Domestic Purposes Research Articles

Appraising groundwater quality and the associated health risks of heavy metal contamination at Suame magazine

Suame magazine is well-known as one of the largest artisanal sites in Ghana, for which metal fabrication, vehicle repairs, and sales of spare parts are the hallmarks. Despite the increased risk of heavy metal pollution, quality of the ground water as well as the risk implications to human remains vague. Towards this shed, the present study seeks to investigate the extent of heavy metals pollution of groundwater; and the possible health risk they pose to consumers. A total of 15 groundwater samples were sampled from different boreholes and were analysed for Cd, Cr, As, Zn, Pb, and Cu concentrations. Water quality and health risk assessment indices were employed to evaluate the suitability of the water for domestic purposes. The results showed that concentrations “Cd (0.12 mg/L± 0.08) and Cr 0.11 mg/L± 0.09)” exceeded their respective standards, 0.003 mg/L and 0.05 mg/L according to the WHO recommended levels for drinking water. In addition, water quality index rated the groundwater as unfit (WQI >300) for drinking purposes. Results of health risk indices showed that ingestion of ground water could pose cancer and non-cancer risk for elements of As, Cd, and Cr to both children and adults. Noteworthily, children are at a higher risk to non-carcinogenic effects, whilst adults are relatively susceptible to carcinogenic risk. Our findings provided a scientific basis for strategies to protect human and environmental health of artisanal-based communities in Ghana.

The potential of industrial sludge and textile solid wastes for biomass briquettes with avocado peels as a binder.

Producing biomass briquettes from industrial solid wastes is a more environmentally friendly way to provide alternative energy and is essential for Ethiopia to satisfy its growing energy needs while also ensuring efficient waste management in the expansion of industrial parks. The main objective of this study is to produce biomass briquettes from a mixture of textile sludge and cotton residue using avocado peels as a binder. Textile solid waste, avocado peels, and sludge were dried,carbonized,and turned into powder to make briquettes. Briquettes made from the mixture of industrial sludge and cotton residue were combined in various ratios: 100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40, and 50:50 with the same amount of the binder. Briquettes were then made using a hand press mold followed by sun-drying for two weeks. The moisture content, calorific value, briquette density, and burning rate of biomass briquettes ranged from 5.03 to 8.04%, 11.19 to 17.2MJ/kg, 0.21 to 0.41g/cm3, and 2.92 to 8.75g/min, respectively. The results revealed that the briquette produced from a 50:50 ratio of industrial sludge to cotton residue was the most efficient. The inclusion of avocado peels as a binder enhanced the briquette's binding and heating properties. Thus, the findings suggested that mixing various industrial solid wastes with fruit wastes could be an effective means of making sustainable biomass briquettes for domestic purposes. Additionally, it can also promote proper waste management and provide young people with employment prospects.

Hydrogeochemical characteristics and multivariate statistical approach for monitoring groundwater quality scenario in the vicinity of industrial area of western Himalaya, India

ABSTRACT In the present investigation, 50 groundwater samples were collected from Udham Singh Nagar District of Kumaun Himalaya in the pre-monsoon season and 15 physicochemical parameters were analysed using standard procedures. Here, we represent the chemistry of major cations and anions to know the overall water quality and hydrogeochemical characteristics controlling the solute acquisition processes and sources of elements in the study area. The analytical results revealed that in the groundwater samples, Ca2+ and Mg2+ were the dominant cations and was the most dominant anion in the study area. In all the groundwater samples, the content of alkaline earth metals (Ca2++ Mg2+) exceeded the mean content of alkalis (Na+ +K+). In 62% of groundwater samples, the value of weak acid () exceeded the content of strong acid (Cl− + ). Piper diagram, molar ratios and statistical techniques indicated that weathering of carbonate and silicate minerals mostly managed the solute acquisition process with very less involvement of human activities. Most of the groundwater samples were found suitable for potable and domestic purposes except for a few locations nearby SIKDKUL or other industries (the eastern and western part of the study area). Correlation analysis revealed the dependency of WQI values on Fe and Mn content.

