Iranian Journal of Health and Environment
Year:2013 | Volume:6 | Issue:2|Papers Count:12

Background and Objectives: Furfural with a chemical formula of C5H4O2 is a toxic and hazardous substance for human and environment. Furfural and its derivatives such as furfuryl alcohol, alone or in combination with phenol, acetone or urea are used mainly in the production of resin. The second major application of furfural is in the production of solvents such furan and tetrafuran frequently used as a selective solvent in the production, treatment, and refining lubricants from petroleum products. A few studies have recently been done in terms of removal or recovery of furfural. Due to advantages of biological methods, the uses of theses environmentally friendly methods are being investigated in this study.Materials and Methods: We used cyclic biological reactor (CBR) and Fusarium culmorum granules to biologically degrade different concentration of furfural and equivalent of COD under different operating conditions. The analysis was based on the measurement of furfural degradation efficiency during operational period using spectrophotometer and measuring influent and effluent COD variations using a closed reflux method.Results: cyclic biological reactor was operated in various flow rate (Q) of furfural-containing wastewater for a different period. For all of the flow rate used, furfural degradation and COD removal efficiency was over 99 and 90 percent respectively. Fusarium culmorum granules were also exposed to different concentrations of furfural at different incubation temperatures showing high furfural removal capacity.Conclusion: Under different operating conditions of biological systems, high removal efficiency of furfural was observed, but CBR in comparison with Fusarium culmorum granules reached the optimum and desired removal efficiency in shorter time. Therefore, these systems can be developed and replaced with chemical methods to treat furfural containing wastewater.

Background and Objectives: Kidney patients in each dialysis cycle are exposed to extremely large volume of water, which is in direct contact with the patient’s blood. Hence, the occurrence of any type of contamination in the water used can be very toxic to patients. Thus, quality of water plays an important role in patient well-being. The aim of our study was to investigate the quality of water used for hemodialysis in Kashan Akhavan hospital.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on water quality used for hemodialysis in Kashan Akhavan hospital during Oct.-Nov., 2011. During the study a total of 26 water samples were taken from the raw water and inlet of hemodialysis instrument. Collected water samples were analysed for Heterotrophic plate count, residual chlorine, pH, K+, SO4 2-, Na+, F-, Ca2+, mg2+, No3 -, Hg+, Cd2+, Cr6+, Zn2+, Cu2+, Se2+, Co2+, Ag+ and As2+ according to the standard methods for water and wastewater examination.Results: Our results showed that the concentration of copper, zinc, cadmium, lead, chromium, and silver were 0.4, 0.6, 0.07, 0.05, 0.08, and 0.04 mgL-1 respectively. In addition, concentration of the chemical elements and heavy metals did not exceed the standard level in any cases. Moreover, no microbial contamination was observed in the samples analyzed.Conclusion: Based on the results obtained, all water quality parameters in hemodialysis ward of Kashan Akhavan Hospital were compatible with AAMI (Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation) water quality Standards and no health risk threatens the kidney patients.

Background and Objectives: Water is essential for sustaining life & adequate safe supplies must be accessible to the public. Nowadays, people prefer to purchase bottled water for reasons including taste, convenience, following fashion, and its safety and sanitary conditions. According to the WHO guideline, it is of great importance to control the bottled water because of keeping it for longer period of time and at higher temperature in comparison with the water of distribution networks, reusing containers and bottles without adequate washing and disinfecting, and more growth of microorganisms having less important in the terms of health. The aim of this study was to investigate the microbial and physicochemical quality of bottled water in the stores of Qazvin City and to compare the aforesaid features with national standards and to check the quality with the bottles’ label.Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 51 samples of 11 bottled water brands with different production date were obtained. The features were studied in accordance with Standard Methods. Then, the data were analyzed by T-Test and one way ANOVA analysis using SPSS software. Eventually, the results were compared with the national standards, the WHO guidelines, and the product labels.Results: Results showed lack of microbial contamination of the samples. Physically and chemically, all the parameters measured were below the national standards level. Study of conformity of the variables to the label indicated that mostly there was a significant difference between the values measured and the values listed on the product labels.Conclusion: Although the concentration of microbial, physical and chemical features of samples were in the extent of national standards, there was a meaningful difference between labels and measured values so that the average concentration of TDS, TH, SO4 -2, Ca2+, Mg2+ and Na+ would be more than the label values and the average of the other parameters was lower than the label values.

