Environmental Protection Research Articles

Distributions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air samples from Hanoi urban areas, Vietnam, and its implications for inhalation exposure.

Sixteen PAHs in ambient air samples collected from residential and roadside areas in the Hanoi metropolitan were investigated. Total PAH concentrations in the ambient air samples ranged from 45.0 to 451ng/m3. Among PAHs, phenanthrene was found at the most abundant and highest levels. The distributions of PAHs in the ambient air collected in the dry season were on average 26% higher than in the wet season. The PAH concentrations in the air samples collected from the traffic areas were significantly higher (about 2.7 times) than those in the residential areas, indicating that these chemicals originated from motor vehicles. According to vertical, the PAH concentrations found in the ambient air samples collected from the ground floor were significantly higher than on the upper level, however, there was not much difference when going higher (from 24m (8th floor) to 111m (37th floor)). The human exposure doses were estimated for two age groups (adults and children) based on the measured PAH concentrations, the inhalation rates, and body weights. The estimated exposure doses to PAHs through inhalation for adults/children were 1.13/2.86 (ng/kg-bw/d) (residential areas) and 3.24/8.18 (ng/kg-bw/d) (traffic areas), respectively. The average lifetime excess cancer risk (ECR) from inhalation exposure to PAHs was 3.0 × 10-4 at the traffic areas and 1.4 × 10-4 at the residential areas. These estimated exposure doses were above the acceptable level of the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (1*10-6).

Кризові екологічні комунікації в контексті збройного конфліктуяк предмет соціологічного аналізу

The purpose of the studyis to analyze the sociological discourse in the field of crisis environmental communications in the context of crisis (armed conflict).Research methods:the basic research method was case and content analysis, which are suitable for studying previous research on the achievements of scientists on environmental threats and crises, crisis communications, as well as further understanding of the importance of crisis environmental communications during armed conflicts.Results:The war in Ukraine is a crisis that significantly affects the environment and deepens the environmental crisis. Crisis environmental communications and crisis management are important forovercoming such crises. Having a communication plan and a professional team in place in a crisis is the basis for preventing and overcoming it. The author examines the impact of previous armed conflicts, in particular, the war in Yugoslavia, on the region’s ecology, as well as its experience in bringing to justice for environmental damage. In particular, it was found that the experience of prosecution under international humanitarian lawisminimal, and the issue of environmental protection during armed conflict is practically unregulated and extremely difficult to prosecute. Ukraine’s previous environmental crisis communications before and after the Russian army blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam indicates the lack of thorough prior communication training.Conclusions:the analysis shows that understanding and acceptance of environmental risks is important for their prevention and response to crisis situations. Learning from its own experience and analyzing previous crises in other countries, Ukraine should conduct environmental crisis communications in compliance with the rules of conducting such communications, sharing this experience with other countries. This is an important tool for preventing environmental disasters and reducing their consequences. Keywords: crisis environmental communications, crisis communications, Yugoslavia, crisis, war in Ukraine, armed conflict, ecology, Russian Federation.

Synthesis of alginate capped aluminum oxide (Al2O3) nanocomposite for efficient photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue

Abstract In the presence scenario, dye pollution has become a serious issue in present environment protection which need extensive attention of the scientific community. Methylene blue (MB) has been known for its toxic nature and widely used in various industries. In the present work, we reported the green synthesis of alginate capped alumina (Al2O3) nanocomposite (NC). The synthesized Alg@Al2O3 NC have been verified by various sophisticated characterization techniques (XRD, SEM, EDX, UV–vis TEM, FTIR, and XPS). The synthesized Alg@Al2O3 NC have been used as photocatalyst for the degradation of MB dye. Furthermore, photocatalytic activity of the Alg@Al2O3 NC has been studied under ultraviolet (UV) light. The obtained results exhibited excellent photocatalytic properties of the Alg@Al2O3 NC. The effect of photocatalyst doses (0.1–5 g l−1), pH−1 (1–10), MB dye concentration (50–120 ppm), and irradiation time (5–135 min) of UV light were also optimized. The highest efficiency of 99.2% has been observed for MB degradation via Alg@Al2O3 NC. The investigations of kinetics demonstrated that the photocatalytic degradation proceeded along a pseudo-first-order pathway in accordance with the Langmuir–Hinshelwood (L-H) kinetic model. The Alg@Al2O3 NC also exhibited excellent reusability for 4 cycles and suggested that Alg@Al2O3 NC can be used for various cycles. In this study, we proposed the cost-effective green synthetic method for the preparation of Alg@Al2O3 NC and its application as photocatalyst for the removal of MB dye under UV light.