Spatial distribution of the contamination and risk assessment of potentially harmful elements in the Ghizer River Basin, northern Pakistan

Abstract The Ghizer River Basin (GRB) is one of the sub-basins of the Indus River hosting rich mineralization and agrogenic activities. The GRB was sampled for 55 water samples and investigated for potentially harmful element (PHE) concentrations using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. PHE concentrations in water of the GRB were used to calculate the potential of non-cancer risks such as chronic daily intake (CDI), hazard quotient (HQ), and cancer risk (CR). The highest average concentrations of chromium (37.1 ± 17.1 μg/L), copper (27.4 ± 12.5 μg/L), arsenic (4.8 ± 0.9 μg/L), cobalt (9.2 ± 3.3 μg/L), and nickel (62.7 ± 27.6 μg/L) were noted for the Ishkomen River segment of the GRB. Similarly manganese (417 ± 144 μg/L), cadmium (1.95 ± 0.02 μg/L), lead (7.7 ± 1.4 μg/L), and zinc (28.4 ± 5.5 μg/L) concentrations were maximum at downstream of the GRB. Geospatial and statistical analyses showed that lithogenic sources contributed higher to PHE contamination in the water of the GRB than the agrogenic sources. PHE concentrations were noted under the World Health Organization (WHO) drinking water thresholds, except for nickel. Results showed the uppermost CDI value of 13.6 μg/kg-day for manganese and HQ value of 0.52 for arsenic via water intake of children. Non-cancer and CR values through water intake were under the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) thresholds and noted as suitable for drinking and other domestic purposes.

Assessment of Physico-Chemical Properties and Plankton Composition of Ajiwa Reservior in Katsina State, Nigeria

Plankton composition and physicochemical properties of Ajiwa water reservoir were assessed over a twelve (12) month period. The physicochemical and biological parameters were determined using conventional methods and procedures at three sampling points. The outcome was revealed. The phytoplankton composition was Chlorophyta (57.66%), Bacillariophyta (25.70%), Cyanophyta (14.73%), and Dinophyta (1.91%), with Rotifera (30.55%), Copepoda (29.33%), Protozoa (22.27%), and Cladocera (17.85%) being the least. The temperature fluctuated with a mean SE value of (23.08 0.8OC); the pH fluctuated with a mean SE value of 6.8 0.1; and the turbidity fluctuated with a mean SE value of 99.3 3.6NTU. DO readings range from 3.8mgL-1 to 7.9mgL-1, with a mean SE of 6.6 0.3mgL-1. BOD showed monthly fluctuation, with a mean SE value of 3.2 0.4mgL-1. The electrical conductivity ranged from 102.4 µS/cmto 105.1S/cm, with a mean SE of 129.9 4.1µS/cm. The higher chlorophyta and rotifer composition in the reservoir indicated that the water quality is good, but increased human activities such as runoffs of inorganic fertilisers and pesticides may influence change in water quality over time. The reservoir water is suitable for irrigational and domestic purposes in terms of most of the physicochemical and biological parameters analysed. As a result, an effective anthropogenic inputs control strategy in the reservoir is required.

Automated energy meter

In recent years, the Smart Energy Meter has attracted a lot of attention from all over the world. In this paper a design and prototyping a low-cost IoT energy monitoring is presented, which may be utilized in a variety of applications such as power billing, smart grid energy management, and home automation. The system is based on a low-cost ESP32 microcontroller that is interfaced non-invasive Current Sensors, and Voltage Sensor to get data from sensor nodes and deliver it to a Blynk server over the internet. The studies' findings showed that the system for monitoring energy consumption can precisely record voltage, current, active power, and cumulative power consumption. According to the market requirements of Electric Meters. Nowadays, the system will use ZigBee and GSM systems for communication protocol. The ZigBee is used since the application does not need a high-speed data rate, need to be low powered and low-cost. Presenting the remote wireless Electric Meter Reading System, aims at resolving the shortcomings of the technology of the traditional Electric Meter Reading, combining the characteristics of the ZigBee technology and IEEE802.15.4 standard. Electricity is one of the fundamental necessities of human beings, which is commonly used for domestic, industrial, and agricultural purposes. Power theft is the biggest problem in recent days which causes a lot of loss to electricity boards. In countries like India, these situations are more often. If we can prevent these thefts, we can save a lot of power. This is done using Automated Energy Meter (AEM). AEM is an electronic device with having energy meter for measuring the electric energy consumed and a wireless protocol for data communication

