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The limited use of fertilizer by farmers in Africa stands in contrast to the much more extensive use of fertilizer by farmers in other developing regions.This contrast has stimulated considerable discussion about what should be the role of fertilizer in helping countries of Africa achieve their agricultural development goals, and what types of.

Soil salinity and sodicity are among the main problems for optimum crop production in areas where rainfall is not enough for leaching of salts out of the rooting zone. Application of organic and Ca-based amendments have the potential to increase crop yield and productivity under saline–alkaline soil environments. Based on this hypothesis, the present study was conducted to evaluate the potential of compost, Ca-based fertilizer industry waste (Ca-FW), and Ca-fortified compost (Ca-FC) to increase growth and yield of maize under saline–sodic soil conditions. Saline–sodic soil conditions with electrical conductivity (EC) levels (1.6, 5, and 10 dS m−1) and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) = 15, were developed by spiking soil with a solution containing NaCl, Na2SO4, MgSO4, and CaCl2. Results showed that soil salinity and sodicity significantly reduced plant growth, yield, physiological, and nutrient uptake parameters. However, the application of Ca-FC caused a remarkable increase in the studied parameters of maize at EC levels of 1.6, 5, and 10 dS m−1 as compared to the control. In addition, Ca-FC caused the maximum decrease in Na+/K+ ratio in shoot up to 85.1%, 71.79%, and 70.37% at EC levels of 1.6, 5, and 10 dS m−1, respectively as compared to the control treatment. Moreover, nutrient uptake (NPK) was also significantly increased with the application of Ca-FC under normal as well as saline–sodic soil conditions. It is thus inferred that the application of Ca-FC could be an effective amendment to enhance growth, yield, physiology, and nutrient uptake in maize under saline–sodic soil conditions constituting the novelty of this work.

With increasing demand for agricultural production, chemical fertilizers are now being intensively manufactured and used to provide readily available nutrients in larger quantities, which often leach out and contaminate the groundwater source. At the same time, effluents from fertilizer plants also pollute water bodies, when disposed of without proper treatment. The present study evaluates nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiencies in a single-stage aerobic moving bed bioreactor (MBBR) from diammonium phosphate (DAP)–spiked wastewater containing no organic carbon. To date, no similar study has been undertaken that treats fertilizer plant effluent or agricultural runoff without the aid of external carbon, where organic carbon is hypothesized to be supplied from endogenous degradation of biomass. Both denitrification and phosphorus removal occurs in the anoxic zones of deeper layers of the biofilm. The present investigation demonstrates the feasibility of the processes with the requirement of a two-stage MBBR for effective simultaneous nitrification, denitrification, and phosphorus removal (SNDPr) together with a polishing technology to bring down the phosphorus concentration within limits. A novel bio-carrier designed for efficient SND was used in the study, with a carrier filling ratio of 35% that supported the formation of deep biofilms creating anoxic zones in the inner surface. Identification of the bacterial species reflects the occurrence of simultaneous nitrification, denitrification, and phosphorous removal (SNDPr) in the reactor. A maximum ammonium nitrogen removal efficiency of 98% was recorded with 95% total nitrogen removal, 69% phosphorus removal, and 85% SND efficiency, indicating the applicability of the process with a tertiary phosphorus removal unit to lower the nutrient concentration of effluents prior to disposal.

Soil contamination caused by the nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing industry is a growing global concern. This study focused on soil contamination in the nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing industry with 50 years of production history. In order to precisely control pollutants in the nitrogen fertilizer industry, according to overall exceedance of contaminants, the contaminants of concern (COC) have been identified as ammonia nitrogen and arsenic. We have also adeptly utilized spatial interpolation techniques, geodetector, to investigate the spatial distribution patterns of these pollutants and the factors influencing their origins, both anthropogenic and natural. The research findings indicate ammonia nitrogen was concentrated in urea and compound fertilizer production, water treatment, and coal gas production areas. Arsenic was mainly concentrated in the auxiliary areas. Furthermore, the urea-production area significantly influenced the distribution of ammonia nitrogen. The gas-production area had an important effect on arsenic and ammonia nitrogen distribution. Additionally, groundwater considerably influenced the distribution of ammonia nitrogen in the 3–5-m soil layer. Simultaneously, we have conducted human health risk assessment. Human health risk assessment indicated both carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks exceeding acceptable limits. The research findings provide theoretical support for nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing enterprises to identify key pollutants and functional areas for priority management, facilitating the implementation of targeted and precise management strategies and prioritization in environmental management.

