Using predictive models unravel the potential of titanium oxide-loaded activated carbon for the removal of leachate ammoniacal nitrogen.

The TiO2 nanocomposite efficiency was determined under optimized conditions with activated carbon to remove ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3-N) from the leachate sample. In this work, the facile impregnation and pyrolysis synthesis method was employed to prepare the nanocomposite, and their formation was confirmed using the FESEM, FTIR, XRD, and Raman studies. In contrast, Raman phonon mode intensity ratio ID/IG increases from 2.094 to 2.311, indicating the increase of electronic conductivity and defects with the loading of TiO2 nanoparticles. The experimental optimal conditions for achieving maximum NH3-N removal of 75.8% were found to be a pH of 7, an adsorbent mass of 1.75 mg/L, and a temperature of 30 °C, with a corresponding time of 160 min. The experimental data were effectively fitted with several isotherms (Freundlich, Hill, Khan, Redlich-Peterson, Toth, and Koble-Corrigan). The notably elevated R2 value of 0.99 and a lower ARE % of 14.61 strongly support the assertion that the pseudo-second-order model compromises a superior depiction of the NH3-N reduction process. Furthermore, an effective central composite design (CCD) of response surface methodology (RSM) was employed, and the lower RMSE value, precisely 0.45, demonstrated minimal disparity between the experimentally determined NH3-N removal percentages and those predicted by the model. The subsequent utilization of the desirability function allowed us to attain actual variable experimental conditions.

Effect of incorporation of ozone prior to ECF bleaching on pulp, paper and effluent quality.

The pulp and paper industry is highly dependent on forest and water resources. It has more concerns on fair utilization of these resources and their conservation for its further expansion. Present study emphasizes on the use of rice straw (agro waste) in papermaking to protect wood based resources. It further deals with ozone bleaching (Z) prior to elemental chlorine free bleaching that proved to be significant in terms of reducing the effluent load specially the reduction in toxic, recalcitrant and carcinogenic compounds. Z based sequences resulted in pulp brightness of ∼85% that was 3.6% higher than the elemental chlorine free bleaching. Bleached pulps of Z based sequences were found to be having better strength properties than elemental chlorine based sequence and thus may be adopted as improved bleaching technology. The analysis of handsheets prepared after pulp bleaching was performed using X-Ray diffraction, ATR-FTIR and SEM. Incorporating ozone stage resulted in marked reduction of 58% and 63% in total solids in bleaching wastewater. Reduction of more than 80% in BOD, COD and adsorbable organic halides was achieved in Z based bleaching in comparison to chlorine bleaching. The amount of chlorophenols, guaiacols, catechols, vanillins and syringols became negligible (approx. 90% reduction) in effluents of Z based bleaching sequences. The chlorine dioxide followed by peroxide bleaching after Z stage was found to be the most promising to reduce the effluent load.

A comprehensive review on anaerobic digestion with focus on potential feedstocks, limitations associated and recent advances for biogas production.

With the escalating energy demand to accommodate the growing population and its needs along with the responsibility to mitigate climate change and its consequences, anaerobic digestion (AD) has become the potential approach to sustainably fulfil our demands and tackle environmental issues. Notably, a lot of attention has been drawn in recent years towards the production of biogas around the world in waste-to-energy perspective. Nevertheless, the progress of AD is hindered by several factors such as operating parameters, designing and the performance of AD reactors. Furthermore, the full potential of this approach is not fully realised yet due the dependence on people's acceptance and government policies. This article focuses on the different types of feedstocks and their biogas production potential. The feedstock selection is the basic and most important step for accessing the biogas yield. Furthermore, different stages of the AD process, design and the configuration of the biogas digester/reactors have been discussed to get better insight into process. The important aspect to talk about this process is its limitations associated which have been focused upon in detail. Biogas is considered to attain the sustainable development goals (SDG) proposed by United Nations. Therefore, the huge focus should be drawn towards its improvements to counter the limitation and makes it available to all the rural communities in developing countries and set-up the pilot scale AD plants in both developing and developed countries. In this regard, this article talks about the improvements and futures perspective related to the AD process and biogas enhancement.

