Iranian Journal of

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Background and Objectives : Propylene glycol is the main compound of anti-freezing chemicals. A significant amount of propylene glycol is released to the environment after application and contaminates the soil. The main objective of this study was to determine the biological removal of propylene glycol from wastewater and its degradation in soil by the isolated bacteria from activated sludge process.
Materials and Methods: In the present study, the sludge taken from the return flow in a local activated sludge treatment system was used as the initial seed. The performance of the bioreactor in treating the wastewater was evaluated at four different retention times of 18, 12, 6 and 4 h all with the inlet COD concentration of 1000 mg/L. This phase lasted around 4 months. Then, a part of the adapted microorganisms were transported from the bioreactor to the soil which was synthetically contaminated to the propylene glycol.
Results: The average of propylene glycol removal efficiency from the wastewater in detention times of 18, 12, 8 and 4 h in steady state conditions was 98.6%, 97.1%, 86.4% and 62.2% respectively. Also, the maximum degradation in soil was found to be 97.8%.
Conclusion: According to the results obtained from this study, it appears that propylene glycol is inherently well biodegradable and can be biodegraded in liquid phase and soil after a short period of adaptation.

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Backgrounds and Objectives: Direct biodegradation of landfill leachate is too difficult because of high concentrations of COD and NH3 and also the presence of toxic compounds. The main objective of this study was to application of Strurvite precipitation as a pretreatment stage, in order to remove inhibitors of biodegradation before the batch decant activated sludge process with addition of powdered activated carbon (PAC).
Materials and Methods: Strurvite precipitated leachate was introduced to a bench scale batch decant activated sludge reactor with hydraulic retention times of 6 and 12 hour. PAC was added to aeration tank directly at the rate of 3.5 g/L.
Results:TCOD, SCOD, NH3 and P removal efficiency with addition of PAC in HRT of 6 h were 90,87, 98.3 and 94 % respectively and 96, 95, 99.2 and 98.7 5 in HRT of 12 h.
Concusion:According to obtained data from this work, it can be concluded that Strurvite precipitation before batch decant activated sludge process and simultaneous addition of PAC is promising technology for leachate treatment and can meet effluent standards for discharge to the receiving waters.

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Backgrounds and Objectives: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of hazardous pollutants which have carcinogenic and mutagenic properties and accumulated in environment by different actions, therefore treatment of them is important. Biological treatments are simple and cheep technologies. This technology was recommended as a cost- effective method for treatment of these pollutants. In order to investigate the trend of pollution reduction of petroleum hydrocarbons in bioremediation, the phenanthrene biodegradation&aposs model in contaminated soils was studied.
Materials and Methods: Firstly, PAHs capable degrading bacteria was isolated from petroleum contaminated soils and then their ability for biodegradation of phenanthrene was assessed in slurry phase. After that by using Acinetobacter which have the most potential of removing phenanthrene from soil, the biodegradation model was investigated in bench scale.
Results: Phenantherene removal efficiency was obtained 99.4% for 100 mg/kg and 96 % for 500 mg/kg concentrations in 33 and 60 days biodegradation period respectively. Phenantherene reduction rate varied from 2.99 to 8.86 and 1.4 to 11.09 mg/kg/day for 100 and 500 mg/kg concentrations, respectively.
Conclusion: Rate of phenantherene removal is depended on primary concentration of contamination and by increasing of primary concentration, phenantherene removal rate was increased. Also removal efficiency followed zero and first order kinetic model with good correlation.

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BackgroundsAandObjectives: Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus are important pathogens that producewidespread infections. Purpose of this studywas to evaluate the antimicrobial effect of ultrasonic irradiation (US) alone and in combination with antibiotic on antibiotic resistance Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus.
Materials and Methods: In this study ultrasonic irradiation (US) in a laboratory-scale batch sonoreactor with low frequency (42 kHz) plate type transducer at 170W of acoustic power was used. The Water samples, were taken from different wards of the 3 teaching hospitals which were affiliated to the Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences to isolate Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus and also to determine their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern.
Results:Our results showed that Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus were affected by the ultrasound and the bactericidal effect increased with time.
Conclusion: It was found that P. aeruginosa was more susceptible to the ultrasonic treatment than S. aureus. The combination of US with an antibiotic (amoxicillin) enhanced killing of both bacteria over the use of US alone. There were no differences in resistance to ultrasound between isolated strains and standard strains from persian type culture collection.