Analisis Kebijakan Sumber Daya Alam Provinsi Sumatera Utara

This research aims to analyze the influence of natural resource policies on economic growth and environmental benefits in North Sumatra Province. The research methods used include literature studies, interviews with stakeholders, secondary data analysis, quantitative analysis, and formulation of policy recommendations. The results of the analysis show that the implementation of natural resource policies has a significant impact on economic growth, but also raises challenges related to environmental protection and fair distribution of benefits. Policy recommendations are prepared to strengthen sustainability aspects in natural resource management in North Sumatra Province.

Expression of a novel hydrolase MhpC in Brevibacillus parabrevis BCP-09 and its characteristics for degrading synthetic pyrethroids

Synthetic pyrethroids are widely used insecticides which may cause chronic diseases in non-target organisms upon long-term exposure. Microbial degradation offers a reliable method to remove them from the environment. This study focused on Brevibacillus parabrevis BCP-09 and its enzymes for degrading pyrethroids. The predicted deltamethrin-degrading genes phnA and mhpC were used to construct recombinant plasmids. These plasmids, introduced into Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) cells and induced with L-arabinose. The results indicated that the intracellular crude enzyme efficiently degraded deltamethrin by 98.8 %, β-cypermethrin by 94.84 %, and cyfluthrin by 73.52 % within 24 h. The hydrolytic enzyme MhpC possesses a catalytic triad Ser/His/Asp and a typical “Gly-X-Ser-X-Gly” conservative sequence of the esterase family. Co-cultivation of induced E. coli PhnA and E. coli MhpC resulted in degradation rates of 41.44 ± 3.55 % and 60.30 ± 4.55 %, respectively, for deltamethrin after 7 d. This study states that the degrading enzymes from B. parabrevis BCP-09 are an effective method for the degradation of pyrethroids, providing available enzyme resources for food safety and environmental protection.

A synergistic adsorption-catalysis with co-doped Fe/Mn porous PET waste for simultaneous and ambient remediation of hazardous pharmaceutical drugs and dye in multi-component systems by enhancing singlet oxygen

Valorizing single-use plastic waste as an effective activator in environmental protection has gained great interest from policymakers, legislators, and scientific research communities. Herein, low-cost and highly porous alkali Fe/Mn-doped carbon nanomaterials derived from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste (MF/cPET-x) were fabricated via facile pyrolysis and alkali-metal impregnation methods. Detailed characterizations of MF-cPET-x demonstrated that the ratio of alkaline impregnation and pyrolysis temperature affects the porous characteristics, content, and size of active sites, specific surface area, and yield of carbon residue/nanocomposite. The main aim of this study was to evaluate and optimize the MF/cPET-x applied for the detoxification of various kinds of pharmaceutical drugs (tetracycline, naproxen, paracetamol, and levofloxacin) and various dyestuff in their single, binary, ternary, and quaternary solutions. The magnetic porous MF/cPET-1 was found to show a most effective PMS activation for single/multiple toxic pollutants removal attaining levels >91.0 % in a wide range of temperatures (5–35 °C) and pH (3.0–9.0), without significant detectable metal leaching (>0.16 mg L−1). The outstanding catalytic performance in complex water environments was mainly attributed to the deposition of Mn/Fe nanoparticles with small grain size on a polymeric scaffold, bimetal synergistic effect, high specific surface area, high stability, and excellent anti-interference capability against coexisting substances. Physicochemical properties of the recycled composite, masking, and EPR analyses confirmed that the dominant reactive species in the following order: 1O2 > OH > SO4− > O2−. This work offers a new and straightforward approach for preparing porous alloy composite from plastic waste for pollutant degradation in various water matrices.

