There is a significant demand to make various dissolved gases in water. However, the conventional aeration method shows low gas mass transfer rate and gas utilization efficiency. In this study, a novel rotating wheel entraining gas method was developed for making high dissolved $O_2$ and $O_3$ in water. It produced higher concentration and higher transfer rate of dissolved $O_2$ and $O_3$ than conventional bubble aeration method, especially almost 100% of gas transfer efficiency was achieved for $O_3$ in enclosed reactor. For application of rotating wheel entraining gas method, aerobic bio-reactor and membrane bio-reactor (MBR) were successfully used for treatment of domestic and pharmaceutical wastewater, respectively; and vacuum ultraviolet $(VUV)/UV+O_3/O_2$ reactors were well used for sterilization in air/water, removal of dust particles and toxic gases in air, and degradation of pesticide residue and sterilization on fruits and vegetables.

Urine is a widely used matrix in biomonitoring studies on the assessment of human exposure to environmental chemicals such as phthalate esters and bisphenol A (BPA). In addition to the need to apply valid analytical techniques, assurance of specimen integrity during collection and storage is an important prerequisite for the presentation of accurate and precise analytical data. One of the common issues encountered in the analysis of non-persistent contaminants is whether shipping and storage temperature and time since collection have an effect on sample integrity. In this study, we investigated the stability of phthalate metabolites and BPA in spiked and unspiked urine samples stored at room temperature ($20^{\circ}C$) or at $-80^{\circ}C$ for up to 8 weeks. Concentrations of phthalate metabolites declined, on average, by 3% to 15%, depending on the compounds, and BPA declined by ~30% after 4 weeks of storage of spiked urine samples at $20^{\circ}C$. In a test of 30 unspiked urine samples stored at $20^{\circ}C$ and at $-80^{\circ}C$ for 8 weeks, the concentrations of phthalate metabolites and BPA decreased by up to 15% to 44%, depending on the compound and on the samples. It was found that the small reduction in phthalate concentrations observed in urine, varied depending on the samples. In a few urine samples, concentrations of phthalate metabolites and BPA did not decline even after storage at $20^{\circ}C$ for 8 weeks. We found a significant relationship between concentrations of target analytes in urine stored at $20^{\circ}C$ and at $-80^{\circ}C$ for 8 weeks. We estimated the half-lives of phthalate metabolites and BPA in urine stored at $20^{\circ}C$. The estimated half-life of monoethyl phthalate (mEP) and mono (2-ethyl-5-carboxyphentyl) phthalate (mECPP) in urine stored at $20^{\circ}C$ was over two years, of mono (2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (mEOHP) and monobenzyl phthalate (mBzP) was approximately one year, and of other phthalate metabolites was approximately 6 months. The estimated half-life of BPA in urine stored at $20^{\circ}C$ was approximately 3 months, which is much longer than that reported for aquatic ecosystems.

Microalgae are receiving an increasing attention because of their potential use as $CO_2$ capture method and/or as feedstock for biofuels production. On the other hand the current microalgae-based technology is still not widespread since it is characterized by technical and economic constraints that hinder its full scale-up. In such contest the growth kinetics of Nannochloris eucaryotum (a relatively unknown marine strain) in batch and semi-batch photobioreactors is quantitatively investigated with the aim of obtaining the corresponding kinetic parameters suitable for process engineering and its optimization. In particular the maximum growth rate was evaluated to be 1.99 $10^{-3}\;h^{-1}$. Half saturation concentrations for nitrates ($K_N$) and phosphates uptake ($K_P$) were evaluated as 5.4 $10^{-4}\;g_N\;L^{-1}$ and 2.5 $10^{-5}\;g_P\;L^{-1}$, respectively. Yield factors for nitrogen ($Y_N$) and phosphorus ($Y_P$) resulted to be 5.9 $10^{-2}\;g_N\;g^{-1}$ biomass and 6.0 $10^{-3}\;g_P\;g^{-1}{_{biomass}}$, respectively. The possibility of using 100% (v/v) $CO_2$ gas as carbon source is also evaluated for the first time in the literature as far as N. eucaryotum is concerned. The strain showed a good adaptability to high concentrations of dissolved $CO_2$ as well as to low pH. The lipid content under 100% $CO_2$ is about 16.16 %wt $wt^{-1}$ and the fatty acid methyl esters composition of the extracted oil is in compliance with the European regulation for quality biodiesel.

Research work on removal of fluoride from water, referred to as water defluoridation, has resulted into the development of a number of technologies over the years but they suffer from either cost or efficiency drawbacks. In this work, enhancement effects of phosphate and silicate on defluoridation of water by low-cost Plaster of Paris (calcined gypsum) were studied. To our knowledge, the influence of silicate on defluoridation was not reported. It was claimed, that the presence of some ions in the treated water samples, was decreasing the fluoride removal since these ions compete the fluoride ions on occupying the available adsorption sites, however, phosphate and silicate ions, from its sodium slats, have enhanced the fluoride % removal, hence, precipitation of calcium-fluoro compounds of these ions can be suggested. Percentage removal of $F^-$ by neat Plaster is 48%, the electrical conductance (EC) curve shows the typical curve of Plaster setting which begins at 20 min and finished at 30 min. The addition of phosphate and silicate ions enhances the removal of fluoride to high extent > 90%. Thermodynamics parameters showed spontaneous fluoride removal by neat Plaster and Plaster-silicate system. The percentage removal with time showed second-order reaction kinetics.

The paper aims to characterise the waste generated in municipality of Varanasi, the most populated city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. MSW is a heterogeneous waste and composition of the waste varied from season to season. The generation, collection and management of waste have become a major environmental problem in most of the developing cities. MSW was collected from open dumping grounds for 2 consecutive years. Each year was classified into 3 seasons of 4 months. On analysis it was found that the biodegradable fraction is always more than other fractions with a minimum of 48.25% in rainy season. With such a high fraction of biodegradable wastes, options such as composting and biomethanation could be tried to convert waste into energy. The average weight of waste generation at present is 0.460 kg per capita per day. The study showed that waste generation and collection were increasing every year, which may be attributed to increase in population.

Quantification of viable forms of microbial community (bacteria and fungi) using culture-dependent methods was done in order to characterize the indoor air quality (IAQ). Role of those factors, which may influence the concentration of viable counts of bacteria and fungi, like ventilation, occupancy, outdoor concentration and environmental parameters (temperature and relative humidity) were also determined. Volumetric-infiltration sampling technique was employed to collect air samples both inside and outside the schools. As regard of measurements of airborne viable culturable microflora of schools during one academic year, the level of TVMCs in school buildings was ranged between 803-5368 cfu/$m^3$. Viable counts of bacteria (VBCs) were constituted 63.7% of the mean total viable microbial counts where as viable counts of fungi (VFCs) formed 36.3% of the total. Mean a total viable microbial count (TVMCs) in three schools was 2491 cfu/$m^3$. Outdoor level of TVMCs was varied from 736-5855 cfu/$m^3$. Maximum and minimum VBCs were 3678-286 cfu/m3 respectively. Culturable fungal counts were ranged from 268-2089 cfu/$m^3$ in three schools. Significant positive correlation (p < 0.01) was indicated that indoor concentration of viable community reliant upon outdoor concentration. Temperature seemed to have a large effect (p < 0.05, p < 0.01) on the concentration of viable culturable microbial community rather than relative humidity. Consistent with the analysis and findings, the concentration of viable cultural counts of bacteria and fungi found indoors, were of several orders of magnitude, depending upon the potential of local, spatial and temporal factors, IO ratio appeared as a crucial indicator to identify the source of microbial contaminants.