Waves of change: Electrochemical innovations for environmental management and resource recovery from water - A review.

Environmental electrochemistry and water resource recovery are covered in this review. The study discusses the growing field's scientific basis, methods, and applications, focusing on innovative remediation tactics. Environmental electrochemistry may solve water pollution and extract resources. Electrochemical methods may effectively destroy or convert pollutants. This method targets heavy metals, organic compounds, and emerging water contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and microplastics, making it versatile. Environmental electrochemistry and resource recovery synergize to boost efficiency and sustainability. Innovative electrochemical methods can extract or synthesise metals, nutrients, and energy from wastewater streams, decreasing treatment costs and environmental effect. The study discusses electrocoagulation, electrooxidation, and electrochemical advanced oxidation processes and their mechanics and performance. Additionally, it discusses current electrode materials, reactor designs, and process optimisation tactics to improve efficiency and scalability. Resource recovery in electrochemical remediation methods is also examined for economic and environmental feasibility. Through critical examination of case studies and techno-economic evaluations, it explains the pros and cons of scaling up these integrated techniques. This study covers environmental electrochemistry and resource recovery's fundamental foundations, technology advances, and sustainable water management consequences.

Production and characterization of enriched vermicompost from banana leaf biomass waste activated by biochar integration.

Vermicomposting uses less energy and requires fewer infrastructures, and it is capable of restoring soil nutrition and carbon. Banana cultivation produces lots of trash in a single crop season, with 30 tonnes of waste generated per acre. The biodegradable fraction of banana leaf waste is thrown out in large quantities from temples, markets place wedding halls, hotels, and residential areas. Vermicomposting can be used for recovering lignin, cellulose, pectin, and hemicellulose from banana leaves. Earthworm digests organic materials with the enzymes produced in gut microflora. Biochar adds bulk to vermicomposting, increases its value as fertilizer. The goal of this study was to amend biochar (0, 2, 4 and 6%) with banana leaf waste (BLW) + cow dung (CD) in three different combinations (1:1, 2:1 and 3:1) using Eisenia fetida to produce enriched vermicompost. In the vermicompost with biochar groups, there were higher levels of physicochemical parameters, as well as macro- and micronutrient contents. The growth and reproduction of earthworms were higher in groups with biochar. A maximum of 1.82, 1.18 and 1.67% of total nitrogen, total phosphorus and total potassium was found in the final vermicompost recovered from BLW + CD (1:1) amended with 4% biochar; while the other treatments showed lower levels of nutrients. A lower C/N ratio of 18.14 was observed in BLW + CD (1:1) + 4% biochar followed by BLW + CD (1:1) + 2% biochar amendment (19.92). The FTIR and humification index studies show that degradation of organic matter has occurred in the final vermicompost and the substrates with 4% biochar in 1:1 combination showed better degradation and this combination can be used for nutrient rich vermicompost production.

A Brief Data on Water Demand Assessment for Sustainable Potable Water Supply in Yergalem Tula Kebele, Ethiopia.

In spite of Ethiopia's abundant water resources, such as rainwater, groundwater, river, and lake, there has been an increase in the demand for potable water during the past decade. Since 1990, Ethiopia has only achieved 57 percent of the Millennium Development Goal target for access to safe drinking water. Inadequate access to clean potable water and sewerage services and lack of good hygiene practices have a negative impact on health and nutrition, such as diarrheal disease which is one of the leading causes of mortality among children under the age of five in Ethiopia. The objective of the present study is to assess the water demand in Yergalem Tula Kebele, which will be used in the sustainable potable water supply design for the city. The water demand analysis is based on a geometric method of population forecasting with an annual growth rate of 3%. The total water demand (domestic and nondomestic water demands) projection has also been made and the per capita water demand of 25 liters for a distance of 0.5 km from the water distribution point for rural piped water supply system is adopted, as per GTP-II minimum service level. The mode and level of services considered for community water supplies include public fountains and institutions (i.e., schools and health centers/posts) with stand water points.

Treatment of Pharma Effluent using Anaerobic Packed Bed Reactor.

The treatment of pharmaceutical effluent using an appropriate technology has become so important. Anaerobic packed bed reactor is an efficient method for pharmaceutical effluent treatment because of the high organic content present in it. In this study, a heavy-polluted pharma effluent is treated using an anaerobic packed bed reactor. The performance of the anaerobic reactor was identified with respect to chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal, methane yield, and gas production. The results showed that COD was reduced from 73% to 60% for an organic loading rate (OLR) of 0.6036-1.7487 kg COD m-3·d-1. As the OLR increases, the removal efficiency of COD decreases gradually to around 52% for an OLR of 2.34 kg COD m-3·d-1.

Biodegradation of P-nitro phenol using a novel bacterium Achromobacter denitrifacians isolated from industrial effluent water.

In the present investigation, Achromobacter denitrifacians was isolated from industrial wastewater and used in the degradation of para nitro-phenol. Experiments were made as a function of different carbon sources, organic and inorganic nitrogen sources and metal ions to analyse the removal efficiency of para nitro-phenol present in the industrial wastewater sources. Observations revealed that the rate of phenol biodegradation was significantly affected by pH, temperature of incubation, glucose, peptone and metal ion concentration. The optimal conditions for phenol removal were found to be pH of 7.5, temperature, 35 °C and 0.25 gL-1 supplemented glucose level, 0.25 gL-1 supplemented peptone level, and 0.01 gL-1 zinc ion. The key importance of the present study is the utilization of a native bacterial strain isolated from the industrial effluent water itself having an impending role in the bioremediation process of phenol.

AFLP-based genetic diversity assessment of commercially important tea germplasm in India.

India has a large repository of important tea accessions and, therefore, plays a major role in improving production and quality of tea across the world. Using seven AFLP primer combinations, we analyzed 123 commercially important tea accessions representing major populations in India. The overall genetic similarity recorded was 51%. No significant differences were recorded in average genetic similarity among tea populations cultivated in various geographic regions (northwest 0.60, northeast and south both 0.59). UPGMA cluster analysis grouped the tea accessions according to geographic locations, with a bias toward China or Assam/Cambod types. Cluster analysis results were congruent with principal component analysis. Further, analysis of molecular variance detected a high level of genetic variation (85%) within and limited genetic variation (15%) among the populations, suggesting their origin from a similar genetic pool.