Reza Arjmandi

Determination of organophosphorus insecticide residues in the rice paddies

In most rice paddies in Mazandaran Province, diazinon is applied to control Chilo suppressalis. Due to the extensive application of insecticides in the rice paddies of the Caspian coasts of Iran, this investigation was carried out on the rice fields in order to obtain the necessary data and information on the concentration of insecticide residues. A total of 125 samples were taken from five areas of Amol township in 2007. Then, according to the analysis of variance procedures, the water samples were statistically analyzed after the spraying of diazinon. Results indicate that the insecticide was used frequently to control stem boring caterpillar of rice. The residuals of this toxic chemical were observed in the majority of stations from the day after the spraying until one to two months later. The greatest level of diazinon was observed in station 1 in amount of 1.14 ppm. This study revealed that the physical and chemical properties of the studied diazinon such as fumigation characteristic as well as the ecological conditions and soil type influence the reduction and eventual removal of the insecticides during the cultivation and harvest periods.

Phytoremediation of stable Cs from solutions by Calendula alata, Amaranthus chlorostachys and Chenopodium album.

Uptake rate of (133)Cs, at three different concentrations of CsCl, by Calendula alata, Amaranthus chlorostachys and Chenopodium album plants grown outdoors was studied. These plants grow abundantly in semi-arid regions and their varieties exist in many parts of the world. When exposed to lowest Cs concentration 68 percent Cs was remediated by Chenopodium album.(133)Cs accumulation in shoots of Amaranthus chlorostachys reached its highest value of 2146.2 mg kg(-1) at a (133)Cs supply level of 3.95 mg l(-1) of feed solution. The highest concentration ratio value was 4.89 for Amaranthus chlorostachys, whereas for the other tests it ranged from 0.74 to 3.33. Furthermore uptake of (133)Cs by all three species increased with increasing metal concentrations. The results also indicated that hydroponically grown Calendula alata, Amaranthus chlorostachys and Chenopodium album could be used as potential candidate plants for phytoremediation of solutions contaminated with Cs.

Air Quality Risk Index (AQRI) and its application for a megacity

Abstract Urban air quality is a major concern throughout the world. The concentration of human activities in a relatively small area puts enormous pressure on urban systems and has led to numerous environmental problems which have created major problems for urban air quality management. The complex nature of air pollution, especially with respect to health impacts in urban areas, has prompted attempts to define the so-called indicators that condense and simplify the available monitoring data to make them suitable for public reporting and decision makers. Several concepts and indicators exist to measure and rank urban areas in terms of their infrastructural, socioeconomic and environment-related parameters. In past four decades different indices have been introduced, such as Pollutant Standards Index, Air Quality Index (AQI), Air Quality Health Index and Aggregate Risk Index, but none of them have considered importance of the integrated health, environment and safety factors relevant to the extended risk factors involved, such as diverse economic losses and negative socioeconomic aspects. Therefore an integrated AQI, so-called, Air Quality Risk Index which considers environmental conditions, and economic losses involved were applied for the city of Tehran as a megacity. The results indicated that this index can be applied to define the actual condition(s) of urban air quality and to achieve sustainability and resiliency.

Can excellence management models encompass ''cleaner production'' and ''sustainable business'' revolution? (European Foundation for Quality Management as a case study)

Abstract“Environmental issues” along with raising awareness of people about the value of ecological systems and the growth of environmentalism have affected businesses systems and models by introducing new concepts and models for business such as sustainable business model . European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model provides a clear path for a company to follow in order to achieve its planned results which can be called sustainable business. The purpose of this study is to explore whether the mentioned model is suitable for the businesses that are based on cleaner production and sustainable business models. The method used in this study is an explorative one based on the literature review and exploration of the adaptability of EFQM Excellence Model (2013), including its fundamental concepts and its criteria, to eight archetypes of sustainable business. The results showed that out of eight fundamental concepts of this model, four are aligned with sustainable business model and four need redefining. Moreover, it was found that environmentalism should be added to the five enablers of the model, and results criteria of it needed to be restructured and redefined. In conclusion, it was shown that despite adoptability of the fundamental concepts of EFQM Excellence Model, there were some lacking criteria for adapting them to sustainable business model. Having this in mind, a modified type of model with the new defined criteria was proposed in this study.

