J.Env.Sci. Tech., Autumn 2007, No.34
The study of Nitrate elimination from drinking
water
via Reverse Osmosis and Nano Filtration
Amir Hesam Hassani
Amir Hossein Javid
Faculty of Environment and Energy, Science and
Research Branch,
Islamic
Mahdi Borghei
Seyyed Ali Asghar
Chavoshbashi
Faculty of Environment and Energy, Science and
Research Branch,
Islamic
Abstract
Water is the most
important and the main solvent in the nature.
Almost all compounds, even to a little extent, can be solved in water
and for this reason, water contains many impurities. Nitrate is known as the last stage of nitrogen
compound oxidation which causes meta-hemoglobin in infants and forms carcinogenic
nitrosamine compounds.
Nowadays, various
physico-chemical and biological processes are used to remove nitrate from
drinking water. One of the most practical physico-chemical nitrate removal
methods is the ion exchange and membrane processes including nano-filtration
and reverse osmosis.
The main objective of
the present study -- considering the above-mentioned points -- is the
evaluation of nano-filtration and reverse osmosis efficiency for the removal of
nitrate and other ions. This study was conducted over a sixteen-month period
(August 2005 to December 2006) using nano-filtration and reverse osmosis pilot.
In this investigation, a
domestic reverse osmosis treatment pilot and an industrial nano-filtration
pilot were used. By increasing the nitrate concentration in water and by adding
chloride and sulfate ions with different concentrations, it was tried to
investigate their effects on the nitrate removal process.
According to the
obtained results, by increasing the nitrate concentration, the efficiency of
both nano-filtration and reverse osmosis systems for the removal of nitrate
decreased. In this study, the highest efficiency in both systems for removal of
nitrate was observed in the concentration of 25 mg/l.
In both systems, for the
effects of sulfate and chloride on nitrate, a synthetic solution of sulfate and
chloride was prepared and along with nitrate was injected into the system.
During the investigation, the effects of each one of the ions on the mentioned
systems were studied. Also, by increasing
the sulfate and chloride concentration, the efficiency of the systems in
removing the nitrate decreases.
In a homogenous
concentration of the mixture of nitrate and sulfate in drinking water (100
mg/l), sulfate is removed by the systems to a larger extent, but in a
homogenous concentration of the mixture of nitrate and chloride in drinking
water (100 mg/l), mostly nitrate is removed. At equal concentrations, nitrate
removal efficiency in nitrate compound with sulfate is higher that that in nitrate
compounds with chloride. The highest efficiency obtained from nitrate removal
experiments are 95.6% and 93.4% in nano-filtration and reverse osmosis systems,
respectively.
Key words: reverse osmosis,
nano-filtration, nitrate, chloride, sulfate
J.Env.Sci. Tech., Autumn 2007, No.34
Investigation of Water Quality:
A Case Study of Zabol Chah-Nimeh Reservoirs
Iman
Homayounnezhad*
Corresponding Author
E-mail:[email protected]
Ahmad
Savari*
Gholamreza
Noori**
Behzad
Saiidpour*
*Science
and Research Branch, Islamic
**
Abstract
Chah-Nimeh reservoirs of Zabol are three
natural and big cavities in the south of Sistan Plain in south-eastern
To determine the quality of the water, some
of the physical and chemical characteristics (14 parameters) of Chah-Nimeh
reservoirs were investigated in 9 selected stations from the fall of 2004 to
the mid-summer of 2005 and the samples were collected on a seasonal basis. The results
show that the means of COD, BOD5, nitrate and nitrite in all
stations and seasons are very small and can cause no problems. The amount of phosphate
is lower than the standard level except in the third station. The quantity of
the dissolved oxygen is suitable in all seasons. But on the average, the dissolved
and suspended solids, hardness, turbidity, and electrical conductivity are high
in all of the three Chah-Nimeh reservoirs, which can be attributed to the atmospheric
conditions and high temperature of the area, sand storms, and the type of bed soil
of the lakes.
Key words: Chah-Nimeh reservoirs, physical and chemical characteristics,
water quality
J.Env.Sci. Tech., Autumn 2007, No.34
Determination of heavy metals (Nickel, Lead and Mercury)
in
Mohammad
Rabbani*
Asadallah
Gafarabadi Ashtiani*
Amir Abdollah
Mehrdad Sharif*
*Faculty of Marine Sciences and Technology,
Abstract
Because of its exceptional situation, the Asalooyeh
region in the
Due to the situation of this area and the limited number
of researches which have been conducted, the present study was done on the
sediments and the water of the zone in order to measure the amount of heavy
metals as a benchmark for evaluating and measuring these materials in future when
more gas refineries and petrochemical plants become operational.
