Occurrence and fate of bulk organic matter and pharmaceutically active compounds in managed aquifer recharge: a review

Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) is a natural water treatment process that induces surface water to flow in response to a hydraulic gradient through soil/sediment and into a vertical or horizontal well. It is a relatively cost-effective, robust and sustainable technology. Detailed characteristics of bulk organic matter and the occurrence and fate of pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) during MAR processes such as bank filtration (BF) and artificial recharge (AR) were reviewed. Understanding the fate of bulk organic matter during BF and AR is an essential step in determining pre- and/or post-treatment requirements. Analysis of organic matter characteristics using a suite of analytical tools suggests that there is a preferential removal of non-humic substances during MAR. Different classes of PhACs were found to behave differently during BF and AR. Antibiotics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), beta blockers, and steroid hormones generally exhibited good removal efficiencies, especially for compounds having hydrophobic-neutral characteristics. However, anticonvulsants showed a persistent behavior during soil passage. There were also some redox-dependent PhACs. For example, X-ray contrast agents measured, as adsorbable organic iodine (AOI), and sulfamethoxazole (an antibiotic) degraded more favorably under anoxic conditions compared to oxic conditions. Phenazone-type pharmaceuticals (NSAIDs) exhibited better removal under oxic conditions. The redox transition from oxic to anoxic conditions during soil passage can enhance the removal of PhACs that are sensitive to redox conditions. In general, BF and AR can be included in a multi-barrier treatment system for the removal of PhACs.     

Short term generation scheduling of cascaded hydro electric system using novel self adaptive inertia weight PSO

Hydro power plants are multipurpose projects, which are not only generating power but also responsible for the fulfillment of irrigation requirements of nearby zone. To harness the potential energy of released water Canal Head Power Houses (CHPHs) are also located at irrigation canals of the multipurpose projects. The present paper proposed a Novel Self Adaptive Inertia Weight Particle Swarm Optimization (NSAIW_PSO) approach to determine the optimal generation schedule of real operated cascaded hydroelectric system located at Narmada river in Madhya Pradesh, India. Here generation scheduling problem has been formulated in two cases. Case one considers natural inflows, evaporation losses and irrigation requirements assuming no generation through CHPHs. Whereas second case considers all above factors along with generation through CHPHs. Results show that in case two the amount of water discharge through all hydro power plants is less in comparison to case one to fulfill the same load demand, which shows the importance of CHPHs.     

Pretreatment of organic composite waste mixtures for enhanced biomethanantion

Hydrolysis is the rate-limiting step for the anaerobic digestion of wastewater. overcome this rate-limiting step,? pretreatment of organic waste is required. The objective of the present study is to find the effects of various pretreatment parameters along with their optimal values to make the process economically feasible. A full factorial design was used to design the experiments with temperature, duration of heat treatment, pH, and the volume of inoculum added as independent variables and cumulative methane volume (CMV) as the dependent variable. Residual curve shows that the errors are having a constant variance. Contour plots and three-dimensional surface plots show variation in the response variables. Among the independent variables, inoculum has the most significant effect on the degradation process followed by pH and temperature. Duration of heat treatment induces little effect on biogas yield. The interaction terms have a significant effect on the CMV.     

A Comparison of Machinability in Hard Turning of EN-24 Alloy Steel Under Mist Cooled and Dry Cutting Environments with a Coated Cermet Tool

Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention - In this current research, mist cooling and dry cutting effects on cutting force, flank wear, chip morphology, crater wear, surface roughness and...     

Fluorinated copolyimide membranes for sour mixed-gas upgrading

Three random and two block 4,4′-(hexafluoroisopropylidene)diphthalic anhydride (6FDA)-based copolyimides with different 6FpDA:Durene molar ratio varying from 25 to 80% were prepared and characterized. The pure-gas permeation data of their membranes were investigated at 100 psi and 22 °C. The CO₂/CH₄ ideal selectivity coefficient increased to around 47 with the increase of the 6FpDA content to 80% in the copolymer backbone while the CO₂ permeability coefficient found to be the highest (378 barrer) with highest Durene content copolymer. Based on its attractive pure-gas permeation properties(CO₂/CH₄ = 47), 6FDA-6FpDA/6FDA-Durene (4:1) block copolyimide was selected for further analyses, where the effect of pressure and temperature on its gas transport properties was evaluated. Furthermore, the mixed-gas permeation properties were investigated using multicomponent sweet and sour gas mixtures prepared from N₂ (30% or 10%), CH₄ (59%), C₂H₆ (1%), CO₂ (10%), and H₂S (0% or 20%)accordingly. The sweet mixed-gas CO₂/CH₄ selectivity and CO₂ permeability coefficients of 6FDA-6FpDA/6FDA-Durene (4:1) are around 39 and 45 barrer, respectively, at elevated pressure (800 psi). The polymer, however, showed nonideal behavior when subjected to high H₂S-content gas mixture (20 vol. % H₂S), where the CO₂/CH₄ selectivity value dropped to around 21 and the H₂S/CH₄ selectivity coefficient is 13. The CO₂ and H₂S permeability coefficients are 42 and 26 barrer, respectively, at an upstream pressure up to 500 psi. When plotted on the combined acid gas permeability-selectivity curve, the polymer separation efficiency was nearby the high-performing polymers reported in the literature, and way superior to the industrial standard glassy polymer, cellulose acetate, used currently in gas separation. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137, 48336.     