Assessment of physiochemical properties and bacteriological diversity of Otamiri river in Owerri eastern Nigeri

The physiochemical and bacteria diversity of Otamiri River was analyzed using standard microbiological methods. A total of seventy two (72) water and twenty four (24) sediment samples were collected. The routine plate count revealed that the number of heterotrophic bacteria present ranged from 1.00E+06 Cfu/ml to 9.70E+06 Cfu/ml, fecal coliform count 2.00E+05 Cfu/ml to 9.00E+06 Cfu/ml, Salmonella/Shigella count 3.50E+05 Cfu/ml to 1.52E+07 Cfu/ml, Staphylococcus count 2.00E+05 Cfu/ml to 1.79E+07 Cfu/ml, coliform count 3.50E+05 Cfu/ml to 4.59E+08 Cfu/ml, Vibrio count 1.50E+05 Cfu/ml to 3.52E+07 Cfu/ml. Anaerobic bacteria count ranged from 2.00E+05 Cfu/ml to 2.85E+06 Cfu/ml. The proportion of bacteria isolated from the samples showed that Alcaligens faecalis had the highest 68(94.44), 24(100), followed by Lysinibacillus macrolides 54(75), 21(87.5) while Lactobacillus spp had the least in water sample 6(8.33), Klebsiella aerogenes had the least in sediment 6(25). Among the physiochemical parameters analyzed in the river water and sediment samples had values above the recommended standard by WHO. The samples biophysical parameters did not meet the standard recommended by WHO for portable water. Therefore, to prevent potential health risks, those who use river water for domestic purposes must appropriately cleanse it before use. The government of the day should devise ways of disposing solid waste and effluent rather than channel same into the river and enact strict laws that will punish individual, agencies and firms that indulge in such in order to protect natural bodies of water from pollution. Statistical analysis using analysis of variance Posthoc = Tukey Alpha (0.05) indicated that the mean bacteria counts between the sampling stations differ significantly at the 0.05 level.

Impact of "green" roofs on rainwater management: review of scientific research and perspectives of use

The multifaceted advantages of "green" technologies are analyzed, one of which is the effective management of rainwater in urbanized regions, which allows solving a number of important problems, such as: local waste disposal; reduction of runoff volumes due to evapotranspiration from vegetation and open surfaces; retention of rainwater in the soil; reduction of peak flow values due to temporary storage of water in the substrate and drainage layer; improving the quality of rainwater, which then falls into the soil or is collected in separate reservoirs for further use for technical or domestic purposes. Based on the analysis of experimental studies by world-class scientists, it is shown that for extensive "green" roofs, the average efficiency of rainwater retention is estimated between 45% and 60%, and the cumulative annual retention is about 50% and 60%, depending on the local climate. The results of a study on determining the degree of reduction of rainwater runoff from the surfaces of "green" roofs, which were conducted on two model roofs (extensive and intensive) in Poland, are given. It is well-founded that the rainwater absorbed by the layers of the "green" roof slowly evaporates over a long period of time, which means maintaining a more stable relative air humidity in the vicinity of the building. The method of determining the amount of rainwater runoff from the surface of "green" roofs, as well as determining the daily load of rainwater drainage on the analyzed site, is presented. It was established that about 44% of rainwater from torrential rains is retained in the layers of the "green" roof, and in the case of an intensity not exceeding 5 mm/day, rainwater is completely retained by both intensive and extensive roofs. The advantages of "green" technologies in the process of filtering rainwater, which can be collected in tanks and used for technical needs, are considered. The prospects of rainwater management using "green" roofing systems on roofs in different countries of the world and, in particular, in Ukraine, were analyzed. The ranking of the total area and density of "green" roofs used for rainwater management in different cities of the world for 2022 is given. The authors developed and presented a recommended system of measures for the development and implementation of "green" roofs in Ukraine.