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Backgrounds and Objectives: Reactive dyestuff has potential of toxicity, carcinogenesis and mutagenesis for mammals and aquatic organisms. The current physical and chemical methods such as adsorption, coagulation, precipitation, filtration and ... can been used for removing of dyestuff. Biological treatment which is effective and economic for decontamination of dyestuff wastewaters was preferred because of limitation and difficulty of physicochemical methods. In order to investigate the trend of pollution reduction of color compounds, ability of Remazol Black-B dyestuff removal from aqueous medium by bacterial consortium under anoxic conditions was studied.
Materials and Methods: The mix culture of bacteria from textile industries activated sludge was enriched in luria broth medium containing RB-B dyestuff as a carbon source. Then biodegradation was assessed in 4 batch reactors. Microbial population of bacterial and decolorization quantities of samples were detected by MPN and UV-Vis spectrophotometer.
Results: Decolorization efficiency by the bacterial consortium was obtained more than 99% for 50 and 250 mg/L concentrations in 72 and 144 h (3 and 6 days) respectively, while for the initial concentration of 500 mg/L was 98.1in 240 h (10 days) of biodegradation period. Dyestuff reduction rate after completed removal was about 0.69, 1.74,2 mg/L/h for initial concentration of 50, 250, 500 mg/L respectively.
Conclusion: Results showed that Alcaligenes denitrificans and Alcaligenes xylosoxidans bacteria
which were isolated from activated sludge have good potential of RB-B dyestuff removal and this removal is depending on primary concentration of dye. Removal efficiency increased as primary concentration went up.

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Background and Objectives: Fluoride is widely used in industries such as manufacture of semiconductors, power plants, glass production etc and release to the environment via their effluents. The purpose of this sturdy was to compare the efficiency of low price adsorbents in fluoride removal from water.
Materials and Methods: The optimum values of pH, contact time and adsorbent dosage were determined and different concentrations of fluoride were experimented in lab scale conditions for bagasse, modified bagasse and chitosan. Then Langmuir and Freundlich coefficient were determined based on optimum conditions.
Results: The pH value of 7, contact time of 60 min and adsorbent dosage of 2 g/L were determined as optimum conditions for all three adsorbents. The most fluoride removal efficiency of 91% was obtained for modified bagasse in optimum conditions.
Conclusion: Based on data obtained in this study, it can be concluded that adsorption by modified bagasse is an efficient and reliable method for fluoride removal from liquid solutions.

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Background and Objectives: Due to population intensity and industrial activities, quality of groundwater is important in Bushehr province and in particularly in coastal areas. The salinity of groundwater in Asaluyeh plain is increasing from the heights towards the Persian gulf and in some places are not even applicable for irrigation.
Materials and Methods: In order to explore the source of the chloride anomaly, groundwater samples were analyzed and compared with the Persian Gulf samples. Also Water Samples Different diagrams were determined and the reasons of water salinity of Asaluyeh Plain were investigated.
Results: The results of chemical analyses showed the groundwater excessive salinity, especially near the sea. Based on correlation matrix, the highest correlation between the sodium and chlorine ions was observed.
Conclusion: The factors influencing on groundwater salinity in the plain varies and arising from solution of halite and gypsum from surrounding formations, suddenly increas sodium chloride in some parts of plain and forming Cl-Na water type. The results indicated that the Groundwater Type of Asaluyeh is Cl-Na and therefore it is classified as non-potable water.

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Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE AR-SA MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Background and Objectives:Benzene, toluene and Xylenes (BTX) are organic pollutants, which are mainly associated with oil and its derivatives. BTX is environmental contaminants and considered harmful to human health. Application of surface absorbents such as zeolite is one of several methods for the removal of these compounds. In this study, BTX compounds' removal efficiencies were investigated and compared by using clinoptilolite type zeolite and zeolite with copper oxide nanoparticles.
Materials and Methods: In this study, the modified zeolite by hydrochloric acid in the grain size 1-2 mm and modified zeolite with nano particle of copper oxide were used.  Artificially- Contaminated Air flow was used continuously .To determine BTX concentrations, samplings were done by charcoal tube in current input and output. The concentrations of contaminants were determined by gas chromatography with FID detector.
Results: Removal efficiency of benzene, toluene, p-xylene, m-xylene and o-xylene by clinoptilolite were 78.3%, 62.1%, 32.2% 32.15% and 18.8%, respectively. For the clinoptilolite containing copper oxide nano particles efficiency were 25.42%, 35.65%, 36.33%, 33.24% and 29.39%, respectively. Average removal efficiency of BTX compounds observed when the zeolite without nanoparticles used (43.31%) was more than zeolite with nanoparticles (32%). The results showed that the concentration of CO₂ in the outlet air of the zeolite-containing nanoparticle (550 ppm) was more than the zeolite without nanoparticle (525 ppm).
Conclusion: Results showed that adding nanoparticles to the zeolite, although the removal efficiency of benzene and toluene can be reduced. The results showed that adding nanoparticles to the zeolite, although can be reduced removal efficiency of benzene and toluene, which may be due to occupying or blocking of the pollution absorption sites by the nanoparticles on the zeolite, but It cause promote more catalytic effect of zeolite in the decomposition process of contaminants by breaking the molecules of pollutants and their further degradation progress is done for conversion to carbon dioxide

