Efficient defluorination of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) was achieved by integrating UV irradiation and $Fe^{2+}$ activation of persulfate ($S_2O{_8}^{2-}$). It was found that the UV-$Fe^{2+}$, $Fe^{2+}-S_2O{_8}^{2-}$, and UV-$S_2O{_8}^{2-}$ processes caused defluorination efficiency of 6.4%, 1.6% and 23.2% for PFOA at pH 5.0 within 5 h, respectively, but a combined system of UV-$Fe^{2+}-S_2O{_8}^{2-}$ dramatically promoted the defluorination efficiency up to 63.3%. The beneficial synergistic behavior between $Fe^{2+}-S_2O{_8}^{2-}$ and UV-$S_2O{_8}^{2-}$ was demonstrated to be dependent on $Fe^{2+}$ dosage, initial $S_2O{_8}^{2-}$ concentration, and solution pH. The decomposition of PFOA resulted in generation of shorter-chain perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs), formic acid and fluoride ions. The generated PFCAs intermediates could be further defluorinated by adding supplementary $Fe^{2+}$ and, $S_2O{_8}^{2-}$ and re-adjusting solution pH in later reaction stage. The much enhanced PFOA defluorination in the UV-$Fe^{2+}-S_2O{_8}^{2-}$ system was attributed to the fact that the simultaneous employment of UV light and $Fe^{2+}$ not only greatly enhanced the activation of $S_2O{_8}^{2-}$ to form strong oxidizing sulfate radicals ($SO{_4}^{\cdot-}$), but also provided an additional decarboxylation pathway caused by electron transfer from PFOA to in situ generated $Fe^{3+}$.

Dewatering is an extremely important step in wastewater treatment process to reduce the final sludge volume in order to minimize the cost of sludge transportation and disposal. In the present study, the effect of different sludge solids content (1, 2 and 3.8%) on the dewaterability of anaerobically digested sludge using Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans was studied. The pH reduction rate was higher during initial process in the sludge having low solids content, but after 48 h of bioleaching, similar pH of below 3 was observed with all the different solids content. Bio-oxidation rate of $Fe^{2+}$ was initially higher in sludge with low solids content, but 100% $Fe^{2+}$ was oxidized within 60 h in all the three treatment levels. Compared to the control, specific resistance to filtration was reduced by 75, 78 and 80% in the sludge with a solids content of 1, 2 and 3.8% respectively, showing improvement in dewaterability with an increase in sludge solids content. Sludge effluent quality and sludge settling rate were also improved in treatments with higher solids content after the bioleaching process.

A study was conducted to determine the phytotoxic effect of mercury on seed germination and seedling growth of an important arid legume tree Albizia lebbeck. The seeds germination and seedling growth performance of A. lebbeck responded differently to mercuric chloride treatment (1 mM, 3 mM, 5 mM and 7 mM) as compared to control. Seed germination of A. lebbeck was significantly (p < 0.05) affected by mercury treatment at 1 mM. Root growth of A. lebbeck was not significantly affected by mercury treatment at 1 mM, and 3 mM. Shoot and root length of A. lebbeck were significantly (p < 0.05) affected by 5 mM concentration of mercury treatment. Increase in concentration of mercury treatment at 5 mM and 7 mM significantly (p < 0.05) reduced seedling dry weight of A. lebbeck. The treatment of mercury at 1 mM decreased high percentage of seed germination (22%), seedling length (10%), root length (21.85%) and seedling dry weight (9%). Highest decrease in seed germination (51%), seedling (34%), root length (48%) and seedling dry weight (41%) of A. lebbeck occurred at 7 mM mercury treatment. A. lebbeck showed high percentage of tolerance (78.14%) to mercury at 1 mM. However, 7 mM concentration of mercury produced lowest percentage of tolerance (51.65%) in A. lebbeck. The seed germination potential and seedling vigor index (SVI) clearly decreased with the higher level of mercury. Plantation of A. lebbeck in mercury-polluted area will help in reducing the burden of mercury pollution. A. lebbeck can serve better in coordinating in land management programs in metal contaminated areas. The identification of the toxic concentration of metals and tolerance indices of A. lebbeck would also be helpful for the establishment of air quality standard.

The large quantity of green cull bananas has the potential of being used industrially and, thereby, to improve banana economics and eliminate the large environmental problem presented by banana waste. Wastewaters from textile, cosmetics, printing, dying, food colouring, and paper-making industries are polluted by dyes. The adsorption of basic dye by waste banana pith was investigated by varying dye concentrations, adsorbent dose, particle size and agitation rate. The adsorption capacity was found to be maximum value of removal by using 0.1 g of sorbent with particle size 1mm at mixing speed 200 rpm for initial concentration 25 mg/l to reach value of approximate 89%. The Langmuir, Temkin and Freundlich adsorption models were used for mathematical description of the adsorption equilibrium and it was found that experimental data fitted very well to these models except Langmuir model. Adsorption of dye was applied on (pseudo-first and pseudo-second-order kinetics), and the experimental data was more fitted to pseudo second order. The results of this study showed that banana pith could be employed as effective and low-cost materials for the removal of dyes from aqueous solutions.

The present study examines the phosphate adsorption potential and behavior of mixture of Ground Burnt Patties (GBP), a solid waste generated from cooking fuel used in earthen stoves and Red Soil (RS), a natural substance in fixed bed column mode operation. The characterization of adsorbent was done by Proton Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE), and Proton Induced ${\gamma}$-ray Emission (PIGE) methods. The FTIR spectroscopy of spent adsorbent reveals the presence of absorbance peak at $1127cm^{-1}$ which appears due to P = O stretching, thus confirming phosphate adsorption. The effects of bed height (10, 15 and 20 cm), flow rate (2.5, 5 and 7.5 mL/min) and initial phosphate concentration (5 and 15 mg/L) on breakthrough curves were explored. Both the breakthrough and exhaustion time increased with increase in bed depth, decrease in flow rate and influent concentration. Thomas model, Yoon-Nelson model and Modified Dose Response model were used to fit the column adsorption data using nonlinear regression analysis while Bed Depth Service Time model followed linear regression analysis under different experimental condition to evaluate model parameters that are useful in scale up of the process. The values of correlation coefficient ($R^2$) and the Sum of Square Error (SSE) revealed the Modified Dose Response model as the best fitted model to the experimental data. The adsorbent mixture responded effectively to the desorption and reusability experiment. The results of this finding advocated that mixture of GBP and RS can be used as a low cost, highly efficient adsorbent for phosphate removal from aqueous solution.

The quest for enhanced thermal comfort for dwellings encompasses the holistic utilization of improved building fabric, impact of weather variation and amongst passive cooling design consideration the provision of appropriate ventilation and shading strategy. Whilst thermal comfort is prime to dwellings considerations, limited research has been done in this area with the attention focused mostly on non-dwellings. This paper examines the current and future thermal comfort implications of four different standard construction specifications which show a progressive increase in thermal mass and airtightness and is underpinned by the newly developed CIBSE adaptive thermal comfort method for assessing the risk of overheating in naturally ventilated dwellings. Interactive investigation on the impact of building fabric variation, natural ventilation scenarios, external shading and varying occupants' characteristics to analyse dwellings thermal comfort based on non-heating season of current and future weather patterns of London and Birmingham is conducted. The overheating analysis focus on the whole building and individual zones. The findings from the thermal analysis simulation are illustrated graphically coupled with statistical analysis of data collected from the simulation. The results indicate that, judicious integrated approach of improved design options could substantially reduce the operating temperatures in dwellings and enhance thermal comfort.