Water pollution is a global problem threatening the entire biosphere and affecting the life of many millions of people around the world. Not only is water pollution one of the foremost global risk factors for illness, diseases and death, but it also contributes to the continuous reduction of the available drinkable water worldwide. Delivering valuable solutions, which are easy to implement and affordable, often remains a challenge. Here we review the current state-of-the-art of available technologies for water purification and discuss their field of application for heavy metal ion removal, as heavy metal ions are the most harmful and widespread contaminants. We consider each technology in the context of sustainability, a largely neglected key factor, which may actually play a pivotal role in the implementation of each technology in real applications, and we introduce a compact index, the Ranking Efficiency Product (REP), to evaluate the efficiency and ease of implementation of the various technologies in this broader perspective. Emerging technologies, for which a detailed quantitative analysis and assessment is not yet possible according to this methodology, either due to scarcity or inhomogeneity of data, are discussed in the final part of the manuscript.

Sustainable technologies for water purification from heavy metals: review and analysis

Potential of using green adsorbent of heavy metal removal from aqueous solutions: Adsorption kinetics, isotherm, thermodynamic, mechanism and economic analysis

A review on conventional and novel materials towards heavy metal adsorption in wastewater treatment application

Comparison of sorption and desorption studies of heavy metal ions from biochar and commercial active carbon

Polymer-based nanocomposites for heavy metal ions removal from aqueous solution: a review

Heavy Metals Removal Using Activated Carbon, Silica and Silica Activated Carbon Composite

Petroleum which is the major source of energy for industry and daily life is an extremely complex mixture of hydrocarbons. From the hundreds of individual components, four classes, based on related chemical structures can be recognized, and named as : aromatic, saturate or aliphatic, asphaltic and resins (Gopinathan et al., 2012). However, after the sinking of the super tanker Torney Canyon in 1967 the attention of the scientific community was drawn towards ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 2 Number 6 (2013) pp. 1-18 http://www.ijcmas.com

https://www.ijcmas.com/vol-2-6/Darin%20Maliji,%20Zakia%20Olama%20and%20Hanafy%20Holail.pdf

Environmental studies on the microbial degradation of oil hydrocarbons and its application in Lebanese oil polluted coastal and marine ecosystem.

Plastics produced from petrochemical sources and known as polypropylene are now accumulating in our environment at rates of millions of tons per year creating severe problems. The present study aims to the production and isolation of PHB (polyhydroxy-buty rate ), a biodegradable plastic, from agro-industrial waste products (whey and date molasses) due to its high economic and industrial importance , taking into consideration many points that lead to produce PHB on large scale. The methodology of this study includes screening study for the isolation of a promising microbial producer of PHB , and optimization experiments to evaluate the best environmental and physiological factors that lead to maximum PHB production. Under the optimized conditions, Lactobacillus acidophilus has shown maximum production when grown for 4 days on date molasses supplemented with NB yielding 0.412g/50ml of PHB, followed by Bacillus thuringiensis (0.367g/50ml) grown for 4 days on the same medium, and Bacillus subtilis (0.337g/50ml) grown for 6 days on whey supplemented with glucose, yeast extract, and peptone. Eleven nutritional factors were examined for their significance on PHB production using a statistical design known as Plackette-Burman. Maximum PHB output of 43.1 g/l produced by Lactobacillus acidophilus was revealed by the statistical design, which represents about 7.04 fold increase in PHB production. Fedbatch fermentation was carried out using the optimized fermentation medium and PHB production has been increased to 27.5% as compared with batch closed process. PHB was detected by transmission electron microscopy and monitoring UV spectra of the sample by scanning the samples between 220 and 300nm compared with standard PHB. Lactobacillus acidophilus can be used for PHB production on large industrial scale, solving by this one of the problems of solid waste management that results from the accumulation of plastics and saving the environment from additional air pollution caused by its recycling.

Microbial production of polyhydroxybutyrate, a biodegradable plastic using agro-industrial waste products.

The present work was managed to study the water quality of Hasbani river in South Lebanon, in order to assess the chemical and microbiological characteristics and their impact on the ecosystem. Physico-chemical parameters, heavy metal, inorganic ions and pesticides were determined using standard methods. It was noticed t hat during January, August and November respectively; pH (7.4;7.9), (6.81;7.5) & ( 4.01;7.72); BOD (4.07-4.98 mg/L), (5.076.41 mg/L) & (4.05-10.89 mg/L); EC (461-474 µS/cm), (4980-529 µS/cm) & (481-654 µS/cm); TDS (299.65-308.1 ppm), (323.7-343.85 ppm) & (312.65-425.1 ppm). Inorganic ion concentrations and heavy metals recorded high level s that exceeded WHO guideline especially in November during the olive period. Het erotrophic bacteria, total and fecal coliform, Salmonella sp. and Shigella sp. indicated significant levels of pollution from untreated sewage and olive mill effluent (OME). Hig h levels of pesticides from agricultural activities are of a serious concern due to their ca rcinogenic effect. In conclusion, results of this study reflect a continuous exposure of Hasbani river to various types of contaminants resulting from, mostly, domestic and agricultural a ctivities.

Water quality assessment of hasbani river in south lebanon: microbiological and chemical characteristics and their impact on the ecosystem

Microbial contamination of surface, ground and drinking waters is an environmental problem around the world that poses a great threat to human health. The presence of coliforms in drinking water is considered to be a public health concern since detection of these microorganisms contributed either to faecal contamination or an exogenous contamination with enteric and other relevant microbial pathogens. It is paramount to protect water sources in our country from any source of contamination, and to construct water disinfection and delivery systems, as well as sewage ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 2 Number 4 (2013) pp. 1-11 http://www.ijcmas.com

https://www.ijcmas.com/Archives/vol-2-4/Sheet,%20etal.pdf

The Antibacterial Activity of Graphite Oxide, Silver, Impregnated Graphite Oxide with Silver and GO-Coated Sand Nanoparticles against Waterborne Pathogenic E.coli BL21

Zakia Olama

Papers

Heavy Metals Removal Using Activated Carbon, Silica and Silica Activated Carbon Composite

Environmental studies on the microbial degradation of oil hydrocarbons and its application in Lebanese oil polluted coastal and marine ecosystem.

Microbial production of polyhydroxybutyrate, a biodegradable plastic using agro-industrial waste products.

Water quality assessment of hasbani river in south lebanon: microbiological and chemical characteristics and their impact on the ecosystem

The Antibacterial Activity of Graphite Oxide, Silver, Impregnated Graphite Oxide with Silver and GO-Coated Sand Nanoparticles against Waterborne Pathogenic E.coli BL21