In present study, we have evaluated the occurrence of various flame retardants (FRs) including po... more In present study, we have evaluated the occurrence of various flame retardants (FRs) including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), emerging brominated/ chlorinated flame retardants (Br/Cl FRs), and organophosphate FRs (PFRs) in cars, air conditioner (AC) filters and floor dust of different households from Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). To the best of our knowledge, this is first study in literature reporting emerging Br/Cl FRs and PFRs in AC filter dust and also first to report on flame retardants in dust from KSA, which makes these findings very important. Among FRs: chlorinated alkyl phosphate (TDCPP, TCEP, and TCPP), penta-BDEs, BDE-209, and DBDPE were found to be the major chemicals in all kind of dust samples. PFRs were the major analytes in all four microenvironments, followed by PBDEs and by emerging Br/Cl FRs. ΣPFRs occurred at median concentrations of 15,400 ng/g in AC filter dust, 10,500 ng/g in car dust and 3750 ng/g in house dust, respectively. For all classes of analytes, relatively lower levels were observed in house dust than those of car and AC filter dust, and our data is comparable to other studies in Gulf countries. The profiles of analytes in car dust were different from those in the AC filter and house dust, which reflected their wider application as both FR and plasticizer in variety household communities and other commercial products. Different exposure scenarios using 5th percentile, median, mean, and 95th percentile levels were estimated for adult, taxi drivers and toddlers. For toddlers, assuming high dust intake, mean and 95th percentile concentrations, the values computed for penta-BDEs were higher than RfD values, while for ΣNFBRs and ΣPFRs, the exposure was many-fold lower than the corresponding RfD.
High raw material prices and rivalry from the food industry have hampered the adoption of renewab... more High raw material prices and rivalry from the food industry have hampered the adoption of renewable resource-based goods. It has necessitated the investigation of cost-cutting strategies such as locating low-cost raw material supplies and adopting cleaner manufacturing processes. Exploiting waste streams as substitute resources for the operations is one low-cost option. The present study evaluates the environmental burden of biopolymer (polyhydroxyalkanoate) production from slaughtering residues. The sustainability of the PHA production process will be assessed utilising the Emergy Accounting methodology. The effect of changing energy resources from business as usual (i.e., electricity mix from the grid and heat provision utilising natural gas) to different renewable energy resources is also evaluated. The emergy intensity for PHA production (seJ/g) shows a minor improvement ranging from 1.5% to 2% by changing only the electricity provision resources. This impact reaches up to 17% w...
The concept of waste biorefinery is known as one of the several energy recovery technologies capa... more The concept of waste biorefinery is known as one of the several energy recovery technologies capable of producing multi products in the form of biofuels and value-added products treating different fractions of municipal solid waste (MSW). The conversion technologies such as anaerobic digestion (AD), pyrolysis, transesterification, incineration treat food, plastic, meat, and lignocellulosic wastes to produce liquid, gaseous and solid biofuels. Makkah city landfills receive about 2750 tons of waste every day. Whilst during the Ramadan and Hajj seasons, these quantities become 3000 tons and 4706 tons per day respectively. More than 2.5 million animals were sold for slaughtering in 2014 Hajj, and their blood and organic solid waste were disposed untreated. Similarly, around 2.1 million plastic Zam-Zam cups were wasted every day during the 2014 Ramadan time. In the first three days of 2014's Ramadan, 5000 tons of food was wasted only in Makkah municipality. Collectively, about 3853 t...
Review of Environmental Pollution and Health Risks at Motor Vehicle Repair Workshops Challenges and Perspectives for Saudi Arabia.pdf
The increasing population, urbanization and industrial growth are causing serious environmental c... more The increasing population, urbanization and industrial growth are causing serious environmental challenges including air pollution worldwide. According to WHO, the indoor and outdoor air pollution exposure has caused around 7 million deaths globally only in 2012. The major air pollution sources include transportation and petrochemical based industry. Motor vehicle repair workshops (MVRW) pose many environmental as well as occupational health challenges. Workers safety and protection at workplace has been a great concern for employees, employers, governments and the entire society for years. This review article highlights the prominent air pollutants and health and safety challenges at MVRW. Many scientific articles studying pollutants that are detrimental to health e.g. benzene, PAHs, VOCs, heavy metals, PM, NOx and SOx are reviewed here. The national and international environmental legislations and health and safety standards by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA),...