Components of sustainability considerations in management of petrochemical industries

Sustainability comprises three pillars of social, environmental, and economic aspects. Petrochemical industry has a great inter-related complex impact on social and economic development of societies and adverse impact on almost all environmental aspects and resource depletion in many countries, which make sustainability a crucial issue for petrochemical industries. This study was conducted to propose components of sustainability considerations in management of petrochemical industries.A combination of exploratory study—to prepare a preliminary list of components of sustainable business in petrochemical industries based on review of literature and Delphi—to obtain experts’ view on this preliminary list and provide a detailed list of components and sub-components that should be addressed to bring sustainability to petrochemical industries, were used.Two sets of components were provided. First general components, which include stakeholders (staffs, society, and environment) with four sub-components, financial resources with 11 sub-components, improvement of design and processes with nine sub-components, policy and strategy of cleaner production with seven sub-components and leadership with seven sub-components. The second operational components included raw material supply and preparation with five, synthesis with ten, product separation and refinement with nine, product handling and storage with five, emission abatement with eight, and improvement of technology and equipment with 16 sub-components.

Fuzzy analyses of adverse consequences resulted from offshore pipeline failure

Risk assessment of offshore gas pipelines is a challenging task due to uncertain and vague data on failure mechanisms and the effects of events. The goal of this paper is to develop a systematic approach to overcome this uncertainty. The likelihood of a failure event is obtained via fault tree analysis, and the associated failure consequences are obtained via event tree analysis. To cope with uncertainties, the fuzzy set theory has been combined with the fault tree analysis and event tree analysis. Financial consequences of offshore pipeline failure are estimated and financial consequences are divided into economic losses, environmental damage, and human health issue. To assess the feasibility of this method, an example of its application in an offshore pipeline containing sour gas is presented. Flash fire, pool fire, and environmental damage are the most known consequences associated with offshore pipeline failure. Therefore, application of fuzzy set theory in the likelihood assessment of pipeline failure and severity of the resulting consequence can be used to incorporate uncertain and imprecise data in this field.

Bioaccumulation of Radionuclide Metals in Plants: A Case Study of Cesium

Phytoremediation is a new and fast-developing technology with nondestructive properties and ideal for removal of heavy metals and radionuclides from industrial effluents. Many plant species have high efficiency for adsorption and uptake of cations including heavy metals and radionuclides from contaminated soil and water. Plant screening and selection for remediation purposes is considered an important and a major step for implication of this technique. Taking into account geological characteristics and climatic conditions of a particular geographic area, most suitable plant species must be selected and implemented to achieve high rates of remediation. In this study, three plant species (Amaranthus chlorostachys var. Chlorostachys, Calendula alata Rech. F., Fl. Iranica, and Chenopodium album) were studied with the objectives to evaluate their potential for uptake of cesium from wastewater containing cesium salt. At the first step, plant seeds were selected and grew in hydroponic system using “Hoagland” solution. “Hoagland” solution is a standard medium made from distilled water enriched with specified nutrients for plant growth studies. After 2 months, plants were incubated in solutions with three different concentrations of stable cesium. The first set of experiments were carried out using four containers including a control solution containing distilled water free of Cs, and three other distilled water solutions containing 0.5, 2, and 5 mg l−1 of CsCl, respectively. In the second set of experiments, standard Hoagland solution was used. A. chlorostachys and C. album plants were placed in containers filled with Hoagland medium mixed with equal volume of cesium solution made from dissolving CsCl in distilled water, so that the final concentration of CsCl was 1 mg l−1 in first container and 2.5 mg l−1 in the second. For each set of experiments, several similar containers were used to ensure validity of results. Experiments were arranged in randomized block design for a period of 15 days. Then, C. album that showed to be an effective accumulator of cesium was selected for anatomical studies. After separation, aerial organs (stem, leaf) of C. album plant were laid in a solution of alcohol and glycerin for fixation and anatomical investigations. The concentration of cesium in the growth solution, (Hoagland diluted with distilled water containing cesium), and in plants (dried and digested in acid) was measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (Varian Spectra AA-55B). The results of the present study showed that A. chlorostachys remediated 65 ± 4.11 % of cesium from simulated wastewater. Efficiency of C. alata in phytoremediation of cesium chloride (5 mg l−1) and Hoagland medium was 89.35 ± 0.25 %. Comparison of plants remediation potentials showed higher efficiency of A. chlorostachys while in bioaccumulation potential comparison, A. chlorostachys showed higher efficiency. Anatomical changes studies of C. album plants showed that important change was increase in crystals (entering cesium to crystalline structure) quantity in stem parenchyma and their color embrace, due to cesium uptake. This tolerant plant converted cesium ions to crystals molecules in shoots. Plants grew healthy in contaminated environments and the remediation efficiency of cesium reached close to 90 % in C. alata when cesium salt concentration was 2.5 mg l−1 and Hoagland solution was used. It was concluded that in a proper culturing condition, all these plants are tolerant to radionuclides and could be suitable candidates for remediation of radionuclide wastes. Consequently, it was proved that phytoremediation could be a complimentary treatment technique for removal of radionuclides from waste discharges at nuclear sites.