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MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Background and Objectives: Aniline has been used in different processes of chemical industries, however due to its side effects on the environment, several methods have been considered for its removal. In this study, we evaluated the performance of photocatalytic process using ZnO nanoparticles (nZnO) and ultraviolet (UV) irradiation for removal of Aniline from a synthetic effluent.
Materials and Methods: A 5L photocatalytic reactor made from Plexiglas, which the UV lamp (20w) installed in the center of that (inside a quartz jacket), was designed and nZnO (0.2-0.5 g/l) was being added into synthetic effluent with Aniline concentration of 250 ppm. After retention times of 30, 60, and 90 min, samples were centrifuged and supernatant was filtered using a 0.2 µ PTFE filter. The liquid-liquid method and Gas Chromatography instrument was used for extraction and analysis respectively.
Results: Results showed that the photocatalytic process of nZnO+UV could effectively remove Aniline from effluent. Increasing trend in the removal efficiency of Aniline using nZnO = 0.5 g/l was slower in comparison with other nZnO concentrations and the ANOVA analysis shows no significant difference between removal efficiency of Aniline in different concentrations of nZnO. The most removal efficiency of Aniline (76.3%) was observed in alkaline pH, retention time of 90 min and nZnO of 0.5 g/l.
Conclusion: It could be concluded that the photocatalytic process of nZnO+UV could be suitable technique for Aniline removal from effluents.

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MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Background and Objectives: Nitrate is one of the most groundwater pollutants in world. Reduction of nitrate to nitrite by microorganisms cause serious health hazards. Nitrate can be eliminated using either adsorbtion or reduction. In this study, we investigated the adsorption of nitate on zeolite and the feasibility of removal improvement using supported  zero valent nano iron on zeolite via the reduction process.
Materials and Methods: The study was done in two phases investigation the zeolite and modified zeolite with zero valent nano iron in nitrate removal from water. First, we determined the optimum pH and time then the effect of adsorbent and nitrate concentration was investigated in one factor at the time. The adsorption isotherm was calculated according to the optimum condition. The physical characteristics of adsorbents were determined using SEM and TEM.
Results: The morphology investigation of adsorbent showed that the particle size of supported zero valent nano iron on zeolite was approximately 30-50 nm in diameter. The best conditions were pH 5, contact time of 120 min and 15 g/L for zeolite, while pH 3, contact time of 50 min and 7.5 g/L for supported  zero valent nano iron on zeolite. The isotherm equations revealed that nitrate adsorption follows Langmiur in both cases.
Conclusion: The supported  zero valent nano iron on zeolite could be considered as a high potential adsorbent for nitrate because it has several adsorbent sites, and Fe⁰ as a function for nitrate reduction.

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MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Background and Objectives: Cyanide is a toxic pollutant existing in the various industrial effluents such as iron and steel, coal mining, non-ferrous metals manufacturing and metal plating. Its presence in water resources and wastewater, as serious hazardous substances leads to undesirable effects on both the environment and human. Thus, its concentration control is essential for human health. The main goal of this study was to evaluate Fenton process efficiency in cyanide removal from aqueous solution.
Materials and Methods: This is an experimental study Conducted at Lab scale in a batch system. We investigated effect of different variables including pH, mole ratio of Fe²⁺/ H₂O₂, contact time, and initial concentration of cyanide. Data were analyzed using Excel software.
Results: We found that cyanide with initial concentrations of 0.4 mM/L was reduced by 92 %. This removal result was related to oxidizing agent of hydroxyl radicals under optimum conditions including pH = 4, molar ratio Fe²⁺/ H₂O₂= 0.046 (Fe²⁺=0.27 mM/L) after 6o min reaction time. An increase in reaction time was not improved cyanide removal efficiency. Moreover, the Fenton process efficiency in cyanide removal decreased from 92 to 60 %, by increasing the initial cyanide concentration from 0.4 to 0.6 mM/L.
Conclusion: It can be concluded that Fenton oxidation Process can be considered as a suitable alternative for cyanide removal to achieve environmental standards.