Background and Objectives: Toxicity assessment of material related to nanotechnology is necessary before excess development of this industry. On the other hand, specific characteristic of nanomaterials can be used in disinfection of other material. In this study toxicity and antibacterial properties of nano-TiO2 and nano-CuO were investigated with four bacterial species in solid media.Material and Methods: Stock suspension of nanoparticles (10g-TSS/L) was diluted using Muller Hinton Agar to achieve 5-6000mg-TSS/L concentration. We prepared three Petri dishes for each concentration and refined bacteria were cultured on these Petri dishes. After culturing of these bacteria on the media containing nanoparticles, growth inhibition was determined. According to this data, 50% growth inhibition (EC50), no observed effect concentration (NOEC) and 100% growth inhibition were determined.Results: Our results showed that toxicity of TiO2 is more than CuO in solid media. In this regard, nano-TiO2 EC50 for Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was calculated 181, 571, 93 and 933mg-TSS/L respectively. These figures for nano-TiO2 were 2550, 1609, 946, and 1231mg-TSS/L respectively.Conclusion: This study showed that compared with other bacteria studied, E. aureus due to high sensitivity and E. coli due to high resistance to both TiO2 and CuO nanoparticles are more proper as bioindicator in toxicity test and antibacterial test respectively.

Background and Objectives: On August 2012, two earthquakes measured 6 and 6.2 on the Richter scale took place in Eastern Azerbaijan province. Environmental Health Department is accounted as one of the main units for providing and supervising environmental sanitation services at the emergencies, therefore, the objective of this study was allocated to assess environmental health response performance in recent earthquake.Material and Methods: Through multi-stages stratified sampling, we selected 8 and 4 villages from the earthquake zones of Heris and Varzaghan respectively. The collecting data tools in this research were the WHO checklist in 7 categories, 14 subcategories, and 37 environmental health activities and also the minimum standards of Sphere Project checklist. The status of environmental health in each village was assessed using the mentioned checklists. This study was carried out with attendance of research team in earthquake zones 21 days after the occurrence of earthquake.Results: Among the 37 environmental health activities, 7 activities were the joint ones, which Environmental Health Department had to carry it out with the coordination of other related organizations. In other words, the environmental health has the supervising role in these activities.Totally, such activities had more nonconformities compared with the activities in which environmental health was administered as the main responder. The details of results have been expressed in the full text.Conclusion: Providing intra-sector coordination, prioritizing the needs of the affected population and considering the principles of community based management in the natural disaster are proposed as the recommendations of this study.

Background and objectives: In this research, an innovative drinking water quality index for assessing water resources as “modified drinking water quality index (MDWQI) ” was developed and applied for evaluating all of the groundwater resources utilized for community water supply in urban areas of Iran during 2011.Materials and methods: Twenty-three water quality parameters and relevant Iranian standards for drinking water quality were selected as input parameters and benchmarks respectively. The MDWQI is calculated using three factors including the number of parameters that excurse benchmarks, the number of measurements in a dataset that excurse benchmarks and the magnitude of excursions. The MDWQI scores range from 0 to 100 and classify water quality in five categories as excellent (95- 100), good (80-94), fair (65-79), marginal (45-64), and poor (0-44).Results: According to the MDWQI value, about 95% of the groundwater resources were in the good condition and the others were in the fair or marginal condition; also the best and the worst water quality of water resources were observed in Ardebil Province and Qom Province respectively. The three parameters of fluoride, magnesium, and nitrate recorded the highest rates of violation to be 74, 32, and 13% respectively.Conclusion: The nationwide average score of the MDWQI was 85 (good description). This study indicated that the MDWQI and its sub-indices could describe the overall water quality of water bodies easily, reliably and correctly and have the potential suitability for extensive application all over the world.

Background and Objectives: Soil pollution by oil compounds is a serious environmental and ground water problem throughout the world. Total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) are a combination of many distinctive compounds. Some of these compounds in exposure with human and animal can cause cancer, disorder central nervous system, liver and lungs affects. The objective of this research was to investigate gasoline removal (C10 - C 28) using Brij 35 and Tween 80 from polluted soil.Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, the efficiency of soil washing with nonionic surfactants (Brij 35, Tween 80) for remediation of gasoline polluted soils was studied. The effects of soil washing time, agitation, surfactant concentration, and pH on the removal efficiency were studied.Results: The results showed that gasoline removal efficiency increased with increasing agitation speed and washing time. In addition, it was found that removal efficiency of gasoline was decreased by increasing surfactant concentration. But, increasing pH did not have remarkable effect on removal efficiency of gasoline. The efficiencies of Tween 80 and Brij 35 for removal of gasoline under optimal condition were 70 -80 and 60- 65% respectively.Conclusion: The results showed that soil washing with non ionic surfactants was effective in removal of gasoline from polluted soil and it can be recommended for treating surface soil polluted.