Applications of Silver Nanoparticles in Patent Research.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been widely applied in research and industrial fields, finding applications in nanomedicine, drug delivery, biomedical devices, electronics, the energy sector, and environmental protection. Patents provide information on the industrial viability of product technologies, and the number of patent documents provides an estimate of the evolution of a specific technological field. The present work aims to describe the current trends in AgNPs patent applications. In addition, a retrospective study of published patents in Brazil is presented. Analyses of AgNPs-related patents were conducted using the free platform for patent search Lens® in 2010-2019 and articles published in same period using the Scholar® base. The patent applications and their evolution over time, major depositors and holders, and the main technological areas associated with AgNP applications have been described. China and United States are the major patent applicants for nanotechnologies. The worldwide distribution of publications of journal articles shows that China, India, and the United States are the leading countries in the total number of articles published, in that order. Our study of patent applications and published articles confirmed the growing global increase in new technologies involving NPs and AgNPs, particularly in the biotechnology area, in the fields of medicine and agriculture.

A systematic review and BMD modeling approach to develop an AOP for humidifier disinfectant-induced pulmonary fibrosis and cell death

Dosimetry modeling and point of departure (POD) estimation using in vitro data are essential for mechanism-based hazard identification and risk assessment. This study aimed to develop a putative adverse outcome pathway (AOP) for humidifier disinfectant (HD) substances used in South Korea through a systematic review and benchmark dose (BMD) modeling. We collected in vitro toxicological studies on HD substances, including polyhexamethylene guanidine hydrochloride (PHMG-HCl), PHMG phosphate (PHMG-p), a mixture of 5-chloro-2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one and 2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one (CMIT/MIT), CMIT, and MIT from scientific databases. A total of 193 sets of dose-response data were extracted from 34 articles reporting in vitro experimental results of HD toxicity. The risk of bias (RoB) in each study was assessed following the office of health assessment and translation (OHAT) guideline. The BMD of each HD substance at different toxicity endpoints was estimated using the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) BMD software (BMDS). Interspecies- or interorgan differences or most critical effects in the toxicity of the HD substances were analyzed using a 95% lower confidence limit of the BMD (BMDL). We found a critical molecular event and cells susceptible to each HD substance and constructed an AOP of PHMG-p- or CMIT/MIT-induced damage. Notably, PHMG-p induced ATP depletion at the lowest in vitro concentration, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), inflammation, leading to fibrosis. CMIT/MIT enhanced mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, resulting in cell death. Our approach will increase the current understanding of the effects of HD substances on human health and contribute to evidence-based risk assessment of these compounds.

Evaluation of Environmental Rights Violation, Environmental Protection Legislations and Agencies in Nigeria

Evaluation of Environmental Rights Violation, Environmental Protection Legislations and Agencies in Nigeria

Spatiotemporal characteristics and driving factors of chemical oxygen demand emissions in China’s wastewater: An analysis based on spatial autocorrelation and geodetector