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MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Background and Objectives:The poor accessibility of microorganisms to PAHs in soil has limited success in the process of bioremediation as an effective method for removing pollutants from soils. Different physicochemical factors are effective on the rate of biodegradation. The main objective of this study is to assess effects of nutrient and salinity on phenanthrene removal from polluted soils.
Materials and Methods:The soil having no organic and microbial pollution was first artificially polluted with phenanthrene then nutrients and salinity solution in two concentrations were added to it in order to have the proportion of 10% w:v (soil: water). After that a microbial mixture enable to degrade phenanthrene was added to the slurry and was aerated. Finally, the residual concentration of Phenanthrene in the soil was extracted by ultrasonic and was analyzed using GC. We measured the microbial populationusing MPN test. This study was conducted based on the two level full factorial design of experiment.
Results: MPN test showed that the trend of microbial growth has experienced a lag growth. The full factorial design indicated that nutrient had the maximum effect on bioremediation the rate of phenanthrene removal in the maximum nutrients - minimum salinity solution was 75.14%.
Conclusion: This study revealed that the more nutrient concentration increases, the more degradation will be happened by microorganisms in the soils. However, salinity in the concentration used had no effect on inhabitation or promoting on the Phenanthrene removal.

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Background and Objective:Application of compost containing heavy metals can increase the concentration of metals in soil and groundwater. Therefore,the aim of this study was to investigate leaching lead, chromium,and cadmium from three soils (a sandy loam, a sandy clay loam and silt clay loam) amended with compost from the municipal solid waste. Material andMethod:First, the selected soils were repacked into columns (with an inner diameter of 100mm and a height of 600mm). Treatments included(a) low metal content compost (LMCC), (b) enriched metal content compost (EMCC) and (c) control. Then soil columns were incubated at room temperature for 9 days and were irrigated daily with deionized water to make a total of a 250 mm. Leachates were collected and analyzed for pH, EC, Pb, Cr, and Cd concentration. Results: It was found that the application ofEMCCwas significant (p≤0/05) on reducing pH, increasing electrical conductivity and leakage of metalscompared withcontrolin all three soils. But application of LMCC was not significant (p≥0/05) on the metals leaching compared withcontrolin all three soils. The overall quantities of metals leached followed the sandy loam> sandy clay loam> silt clay loam. Conclusion: The concentration of metals in the leachates depended on the soil characteristics and on the type of compost added to the soil. Therefore,application of enriched metal content compost on the soils containinga high percentage ofsandmay pose a risk in terms of groundwater contamination with heavy metals.

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Background and Objective: Extreme use of antibiotics and discharging them to the environment lead to serious consequences. Activated carbon is the most commonly adsorbent for these contaminants but its main drawback is difficulty of its separation. The objective of this study was synthesis of magnetic activated carbon by Fe₃O₄ and investigating its efficiency in adsorption of amoxicillin from synthetic wastewater. Materials and Methods: Materials and Methods: Physical and structural characteristics of the adsorbent synthesized were analyzed using SEM, TEM, XRD and BET techniques. The effect of factors like pH, initial concentration of amoxicillin and adsorbent, contact time, and temperature were investigated to determine thermodynamic parameters, equilibrium isotherms, and kinetics of adsorption process. Results: Physical characteristics of the magnetized activated carbon showed that Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles had the average size of 30-80 nm and BET surface area was 571 m²/g. The optimum conditions of adsorption were: pH=5, contact time=90min, adsorbent dose of 1g/L and temperature 200C. The equilibrium isotherms data showed that the adsorption process fitted both Freundlich and Longmuir models with the maximum capacity of 136.98 mg/g. The kinetic of the adsorption process followed pseudo second-order model. The negative values of &DeltaH0 and &DeltaG0 obtained from studying the adsorption thermodynamic suggested that amoxicillin adsorption on magnetic activated carbon was exothermic and spontaneous. Conclusion: The present study showed that the magnetic activated carbon has high potential for adsorption of amoxicillin, in addition to features like simple and rapid separation. Therefore, it can be used for adsorption and separation of such pollutants from aqueous solutions.

