Issue 4

In vitro tolerance of soil borne phytopathogenic fungus i.e. Alternaria alternata in terms of growth, physiology and metal uptake capacity against different doses of copper [Cu(II)] metal was assessed. In preliminary growth experiments, nitrate, chloride and sulphate of Cu(II) were amended in seven different concentrations viz. 25, 50, 75, 80, 85, 90 and 100 ppm in nutritive agar medium along with fungus inoculum. Amongst three salts, the maximum inhibition in radial growth of the fungus was observed with increasing concentrations of copper salts in order of: CuSO₄> CuNO₃> CuCl₂. Further trials were conducted in nutritive broth with four different concentrations (25, 50, 75 and 100 ppm) of copper sulphate to assess growth inhibition, metal accumulation, protein and catalase activity in the fungus biomass. It was found that fungus dry biomass was significantly declined by 70-99% along with net metal accumulation of 40% with increasing metal concentrations. Total protein contents and catalase activity was considerably increased up to 2-5 and 2-3 folds, respectively with increase in metal concentration from 25-100 ppm and incubation period from 48, 72 and 96 hours over control. Present study concludes that A. alternata was able to tolerate up to 90 ppm of copper, therefore it is imperative to consider fungus metal tolerance range during fungicide formulations.

The effect of pre-ozonation on the formation of four aldehydes (i.e. formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, glyoxal, methyl glyoxal) and two ketones (i.e. pyruvic acid and glioxalic acid) at the Beheshti water treatment plant in Hamadan, Iran were studied. Water samples were taken from the treatment plant at different points of the treatment train during September-January, 2013. The variation of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, glyoxal, methyl glyoxal, pyruvic acid, and acid glioxalic concentration within treatment process were monitored in September and January. The results indicated that formaldehyde and acetaldehyde were the most abundant aldehyde species in the raw water. After pre-ozonation all of the aldehydes and ketones reached the maximum concentration. On the contrary, results show that the coagulation-filtration process was beneficial to the removal of aldehydes and ketones. Also, the results indicated that the level of aldehydes was increased after post chlorination. The percent increase was 52.3, 34.6, 12.1, 26.8 and 38% for formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, glyoxal, methyl glyoxal and glyoxalic acid, respectively, in September. Therefore, final chlorination led to increase in the formation of aldehydes in the pre-ozonated water. Ketones were not detected in the post-chlorinated water. Moreover, there was no correlation between total organic carbon (TOC) and total aldehyde and total ketone in water samples. 

The present study investigates the ability of formaldehyde treated Simarouba glauca seed shell powder for removal of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solutions. Batch adsorption studies were carried out under various experimental conditions such as agitation time, dye concentration, adsorbent dose and pH. The adsorbent was characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), XRD, BET and CHNS analysis. The adsorption data were analysed using Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin - Radushkevich isotherms. Equilibrium data fitted well to Langmuir isotherm with maximum adsorption capacity of 111.1 mg g ^-1. Adsorption kinetic data were verified using pseudo first order, pseudo second order and Intraparticle diffusion model. The kinetic data were found to fit well with pseudo second order model.

Current study was carried out to investigate the heavy metals removal from landfill leachate and urban wastewater by powdered activated carbon and powdered zeolite augmented SBR technique. The research was carried out in six 2000 mL breakers (working size was 1200 ml). The reactors were parted into 2 groups covering 3 for activated carbon augmented SBRs (PAC-SBR), and 3 for powdered zeolite augmented SBRs (PZE-SBR). The response surface methodology (RSM) and the central composite design (CCD) were employed to explain the most advantageous settings of the independent variables (aeration rate
(l min^-1), reaction time (h), and leachate-to-wastewater mixing ration (%; v/v)) and their resopnses (dependent variables including Fe, Mn, Ni and Cd). The results indicated that the PZE-SBR showed higher performance in removal efficiencies while compared to PAC-SBR. At the optimum conditions of contact time (13.83 h), aeration rate (2.81 l min^-1) and leachate to domestic wastewater proportion (20.00%) for the PZE-SBR, the removal efficiencies for Fe, Mn, Ni, and Cd were 65.65%, 61.56, 63.41%, and 60.44%, respectively.