Measurement was based on commonly used standards (1 and 2),
using an atomic absorption spectrometer. Compared with those obtained in some
other areas in the
Ni: in the water (0.17- 0.23), in the sediments
(19.9-27.2),
Pb: in the water (0.13-0.14), in the sediments
(20.2-29.5),
Hg: in the water (0.0001), in the sediments (0.02-0.025).
Key words: heavy metal, -pollution, Asalooyeh,
J.Env.Sci. Tech., Autumn 2007, No.34
The effective remediation of metal pollutants
from radioactive waste by biopolymeric sorbent produced by native bacillus
IRL.1390
Ali Mohammad Latifi
E-mail: [email protected]
Faculty
of Science and Engineering,
Mahmood
Tavallaie
Hossien
Ghafurian
Iranian
Atomic Energy Organization
Amin
Nazari
Iranian
Atomic Energy Organization
Abstract
This study aimed at finding
a way for the remediation of toxic and radioactive pollutants. After studying different
areas, the researchers succeeded in isolating an Iranian native bacterial
strain that could produce a kind of exopolymer in large quantities. This
exopolymer plays a key role in metal adsorption; that is, the increase in metal
absorption is directly related to the secreted exopolymer. The results of the experiments
show that uranium and cadmium uptake by bacterial biomas was 550-800 and 800 mg
metal per one gram of the dry weight. Compared with those of other studies, these
amounts are remarkable and the microorganism is reported as the second in the
world after Citrobacter sp. The results of the investigation on the removal rate of toxic metals and radionuclides from the
polluted waste in the bio-reactor revealed that this system is capable of bioremediation
of U, Cd, Pb, Ag and Ni as much as >99,
99, 90, 72, and 57%, respectively. Calcium chloride plays a very effective role
in the formation of biopolymer flocks and in increasing their precipitation
rate in the bioreactor. Consequently, this biopolymer can be used both as a bio-resin
and as a bio-precipitator for bioremediation of nuclear wastes.
Key words: exopolymer, bioremediation, nuclear waste, uranium, bacillus
IRL.1390
J.Env.Sci. Tech., Autumn 2007, No.34
Applying the Heat Integration in order to
save energy in distillation columns
Amir Hossein Javid*
Abolghasem Emamzadeh
Faculty of management and graduate school,
Ali Asghar Hamidi
Faculty of Engineering,
Ali Arjmand Zadeh*
*Faculty of Environment and Energy, Science and
Research Branch,
Islamic
Key words: process heat
integration, distillation columns, refinery, water,energy
Abstract
Due to the close
relationship between the energy and environmental problems, recovering technology
and optimizing energy consumption have a major role in environment protection
by minimization the atmospheric pollutants such as Sox, Cox, Nox
. This minimization may
decrease the greenhouse effect, and the ozone layer destruction. On the other
hand, optimization of Energy consumption and its recovering may minimize the
water and hot oil consumption at the heat exchangers (reboilers and condensers)
in petroleum distillation columns, specially.
The present research has been performed about the
kerosene pre-fractionation unit of one of the country's oil refineries. This
system includes two distillation columns with a simple arrangement. Considering
that the distillation section consumes a great deal of energy in the chemical
and petroleum industries, hence studying the ways in which we may decrease this
consumption is of great importance. One of these retrofit solutions is the heat
integration, which is going to be presented in this research with a different
idea from the other previous methods. This method makes it possible to add a
shell and tube heat exchanger for doing a part of condensation and evaporation
operation which can decrease the heat duties of reboilers and one of the
condensers.
To this end, the distillation columns were studied in the
process and then the proposed model of columns arrangement were simulated by
heat integration with all input and output streams using the Aspen Plus
software, version 10.2 and the Rad Frac model in this software. The result has
showed itself as a save of 10.84 % in water consumption, a 14.23% save in
energy consumption, and a 14.23% save in hot oil consumption.
J.Env.Sci. Tech., Autumn 2007, No.34
Priority evaluation
of
with respect to their
need of wastewater treatment systems
Navid Razmkhah *
(Corresponding Author)
Gholamreza Nabi Bidhendi *
Ali Akbar Azimi *
Kamran Esmaeili *
* Faculty of Environment,
Abstract
One of
the key points in providing healthy conditions for people is to prevent water-borne
diseases. Therefore, wastewater treatment plants play an important role in promoting
public health and environmental protection. Following the establishment of
rural water and wastewater companies in
Having the
mentioned objectives in mind, the researchers planned the present study. With
the major goal of presenting an optimal strategy and methods for treatment and
disposal in rural areas throughout the country and after collecting basic
information on the situation of villages in
First,
the necessary data about the sewage collection and disposal system were
gathered through questionnaires. Second, based on
the fundamental criteria of sewage collection needs, villages were classified
and ranked.