The Environmental and Economic Value of Waste Recycling in Makkah.pdf
Every year, millions of Muslims gather in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) for worship, i.e. Haj... more Every year, millions of Muslims gather in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) for worship, i.e. Hajj (Pilgrimage) and Umrah. The Makkah city landfills receive about 2.4 thousand tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) every day. While, these quantities become 3.1 and 4.6 thousand tons per day during the Ramadan and Hajj respectively. All of the collected MSW is disposed to landfill sites untreated, which results in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well as water and soil contamination. The government considers reuse and recycling as optimum techniques for waste management following source reduction. However, the current waste recycling has been carried out mostly by informal sectors and only few recyclable materials such as paper, cardboard, metals and plastics are recycled (10-15% of total waste). The waste pickers or waste scavengers take the recyclables from the waste bins, containers and dumpsites. There is an immediate need to develop public-private partnership (PPP) to improve MSW management system in Makkah city including waste reuse and recycling. It is theoretically estimated that only by recycling glass, metals, aluminium and cardboard, climate will be saved from 5.6 thousand tons emission of methane (CH4); a major source of GHG emissions and 140.1 thousand Mt.CO2 eq. of global warming potential (GWP) with carbon credit revenue of worth 67.6 million SAR. Similarly by recycling above-mentioned recyclables, a net revenue of 113 million SAR will be added to the national economy every year only from Makkah city. Moreover, technically, the waste recycling does not require high-skill labour, complex technology and thus can be easily carried out in any urban areas like Makkah city.
In the modern era, tremendous technological and sustainable development has forced the societies ... more In the modern era, tremendous technological and sustainable development has forced the societies to adopt modern energy efficient lighting devices instead of old fashioned less efficient incandescent lamps. The examples of such new lamps compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps. These devices can provide similar light output at the expense of only 20 % electricity consumption in comparison to incandescent lamps due to less energy lost as heat during luminance phenomenon. CFLs convert about 45 % energy into visible light, while incandescent lamp converts only 10 % (Tosenstock, 2007). The ecological footprint evaluation for street lighting network in Veszprem County, Hungary has been carried out utilising Sustainable Process Index (SPI) methodology (Narodoslawsky and Krotscheck, 1995). The analysis was carried out considering three different light bulbs i.e. conventional or old fashioned less energy efficient incandescent lamps and high tech more energy ef...
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management is a chronic environmental problem in most of the developi... more Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management is a chronic environmental problem in most of the developing countries, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The concept of Waste-to-Energy (WTE) is known as one of the several technologies capable of benefiting a society, which desires to reduce fossil-fuel addiction. Currently, there is no WTE facility existing in the KSA. The MSW is collected and disposed in landfills untreated. A substantial increase in the population by 3.4 %/y over the last 35 y coupled with urbanization and raised living standards have resulted in high generation rate of MSW. In 2014, about 15.3 Mt of MSW was generated in KSA. The food and plastic waste are the two main waste streams, which covers 70 % of the total MSW. The waste is highly organic (up to 72 %) in nature and food waste covers 50.6 % of it. An estimated electricity potential of 2.99 TWh can be generated annually, if all of the food waste is utilized in anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities. Similarly...
Biohydrogen Production: Sustainability of Current Technology and Future Perspective, 2016
Hydrogen (H 2) has emerged as a promising alternative fuel that can be produced from renewable re... more Hydrogen (H 2) has emerged as a promising alternative fuel that can be produced from renewable resources including organic waste through biological processes. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the annual generation rate of municipal solid waste (MSW) is around 15 million tons that average around 1.4 kg per capita per day. Similalry, a signifi cant amount of industrial and agricultural waste is generated every year in KSA. Most of these wastes are disposed in landfi lls or dumpsites after partial segregation and recycling and without material or energy recovery. This causes environmental pollution and release of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions along with public health problems. Therefore, the scope of producing renewable H 2 energy from domestic and industrial waste sources is promising in KSA, as no waste-to-energy (WTE) facility exists. This chapter reviews the biological and chemical ways of H 2 production from waste sources and availability of waste resources in KSA.
In spite of the past few decades, gasification of waste is being used in the developed countries.... more In spite of the past few decades, gasification of waste is being used in the developed countries. Reducing the space for landfill sites, producing fuel from waste, as well as avoiding negative impacts of landfilling, are of advantages of gasification. The research was aimed at feasibility study of application of Tehran municipal solid waste (MSW) gasification in addition to understanding the waste gasification as a stable and economic substitute for generating clean energy. On this basis, the researcher analyzed the required information through library research and by examining different types of available gasifiers in the developed countries. Firstly, the profitability of the project was assessed by using the net present value method and then, the cost-benefit analysis of the project was performed. In this study, three scenarios of the MSW landfilling and two gasification scenarios were analyzed. The research findings indicate that the gasification scenario is more economical than the landfill. Finally, the environmental analysis of all of the three scenarios was reviewed and considering the fact that the gasification scenarios are in line with the Fifth Economic Plan of the Islamic Republic of Iran, they can be proposed as the best scenarios. As to comparison of the two gasification scenarios, it was found out that considering the capacity of the waste produced in Tehran and the volume of the input waste of the two gasifiers and reduction of the operational costs of Termiska TPS Gasifier, the model of Termiska TPS Gasifier is a more suitable option for Tehran.
