Air quality planning and management requires accurate and consistent records of the air quality parameters. Limited number of monitoring stations and inconsistent measurements of the air quality parameters is a very serious problem in many parts of India. It becomes difficult for the authorities to plan proactive measures with such a limited data. Estimation models can be developed using soft computing techniques considering the physics behind pollution dispersion as they can work very well with limited data. They are more realistic and can present the complete picture about the air quality. In the present case study spatio-temporal models using Linear Genetic Programming (LGP) have been developed for estimation of air quality parameters. The air quality data from four monitoring stations of an Indian city has been used and LGP models have been developed to estimate pollutant concentration of the fifth station. Three types of models are developed. In the first type, models are developed considering only the pollutant concentrations at the neighboring stations without considering the effect of distance between the stations as well the significance of the prevailing wind direction. Second type of models are distance based models based on the hypothesis that there will be atmospheric interactions between the two stations under consideration and the effect increases with decrease in the distance between the two. In third type the effect of the prevailing wind direction is also considered in choosing the input stations in wind and distance based models. Models are evaluated using Band Error and it was observed that majority of the errors are in +/-1 band.

The valorization of swine manure samples, i.e., de-watered cake (SMc) and solid digestate (SMd), in products with beneficial value, i.e., low cost activated carbons (ACs), is studied. For this purpose slow pyrolysis and steam activation at three different duration times are applied. Additionally, the obtained ACs are characterized and tested towards removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions. It is revealed that BET surface area varies in the range of $236-267m^2/g$ for ACs prepared from SMc sample and in the range of $411-432m^2/g$ for ACs prepared from SMd sample. Despite the low determined surface area of prepared ACs, a high total Cr removal capacity is observed occurring through a "coupled adsorption-reduction" mechanism. Higher Cr(VI) removal capacity is demonstrated for ACs having higher surface area ($q_m$ is 140.9 mg/g according Langmuir modelling). Cr(VI) removal is found to be pH dependent with a maximum at pH 1. However at that pH significant amounts of Cr remain in the solution as Cr(III). At pH 2 lower amount of Cr(VI) is removed compensated by a higher removal of Cr(III) resulting in a higher amount of adsorbed $Cr_{tot}$. Therefore adsorption at pH 2 is found to be appropriate. The removal capacity of the studied ACs towards Cr(VI) is almost independent of activation time.

Santa Barbara Amorphous-15(SBA-15) nanoparticles were utilized as the inexpensive and effective adsorbents to remove methylene blue dye from the aqueous solution.SBA-15 was created by Zhao et al method. Infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used for the evaluated physical properties of SBA-15. The results of diffraction X-ray indicated that was the crystalline structure for it. Also IR spectroscopy indicated was a silica the whole structure of the groups and SEM image verify the structure of relatively identical particles size of SBA-15. Factors affecting adsorption including the amounts of adsorbent, pH and contact time were investigated by a SBA-15 nanomaterial design. The extent of dye removal enhanced with increasing initial dye concentration and pH from 4 to 10. The higher percentage adsorption were obtained under optimum conditions of variables (sorbent dose of 200 mg/liter, initial MB concentration 10 mg/liter, initial pH of 10 and temperature of $25^{\circ}C$). Maximum adsorption happened after the 2 hour and the kinetic processes of the dyes adsorption were described by applying the pseudo-first-order and the pseudo-second-order and the relatively High correlation with the kinetic Ellovich models. It was found that the pseudo-second-order models kinetic equation described the data of dye adsorption with a good correlation (R2>0.999) which indicated chemisorption mechanism. Freundlich and Langmuir adsorption models were investigated in conditions of variables (adsorbent dose 0.01 gr/liter, MB concentration 10, 20, 30 mg/liter, pH of 4, 7, 10, contact time 90 min and temperature of $27^{\circ}C$). The adsorption data were represented by Langmuir isotherm model. These values are higher than the adsorption capacities of some other adsorbents that have recently been published in the literature.

Cotton is the major fiber crop in Pakistan that accounts for 2% of total national gross domestic product (GDP). After picking of cotton, the dry stalks are major organic waste that has no fate except burning to cook food in villages. Present research focuses use of cotton stalks as feedstock for biochar production, its characterization and effects on soil characteristics. Dry cotton stalks collected from agricultural field of Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan were combusted under anaerobic conditions at $450^{\circ}C$. The physicochemical analysis of biochar and cotton stalks show higher values of % total carbon, phosphorus and potassium concentrations in biochar as compared to cotton stalks. The concentration of nitrogen was decreased in biochar. Similarly biochar had greater values of fixed carbon that suggest its role for carbon sequestration and as a soil amendment. The fourier transformation infrared spectroscopic spectra (FTIR) of cotton stalks and biochar exposed more acidic groups in biochar as compared to cotton stalks. The newly developed functional groups in biochar have vital role in increasing surface properties, cation exchange capacity, and water holding capacity, and are responsible for heavy metal remediation in contaminated soil. In a further test, results show increase in the water holding capacity and nutrient retention by a sandy soil amended with biochar. It is concluded that cotton stalks can be effectively used to prepare biochar.

The purpose of this study was to determine the present air pollutant concentrations and predicted levels for next 30 years in urban environment of Karachi city. For that, a total of fifty measurements were made for each twenty selected locations of the city. The locations were selected on the basis of land use pattern such as residential, commercial, industrial settlements, open areas, congested traffic and low traffic areas for investigation of air pollutants variability and intensity. The measurements were taken continuously for six months period using PM Meter, Model AEROCET 531 and Ambient Air Quality Meter, Model AAQ 7545. The concentration of air pollutants were found higher at Al Asif Square and Maripur Road due to higher intensity of traffic and at Korangi Crossing because of industrial areas. The level of pollutants was lower at Sea View owing to lower traffic congestion and transportation of pollutants by sea breezes.

This paper represents a set of experimental tests on remediation of nickel-contaminated kaolin by Electrokinetic method. For this purpose, we conducted unenhanced and EDTA-enhanced Electrokinetic tests in one, three, and five days of treatment. In unenhanced tests, we used deionized water as an electrolyte in the anode and the cathode compartments. In the EDTA-enhance tests, we used ethylenediaaminetetra acetic acid 0.1 Molar in the cathode and sodium hydroxide 0.1 Molar in the anode. The average nickel removal for unenhanced tests after three and five days of treatment was 19 and 23 percent, respectively. High buffer capacity of the soil is responsible for low removal efficiency in the unenhanced tests, which maintained pH close to the initial amount that restrained nickel as an adsorbed or precipitated forms. The average nickel removal for EDTA-unenhanced tests after three and five days of treatment was 22 and 12 percent, respectively. Lower ionic mobility of EDTA-Ni complex in comparison with $Ni^{+2}$, which is the main transportation mechanism for this complex, could be responsible for less removal efficiency in EDTA-enhanced test.