Villages
were classified into 6 groups based on the conditions of climate, ground water
table and soil structure. Of course, our conclusions must be considered as
guidelines. For a decisive conclusion, it would be necessary to consider local
specifications and very special conditions as other sub-criteria in the study.
Key words:
wastewater
treatment system, wastewater treatment management, priority evaluation, rural areas,
rural wastewater
J.Env.Sci. Tech., Autumn 2007, No.34
Investigation of
Abdolreza
Karbasi
Faculty of Environment,
Farzad
Kalantari
Faculty of Environment and Energy, Science and
Research Branch,
Islamic
Abstract
To study the pollutants of
By studying the indicators of the rivers water quality in
the years 1380-1382 and 1359-1375 and comparing them with acceptable standards,
maximum permitted limits for drinking water, and the pollution concentration of
drinking water, it became clear that that the quantity of DO, BOD, COD, NH3,
EC, Turbidity, Color and number of Coliforms were more than the standard
limits, which might be caused by environmental changes and by the wastewater
flowing into the river. An increase in rainfall in autumn leads to an increase
in the quantity of BOD, EC, TDS, TSS, NO3, and PO4.
It is to be mentioned that the type of vegetation can also
play a role. In the upstream where the coniferous trees are not very thick,
with an increase in the rainfall, the quantity of TDS in the downstream
increases. Comparing the pollution indicators of the years 80-82 with those of
59-75, it was seen that the amount of DO
during the years 59-75 was in an acceptable range, but during the years 80-82
and due to the wastewater flow into the river, the amount of DO has decreased
about 0.6 times.
COD and BOD were found to be beyond the permitted range
in 1359-1375. COD was 0.8 times lower during the years 80-82 than the years
59-75 and BOD was 1.06 times more during the years 80-82 than the years 59-75.
Ammonia in the years 59-75 has also been more than the
permitted limits, which shows contamination by domestic wastewater.
The
amount of EC was 1.3 times lower during the years 59-75 than the years 80-82,
which can be due to the industrial wastewater flow into the river. The amounts
of Turbidity, Barium and Color during the years 80-82 have been higher than the
permitted limits for potable water. Meanwhile, the amount of TDS is lower than
the desired limit despite the fact that it has increased by 1.05 times compared
with the years 59-75.
Moreover, with regard to the number of Coliforms in the
years 80-82, the rivers water was classified as suspected.
At the end, it should be mentioned that we need to
prevent the flow of agricultural and urban wastewater into the river in order
to have an optimal management for
Key words: pollutant,
J.Env.Sci. Tech., Autumn 2007, No.34
Nasser
Moharamnejad*
E-mail: [email protected]
Mazdak Dorbeiki*
*Faculty
of Environment and Energy, Science and
Research Branch, Islamic
Abstract
Jahan-nama protected
area (category V in the United Nations list of national parks and protected
areas) is located in Alborz mountains in the north of
The aim of this survey
was to study, develop, and enhance the ecotourism of this area. The area was
visited several times during summer and early autumn, 2003. Field studies show
that there are three types of visitors, namely hikers-climbers, native people,
and other visitors, each with their special environmental impacts. The areas
infrastructures include local transportation, rural accommodation, scattered
trails, unsuitable roads and poor service centers. Since tourism has been one
of the primary goals of category V regions, and most northern areas in
1) Ecotourism management strategy in Jaghan-nama protected area must
--conserve
biodiversity, local ways of life, and traditions;
--establish
self-financing mechanisms;
--set
up local and public participation in decision-making, planning, and management
processes of ecotourism;
--interpret
environmental issues for ecotourists in order to educate them;
--create
social sensitivity to the environmentally abrasive decisions against the
area;
and finally
--cooperate
with national and international ecotourism organizations and programs.
2) Ecotourism management plan includes:
--Establishment of four proposed management
zones (zones I to IV);
--Creation of a monitoring system, i.e., environmental impacts
assessment (EIA),
an environmental auditing
system, and an environmental management system
(
--Analysis of the visits to the area at several points by using
questionnaires;
--Creation or adaptation of physical facilities including
alterations in the western road;
--Creation of few nature trails in
the centre, south and north-east of the area;
--Improvement of rural accommodations;
--Improving and designing sanitation systems such as waste
treatment and recycling
units; s
--Provision of two centers in the area for the visitors;
--Designing interpretation and educational programs for
ecotourists, local people,
government authorities,
investors and entrepreneurs, NGOs, and protected area
managers, support staff,
park rangers, etc.
