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The present work deals with the removal of trivalent chromium from chrome tanning effluent in a batch stirred electrocoagulation cell with aluminium alloy coupled with biosorption using Eggshell (ES). Effects of operating time, current density and adsorbent dose have been investigated. Compared to a simple electrocoagulation (EC), the concentration of chromium using a coupled or combined EC/ES process has been successfully reduced to environmentally acceptable levels even with a concentrated tanning effluent (3.21 g/L). The maximum uptake of chromium ions was obtained at lower current densities of 200 A/m2, at operating time of 110 min and with the eggshell dose of 12 g/L. The energy consumption during the coupled electrocoagulation/adsorption process was also reduced comparatively to the simple electrocoagulation. A pseudo-second-order chemical sorption model satisfactorily described kinetic data. The water treated by this technique respects the strengths Moroccan standards and the method was found to be highly efficient and relatively fast compared to existing conventional techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work aims to perform an experimental reuse study of raw and sustainable treated urban wastewaters in the irrigation of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) under semi-controlled conditions. The obtained results highlight a significant effect (p < 0.05) of water quality on soil monitored parameters. Compared to control soils irrigated with groundwater (GW), those irrigated with treated urban wastewaters from the modified activated sludge process (PTW) and raw urban wastewater (RW) showed significant increase in their organic matter (OM) and nutrients content. Indeed, in comparison to GW organic matter (OM) of RW and PTW was 5,37 and 3,84 times higher; Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) was 3,50 and 2,81 times higher and total phosphorus (TP) was 4,00 and 3,25 times higher, respectively. The results showed also a significant effect of water quality on yield, macro and microelements concentrations of alfalfa plant. Hence, the highest yield, macro and microelements uptake of the plant were obtained in response to irrigation with PTW and RW compared to control soil GW. Concerning trace metallic elements concentrations, pots irrigated with RW and PTW showed relatively higher concentrations than those of GW pots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to determine the effects of salinity on the biomass behavior and its diversity in activated sludge process (ASP) treating the table olive processing wastewater (TOPW), and to evaluate ASP performances under increased TOPW concentration feeding, the numerical abundance, diversity and activity of the biomass, removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand (COD), phenolic compounds, nitrogen and phosphorus were evaluated. Results showed that biomass growth is very high and became faster according to an increase in the percentage of TOPW feeding and reached 5.2 gMLVSS l−1. The specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR) analysis revealed that salinity up to 10 g l−1 provides an increase in biomass activity. SOUR reached a maximum of 20.3 gO2 gMLVSS−1 h−1. The increasing percentages of TOPW induce actually an evolution of microorganism's biodiversity; the microorganism communities were characterized by the abundance of halotolerant, Pseudomonas and Yeast genus that became the most abundant in the bioreactor as adaptation response against salinity. Furthermore, COD, phenolic compounds, nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiencies attained 92.3%, 84.5%, 80% and 60%, respectively. A satisfactory release of extracellular polymeric substances is found to occur in the reactor with regard to increased saline TOPW, providing significant removal efficiencies and best settling of sludge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a site-specific study of solar drying of wastewater sludge in the region of Marrakesh in Morocco. During the course of the experiments, drying pans (DP) and solar greenhouse drying processes were studied in summer and winter seasons. To simulate the DP process, representative samples were dried in plastic cylindrical plates in ambient conditions, near an Open Greenhouse Sludge Dryer (OGSD) designed and constructed as a tunnel plant. Results showed that the dry solids' (DS) concentration of 80% was reached in only 32 h in summer and 57 h in winter by DP process. The OGSD reached the same concentration in 45 and 65 h in summer and winter, respectively. The important influence of wind speed had a greater effect than the temperature on drying rate. The sludge water evaporation caused a large volume reduction during DP and OGSD processes in both seasons. The removal of total and fecal coliforms during summer experiment was noticeably better in the OGSD, even for Clostridium perfringens. Based on the obtained results, the solar greenhouse drying was practical and beneficial to wastewater sludge management and can be recommended as an alternative to DP in arid climate zones generally, and in Marrakesh particularly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses an ecotoxicology approach to evaluate the effectiveness of combining powdered marble as an amendment, with phytostabilization by Medicago sativa L. on the neutralization of acidic mine tailings, and the stabilization of heavy metals. The mine tailings were collected from an abandoned polymetallic mine in Southern Morocco, and mixed with powdered marble as the following proportions, 25%, 50%, and 75%. Laboratory immobilization/stabilization tests showed that the application of powdered marble in the treatments led to a significant increase in pH, and significant reductions of Cu, Zn (99%), Pb (98%), and Fe (45%). Greenhouse experiments showed that plant growth in all treatments was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) less than growth in agricultural soil. Plant growth significantly (p ≤ 0.05) decreased as the proportion of powdered marble increased. The concentration of metals in plant roots were significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher than those of shoots. Combining immobilization by powdered marble with phytostabilization by