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DETERMINATION OF AIR CHANGE RATES BY USING INDOOR CO AS TRACER: APPLICABILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
No full textAir change rates and ventilation of a room was determined by CO Tracer Decay Technique. The tracer was generated by burning bulk amount of mosquito coils, an easy and low cost method of CO generation. The temporal decay in CO concentration in indoor air under closed and open room conditions were determined by collecting indoor air periodically at a few minutes interval in Tedler Bags and analyzing the same for CO. The air changes rate per hour (ACH) was calculated from the temporal decline of
indoor CO concentration in indoor air. The study indicated that CO generated by a low cost and easily applicable method like combustion of organic materials could be used as a tracer to determine ACH and ventilation rate. Background CO in air could be suitably used for ventilation studies in rural/urban slum dwellings in India and many other countries where substantial CO is found indoors due to combustion of biomass, incense sticks and mosquito coils
Strategies for Reducing Deforestation and Disaster Risk: Lessons from Garhwal Himalaya, India.
No full textForest ecosystem services are significant for local communities, especially for mountain communities dependent on natural resources. This chapter examines the contribution of forests to local communities dwelling at various elevations (from 1400 to 2800 m.a.s.l.) in Upper Kedarnath Valley of Garhwal, India. It is based on a study which provides an overview of common fodder extraction practices in the region and their impact on disaster risk. The research pointed to exceptional variations in temperature, snowfall and rainfall intensity that were reported in the past three decades. According to local communities, during this period deforestation and forest degradation were the result of land conversion, construction of hydropower dams, and increased biomass extraction particularly for firewood and fodder production as well as extraction of forest products. Extreme climate events and disasters are closely linked to these forest cover changes. The research showed that livestock per household, individuals per household involved in fodder harvesting, and the altitude of the village are important factors affecting forest health, or forest degradation patterns, respectively. The study provides an overview of impact of climate variabilities and forest degradation on local communities. Fodder banks are discussed as a nature-based (or ecosystem-based) solution that can address forest degradation in the Indian Himalayan Region and neighboring mountain countries. The approach is based on the principles of ‘community and ecosystem management’ to provide an alternative for fodder resources to local communities. Efforts from this practical experience reflect the need of proactive planning to enhance adaptive capacities of mountain communities in India and South Asia in general. This study is intended to enable more effective targeting of forest management interventions to reconcile the goals of poverty reduction and forest conservation
Effect of hydrodynamics, light and nitrogen stresses on biomass growth and lipid productivity in an airlift reactor
No full textThe quality of biodiesel strongly depends on the proportion of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in lipids. Thus, various process parameters and strategies which affect the lipid's composition are also studied in this article. Microalgae sp. Scenedesmus abundance was grown in two identical airlift photobioreactors (PBRs) equipped with red and white light LEDs of 10 L capacity. The effects of hydrodynamics stress (by manipulating the gas velocity) and nitrogen stress (nitrate concentration) have been studying on the biomass growth and lipid productivity. It has been found that the algae cells growth in the airlift PBR equipped with red LEDs were higher than that obtained in the PBR with white LEDs. The total lipids (dry wt. basis) of microalgae sp. were 12% (±2.4) and 17% (±1.9) for white-LED-PBR and red-LED-PBR respectively for nitrate replete media. Whereas, it was obtained 18% (±1.8) and 23% (±2.5) in the case of nitrate deplete media for white-LED-PBR and red-LED-PBR respectively. The lipid profiling in the case of nitrate deplete condition showed that the SFA, MUFA and PUFA contents were obtained in the range of 28-30%, 35-53% and 10-31% respectively with CN values ranging between 51-53 which are suitable characteristics for biodiesel production
Evaluation of heat shock proteins fordiscriminating between latenttuberculosis infection and activetuberculosis: A preliminary report
No full textThe diagnosis of a latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is of the utmost
concern. The available tests, the tuberculin skin test (TST) and the QuantiferonTB
Gold test (QFT-G) cannot discriminate between active TB and LTBI. Therefore,
the aim of the study is to identify new biomarkers that can discriminate between
active TB and LTBI and can also assess the risk of the individual developing active
TB. In total, 55 blood samples were collected, of which 10 samples were from the
active TB infection group, 10 were from the high-risk exposure group, 23 were from
the low-risk exposure group, and 12 were from healthy controls living in a non-TB
endemic area. A panel of heat shock proteins (Hsps), including host Hsp25, Hsp60,
Hsp70, and Hsp90 and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) Hsp16, were evaluated
in all of the collected samples using ELISA. The levels of the host Hsp(s) (Hsp25,
Hsp60, Hsp70 and Hsp90) and MTB Hsp16 were significantly (p < 0.05) elevated in the
active TB group compared to the high-risk exposure group, the low-risk exposure
group and the control group. Notably, the levels of the same panel of Hsp(s) were
elevated in the high-risk exposure group compared to the low-risk exposure group.