An increasing interest in biochar application has opened many multidisciplinary research areas in... more An increasing interest in biochar application has opened many multidisciplinary research areas in science. Biochar can be produced by thermochemical conversion of organic biomass in an oxygen-deficient condition. Extensive research has been conducted on the potential of biochar for agronomic applications, such as soil fertility improvement and carbon sequestration due to its specific mineralogical composition and long-term stability in the soil. Using biochar for environmental remediation has also been recognized recently as a promising area of research for its unique physicochemical characteristics, redox potential, and adsorption capacity. However, the published works are mostly focused only on the agronomic and environmental applications with little information presented to elucidate the different mechanisms involved. This study, therefore, aims to examine the influence of controlling parameters during biochar production, such as pyrolysis temperature, residence time, and types of feedstock on the characteristics of biochar. Various mechanisms explaining the potential of biochar for the environmental and agronomic applications are discussed in detail. The challenges faced in biochar development and its field applications for agronomic and environmental remediation purposes are also highlighted. Finally, recommendations for future research are given on the development of biochar with high redox functional groups and sorption potential as well as on understanding the behavior of biochar under the natural field conditions.
ABSTRACT: This study aims to examine the occupational health and safety (OHS) status in motor veh... more ABSTRACT: This study aims to examine the occupational health and safety (OHS) status in motor vehicle repair workshops (MVRW) industry in the city of Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). An inspection tool composed of 10 OHS components and 69 items was employed through observations, interviews, walk through survey and focused group discussions. The data was collected from local workshops (LWs, N=62) and multinational companies’ workshops (CWs, N=11). The mean positive response for OHS components among surveyed LWs and CWs was as follow; personal protective equipment’s (PPEs) (28% and 61%), fire protection and emergency management (52% and 91%), provision of facilities (69% and 94%), electric safety (44% and 82%), general workshop safety (43% and 82%), housekeeping (18% and 84%), chemical exposure (16% and 69%), maintenance and services (54% and 86%), manual handling (84% and 100%) and tool safety (58% and 91%), respectively. The overall OHS mean positive response, complying best p...
Pyrolysis based biorefineries have great potential to convert waste such as plastic and biomass w... more Pyrolysis based biorefineries have great potential to convert waste such as plastic and biomass waste into energy and other valuable products, to achieve maximum economic and environmental benefits. In this study, the catalytic pyrolysis of different types of plastics wastes (PS, PE, PP, and PET) as single or mixed in different ratios, in the presence of modified natural zeolite (NZ) catalysts, in a small pilot scale pyrolysis reactor was carried out. The NZ was modified by thermal activation (TA-NZ) at 550 • C and acid activation (AA-NZ) with HNO 3 , to enhance its catalytic properties. The catalytic pyrolysis of PS produced a higher liquid oil (70 and 60%) than PP (40 and 54%) and PE (40 and 42%), using TA-NZ and AA-NZ catalysts, respectively. The gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of oil showed a mixture of aromatics, aliphatic and other hydrocarbon compounds. The TA-NZ and AA-NZ catalysts showed a different effect on the wt% of catalytic pyrolysis products and liquid oil chemical compositions, with AA-NZ showing higher catalytic activity than TA-NZ. FT-IR results showed clear peaks of aromatic compounds in all liquid oil samples with some peaks of alkanes that further confirmed the GC-MS results. The liquid oil has a high heating value (HHV) range of 41.7-44.2 MJ/kg, close to conventional diesel. Therefore, it has the potential to be used as an alternative source of energy and as transportation fuel after refining/blending with conventional fuels.
In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), millions of Muslims come to perform Pilgrimage every year. ... more In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), millions of Muslims come to perform Pilgrimage every year. Around one million ton of municipal solid waste (MSW) is generated in Makkah city annually. The collected MSW is disposed of in the landfills without any treatment or energy recovery. As a result, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and contamination of the soil and water bodies along with leachate and odors are occurring in waste disposal vicinities. The composition of MSW shows that food waste is the largest waste stream (up to 51%) of the total generated MSW. About 13% of the food waste consists of fat content that is equivalent to about 64 thousand tons per year. This study aims to estimate the production potential of biodiesel first time in Makkah city from fat/oil fractions of MSW and highlight its economic and environmental benefits. It has been estimated that 62.53, 117.15 and 6.38 thousand tons of biodiesel, meat and bone meal (MBM) and glycerol respectively could be produced in 2014. A total electricity potential of 852 Gigawatt hour (GWh) from all three sources based on their energy contents, Higher Heating Value (HHV) of 40.17, 18.33 and 19 MJ/kg, was estimated for 2014 that will increase up to 1777 GWh in 2050. The cumulative net savings from landfill waste diversion (256 to 533 million Saudi Riyal (SAR)), carbon credits (46 to 96 million SAR), fuel savings (146 to 303 million SAR) and electricity generation (273 to 569 million SAR) have a potential to add a total net revenue of 611 to 1274 million SAR every year to the Saudi economy, from 2014 to 2050 respectively. However, further studies including real-time data about annual slaughtering activities and the amount of waste generation and its management are critical to decide optimum waste management practices based on life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) methodologies.
