IOSR-JESTFT   Volume-9 ~ Issue-1 ~ January 2015

Abstract: Environmental impurities and degrading substances are major causes of pollution. On-going efforts to cut the world's carbon emission have been an uphill battle with the unknown. Because of the importance of some photosynthetic bacteria, viable, efficient and environment-friendly biological remediation researches have therefore become inevitably important. In search of these criteria, there was the need for the logical merger of efficacy of the mop-up capability of the biological agents and productive beneficial end-results. We studied the previously identified thermophilic species of photosynthetic bacterium, Rhodocista pekingensis isolated from a local hot spring in Malaysia. Inductive Toxic-mopping (IT-m) technique was used to assess the production of bacteriocarotenoids by metabolic bioconversion process of eight toxic chemical compounds by Rhodocista pekingensis. Results showed a positive response to four of the toxic chemical compounds with the production of 65±5 mg/L, 63±3 mg/L, 59±3 mg/L and 53±6 mg/L yields of raw bacteriocarotenoid in DMSO, Methanol, Isopropyl alcohol and Dubai crude respectively when compared with 65±3 mg/l of raw bacteriocarotenoid produced in the Control experiment. Four of the toxic compounds were efficient to trigger carotenogenic processes needed in the production of beneficial bacteriocarotenoids, two were mild and two others were inadequate to trigger a substantial process.

Key words: Bacteriocarotenoid, Toxic-mopping, Bioremediation, Carbon emission, Rhodocista

[1]. O.F.A. Akinnuoye, O. Othman, I. Nazlina and H. Ainon. Ultramicrotomy and structural analyses of two thermophilic non-sulphur
photosynthetic bacteria. Malaysian Journal of Microscopy 6, 2010, 23-29.
[2]. D. Zhang, Y. Huifang, W. Zhang H. Zhiyong and S.J. Liu. Rhodocista pekingensis sp. nov., a cyst-forming phototrophic bacterium
from a municipal wastewater treatment plant. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 53, 2003,1111– 1114.
[3]. O.F.A. Akinnuoye, I. Nazlina and H. Ainon. Application of Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy in
The Characterization of Rhodomicrobium vannielii. Journal of Advanced Microscopy Research, 6, 2011, 1-7.
[4]. H. Ainon, C.J. Tan and S. Vikineswary, Biological characterization of Rhodomicrobium vannielli isolated from a Hot Spring at
Gadek, Malacca,Malaysia. Malaysian Journal of Microbiology 2 (1), 2006, 15-21.
[5]. J.F. Imhoff and H.G. Truper. The genus Rhodospirillum and related genera. In The Prokaryotes, 2nd edn, vol. 1, pp. 2141–2155.
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Abstract: An experimental estimation of arsenic in a large number of samples by Field Test Kits and by Hydride Generation Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (HGAAS) was done. Water samples were collected from the following blocks of Supaul district, viz., Raghopur, Basantpur, Supaul, Nirmali, Saraigarh-Bhaptiyahi and Triveniganj. The aim of this study was to analyze the total arsenic concentration in tube well water of these regions at different locations. Twenty water samples were randomly selected from each block (n=120) for the determination of Arsenic concentration, using Field Test Kits. Few samples (n=11) found with higher concentration of arsenic, were also estimated and confirmed by HGAAS method for comparative observation. The maximum concentration of arsenic was found to be 0.10 mg/l by using Field Test Kits method and the average concentration of arsenic of the selected samples was 0.02 mg/l, whereas around 20% of these tube wells had arsenic concentration above 0.05 mg/l. It was observed that the results obtained by usingField Test Kits showed less measurement as compared to those obtained by HGAAS method for the same samples, when the arsenic concentration measured ≤0.10 mg/l. Arsenic concentration was significantly (p<0.0001) higher in HGASS results than the value obtained by Field Test Kit method.

Keywords: Arsenic, Tube well water, Field Test Kit, HGAAS

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Abstract: Pakistan is a signatory to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and has a commitment and obligation to meet the targets relating to sanitation and water access to under privilege and underserved people of Pakistan that are vulnerable to the development of safe drinking water as per the standard of World Health Organization (WHO) and National standards. Poor people of coastal area are not only deprived of financial resources but they are lacking basic needs such as education, health and safe drinking water. Provision of safe drinking water in the coastal area is vital for reducing incidence of waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, malaria, trachoma and hepatitis A & B. Present study was, therefore, undertaken to assess the source and quality of drinking water in two Talukas of Badin district (Badin and Fazul Rahoo). The study areas as surveyed are not provided with drinking water through water supply and are mostly relying on groundwater and open ponds, causing various waterborne diseases and health problems.

1]. Dawn (2012), Safe Drinking water and facility of sanitation in Schools of Karachi, Staff Reporter, International Edition, website, http://www.DAWN.com , March, 23, 2012.
[2]. Leghari, M. E., Developing Sustainable Management Plan for Water Supply and Sanitation in Coastal Area of Badin. Masters diss., Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro, Pakistan, 2013.
[3]. Memon, A. A., Devastation of the Indus River Delta, Proc. World Water & Environmental Resources Congress 2005, American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE), 2005.
[4]. Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, "National Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Policy," Government of Nepal Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, 3rd Draft, vol. 3, 2008.
[5]. Panhwar, M. H., Lashari, B. K. and Leghari, M. E. H., "Updated Report Impact Assessment: Consequences of Seawater Intrusion in Pakistan", Indus Institute for Research and Education (IIRE), 2006.

Abstract: Slag utilized here is obtained from the blasting process of the metal ore in a Cupola furnace .Slag is a by-product of the iron and steel manufacturing process. Generally a blast furnace operates on a continuous basis and produces approximately 250 — 300 kg of slag per tons of iron produced. The slag is collected in a foundry in Coimbatore and it is approximately graded to the size of a coarse aggregate used in M20 grade concrete (i.e size of a 20mm jelly) and partial replacement of the coarse aggregate is seen in initial fractions. Also the fine aggregate used in M20 concrete mix ratio is completely replaced by use of quarry dust which is a cheaper material when compared to sand. Ratio of fine and coarse aggregates replacement are prepared and accordingly the cubes are casted as per IS:456-2000 M20 mix ratio. Then the cubes are set for curing in water for 28 days.

[1]. BIS:IS:10500-2012,Drinking Water Quality Standards.
[2]. Perrine Chaurand, Jerome Rose , ― Environmental impacts of steel slag reused in road construction‖, Journal of Hazardous Materials, May-2005, France.
[3]. Mohammed Nadeem, Arun D , ― Experimental investigation of using slag as an alternative to normal aggregates (coarse and fine) in concrete‖, Journal of Civil Engineering, 2012, India.
[4]. Palanivel, M., T.Elayaraja, D.Ganeshmoorthy, N.Jagadeeswaran, and K.Kalaiselvi ―Impact Of Foundry Units On Coimbatore Environment‖, Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Environment and Health, Chennai,dec-2003, India.
[5]. Meena Murmu,(2009) ― Evaluation of strength characteristics of steel slag hydrated matrix‖, Department of civil engineering. National Institute Of Technology,Rourkela.India