Optimizing leachate treatment with titanium oxide-impregnated activated carbon (TiO2@ASC) in a fixed-bed column: characterization, modeling, and prediction study.

This research focused on the application of a fixed bed column filled with immobilized titanium oxide-loaded almond shell carbon (TiO2@ASC) for the treatment of leachate. The adsorption performance of synthesized TiO2@ASC in fixed bed column is analyzed using adsorption experiments and modeling study. The characteristics of synthesized materials are determined by several instrumental techniques like BET, XRD, FTIR, and FESEM-EDX. The flow rate, initial concentration of COD and NH3-N, and bed height were optimized to determine the effectiveness of leachate treatment. The linear bed depth service time (BDST) plots equations with a correlation coefficient of greater than 0.98 confirmed the model's accuracy for COD and NH3-N adsorption in column structure. The adsorption process was found to be well predicted by an artificial neural network (ANN) model with a root mean square error of 0.0172 and 0.0167 for COD and NH3-N reduction, respectively. The immobilized adsorbent was regenerated using HCl and was found to be reusable for up to three cycles, promoting material sustainability. This study is aimed to contribute towards SDG 6 and SDG11 by United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Improvement in rice straw pulp bleaching effluent quality by incorporating oxygen delignification stage prior to elemental chlorine-free bleaching.

Environmental degradation by industrial and other developmental activities is alarming for imperative environmental management by process advancements of production. Pulp and paper mills are now focusing on using nonwood-based raw materials to protect forest resources. In present study, rice straw was utilized for pulp production as it is easily and abundantly available as well as rich in carbohydrates (cellulose and hemicelluloses). Soda-anthraquinone method was used for pulp production as it is widely accepted for agro residues. Bleaching process during paper production is the chief source of wastewater generation. The chlorophenolic compounds generated during bleaching are highly toxic, mutagenic, and bioaccumulative in nature. The objectives of study were to use oxygen delignification (ODL) stage prior to elemental chlorine-free (ECF) bleaching to reduce wastewater load and to study its impact on bleached pulp characteristics. ODL stage prior to ECF bleaching improved the optical properties of pulp in comparison to only ECF bleaching. When ODL stage was incorporated prior to bleaching, the tensile index and folding endurance of the pulp were found to be 56.6 ± 1.5 Nm/g and 140, respectively, very high in comparison to ECF alone. A potential reduction of 51, 57, 43, and 53% in BOD3, COD, color, and AOX, respectively was observed on adding the ODL stage compared to ECF only. Generation of chlorophenolic compounds was reduced significantly. Incorporation of ODL stage prior to bleaching was found to be highly promising for reducing the toxicity of bleaching effluents and may lead to better management of nearby water resources. Graphical abstract ᅟ.

Prospects of rice straw as a raw material for paper making.

Pulp and paper mills are indispensable for any nation as far as the growth of the nation is concerned. Due to fast growth in population, urbanization and industrialization, the demand and consumption of paper has increased tremendously. These put high load on our natural resources and force the industry to look for alternative raw material. Rice straw is a lignocellulosic material abundantly available in wood short countries like China, India, Bangladesh, etc. and can be used as raw material for this industry. Open burning of rice straw releases noxious green house gases to the air and poses serious threats to global air chemistry and human health. So, it is a dual benefit option (for farmers and industries) to use rice straw as a raw material in pulp and paper industry. Organosolv pulping using acids are the prominent choices of researchers to convert this residue into valuable pulp but in developed countries only. Developing world favours the soda and soda-AQ processes as these are economical. As a virtue of less lignin content in comparison to wood, rice straw requires less harsh conditions for cooking and can be easily pulped. Bleaching is a crucial step of paper making but also responsible for causing water pollution. Many studies revealed that during the process more than 500 chlorinated compounds are released that are highly toxic, bioaccumulative and carcinogenic in nature. Most of the industries over the globe switch on to the elemental chlorine free short sequence bleaching methods using chlorine dioxide, hypochlorite and hydrogen peroxide. This paper presented the effective need of ecofriendly, economically reliable pulping and bleaching sequences in case of rice straw to eliminate the problems of chlorinated compounds in wastewater of paper mills. Such approach of using waste as a raw material with its environmentally safe processing for making paper can prove to be valuable towards sustainable growth.