Microbial degradation of hydrocarbons is found to be an attractive process for remediation of contaminated habitats. However the poor bioavailability of hydrocarbons results in low biodegradation rates. Cyclodextrins are known to increase the bioavailability of variety of hydrophobic compounds. In the present work we purified the Cyclodextrin Glucanotransferase (CGTase) enzyme which is responsible for converting starch into cyclodextrins and studied its role on biodegradation of diesel oil contaminated soil. Purification of CGTase from Enterobacter cloacae was done which resulted in 6 fold increase in enzyme activity. The enzyme showed maximum activity at pH 7, temperature $60^{\circ}C$ with a molecular weight of 66 kDa. Addition of purified CGTase to the treatment setup with Pseudomonas mendocina showed enhanced biodegradation of diesel oil ($57{\pm}1.37%$) which was similar to the treatment setup when added with Pseudomonas mendocina and Enterobacter cloacae ($52.7{\pm}6.51%$). The residual diesel oil found in treatment setup added with Pseudomonas mendocina at end of the study was found to be $73{\pm}0.21%$. Immobilization of Pseudomonas mendocina on alginate containing starch also led to enhanced biodegradation of hydrocarbons in diesel oil at 336 hours.

Our study investigated the effects of Solanum macrocarpon (African eggplant) on haematological and biochemical parameters of male albino rats exposed to urban air pollution ($O_3$, $PM_{10}$, CO, $SO_2$, $NO_2$ and VOC). Male albino Wistar rats were exposed for 63 days either to urban air pollution without treatment (A); oral supplementation with Solanum macrocarpon given at 36 and 75 mg/kg body weight (BW), representing C and D respectively and exposed to air pollution; oral supplementation with Solanum macrocarpon given at 75 mg/kg BW after exposure to air pollution (B); or kept in animal house without exposure to air pollution (E). Animals exposed to air pollution showed significant alterations in haematological and biochemical parameters signaling that the blood and organs were badly injured. There were significant elevations in white blood cells (WBC) and its indices, reduction in red blood cells (RBC) and significant depletions of non-enzymic antioxidants, total protein and increase in lipid peroxidation values. Solanum macrocarpon supplementation in the feed of animals halted significantly the deleterious effects of air pollution, with co-administration during exposure given better results.

Clean development mechanism (CDM) validity study was conducted to suggest better and more adaptable CDM scenario on water treatment plant (WTP). Potential four scenarios for CDM project; improvement of intake pumping efficiency, hydro power plant construction, solar panel construction and system optimization of mechanical mixing process were evaluated on S-WTP in Korea. Net present value (NPV) of each scenario was estimated based on sensitivity analysis with the variable factors to investigate the CDM validity percentile. Hydro power plant construction was the best option for CDM business with 97.76% validity and $1,127,069 mean profit by 9,813 $tonsCO_2e$/yr reduction. CDM validity on improvement of intake pumping efficiency was 90.2% with $124,305 mean profit by huge amount of $CO_2$ mitigation (10,347 $tonsCO_2e$/yr). System optimization of mechanical mixing process reduced 15% of energy consumption (3,184 $tonsCO_2e$/yr) and its CDM validity and mean profit was 77.25% and $23,942, respectively. Solar panel construction could make the effect of 14,094 $tonsCO_2$ mitigation annually and its CDM validity and mean profit was 64.68% and $228,487, respectively.

Nitrate removal from aqueous solution was investigated using $ZnCl_2$ and phosphoric acid activated carbon developed from pomegranate peel with particle size 0.4 mm. Potassium nitrate solution was used in batch adsorption experiments for nitrate removal from water. The effects of activated carbon dosage, time of contact, and pH were studied. The equilibrium time was fond to be 45 min. Two theoretical adsorption isotherms namely Langmuir and Freundlich were used to describe the experimental results. The Langmuir fit the isotherm with the theoretical adsorption capacity ($q_t$) was fond 78.125 mg g-1. Adsorption kinetics data were modeled using the pseudo-first, pseudo-second order, and intraparticle diffusion models. The results indicate that the second-order model best describes adsorption kinetic data. Results show activated carbon produced from pomegranate is effective for removal of nitrate from aqueous solution.

Decolourization potential of white rot fungal organism, coriolus versicolor, was investigated in a batch reactor, for textile dye industry wastewater. The influence of process parameters like pH, temperature, agitation speed and dye wastewater concentration on the decolourization of textile dye wastewater was examined by using Response surface methodology (RSM). The maximum decolourization was attained at: pH- 6.8, temperature - $27.9^{\circ}C$, agitation speed - 160 rpm and dye wastewater concentration - 1:2. From the analysis of variance (ANOVA) results it was found that, the linear effect of agitation speed and dye wastewater concentration were significant for the decolourization of textile dye wastewater. At these optimized condition, the maximum decolourization and chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction was found to be 64.4% and 79.8% respectively. Various external carbon sources were tried to enhance the decolourization of textile dye wastewater. It was observed that the addition of carbon source enhances the decolourization of textile dye wastewater. Kinetics of textile dye degradation process was studied by first order and diffusional model. From the results it was found that the degradation follows first order model with $R^2$ value of 0.9430.

Pistachio shell (Pistacia vera) (PS), a low-cost material, has been utilized for the removal of the Cr(VI) ions after treatment with citric acid. Batch experimental steps were applied to obtain Cr(VI) ion adsorption details for the equilibrium between Cr(VI) and modified pistachio shell (MPS). The influences of contact time, pH, adsorbent dose and initial chromium concentration on the adsorption performance of MPS was investigated in detail. The results displayed that adsorption of Cr(VI) by MPS reached to equilibrium after 2 h and after that a little change of Cr(VI) removal efficiency was observed. The sorption percent is higher at lower pH and lower chromium concentration. Two possible mechanisms for reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) can be suggested in Cr(VI) removal. In the first mechanism, Cr(VI) is reduced to Cr(III) by surface electron-donor groups of the adsorbent and the reduced Cr(III) forms complexes with adsorbent or remains in the solution. This Cr(III) is not adsorbed by adsorbent at pH 1.8. But in second mechanism, the adsorption-coupled reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) occurred on the adsorbent sites. The equilibrium sorption capacity of Cr(VI) ion after 2 h was 64.35 mg/g for MPS.