A critical review on diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy using machine learning and deep learning

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is a health condition caused due to Diabetes Mellitus (DM). It causes vision problems and blindness due to disfigurement of human...     

Bio-protective effects of glucosinolates – A review

Glucosinolates are an important and unique class of secondary plant products containing β-D-thioglucose and sulphonated oxime moieties. These include thioglucosides, characterized by side chain with varying aliphatic, aromatic and heteroaromatic carbon skeletons. Glucosinolates get converted into various degradation products (isothiocyanates, thiocyanates, indoles etc.), when vegetables containing them are cut or chewed because during this process they come in contact with the enzyme myrosinase which hydrolyses them. Though the available literature emphasizes the drawbacks of this class of compounds, but the potential benefits that might emerge from their biological activities have been ignored. These compounds possess diverse biological activities including protection against various pathogens and weeds in case of plants and as potent anticarcinogens. The enormous importance of this group of compounds cannot be overlooked and detailed insight into their role in diverse fields and the mechanisms operating behind them is required. The present review focuses on the beneficial bioactivities of glucosinolates such as antifungal, antibacterial, bioherbicidal, antioxidant, antimutagenic and anticarcinogenic etc. along with their experimental evidence and mode of action. These phytochemicals deserve proper position in therapeutic armamentarium. Clinical studies with these biomolecules are required to be accelerated to validate their affect in vivo.     

Microbiological evaluation of sprouts marketed in Mumbai, India, and its suburbs

A study was undertaken to assess the microbiological quality of sprouts marketed in Mumbai and its suburbs. A total of 124 sprout samples of four different legumes--mung (Phaseolus aureus), matki (Phaseolus aconitifolius), chana (Cicer arietinum), and vatana (Pisum sativum)--were analyzed over a period of 12 months for aerobic plate counts, coliforms, yeast and mold counts, staphylococci, Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, E. coli O157:H7, and coagulase-positive Staphylococcus aureus. Aerobic plate counts ranged from 7.6 to 8.9 log CFU/g, coliform counts ranged from 5.4 to 7.9 log CFU/g, yeast and mold counts ranged from 3.6 to 7.3 log CFU/g, and staphylococci counts ranged from 3.3 to 6.6 log CFU/ g. Nonpathogenic E. coli was detected in 13% of the mung, 26% of the matki, 40% of the chana, and 19% of the vatana samples. Salmonella Typhimurium was detected in 21% of the mung, 40% of the matki, and 4% of the chana samples. Salmonella Dublin was detected in 2% of the mung samples, and Salmonella Washington was detected in 4% of the matki samples. L. monocytogenes and E. coli O157:H7 were not detected in any of the samples examined. Coagulase-positive S. aureus was detected in 4% of the mung, 11% of the matki, and 4% of the chana samples. The results indicated that the marketed sprouts were of poor microbiological quality; therefore, further processing, such as radiation processing, is needed to ensure their safety.     

Recovery of coal values from the refuse pond coal slurry using flotation

The objective of the present investigation is to explore the possibility of recovery of coal values from the tailing dump, so as to recover the coal values from the discarded product for sustainable development and optimum utilization of coal reserves. The influence of two important variables which commonly fluctuate in the operating plants, such as feed solid concentrations and collector dosage, has been varied and analyzed to study their influence on flotation performance. Among the variables studied, the pulp density of 8% of feed solid concentration was found to be most suitable level. A collector dosage of 0.105 kg/ton of coal gave the best result in term of ash reduction.     

Optimization of biodiesel production from grape seed oil using Taguchi's orthogonal array​

The physicochemical properties of biodiesel are very similar to those of petroleum diesel fuel. The main focus of this study is the production of the biodiesel from grape seed oil. This study shows the optimization of the operation parameters, specifically regarding catalyst concentration, the reaction time, the molar ratio (i.e., methanol-to-oil ratio), and the reaction temperature for the production of biodiesel. The effect of operation factors on performance parameters is analyzed using Taguchi’s orthogonal array. The results depict that 96.90% was the optimum biodiesel yield at a molar ratio 6:1 with a catalyst concentration of 1% by weight and a reaction time of 60 min at 60°C and 4.34 cSt was the optimum biodiesel viscosity at a molar ratio of 6:1 with a catalyst concentration of 0.5% by weight and a reaction time of 75 min at 45°C. The most effective parameter was observed to be catalyst concentration, which conferred 76.39%, and 53.74% of the total influence on the biodiesel yield (Y₁) and viscosity (Y₂), respectively.