Alternative low-cost adsorbent for water and wastewater decontamination derived from eggshellwaste: an overview

As the current global trend towards more stringent environmental standards, technical applicability and cost-effectiveness became key factors in the selection of adsorbents for water and wastewater treatment. Recently, various low-cost adsorbents derived from agricultural waste, industrial by-products or natural materials, have been intensively investigated. In this respect, the eggshells from egg-breaking operations constitute significant waste disposal problems for the food industry, so the development of value-added by-products from this waste is to be welcomed. The egg processing industry is very competitive, with low profit margins due to global competition and cheap imports. Additionally, the costs associated with the egg shell disposal (mainly on landfill sites) are significant, and expected to continue increasing as landfill taxes increase. The aim of the present review is to provide an overview on the development of low-cost adsorbents derived from eggshell by-products

Challenges Facing Healthcare Administration , Public Health, Nurses And Microbiology Team Towards Prevention Of Transmission Of Wild Poliovirus

The Global Commission for the Certification of the Eradication of Poliomyelitis will declare the world free of wild poliovirus transmission when no wild virus has been detected for a minimum of 3 consecutive years, and all laboratories that possess wild poliovirus materials have implemented effective containment measures. These achievements can be attained through the collaborative efforts of healthcare administration, public health, nursing, and microbiology teams in addressing the challenges associated with transmission. The primary obstacles to achieving polio eradication are the lack of robust political backing at the national level, insufficient financial support that hampers the implementation of WHO recommendations, potential issues with the availability of polio vaccine due to inadequate support, and the unsatisfactory rate of progress in polio surveillance

Removal of organic contaminants in bioretention medium amended with activated carbon from sewage sludge

Bioretention, also known as rain garden, allows stormwater to soak into the ground through a soil-based medium, leading to removal of particulate and dissolved pollutants and reduced peak flows. Although soil organic matter (SOM) is efficient at sorbing many pollutants, amending the bioretention medium with highly effective adsorbents has been proposed to optimize pollutant removal and extend bioretention lifetime. The aim of this research was to investigate whether soil amended with activated carbon produced from sewage sludge increases the efficiency to remove hydrophobic organic compounds frequently detected in stormwater, compared to non-amended soil. Three lab-scale columns (520 cm3) were packed with soil (bulk density 1.22 g/cm3); activated carbon (0.5% w/w) was added to two of the columns. During 28 days, synthetic stormwater—ultrapure water spiked with seven hydrophobic organic pollutants and dissolved organic matter in the form of humic acids—was passed through the column beds using upward flow (45 mm/h). Pollutant concentrations in effluent water (collected every 12 h) and polluted soils, as well as desorbed amounts of pollutants from soils were determined using GC-MS. Compared to SOM, the activated carbon exhibited a significantly higher adsorption capacity for tested pollutants. The amended soil was most efficient for removing moderately hydrophobic compounds (log Kow 4.0–4.4): as little as 0.5% (w/w), carbon addition may extend bioretention medium lifetime by approximately 10–20 years before saturation of these pollutants occurs. The column tests also indicated that released SOM sorb onto activated carbon, which may lead to early saturation of sorption sites on the carbon surface. The desorption test revealed that the pollutants are generally strongly sorbed to the soil particles, indicating low bioavailability and limited biodegradation

Valorisation of Biowastes for the Production of Green Materials Using Chemical Methods

With crude oil reserves dwindling, the hunt for a sustainable alternative feedstock for fuels and materials for our society continues to expand. The biorefinery concept has enjoyed both a surge in popularity and also vocal opposition to the idea of diverting food-grade land and crops for this purpose. The idea of using the inevitable wastes arising from biomass processing, particularly farming and food production, is, therefore, gaining more attention as the feedstock for the biorefinery. For the three main components of biomass—carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins—there are long-established processes for using some of these by-products. However, the recent advances in chemical technologies are expanding both the feedstocks available for processing and the products that be obtained. Herein, this review presents some of the more recent developments in processing these molecules for green materials, as well as case studies that bring these technologies and materials together into final products for applied usage

Adsorption of Naphthalene, Phenanthrene and Pyrene from Aqueous Solution Using Low-Cost Activated Carbon Derived from Agricultural Wastes

In this work, the adsorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from aqueous solution by rice husk activated carbon (RHAC) was compared with adsorption using conventional, powdered activated carbon as the adsorbent. The adsorbent capacity of RHAC was found to be higher than all other agricultural and industrial adsorbents evaluated. The kinetics of PAHs was similar even after 24 hours. The removal of PAH occurred in the following order: naphthalene < phenanthrene < pyrene. Our study results show that molecular weight and solubility play vital roles in the adsorption of PAH on RHAC. The study results pointed to the occurrence of an intra-particle mechanism in all cases. The isotherm models that best represented the data obtained were Freundlich for naphthalene, Redlich–Peterson for phenanthrene, and Langmuir for pyrene. The results of this study were compared with previous studies

A family cluster of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus infections related to a likely unrecognized asymptomatic or mild case

AbstractBackgroundNinety confirmed cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) have been reported to the World Health Organization. We report the details of a second family cluster of MERS-CoV infections from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.MethodsWe present the clinical, laboratory and epidemiological details of 3 patients from a family cluster of MERS-CoV infections.ResultsThe first patient developed respiratory symptoms and fever 14 days after admission to hospital for an unrelated reason. He died 11 days later with multi-organ failure. Two of his brothers presented later to another hospital with respiratory symptoms and fever. MERS-CoV infection in the latter 2 patients was confirmed by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction testing. All 3 patients had fever, cough, shortness of breath, bilateral infiltrates on chest x-ray, thrombocytopenia, lymphopenia and rises in serum creatinine kinase and alanine transaminase. No hospital or other social contacts are known to have acquired the infection. It appears that the index patient in this cluster acquired MERS-CoV infection whilst in hospital from an unrecognized mild or asymptomatic case.ConclusionMERS-CoV acquisition from unrecognized mild or asymptomatic cases may be a more important contributor to ongoing transmission than previously appreciated