Impact of protective glass on photodegradation of ink-jet printed documents

Ink-jet printing has recently been increasingly used for professional and domestic purposes. However, the degradation of ink-jet prints under the influence of external factors, predominantly light, can cause unexpected problems and lead to the limited life span of a product. It is therefore essential to have in-depth knowledge about the materials, i.e. paper and ink, used for ink-jet printing and to consider their lightfastness to assure the resistance of a print as a whole. The aim of the present research was to study the lightfastness of ink-jet prints protected with glass. Using a printer with dye-based inks, samples of cyan, magenta, yellow and black were printed on different paper substrates. Prints and substrates alone were exposed to the radiation of xenon light for a limited time to simulate the action of average daylight. Some of the samples were exposed to radiation without protection, while others were covered with ordinary window glass or glass which ensured UV protection. Afterwards, the changes on samples were evaluated spectrophotometrically and colour differences were calculated using the CIEDE2000 equation. The results showed that glass effectively reduces the photodegradation of ink-jet prints. Protection with UV glass proved to be more effective than with ordinary glass. The substrate selection was also significant in achieving print lightfastness, as much smaller colour differences were observed on the prints made on photo paper than on those printed on plain office paper.

Physiochemical Analysis of River Sutlej, Sindh and the Arabian Sea to Evaluate the Water Quality

Globally, water pollution is caused primarily by growing populations, urbanization, and modern agricultural techniques. In this study, freshwater samples were collected from Satluj river, Sindh river, and Arabian sea to assess water quality. A variety of physicochemical parameters were measured in these samples, including pH (7.5 to 8.4), color (variable), odor, turbidity (7 NTU to 18 NTU), taste (salty/bitter), total dissolved solids (182 mg/L to 34768 mg/L), total soluble solids (52 mg/L to 1244 mg/L), EC (109 µS/cm to 51488 µS/cm), total hardness/Ca+2+Mg+2 (25 mg/L to 125 mg/L), total alkalinity or CO3 -2 , HCO3 - (80 mg/L to 172 mg/L), exchangeable ions like Cl- (27 mg/L to 19742 mg/L), F- (0.3 mg/L to 1.29 mg/L), SO4 -2 (30 mg/L to 2974 mg/L), PO4 -3 (8 mg/L to 35 mg/L), NO2 -2 (18 mg/L to 43 mg/L), Mn+2 (0.0002 mg/L to 0.63 mg/L), Cu (0.0005 mg/L to 0.08 mg/L), Cd+2 (0.0005 mg/L to 0.88 mg/L), Cr+3 (0.003 mg/L to 0.32 mg/L), Zn+2 (0.001 mg/L to 2.72 mg/L), Fe+2 (0.01 mg/L to 0.9 mg/L), Ni+2 (0.002 mg/L to 0.23 mg/L), Na+ (15 mg/L to 10157 mg/L), K+ (4.4 mg/L to 379 mg/L), Ca+2 (20 mg/L to 380 mg/L), Mg+2 (5.4 mg/L to 1584 mg/L) tested by standard methods reported in Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) with little modifications. Most of the parameters studied in these water samples were beyond the National Environment Quality Standard of drinking water guidelines for seawater, but within acceptable limits for rivers. Consequently, these trends made seawater unfit for the survival of aquatic plants and marine life as well as for the people who use river water for domestic and agricultural purposes.

Evaluation of Groundwater Quality and Suitability for Irrigation Purposes and Human Consumption in Saudi Arabia

Studying groundwater quality is crucial for ensuring its safety because it is widely used for drinking and for domestic, agricultural, and industrial purposes. Owing to the lack of surface water in the Tabuk area of Saudi Arabia, here groundwater wells are one of the primary sources of water for drinking, agriculture, and industry. Groundwater quality is determined by the aquifer characteristics of the regional geology, and it is extensively influenced by both natural and anthropogenic activities. To understand the geochemical evolution and assess the suitability of groundwater for irrigation, major ion geochemistry was utilized to characterize the chemical composition of groundwater in the Tabuk area, which is considered a semiarid plateau region. Depending on its mineral composition, irrigation water’s quality reflects how it affects plants and soil. In total, 80 groundwater samples have been collected and analyzed in laboratory for major cations and anions. Temperature, alkalinity (ALK), pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), electric conductivity (EC), total hardness (TH), oxidation reduction potential (ORP), and cation and anion concentrations were measured. Water chemistry classification was carried out by using a Piper diagram and a Gibbs diagram. In the current study, statistical methods, combined with geochemical modeling and conventional plots, have been used to investigate groundwater and related geochemical processes in the Tabuk area of Saudi Arabia. Applications and calculations of hydrogeochemical parameters, specifically SAR, RSC, PI, CR, MH, Na%, KR, and HI, showed that 92.5% of the collected groundwater well samples are suitable for drinking and irrigation purposes after treatment processes.