The advancement of industrialization and urbanization has exacerbated global water pollution. Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) serves as a crucial metric for assessing organic contamination in aquatic environments. Consequently, the spatiotemporal characteristics and driving factors of COD emissions have emerged as a significant area of current research interest. This study employs spatial autocorrelation and geodetector methods to rigorously analyze the spatial–temporal patterns and principal drivers of COD emissions in China’s wastewater, drawing on eleven geographic and socio-economic datasets spanning from 2011 to 2019. This study indicates that COD emissions in China’s wastewater have consistently decreased annually between 2011 and 2019, with a marked reduction observed post-2016. Regarding spatial distribution, COD emissions in the eastern region significantly surpass those in the western region, highlighting pronounced regional disparities. The analysis of the global Moran’s Index indicates that the COD emissions across China’s provincial regions demonstrate spatial clustering of similar values, with this clustering intensifying annually. Furthermore, the local Moran’s Index identifies the precise locations of these spatial clusters. Geodetector analysis identified that the consumption of nitrogen fertilizers and the consumption of chemical fertilizers had substantial impacts on COD emissions, whereas the proportion of urban population at year-end and the number of granted inventions exerted lesser effects. Furthermore, the interaction between two factors notably enhances the explanatory power regarding COD emissions. This research underpins the formulation of efficacious pollution control and environmental protection strategies, contributing vital insights for the stewardship of water quality.

Orientation optimization of the Halbach PMG for the levitation and guidance performance of the HTS maglev system

High-temperature superconducting maglev technology has great application potential in rail transit applications due to its advantages such as passive stable levitation and green environmental protection. As one of the key components of the HTS maglev system, the Halbach-type permanent magnet guideway (PMG) enhances the magnetic field on one side of the guideway and weakens that on the other side. Optimizing the PMG, including the geometry and magnetic properties of the magnet, is an effective method to improve the levitation and guidance performance of the system. In addition, since NdFeB permanent magnets are expensive, optimizing the design of the PMG for the HTS maglev system is also an important work to reduce the application cost. In this paper, the Nelder–Mead Simplex method (NMS) in the optimization solver in COMSOL software is used to optimize the geometric parameters of the Halbach PMG according to the different objective requirements of the HTS maglev system. The optimization objectives include the maximum levitation force and guidance force under the constraint of the maximum cross-sectional area of the PMG, as well as the minimum cross-sectional area of the PMG with a minimum levitation force constraint. The results indicate that the NMS method is effective. By comparing four PMGs during the optimization process, it is found that this method can fully improve the utilization of the magnetic field by changing the geometric parameters of the Halbach PMG. This study can provide a valuable reference for the optimal design of the PMG for HTS maglev systems in the future.

The sewer advances: How to select eco-friendly pipe materials for environmental protection

The sewer advances: How to select eco-friendly pipe materials for environmental protection

Environmental protection taxes, audit fees and corporate ESG performance

Environmental protection taxes, audit fees and corporate ESG performance

Environmental Protection and the Role of National Policies and Guidelines in Nigeria

Environmental Protection and the Role of National Policies and Guidelines in Nigeria

Environmental protection and performance enhancement of hydrocarbon compressor based vapour compression refrigeration system using dry powder SiO2 nanoparticles: an experimental analysis

Environmental protection and performance enhancement of hydrocarbon compressor based vapour compression refrigeration system using dry powder SiO2 nanoparticles: an experimental analysis

Environmental Protection Tax and Green Investment on Green Innovation: Digitalization, ESG, CSR as Mediation

This study aims to identify variables that influence environmental tax protection, digitalization, ESG, CSR and green investment variables on green innovation. The research conducted is quantitative and the data obtained is secondary data. Data were obtained from companies that publish their financial statements and annual reports. The unit of analysis used in this study is manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. Managerial implications for company management with operational efficiency and long-term sustainability of the company. Companies can develop new products that are more environmentally friendly, more energy efficient production processes, or new technologies to recycle waste. Management can consider strengthening and expanding CSR practices including environmental commitments as an integral part of their business strategy. Stakeholders need to see transparency in communication about green investment and green innovation so that they can improve financial performance and company value.