ABSTRACT: Professional driving is associated with high rates of occupational musculoskeletal diso... more ABSTRACT: Professional driving is associated with high rates of occupational musculoskeletal disorders (OMSDs). The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of OMSDs among drivers and office workers of taxi industry in Jeddah city. A detailed custom-made questionnaire was used that included socio-demographic and occupational characteristics of subjects together with OMSDs prevalence rates. In this research, 173 subjects participated of which 70.5% were drivers and 29.5% were office workers. Standard Nordic Questionnaire (SNQ) was used to assess 1-year and 1-week prevalence rates of OMSDs in nine body regions. 1-year and 1-week reported prevalence rates of OMSDs among taxi drivers were 85.3 and 51.6%, while among office workers were 52.9 and 31.4%, respectively. The highest self-reported prevalence rates of OMSDs for taxi drivers were found for the lower back (60.7%) and lowest rates for the elbow (14.8%). Whereas, among office workers, the highest prevalence rates were f...
A lot of attention has been paid to improving occupational safety and health (OSH) in small scale... more A lot of attention has been paid to improving occupational safety and health (OSH) in small scale industries all over the globe. This study describes the outcomes of a preliminary OSH status assessment in small scale industries of motor vehicle repair workshops (MVRW) in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). An inspection tool composed of 10 OSH elements and 62 items employed walk-through survey, observations and interviews. The mean positive responses for different OSH elements surveyed were as follows; personal protective equipment (PPEs) (43%), emergency preparedness (49%), fire protection (60%), facilities (80%), general workshop safety (43%), housekeeping (17%), chemical exposure (12%), services and maintenance (57%), mechanical handling (81%) and tool safety (63%). However, special concerns were found for OSH elements including; use of PPE’s, emergency preparedness, general workshops safety, housekeeping and exposures to chemicals as having safety score less than 50%. OSH ele...
This study aims to examine the catalytic pyrolysis of various plastic wastes in the presence of n... more This study aims to examine the catalytic pyrolysis of various plastic wastes in the presence of natural and synthetic zeolite catalysts. A small pilot scale reactor was commissioned to carry out the catalytic pyrolysis of polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE) and their mixtures in different ratios at 450°C and 75 min. PS plastic waste resulted in the highest liquid oil yield of 54% using natural zeolite and 50% using synthetic zeolite catalysts. Mixing of PS with other plastic wastes lowered the liquid oil yield whereas all mixtures of PP and PE resulted in higher liquid oil yield than the individual plastic feedstocks using both catalysts. The GC-MS analysis revealed that the pyrolysis liquid oils from all samples mainly consisted of aromatic hydrocarbons with a few aliphatic hydrocarbon compounds. The types and amounts of different compounds present in liquid oils vary with some common compounds such as styrene, ethylbenzene, benzene, azulene, naphthalene, and toluene. The FT-IR data also confirmed that liquid oil contained mostly aromatic compounds with some alkanes, alkenes and small amounts of phenol group. The produced liquid oils have high heating values (HHV) of 40.2-45 MJ/kg, which are similar to conventional diesel. The liquid oil has potential to be used as an alternative source of energy or fuel production.
International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation, 2017
The aim of this study was to determine the quality and applications of liquid oil produced by cat... more The aim of this study was to determine the quality and applications of liquid oil produced by catalytic pyrolysis of polystyrene (PS) plastic waste in comparison to thermal pyrolysis, using a small pilot scale pyrolysis reactor. Thermal pyrolysis produced maximum liquid oil (80.8%) with gases (13%) and char (6.2%), while catalytic pyrolysis using synthetic and natural zeolite decreased the liquid oil yield (52%) with an increase in gases (17.7%) and char (30.1%) production. The lower yield but improved quality of liquid oil through catalytic pyrolysis are due to catalytic features such as microporous structure and high BET surface area. The liquid oils, both from thermal and catalytic pyrolysis consist of around 99% aromatic hydrocarbons, as further confirmed by GC-MS results. FT-IR analysis showed chemical bonding and functional groups of mostly aromatic hydrocarbons, which is consistent with GC-MS results. The produced liquid oils are suitable for energy generation and heating purposes after the removal of acid, solid residues and contaminants. Further upgrading of liquid oil or blending with diesel is required for its use as a transport fuel.
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