Assessing seawater intrusion and chloride zones in residents' wells in selected coastal area of Indonesia: A GIS analysis

Background: Seawater intrusion refers to the infiltration of seawater into groundwater, either naturally or artificially, due to the extraction of groundwater for domestic purposes. Seawater intrusion can have wide-ranging impacts on various aspects of life, including health issues, reduced soil fertility, structural damage, and groundwater contamination. In the Kendari District area, people rely on springs, dug wells, and drilled wells to fulfill their daily water needs, as well as for tourist and commercial activities. However, signs of seawater intrusion become evident when the water used by residents in the area becomes brackish or even saline. Objective: This study was to determine the distribution pattern of seawater intrusion and chloride zones in the coastal area of Kendari District, specifically within Kendari City, Indonesia. Methods: This study employed a descriptive research design and utilized purposive sampling to select the subjects. A total of 20 water samples were collected from residents in Kendari District, Kendari City. The research was conducted at various wells within the district. The collected data were then entered into a Geographic Information System (GIS) to analyze the distribution pattern of seawater intrusion and chloride zones in the coastal area of Kendari District, Kendari City. Results: The findings revealed an average pH of 7.11 (ranging from 5 to 8.8), an average temperature of 29.4°C (ranging from 29.4 to 32.7°C), an average Total Dissolved Solid (TDS) level of 590.25 mg/L (ranging from 54 to 1,388 mg/L), and an average salinity of 3.05‰ (ranging from 1 to 5‰). Conclusion: Based on these results, it can be concluded that seawater intrusion is classified as low and is not affecting the wells used by residents in the coastal area of Kendari District, Kendari City, Indonesia.

DEVELOPMENT OF TRACE METALS CONCENTRATION MODEL FOR RIVER: APPLICATION OF PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS AND ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK

Rapid development along the Kuantan River was long perceived as the rivers serve many communities in terms of drinking water source, domestic, fisheries, recreation, and agricultural purposes. Due to the rapid changes in technology and upsurge in chemical usage, pollutant alterations turn out to be more drastic with respect to space and time. Research on the trace metals in river water is quite limited in Malaysia, probably due to their ppb-level existence and the need for special handling techniques. Hence, the aim of this study is to forecast heavy metals concentration in Kuantan River waters using a collective of 10 years (2007 – 2016) dataset of heavy metals that provided by the Department of Environment, Malaysia. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to compute the data, which showed that As, Cr, Fe, Zn and Cd explain 67.3% of the total variance through three principal components. For ANN computation, those significant metals extracted from rotating PCA was selected and used in ANN model. The developed approaches were trained and tested using 80% and 20% of the data, respectively. Then, the coefficient of determination (R2) was executed to calculate the model performance. Out of five metals, only As shown acceptable R2 for ANN models with 0.8690 and 0.8088 for training and testing, respectively, probably due to the model’s limitation. Generally, this study illustrates the usefulness of PCA and ANN for analysis and interpretation of complex data sets and understanding the temporal and spatial variations in the Kuantan River for effective river water management.

Determination of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Water of Ijegun-Egba Community of Lagos State, Nigeria

Introduction: Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are common pollutants in water that have been reported to cause severe health effects in humans and harm the ecosystem. Aims: This study examined the concentrations of PAHs in different water sources used for domestic purposes in Ijegun- Egba community. Materials and Methods: Twenty-four (24) groundwater samples were collected from four sites in Ijegun-Egba. The Physicochemical parameters were determined using standard methods and PAHs were determined through Gas chromatography-flame – Flame ionization detector. Results: The appearance, odour, and temperature were within the limits of World Health Organisation (WHO). Conductivity levels were within the WHO limit (2,500µS/cm) in well water (1,400µS/cm) and borehole water (1,470 µS/cm) except for river water (4,432.5 µS/cm) which was above WHO recommended limit (2,500µS/cm). pH was within limits in all sites studied except for borehole water (pH =4.0). Among the 16 PAHs, Naphthalene (NAPH) was generally the most abundant PAH (23.89% to Σ16PAHs). There was a significant difference (at < 0.005) in the level of PAHs in the four sources of water. Conclusion: River water has the highest level of PAHs. This points to the activities of the tank farms and suggests that petrol and oil deposits find themselves either through percolation, soil runoffs, or erosion into the water bodies. The Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency should continue to monitor the activities of oil tankers in Ijegun community oil deports. Truck stations should be built outside the community and the residents should avoid the use of water from rivers in Ijegun community.