Background and Objectives: Among the heavy metals cadmium is of considerable environmental and health significance because of its increasing mobilization and human toxicity. The objectives of this research were to synthesize SDS modified magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4) and to determine its efficiency in cadmium removal from aqueous solutions.Materials and Methods: Modified magnetite nanoparticles were synthesized and the effects of pH and contact time on cadmium removal efficiency were investigated in batch system. Then kinetics and isotherm models coefficients were determined in the optimum pH and equilibrium time conditions. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infra red (FTIR) were used to characterize the modified magnetite nanoparticles synthesized.Results: The SEM results showed that the diameter of the particles is 40-60 nm. It was found that the optimum pH value for maximum adsorption of 10 mg/L cadmium by 0.1 g adsorbent in 12 hr was 6.Kinetic study showed that the equilibrium time was 30 min. The adsorption kinetics fitted well using the Ho pseudo second-order kinetic model; however, the adsorption isotherm could be described by the Freundlich model. The maximum adsorption capacity of modified magnetite nanoparticles for Cd2+was found to be 9.604 mg/g.Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that the modified magnetite nanoparticles can be employed as an efficient adsorbent for the removal of cadmium from contaminated water sources.

Background and objectives: Formaldehyde is one of the compounds widely used in various industries; hence, its discharge into the effluent is unavoidable. Exposure to formaldehyde has a significant health effects. To prevent these issues, treatment of wastewater containing formaldehyde is necessary. The purpose of this study was to determine the performance of aerobic sequencing batch reactor (SBR) in removing formaldehyde from wastewater.Methods: We used a SBR having a total volume of 6.15 liters and an effective volume of 4 liters. The formaldehyde and COD removal efficiency of SBR was evaluated by applying loading rate of 0.031 to 0.156 kgCOD/m3.h. Four cycles of 6, 8, 10, and 12 hours were considered to investigate retention time effect onto the reactor efficiency.Results: Acclimation of microorganism with formaldehyde was achieved after about 30 days. We found that a retention time lower than an hour is not enough for achieving an acceptable efficiency.The maximum removal efficiency (90.52% for COD and 95.32% for formaldehyde) was observed at organic loading rate of 0.031 kg COD/m3.h and 12 hour retention time. The removal efficiency decreased to 46.44% for COD and 69.12%, for formaldehyde with increasing the organic loading rate to 0.156 kg COD/m3.h. The maximum concentration of MLSS was measured 2863 mg /L at organic loading rate of 0.091 kg COD/m3.h.Conclusion: The results showed that SBR could be applied as a practical, effective, and reliable technology for treatment of wastewater containing formaldehyde.

Background and Objectives: The development a low-cost and high efficiency water treatment technology to decolorize the organic dye effluents is desirable due to overwhelming discharge of organic synthetic dyes into the natural water cycle during the dying process. In this study, the decolorization of Acid Black 26, as the model organic contaminant, was investigated using immobilized nano-sized TiO2 particles as the photocatalyst.Material and Methods: Sackcloth fiber was used as a support to immobilize TiO2 nanoparticles. The structural properties of the immobilized photocatalysts were characterized by XRD and SEM. UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy and the measurement of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) were also used for the process performance studies. Moreover, we investigated the effects of the oxidant H2O2, initial dye concentration, the presence of anion and pH on the photocatalytic degradation efficiency.Results: The XRD results did not show significant changes in the structure of TiO2 as a consequence of the immobilization procedure. The formation of titania crystallites in the sackcloth fiber was confirmed by SEM. Experimental results showed that after 60 min, the degradation percentage of Acid Black 26 with the immobilized TiO2 particles was about 60%, which was higher than that with TiO2 slurry. Based on the COD results, after 3h, the TiO2-coated sackcloth fiber effectively decomposed 94% of the organic compounds presenting in dye solution during the degradation of Acid Black 26.Conclusion: The titania nanoparticles immobilized on the sackcloth fiber can be used as an effective and environmental friendly photocatalyst in the degradation of colored wastewater.

Background and objectives: Bisphenol A (BPA) is an endocrine disrupting chemical that releases to the environment through effluents of its producing factory, pulp and paper mill factories, and plastics industry. The purpose of this study was to investigate adsorption isotherms of removing BPA from aqueous solutions using single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs).Materials and methods: This study was an empirical investigation. Our experiments were conducted discontinuously using 50 mL of sample in each test. The variables of this study were the contact time (5, 15, 30, 60, 90, 120 min), the initial concentration of BPA (2, 5, 20, 50 mg/L), and pH (3, 5, 6, 9, 11). The concentrations of BPA were measured using UV-Vis spectrophotometer.Results: The maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 71.42 mg/g. The results of our experiments showed that maximum adsorption capacity at equilibrium was achieved at t=60 min and pH=9. Moreover, increasing the initial concentration is associated with an increase in adsorption capacity until it becomes constant.Conclusion: The BPA adsorption on SWCNT follows Freundlich-Langmuir isotherm.