secchi depth (SD), total phosphorus (TP), and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) obtained from 35 points in 2 survey periods during the late rainy season to early dry season 2012–2013 and May 2023. In addition, we combined remote sensing data to spatially estimate the eutrophication situation across the reservoir through correlation analysis and determine the best regression models. The results of correlation analysis between ground monitoring values and spectral values from remote sensing algorithms showed that the two parameters, SD and TP, correlated best with the NIR/BLUE algorithm. In contrast, the Chl-a parameter correlated best with the NIR/RED algorithm. From there, we mapped the spatial distribution of parameters and trophic state according to TSI in the entire Dau Tieng Reservoir based on the spectral values from remote sensing algorithms and regression models. Analysis results showed that, as of May 2023, the Dau Tieng Reservoir showed signs of eutrophication in most areas; some areas also showed signs of hyper-eutrophication, causing the risk of harmful algal blooms. The results achieved in this study will be a valuable source of consultation, supporting environmental management to minimize nutrient pollution in the Dau Tieng Reservoir water source.