The Characterization of Groundwater Quality for Safe Drinking Water Wells via Disinfection and Sterilization in Jordan: A Case Study

This work aims to evaluate the quality of drinking water in the Disi aquifer in Jordan. Several water quality parameters are included in the mathematical equation to evaluate the average water quality and establish the suitability of water for drinking purposes. Water sampling zones from three wells were used to calculate the water quality indices (WQI). The water samples were analyzed for several physicochemical parameters, including pH, turbidity, total dissolved solids, Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, HCO3−, SO42−, Cl−, NO3−, total hardness, electrical conductivity (EC) and other elements (Fe2+, Zn2+, Mn2+, Cd2+, As2−, Pb4+ and Cu2+), in the groundwater wells. Biological parameters, such as faecal coliform, were also tested. The Weighted Arithmetic WQI indicated that most of the wells were of good to excellent quality. These determined indices support decision making and are beneficial to monitoring the groundwater quality in the Disi aquifer. The relative weight is specific to each parameter and ranges from 1 to 5; it establishes the importance of the water quality parameters for domestic purposes. The WQI analysis rates the water quality between 75 to 65 from good to medium. The water quality of the Disi aquifer for potable drinking water was compared with the guidelines of the World Health Organization (2011) and the Jordan Drinking Standard (JS286); the results indicated that water in the Disi aquifer was of high quality and was fit for drinking.

Characterization of the Hydrochemistry, Scaling and Corrosivity Tendencies, and Irrigation Suitability of the Water of the Rivers Karawa and Iyiaji

Assessing water quality is necessary to ascertain its viability for domestic, industrial, and agricultural purposes. A total of 48 water samples were, respectively, drawn from the Rivers Karawa and Iyiaji located in Ezeagu and Uzo-uwani which are typical rural areas in Enugu State, Nigeria. These samples were taken in two seasons (early rainy season and late dry season). Physicochemical properties were determined using standard methods. The scaling and corrosivity potentials of the water were evaluated using the Larson-Skold index, aggressive index, Puckorius scaling index, and Ryznar stability index models. Additionally, seven irrigation evaluation criteria, as well as spatial distribution maps, were used to determine the suitability of the river waters for irrigation purposes and to interpolate the spatial distribution of the river water quality parameters. Major ion chemistry was used in the assessments. The physicochemical properties of river waters fell within the recommended standard values. However, NO3− greatly exceeded the recommended range in both rivers. The cations and anions from River Karawa were Ca2+ > Mg2+ > K+ > Na+ and NO3− > Cl− > SO42− > HCO3− > CO3− > PO4−, while those from River Iyiaji were Ca2+ > Mg2+ > Na+ > K+ and Cl− > SO42− >NO3− > PO4− > HCO3− > CO3−. A piper plot showed the predominance of Ca2+ and Mg+, as well as SO42− and Cl−, in both rivers. The seven irrigation assessment indices indicated that the water of the Rivers Karawa and Iyiaji is suitable for irrigation purposes. In addition, the scaling and corrosivity models predicted that the river waters have high scaling and corrosivity potentials. Specifically, while the aggressive index suggested that it is severely corrosive, the Langelier saturation index suggested that the water from both rivers is supersaturated and, thus, has potential to scale.

Experimental analysis on the impacts of soil deposition and bird droppings on the thermal performance of photovoltaic panels