On follow-up, out of the 10 high-risk exposure participants, 3 converted into active TB, indicating that this group has the highest risk of developing TB. Thus, the evaluated
panel of Hsp(s) can discriminate between LTBI and active TB. They can also
identify individuals who are at the highest risk of developing active TB. Because they
can be rapidly detected, Hsp(s) have an edge over the existing diagnostic tools for
LTBI. The evaluation of these proteins will be useful in designing better diagnostic
methods for LTBI
Application of the NaWaTech Safety and O&M Planning Approach Re-Use Oriented Wastewater Treatment Lines at the Ordnance Factory Ambajhari, Nagpur, India
No full textNot only due to a lack of infrastructure such as treatment plants, but also because the majority of existing treatment plants are showing poor or very poor operating conditions and fail to meet their performance targets, India faces increas-ing water shortage and degradation of fresh water resources. The paper gives an overview on the methodology of a safety and O&M (operation and maintenance) planning approach developed and implemented for supporting sustainable long- term operation of wastewater treatment systems. The implementation of the meth-odology is shown for the pilot installation at Ordnance Factory Ambajhari, Nagpur, India. At this site, two treatment lines have been installed: Line 1 is designed for 100 m 3 /day and comprises anaerobic pre-treatment, a vertical upfl ow constructed wetland, followed by a disinfection step, line 2 designed for 8 m 3 /day is a 2-stage French Reed Bed system. The effl uent of the French Reed Bed system is used for irrigation of a Short Rotation Plantation. The safety and O&M planning approach was used to identify critical O&M tasks, develop site-specifi c trainings of operators as well as a basis to develop the O&M manual and materials for operators (such as check-lists, etc.)
Effect of carbon supply mode on biomass and lipid in CSMCRI's Chlorella variabilis (ATCC 12198)
No full textCSIR-CSMCRI's Chlorella variabilis (ATCC 12198) was evaluated through autotrophic, mixotrophic and
heterotrophic growth for lipid production. Autotrophic growth was assessed by providing sodium bicarbonate/
sodium carbonate/CO2 (air in a medium). Higher lipid productivity (115.94 mg L�1 d�1) with
higher biomass productivity (724.98 mg L�1 d�1) of this strain was attained through bicarbonate and CO2
sequestration in a photobioreactor. Ability to regulate the pH in favorable bicarbonate/carbonate ratio
showed its potential in alkaline effluent based carbon sequestration system for biofuel generation. The
simultaneous study was also conducted to understand the effect of elevated CO2 (0.4, 1 and 1.2 g L�1) in
air on the culture to assess adaptation, growth and lipid in the closed chamber conditions. It was
observed that CO2 sequestration by the microalgae from the CO2 enriched environment was optimum at
1 g L�1 C. variabilis adapted to comparatively higher CO2 (1 g L�1) but grew better in low CO2 (0.4 g L�1). It
was also observed that the growth, lipid content and fatty acid composition was significantly affected by
CO2 supply strategies. The effect of intermittently added sodium bicarbonate at different pH on microalgal
lipid content and composition of fatty acids was observed which could affect the quality of biodiesel.
The effect on fatty acid composition was observed in response to carbon supply mode during the
microalgal growth at different pH dictating the properties of biodiesel
Microbial water desalination and bio-electricity generation - Role of biomass carbon
Get PDFMicrobial desalination cells (MDCs) are modified microbial fuel cells (MFC) that are energy-sustainable.
