Articles

Comparison and Evaluation of Physicochemical and Organic Indicators of Pollution in Selected Creeks of Mumbai Western Coastal Region

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The current investigation studies the physiochemical parameters and level of organic contamination of water samples obtained from four main creeks of Western Coastal region of Mumbai – Malad creek, Vasai creek, Mahim creek, and Manori creek. The analysis was carried out for such parameters as hardness, salinity, acidity, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), and Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD). Based on the analysis results, significant differences were found regarding the location of the sampled water bodies. Vasai creek displayed the maximum salinity level (15940 ppm) and hardness because of strong tidal influence and high content of dissolved ions in water. Mahim creek indicated the highest acidity (229.68 ppm) due to severe human interference into the environment of this creek. All analyzed creeks demonstrated the high COD level that ranged between 512 and 864 mg/l. This means that high level of organic pollution was observed at these water bodies. Strong connection between COD and BOD confirms the high amount of biodegradable organic pollutants.

Efficiency of Rhodopseudomonas faecalis in Increasing Digestion of Substrate in an Anaerobic Digester

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An anaerobic Purple Non Sulphur Bacteria (PNSB), Rhodopseudomonas faecalis was utilized as an inoculum to study the efficiency of a biogas digester. A 5 litre capacity anaerobic digester was prepared with 10% feed, 30 days of Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT) was studied using canteen waste as a substrate.  Parameters like pH, Temperature, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Solids (TS), Volatile Solids (VS) and gas production were analyzed and recorded on every day. It was found that pH was decreased and temperature was varying. Increase in the digestion of the substrates was due to the addition of the bacterium eventually causing decrease in COD, TS & VS, was observed. This has increased the production of biogas in the digester.