Review on Solar Charged Batteries with Inbuilt Reverse Current Protection

Solar energy is environmentally friendly technology, a great energy supply, and one of the most significant renewable and green energy sources. It plays a substantial role in achieving sustainable development energy solutions. Therefore, the massive amount of solar energy attainable daily makes it an attractive resource for generating electricity. Both technologies, applications of concentrated solar power or solar photovoltaics, are always under continuous development to fulfill our energy needs. Hence, a large installed capacity of solar energy applications worldwide, in the same context, supports the energy sector and meets the employment market to gain sufficient development. This paper highlights solar energy applications and their role in sustainable development and considers renewable energy’s overall employment potential. Thus, it provides insights and analysis on solar energy sustainability, including environmental and economic development. Furthermore, it has identified the contributions of solar energy applications in sustainable development by providing energy needs, creating job opportunities, and enhancing environmental protection. Finally, the perspective of solar energy technology is drawn up in the application of the energy sector and affords a vision of future development in this domain.

Synthesis of NO by rotating sliding arc discharge reactor with conical-spiral electrodes

The present work investigates the potential applications of nitrogen oxides (NO x ), particularly nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), generated through discharge plasma in diverse sectors such as medicine, nitrogen fixation, energy, and environmental protection. In this study, a rotating sliding arc discharge reactor was initially employed to produce high concentrations of gaseous NO x , followed by the utilization of a molybdenum wire redox reactor for NO2-to-NO conversion. The outcomes reveal that the discharge states and generations of NO x are affected by varying parameters, including the applied energies, frequencies and airflow states (1.3–2.6 m/s are the laminar flow, 2.6–5.2 m/s are the transition state, 5.2–6.5 m/s are the turbulent flow), and the concentrations of NO x within the arc discharge are higher than that in the spark discharge. Moreover, the concentrations of NO, NO2 and NO x gradually increased, and the concentration ratios of NO/NO2 and NO x /NO2 decreased with increasing the applied energy for one cycle from 14.8 mJ to 24.3 mJ. Meanwhile, the concentrations of NO, NO2 and NO x gradually decreased, and the concentration ratios of NO/NO2 and NO x /NO2 first decreased and then increased with increasing the applied frequencies from 5.0 kHz to 9.0 kHz. Further, the concentrations of NO, NO2 and NO x gradually decreased, and the concentration ratios of NO/NO2 and NO x /NO2 first increased and then decreased with increasing the air flow speeds from 1.3 m/s to 6.5 m/s. Lastly, the concentrations of NO increased and NO2 decreased with increasing temperature from 25 °C to 400 °C using molybdenum converted. These findings provide experimental support for the application of plasma in the fields of medicine, nitrogen fixation, energy and environmental protection.

Precise control of transmembrane current via regulating bionic lipid membrane composition.

The transport of ions through biological ion channels is regulated not only by their structural characteristics but also by the composition of the phospholipid membrane, which serves as a carrier for nanochannels. Inspired by the modulation of ion currents by lipid membrane composition, exemplified by the activation of the K+ channel of Streptomyces A by anionic lipids, we present a biomimetic nanochannel system based on combining DNA nanotechnology with two-dimensional graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets. By designing multibranched DNA nanowires, we assemble programmable DNA scaffold networks (DSNs) on the GO surface to precisely control membrane composition. Modulating the DSN layers from one to five enhances DNA composition, yielding a maximum 12-fold enhancement in ion current, primarily due to charge effects. Incorporating DNAzymes facilitates reversible modulation of membrane composition, enabling cyclic conversion of ion current. This approach offers a pathway for creating devices with highly efficient, tunable ion transport, applicable in diverse fields like mass transport, environmental protection, biomimetic channels, and biosensors.

Multi-Criteria Analysis of Coast Guard Resource Deployment for Improvement of Maritime Safety and Environmental Protection: Case Study of Eastern Adriatic Sea

Multi-Criteria Analysis of Coast Guard Resource Deployment for Improvement of Maritime Safety and Environmental Protection: Case Study of Eastern Adriatic Sea