M. sativa L. could represent a viable method of rehabilitating acidic polymetallic mine tailings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current work aims to study the biomass behaviour in a continuous mode activated sludge system (ASS) treating olive mill wastewater (OMWW) through an increasing OMWW food to microorganism ration (F/M). To this end, the biomass growth, the specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR), microbial characterization, sludge volume index (SVI) as well as COD and phenolic compounds removal efficiencies were examined over time. Results showed a successful growth of the biomass that reached 6.79 gTSSl−1and 5.42 gVSSl−1. Its viability, its adaptability, and its good physiological activity were confirmed by the obtained result of SOUR with an average of 9.95 mgO2gVSS−1h−1, as well as aerobic microbial population characterization in terms of aerobic revivable bacteria at 22°C and 37°C, Pseudomonas sp., mould and yeast and total fungi. The concentration of these strains characterized by their ability to degrade effectively COD and phenolic compounds increased significantly (p< .05) over time. This demonstrated a great promptness in response to the increasing OMWW mass ratio. For all treatment steps, removal efficiencies were high and reached 95% of COD and 93% of phenolic compounds, also the flocs settleability shown by SVI measurement was optimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of hybrid constructed wetlands (HCWs) in a rural mountainous area. The experiment was set up in small rural community named Tidili within the region of Marrakech, Morocco. The wastewater treatment plant was composed of three vertical flow constructed wetlands (VFCWs) working in parallel, followed by two parallel horizontal-subsurface flow constructed wetlands (HFCWs), with hydraulic loading rates of 0.5 and 0.75 m3/m2.d, respectively. The two units were planted with Phragmites australis at a density of 4 plants/m2. Wastewater samples were collected at the inlet of the storage tank and at the outlet of the whole system (VFCWs, HFCWs) stages. The main removal percentages of total suspended solids (TSS), biochemical oxygen demand measured in a 5-day test (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen, and total phosphorus were respectively 95%, 93%, 91%, 67%, and 62%. The system showed a very high capacity to remove total coliforms, fecal coliforms, and fecal streptococci (4.46, 4.31, and 4.10 Log units, respectively). Artificial neural networks (ANNs) were used to model the quality parameters (TSS, BOD5, COD) and total coliforms and fecal streptococci. Based on the obtained results, the ANN model could be considered as an efficient tool to predict the studied phytoremediation performances using HCWs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper aims to perform a screening of native plants growing in Kettara mine-Marrakech (Southern Morocco) for its phytoremediation. Plants and soil samples were collected and analyzed for Pb, Zn, Cu and Cd concentrations at several sites in the mine. The results showed that the soil in the vicinity of Kettara mine is deficient in major elements and contain toxic levels of metals. Spontaneously growing native plants were botanically identified and then classified into 21 species and 14 families. Significant difference was observed among the average concentrations of four heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cu and Cd) in plants (p ≤ 0.05). Six plants of 21 species namelyHammada scoparia (Pomel) Iljin, Hirschfeldia incana (L.) Lagreze-Fossat, Lamarckia aurea (L.) Moench, Calendula algeriensis Boiss. & Reuter, Aizoon hispanicum L. and Melilotus sulcata Desf.were considered as the best-performing specimens due to their high ability to accumulate multiple metals in their shoots and roots without sustaining toxicity. This was confirmed by the transfer factors generally higher than 1. Using the most common criteria to classify the hyperaccumulator plants, these species can be classified as new accumulator plants of many heavy metals and be potentially used as remediation tools of metal-contaminated sites. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Composite nanofibers containing polyacrylonitrile and natural clay particles were fabricated and investigated for the removal of Pb(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) from aqueous solutions. The adsorption behavior of Pb(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) can be well described by the Langmuir adsorption model and high loading capacities at pH 7 were obtained. The kinetics of the adsorption process showed that equilibrium was attained after 60 min and the experimental data followed a pseudo-first-order model. The nanocomposites were also tested for photocatalytic degradation of Monocrotophos pesticides in which high degradation efficiency (>90%) was obtained in less than 60 min. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the performance and behavior of a multi-soil-layering (MSL) system to remove fecal contamination bacteria indicators and pathogens from domestic wastewater. The experimental setup was performed using a laboratory-scale MSL system (depth 30 × width 36 × height 65 cm). The MSL system was composed of soil mixture blocks (SMB) arranged in a brick-like pattern and surrounded by permeable gravel layers (PL). The SMB comprised sandy soil, charcoal, sawdust and metal iron at a dry weight ratio of 7:1:1:1. The hydraulic loading rate was 200 L m−2day−1. Bacteriological analyses comprised total bacterial count at 22 and 37°C, fecal coliforms, total coliforms,Escherichia coli, streptococci, intestinal enterococci and pathogenic bacteria:Clostridiumsp.,Staphylococcussp.,Pseudomonassp. andSalmonellasp. The best removal efficiency was achieved forStaphylococcussp. by 1.42 log unit, while the lowest removal efficiency was found forE. coliby 1.01 log unit. The mean removal efficiencies of total suspended solids (SS), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorous (TP) were 93, 86, 81, 78 and 80%, respectively. Based on these results, the MSL system could efficiently remove organic matter, phosphorus and nitrogen. However, the performance to reduce bacterial indicators and pathogens was still moderate. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]