Photovoltaic (PV) systems are capable of meeting the urgent demand for power production for both domestic and commercial purposes. PV systems possess serious drawbacks as their performance is heavily influenced by environmental variables like wind, radiation, shadow, dust, and soil accumulation. The current work examines the performance of solar PV panels in the presence of soil and dust at various tilt angles. A solar PV simulator was used, and experiments were conducted for a hot-dry climate location (Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India, 12.91° N, 79.1325° E), to evaluate the performance of solar PV panels under varying dust deposition. A total of seven different samples, such as black soil, desert soil, red soil, alluvial soil, laterite soil, coal dust, and bird droppings, were selected and dispersed over the surface of the PV panel at various weights of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 g. The physical characteristics of the dust samples have been emphasized as being essential in determining how effectively the PV panel functioned. Bird droppings were shown to have the greatest influence on PV panel efficiency because of their tendency to stick to the panel surface due to moisture content, but coal dust, independent of tilt angle, was found to have the least effect. Coal dust was determined to have the least impact of all soil types since it is quickly blown away and does not stick to the surface. Bird droppings accounted for about 46.42 %–89.18% of the efficiency loss, which was determined to be high, whereas coal dust accounted for less than 13% of the efficiency loss. Furthermore, it was revealed that considered tilt angles (0O and 12.91O) have a minor influence on the PV's overall performance.

Investigations on carbonization operating conditions of ANSYS customized kiln for charcoal production from Prosopis juliflora biomass and ANN model prediction for optimized operating conditions

The majority of the population still uses charcoal for domestic and industrial purposes. Charcoal is favored by many developing countries because of its low cost and ever-increasing energy demand. The objective of this study is to provide the optimum temperature and moisture content for a fixed residence time toobtain a good quality charcoal yield. The kiln model has been validated using ANSYS, before fabricating the kiln. The selected kiln is a verticalrectangular steel kiln and horizontal square stacking is followed. The wood used for charcoal production is Prosopis juliflora. Initially, wood is subjected to a pyrolysis process to determine the optimum residence time, 3 and 4 hrs were considered for the experiment. The wood is subjected to a pyrolysis process for different moisture content of 30.7 and 15.45% in varying pyrolysis temperatures of 350, 380, 420, 450 and 500 ⁰C. from the experimental results, it is revealed that the optimum residing time is 4 hrs and the optimum temperature is 500 ⁰C, because more time facilitates the evaporation of lite volatile matter and forms a good quality of charcoal yield with more fixed carbon if 15.45 % moisture air dried wood is used. ANN model was developed and evaluated for a different training function by varying hidden layer neuron numbers. The suitability of the developed ANN model is verified based on deviation in error with the experimental values for different input values.

Pig based water quality assessment in El-Hai River Basin, Elkantara Plain, Algeria

Groundwater of the El-Kantara plain needs greater attention, because it is the alternative source of water for domestic and agricultural purposes. Water pollution affects both water quality and human health. Hence it is essential for continuous monitoring of the quality of groundwater so that pollution can be minimized. This study aims to evaluate the degree and extent of contamination of the Mio-Plio-Quaternary alluvial aquifer, in the El-Kantara area, Northern Biskra region (Algeria). A pollution index of groundwater (PIG) is proposed for quantification of water contamination at eleven (11) sampling different wells during four times at each well (dry period: September 2011/2014 and wet period February 2012/2015). PIG quantifies the status of concentrations of water quality measures with respect to their drinking water quality standards. The computed values of Pollution Index Groundwater (PIG) of El-Kantara aquifer in El-Hai River Basin vary from 0.746 (Insignificant pollution during wet period; February 2015) to 6.287(Very high pollution during dry period; September 2014). Spatial variation map has been prepared using GIS reveled that most of the study area accounts for very high pollution zones (61.36% of samples).

Hydrogeochemical Assessment of Groundwater Quality and Suitability for Drinking and Agricultural Use. The Case Study of Fars Province, Iran

This study aims to evaluate the hydrogeochemistry of aquifers in Fars province, Iran, from 2007 to 2017 and assess the groundwater’s suitability for drinking and agricultural uses. A total of 35,000 samples were collected from wells and qanats across the province. Piper, Gibbs, and Durov diagrams were used to assess the hydrochemical facies and processes. Cross plots of different ions were investigated to assess ion exchange and determine the effects of anthropogenic activities, as well as the weathering and dissolution of different rocks and minerals in the aquifers. Groundwater quality and suitability for agricultural and drinking purposes were also assessed using physicochemical parameters including pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Total Hardness (TH), and calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, bicarbonate, sulfate, and chloride concentrations. Suitability for domestic purposes was assessed by comparing these values with the WHO standards. Sodium and alkalinity hazards, including Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR), sodium percentage (Na%), Permeability Index (PI), Magnesium Hazard (MH), and Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC) were used to assess irrigation suitability, along with plotting Wilcox and USSL diagrams.