Heavy metals in high concentrations can cause health and environmental damage. Nanosilver is an emerging heavy metal which has a bright future of use in many applications. Here we report on the levels of silver and other heavy metals in municipal sewage sludge. Five towns in Limpopo province of South Africa were selected and the sludge from their wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) was collecte...

Organic fraction of solid waste, which upon degradation produces foul smell and generates pathogens, if not properly managed. Composting is not a method of waste disposal but it is a method of waste recycling and used for agricultural purposes. An integrated approach of composting methodology was tested for municipal solid waste management. Solid waste first was composted and after 22 days, was...

The sewage sludge production in Egypt is rapidly increasing resulting from the continuous increase of population, urban planning and industrial developments. This sludge needs to be adequately treated and environmentally managed to reduce the negative impacts of its application or disposal. Therefore, the main currently pressing needs are to find/develop more efficient, economical and sustainab...

The influence of manure and composts on the leaching of heavy metals from soil was evaluated in a model lysimeter experiment under controlled conditions. Soil samples were collected from experimental fields, from 0- to 90-cm layers retaining the layout of the soil profile layers, after the second crop rotation cycle with the following plant species: potatoes, spring barley, winter rapeseed, and...

Efforts have been made in this study to stabilize the sewage sludge mixed with sugarcane trash in four different proportions: 20% (T(1)); 40% (T(2)); 60% (T(3)) and 80% (T(4)), under laboratory conditions using epigeic earthworm (Oligochaeta) Eisenia fetida. The composting potential of worm was also evaluated in 100% sewage sludge treatment (T(5)). The changes in chemical properties of substrat...

background: phytoremediation is one of the methods used to remove contaminants and while being simple, cheap and efficient, does not cause environmental deterioration. the aims of this study were phytoremediation of soil contaminated by cd, the simultaneous survey of the influence of different electrical conductivity values, and comparison of two soil amendments including sludge and municipal c...

How do you feel when you hear the words " wastewater, " " sludge, " " sewer, " and " sewage " ? These words may make you feel uncomfortable. However, as Victor Hugo wrote in " Les Misérables, " these words are inevitably related to human society (16): " ... The history of men is reflected in the history of sewers. The Germoniae narrated Rome. The sewer of Paris has been an ancient and formidabl...

Thousands of high production volume (HPV) chemicals are used in the US at rates exceeding 450,000 kg (1 million pounds) per year, yet little is known about their fates during wastewater treatment and upon release into the environment. We utilized a recently introduced empirical model to predict the fraction of the mass loading (in raw sewage) that is expected to persist in digested sludge follo...