--Marketing of ecotourism based on the characteristics of
ecotourists;
--Creating a self-financing mechanism including types of user fees
in the area such as
Fees to operate
restaurants, eco-lodge facilities and souvenir shops; entrance fees;
Fees to use campsites and
visitor centers; fees on recreational equipment; sales of
Educational materials;
permits for tour operators and guides; green taxes on litter, etc.
--Designing environmental codes of conduct for ecotourism and
generating guidelines
For ecotourism industry,
local people and ecotourists.
Integration
of environmental, economic and sociocultural elements and monitoring Jahan-nama
ecotourism management plan will conserve and improve environmental, economic
and sociocultural conditions of the area. So, in the future, Jahan-nama
protected area will be an important ecotourism region in
Key words: environmental management, planning, ecotourism,
Jahan-nama protected area
J.Env.Sci. Tech., Autumn 2007, No.34
Economic-
recreational valuation of Taleghani
Katayoon Pishkary
Faculty
of Environment and Energy, Science and Research Branch, Islamic
Abbas Esmaeeli
Department of Environment, Faculty
of Natural Resource and Marine Sciences,
Taleghani
The aim of this study is
to estimate the economic-recreational value of Taleghani
This method is based on
the estimation of the relationship between the number of people who visit the park
and the average distance of their living places from the park as well as the
average access cost.
To this end, six circles
with equal distances of 3300 meters were drawn, with the park as their center.
Then, by using maps and
existing statistics, the surface area of each region and its population were
calculated. After that, the socio- economic data extracted from the visitors'
completed questionnaires were analyzed and the curve showing the relationship
between the access cost and the number of visitors to this
The analysis of the extracted
social data shows that most visitors of Taleghani forest park are in age range
of 20-25 years and that most of the subjects had a high-school diploma or
university degree.
Key words: Taleghani
J.Env.Sci. Tech., Autumn 2007, No.34
Study of toxicity
effects of nickel and vanadium
on the two species
of Artemia franciscana and Artemia urmiana
Mehrnaz Baniamam*
(Corresponding
Author)
Parisa Nejatkhah Manavi*
Linda Yadegarian*
*Faculty of Marine Sciences and
Technology,
Abstract
This
research studies the toxicity effect of vanadium and nickel compounds on Artemia
urmiana and Artemia franciscana under laboratory conditions in
short-term (acute) methods. While performing the experiment, the physical and
chemical characteristics of water such as temperature, pH, soluble oxygen,
hardship and electric direction were controlled. The experiments were done on
the control group which received no metal, and 17 treatment groups which were
exposed to different concentrations of nickel and vanadium.
The
amount of LC50 vanadium and nickel was 0.01146 and 0.007201 ml/lit
for Artemia urmiana, and 0.01158 and 0.0107 ml/lit for Artemia
franciscana.
The
results showed that nickel and vanadium had toxic efforts on the two species of
A. franciscana and , A. urmiana. Although both species showed a high resistance
against nickel and vanadium, the toxicity effect of vanadium on A. urmiana
was more than that of nickel. However, the toxicity effects of nickel and
vanadium on A. franciscana were the same and no significant difference
was observed.
Key
words: vanadium,
nickel, Artemia urmiana, Artemia franciscana, LC50
J.Env.Sci. Tech., Autumn 2007, No.34
Identification and estimation of the population of fishes in Namroud River
Mohammad
Karim Jazebizadeh*
E-mail : [email protected]
Mehrdad
Shirin Abadi*
*Fishery Department, Tehran North Branch, Islamic Azad
university
Abstract
To
identify and estimate the population of fishes in Namroud river (between
The
results showed that the fishes were of 6 types:
Alburnoides bipunctatus (Bloch, 1782), Capoeta aculeata (Valencienns, 1844), Capoeta damascina (Valencienns, 1842), Leuciscus cephalus (Linnaeus, 1758), Nemacheilus bergianus ( Derzhavin, 1934 ) and Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum, 1792) .
The
population estimation of each species was done based on their ratios in the
sample.
Considering
the obtained species, type of river bed, and temperature and speed of water, it
seems that the region under study should be considered as a Sub Mountain Zone
according to Holcik-Hensel classification. Such regions have Barbel, Grayling, and
Trout. These kinds of fishes are not only native to the region, but they have also
come via the exit canal of
Key
words: fish,
knowledge, estimating, Namroud river,
J.Env.Sci. Tech., Autumn 2007, No.34
The Function of Hungerfords Models in
Environmental Education
Akramolmolok
Lahijanian
Environment Department, Islamic
* Corresponding
Author , Email : Lahijanian @ceers.org