They use organic matter in wastewater as the energy source for desalination. The electric potential gradient
is caused by exoelectrogenic bacteria. A typical MDC has a middle compartment for water desalination
between the anode and cathode chambers. Our study reports lab-scale desalination, for evaluating the role
of carbon from biomass waste. Control experiments were performed in the absence of activated carbon. Different initial salt concentrations (25 and 35 gl–1 ) were investigated. MDC produced a maximum voltage of 460 13 mV simultaneously removing about 83.3 1.3% of Na+ and 57.8 1.1% of Cl– , in the desalination cycle. The control MDC produced a maximum of 260 8 mV and 69.3 2% of Na+ removal and 51 1.5% Cl–
removal. These results explain the role of using activated carbon for improved power production and water desalination. The SEM image of the biofilm shows pili (nanowires) with rod-shaped microorganisms. EDAX confirmed the presence of minerals such as Al, P, K, O, N, which may be due to chemical scale formation (especially P, Na and Ca
Identification of arsenic resistant endophytic bacteria from Pteris vittata roots and characterization for arsenic remediation application
No full textMitigation of arsenic (As) pollution is a topical environmental issue of high R & D priority. The present
investigation was carried out to isolate As resistant endophytes from the roots of Indian ecotype Pteris
vittata and characterize their As transformation and tolerance ability, plant growth promoting characteristics and their role to facilitate As uptake by the plant. A total of 8 root endophytes were isolated from plants grown in As amended soil (25 mg As kg�1). These isolates were studied for minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), arsenite As(III)-arsenate As(V) transformation ability, plant growth promoting (PGP) characteristics through siderophore, indole acetic acid (IAA) production, phosphatase, ACC deaminase activity, and presence of arsenite oxidase (aox) and arsenite transporter (arsB) genes. On the basis of 16S rDNA sequence analysis, these isolates belong to Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes families under the genera Bacillus, Enterobacter, Stenotrophomonas and Rhizobium. All isolates were found As tolerant, of which one isolates showed highest tolerance up to 1000 mg L�1 concentration in SLP
medium. Five isolates were IAA positive with highest IAA production up to 60 mg/L and two isolates exhibited siderophore activity. Phosphatase activity was shown by only one isolate while ACC deaminase activity was absent in all the isolates. The As transformation study by silver nitrate test showed that only two strains had dual characteristics of As(III) oxidation and As (V) reduction, four strains exhibited either of the characteristics while other two didn’t confirmed any of the two characteristics. Presence of aox gene was detected in two strains and arsB
gene in six isolates. The strain with highest As tolerance also showed highest IAA production and occurrence of arsB
gene. Present investigation may open up further scope of utilizing these endophytes for up gradation of phytoextraction process
Reduction of chromium(VI) with energy recovery using microbial fuel cell technology
No full textA simple microbial fuel cell (MFC) method for the reduction of hexavalent chromium (Cr6+) at an abiotic cathode by using an exoelectrogenic biofilm on the biotic anode, has been established. Two different Cr6+-containing effluents were synthetically prepared in the laboratory (4 and 8 mg l−1). The chromium effluents were used as catholyte and anaerobic microorganisms as anodic biocatalyst. 4 mg l−1 of Cr6+ was reduced 95% while, 8 mg l−1 reduced 86% during 456 h reaction in the MFC systems investigated. The MFC system with 4 mg l−1 of chromium exhibited a maximum power density of 89 ± 3 mW m−2 and a maximum voltage of 931 mV. A power density of 69.5 ± 2.1 mW m−2 and voltage of 700 mV was obtained by 8 mg l−1 chromium containing MFC cell. This work verifies the possibility of current production and simultaneous cathodic Cr6+ reduction. The novelty and significance of this system is that it uses an uncomplicated and economical salt bridge which replaces costly membranes like Nafion and an abiotic cathod
Biomass and lipid enhancement in Chlorella sp. with emphasis on biodiesel quality assessment through detailed {FAME} signature
No full textAbstract In this study, the concentrations of MgSO4, salinity and light intensity were optimised for maximum biomass productivity and lipid content in Chlorella sp. Lipid synthesized at varied experimental conditions was also assessed in detail for biodiesel properties through {FAME} analysis. {FAMEs} mainly composed of C16:0, C16:1(9), C16:3(7, 10, 13), C18:0, C18:1(11), C18:2(9, 12), C18:3(9, 12, 15). The optimum biomass productivity (372.50 mg L−1 d−1) and lipid content (32.57) was obtained at MgSO4-150 ppm; salinity-12.5 ppm, and light intensity-25 μmol m−2 s−1. However, at this condition the cetane number, a major biodiesel property was not complying with worldwide biodiesel standard. Therefore, further optimisations were done to check the suitability of biodiesel fuel. The optimum biomass productivity (348.47 mg L−1 d−1) and lipid content (12.43) with suitable biodiesel fuel properties was obtained at MgSO4-50 ppm, salinity-25 ppm and light intensity-100 μmol m−2 s−1. The validation experiments confirmed the closeness of predicted and measured response values