pollution management

Dr. Manash Jyoti Deka, Dr. Devasish Chowdhury, Dr. N. C. Talukdar (L to R)

Climate Environment and Science, India, News, science and technology 14 October 2021

Scientists develop technology to make non-toxic activated carbon from waste

Tea and banana waste will make non-toxic activated carbon From waste to wealth New Delhi, Oct 14, 2021: A team of scientists has developed a technique to use tea and banana waste to make non-toxic activated carbon that can be used for several purposes such as industrial pollution control, water purification, food and beverage processing, and odour removal. The processing of tea generates a lot of waste, generally in the form of tea dust. They could be converted to useful substances. The structure of tea is particularly favourable for conversion to high-quality activated carbon. However, it normally involved the use of strong acid and bases, making the product toxic and hence unsuitable for most uses. A non-toxic method of conversion was needed to overcome this challenge. Dr N. C. Talukdar, former Director, Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology (IASST), Guwahati, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India and Dr Devasish Chowdhury, Associate Professor at the Insitute, used banana plant extract as an alternative activating agent for the preparation of activated carbon from tea wastes. Oxygenated potassium compounds contained in the banana plant extract help in activating the carbon obtained from tea waste. An Indian patent has recently been granted for the new process. The process began with the drying of the banana peel. It was then burnt to make an ash out of it. The ash was further crushed and made into a fine powder. Subsequently, water was filtered through the ash powder using a clean cotton cloth and the final solution was used as the activating agent. The main advantage of this process is that the starting materials, as well as activating agents, are waste materials. Also, no toxic material was used at all in the entire process. The most preferred banana was found to be Bheem Kol, which is an indigenous variety found only in Assam and parts of North East India. (India Science Wire) Topics: tea, banana, toxic, activated carbon, pollution control, water purification, beverage, odour, acid, Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology, IASST, Department of Science…

Climate Change

Climate Environment and Science, Health, India, international, News, United States 6 September 2021

24% of deaths are due to environmental pollution and other environmental risks

WHO and UN partners’ compendium of 500 actions  aims to reduce diseases from environmental factors and save lives Almost 25% of deaths worldwide could be prevented if the actions in the compendium were fully implemented New Delhi/Geneva 06th September 2021: WHO, UNDP, UNEP and UNICEF have partnered to create a new compendium of 500 actions aimed at reducing death and diseases driven by environmental risk factors, the first such resource to unite this expertise from across the UN system. 24% of deaths are due to environmental pollution and other environmental risks Environmental pollution and other environmental risks cause 24 per cent of deaths through, for example, heart disease, stroke, poisonings, traffic accidents, and others. This toll could be substantially reduced – even eliminated – through bold preventive action at national, regional, local and sector-specific levels. Compendium of WHO provides easy access to practical actions The Compendium of WHO and other UN guidance on health & environment provides easy access to practical actions for practitioners to scale up efforts to create healthy environments that prevent disease. It is designed for policymakers, staff in government ministries, local government, in-country UN personnel and other decision-makers. The repository presents actions and recommendations to address a comprehensive range of environmental risk factors to health, such as air pollution, unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene, climate and ecosystem change, chemicals, radiation and occupational risks, among others. Air pollution alone leads to 7 million deaths each year. Air pollution alone leads to 7 million deaths each year, while climate change is expected to contribute increasingly to a broad range of health impacts, both directly and indirectly through effects on biodiversity. “Events like record-breaking high temperatures in North America, massive flooding in Europe and China, and devastating wildfire seasons provide increasingly frequent, grim reminders that countries need to step up action to eliminate the health impacts of environmental risk factors,” said Dr Maria Neira, Director, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, at WHO. “Implementing the actions in the compendium should be part of a healthy and green recovery from the COVID pandemic and beyond, and is essential to…

Climate Change

Climate Environment and Science, India, international, literature, News 1 June 2021

Nitrogen pollution restricts the safe margin for other environmental issues

Nitrogen pollution: Humanity’s failure New Delhi, Jun 01: Humanity’s failure to stop nitrogen pollution could limit the safe operating margin for many other issues facing our planet earth, say, scientists. This latest finding was reported by Professor Johan Rockstrom, former director of the Stockholm resilience centre at the Stockholm University, Sweden. “Human activities have pushed climate change, biodiversity loss, shifts in nutrient cycles (nitrogen and phosphorus) and land use beyond the tolerance limits of planet earth. The difficulty is that they also limit the safe margin available for other environmental issues facing the earth, such as freshwater use, ocean acidification, land use and stratospheric ozone depletion”, he said. He was delivering a keynote address at the 8th triennial Conference of the International Nitrogen Initiative (INI) that began today and attended by 950 registered participants from all continents. “INI conferences always brought together the latest science to call for governmental action and evidence-based policies. Following the UN resolution on Sustainable Nitrogen Management, our task is to scientifically support its mitigation efforts”, said Nandula Raghuram, Chair of the INI. As a Professor of biotechnology from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi, his keynote lecture dealt with the improvement of crop nitrogen use efficiency as a solution. “Fertilizers are a predominant source of nitrous oxide and ammonia pollution. We narrowed down the minimum number of physical attributes and gene targets for nitrogen use efficiency in rice for the first time”, he said. Speaking on nitrogen in Europe at the inaugural session, EU Commissioner for the Environment, Ocean and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius said that the European Commission has a policy framework in place that imposes limits to nitrogen pollution of air and water. The German environment minister Svenja Schulze highlighted the country’s nitrogen pollution reduction targets and enabling policies, apart from her ministry’s promotion of vegetarianism. “Germany is the only country with such national targets; its policies are worth emulating”, said David Kanter, Vice-Chair of INI and Assistant Professor of the environment at New York University. Speaking on behalf of the UN Environment Programme, Laeticia Cavalho said “India championed the UN nitrogen resolution…

Education, Engineering, Science, Research,

Climate Environment and Science, India, News 11 January 2020

Delhi misses NCAP budget allocation from CPCB in first year of programme: RTI

One year of National Clean Air Programme New Delhi, January 10th, 2020 : One year since the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) on 10th January 2019, climate and energy news aggregator site,  carbon copy has launched a dashboard  to track the progress of India’s national air pollution management plan, across a range of parameters like budget spending and improvement in PM levels. 122 non-attainment cities did not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards The NCAP has identified 122 non-attainment cities in the country which did not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for the period of 2011-15 under the National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP). The programme aims to reduce 20-30% PM 2.5 and 10 levels across these 122 cities by 2024, taking levels in 2017 as the base year. The initial data on the NCAP tracker is based on responses received under Right to Information Act 2005 from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on budget disbursed to 28 non-attainment cities so far and the breakdown of expenses. Ronak Sutaria, CEO of Urban Sciences, the low-cost air quality monitoring start-up said, “The NCAP is an important landmark policy to enable coordination between states and for air pollution control & mitigation interventions to be implemented at scale. Understanding what actions 122 cities – tier 1, 2 and 3 — across the country have taken and how much impact it has had in reducing particulate matter level is key to India’s success in taking on the air pollution challenge that we’re facing right now. The dashboard is a live interactive tool which provides data and information for better engagement between citizens and policy makers for clean air.” According to the NCAP dashboard, INR 28 crores have been disbursed to 28 non-attainment cities by the CPCB so far, which include cities like Varanasi, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru. Delhi has not made it into this list so far. Based on the list of actions each city is undertaking to meet its NCAP goals, the dashboard has identified 5…