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Background and Objectives: The use of surfactants enhance the bioavailability of nonbiodegradable contaminants such as PAHs. Biosurfactants are more environmental friendly. In this study the ability of removing phenenthrene from soil by biosurfactant was assessed and compared with that of chemical surfactant. Materials and Methods: A soil sample free of any organic or microbial contamination was artificially spiked with phenanthrene at two concentrations. Then, mineral salt medium at constant concentration of chemical surfactant TritonX-100 and rhamnolipid MR01biosurfactant was added to it in order to have the proportion of 10% w:v (soil:water). A microbial consortium with a potential of phenanthrene biodegradation was inoculated to the soil slurry in two densities (OD=1 and 2) and then it was aerated on a shaker. After eight weeks, the residual concentration of phenanthrene in the soil was extracted by ultrasonic and was analyzed using HPLC. MPN test was used for measuring microbial population. This study was conducted based on the two level full factorial design of experiment. Results: It was found that chemical surfactant exhibited higher PHE removal efficiency than the biosurfactant. Using 120 mg/L of TritonX-100 and rhamnolipid, the PHE removal for the soil contaminated with 50 mg PHE/kg dry soil was 98.5 and 88.7% respectively, while the removal efficieny was decreased to 87 and 76% respectively for the soil contaminated with 300 mg PHE/kg. In the absence of surfactant, the removal efficiency at concentrations of 50 and 300 mg PHE/kg dry soil was achieved 60.76 and 51% respectively. The phenanthrene removal efficiency in OD=2 was more higher than OD=1. In the presence of rhamnolipid, the maximum microbial populations was observed in the second week, while it decreased in the presence of TritonX-100. Conclusion: Use of biosurfactants can be considered as a suitable option in low level pollutant sites. Chemical surfactants as ex-situ has achieved more satisfactory results in high level contaminant sites.

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Background and Objectives: Phenol is one of priority pollutants produced through leather, paint, resin, and pharmaceutical industries and it can contaminate groundwater after entering to the environment. Hence, it is necessary to use a suitable method for its removal. The aim of this study was synthesize and efficiency evaluation of magnetic nanocomposite of activated carbon powder-zero valent iron/silver (PAC-Fe^o/Ag) in the removal of phenol from aqueous solution. Material & Methods: Reduction method was used for converting bivalent iron to zero valent iron and co-precipitation method for depositing of iron on activated carbon. For coating silver on nano zero valent iron, rapid mixing at high temperature was used. The adsorbent was characterized using SEM, TEM, and XRD techniques. Then, the impact of pH, contact time, agitation speed, temperature, adsorbent, and initial phenol concentration were evaluated and optimized by one factor at the time method. Reaction kinetics and isotherms were also determined. Results: It was found that PAC-Fe^o/Ag has cubic and intertwined structure and has a diameter in the range from 40 to 100 nm. The optimum conditions for phenol removal by PAC-Fe^o/Ag were as pH=3, 90 min contact time, 200 rpm agitating speed and adsorbent concentration equal to 1 g/l. Isotherm and kinetic equations showed that the experimental data of phenol adsorption onto PAC-Fe^o/Ag are correlated to the Langmuir (R²>0.969) and pseudo-second order (R²<0.965) models, respectively. Conclusion: Under optimum conditions, modified adsorbent by zero valent iron and silver with maximum efficiency of 97% has quickly and effectively ability in removal of phenol and it can be easily separated from the solution sample by magnet because of its magnetic properties.

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Background and Objective: The presence of natural organic materials (NOM) in water resources affects its quality (i.e. color, odor, and taste). In addition, it leads to the fouling of filters and membranes and reduces water treatment efficiency during flocculation/ coagulation. Moreover, NOM reacts with disinfectants and produces byproducts (DBPs), which are harmful to human health. Magnetic nanoparticles have been reported as effective adsorbents for the removal of pollutants from the aqueous media. In this study, we applied SiO₂coating on these nanoparticles in order to enhance their stability and dispersion in aqueous media and investigated their capability in NOM adsorption from water. Materials and Methods: Iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles were prepared by co-precipitation. Then, we added Tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) to the solution in order to coat it with SiO₂ . The adsorbent characteristics were determined by SEM and XRD. Then, we carried out the adsorption experiments under different pH(3-12) and contact time (5-240 min)performance conditions. The adsorption kinetic was determined with respect to different Humic acid adsorption times. Later, we determined the effect of different concentrations of adsorbent on different concentrations of Humic acid, and Langmuir and Freundlich coefficients based on the optimum conditions. Results: The morphology investigation of adsorbent showed the average size of Fe₃O₄/SiO₂nanoparticles was 30-130 nm. The pH value of 10.5 and the contact time of 90 min at room temperature were determined as optimum conditions for removal of humic acid using Fe₃O₄/SiO₂ nanoparticles. The maximum adsorption capacity of Fe₃O₄/SiO₂ was192.30. The adsorption isotherm was fitted well by Langmuir model (R²>0.90) and the pseudo-second order model (R²>0.98) could better explain humic acid adsorption. Conclusion: Having high number of active surface sites, magnetic properties, easily separation using magnetic field, and its cost-effectiveness, the Fe3O4/SiO2 nanoparticles could be used as an efficient adsorbent in removal of humic acid from water.