The study aimed to determine the content of phenolic compounds (phenolic acids and flavonoids) and organic acids in dried flowers and water infusions of non-oxidised and oxidised flowers from four lilac cultivars. The diversity in the total phenolic and flavonoid content was in the flowers (18.35–67.14 and 2.03–2.65 mg g[sup.−1] DW, respectively) and infusions (14.72–47.78 and 0.20–1.84 mg per 100 mL infusion, respectively) depending the flower colour and form (oxidised and non-oxidised). Phenolic compounds and organic acids were susceptible to oxidation. Compared to infusions, flowers had more phenolic compounds and organic acids. The highest content of most phenolic compounds was confirmed for non-oxidised purple flowers (up to 7825.9 µg g[sup.−1] DW for chlorogenic acid) while in infusions for non-oxidised white flowers (up to 667.1 µg per 100 mL infusions for vanillic acid). The phenolic profile of the infusions was less diverse than that of flowers. The scavenging ability ranged from 52 to 87%. The highest organic acid content in flowers was for oxidised blue and purple flowers (2528.1 and 2479.0 µg g[sup.−1] DW, respectively) while in infusions the highest organic acid content was for oxidised purple flowers (550.1 µg per 100 mL infusions).

Fluorides are emitted in both gaseous and particle forms in the industrial sector. However, studies usually only report total fluoride content. Therefore, the study aimed to assess the particulate, gaseous fluoride and correlate it with the respirable dust particles in Single Super Phosphate (SSP), Granular Single Super Phosphate (GSSP), and administration divisions of the industry. Respirable dust particles, particulate fluoride, and hydrogen fluoride in the work environment were collected on a filter cassette containing an MCE filter paper (0.8 micron 37-mm) and Na2CO3 impregnated backup pad, respectively, using a personal sampler. The fluoride samples were analyzed using Ion Selective Electrode (ISE) and expressed as milligrams per meter cube (mg.m-3). The respirable dust, particulate, and gaseous fluoride content were found to have statistically significant differences (p<0.001) between the divisions (SSP, GSSP, and administration) in the static monitoring, whereas, in the case of personal monitoring, no significant differences were observed. Average airborne respirable, particulate, and gaseous fluoride levels in static monitoring were 1.37, 1.03, 0.20 mg.m-3, 0.018, 0.008, 0.001 mg.m-3, and 0.808, 0.403, 0.026 ppm in SSP, GSSP and administration respectively, whereas in personal monitoring the average respirable, particulate and gaseous fluoride concentrations were 1.18, 0.85, 0.30 mg.m-3, 0.0013, 0.007, 0.002 mg.m-3 and 0.356, 0.258, 0.011 ppm in SSP, GSSP and administration respectively. The present study observed that the levels of fluoride decreased with an increase in distance from SSP, followed by GSSP and administration. It indicates that the fluoride exposure was inversely proportional to the distance of the source. This study outcome will help to design a policy and intervention to mitigate fluoride exposure among workers.

Wastewater from fertilizer industries is rich in ammoniacal nitrogen and orthophosphates. The present study demonstrates the recovery of nutrients from fertilizer industry effluent in the form of microalgal biomass to produce various bioproducts. The study demonstrates the integration of pilot-scale struvite production from fertilizer industrial wastewater in air-agitated reactor to phycoremediation of residual wastewater. The parameters required for the production of high yield and better quality of struvite were optimized. The microalgal consortium was isolated from anaerobic plant digestate and adapted to tolerate 1000 mg L−1 of NH4-N using synthetic wastewater rich in NH4-N. Pilot-scale struvite production was carried out in the air-agitated reactor (1 m3 capacity) in batch mode and phycoremediation of residual effluent was carried out in tubular photobioreactor (200 L capacity) in fed batch mode. Pilot-scale struvite crystallization produced 60 kg of struvite from 1 m3 of effluent. During struvite precipitation, 2.96% of COD, 68.29% of NH4-N, and 96.38% of PO4-P were recovered. The residual effluent was further phycoremediated by the microalgal consortium. During phycoremediation, 62.68% of COD, 59.21% of NH4-N, and 68.57% of PO4-P were recovered in terms of microalgal biomass. Due to integration, 64.58% of COD, 87.31% of NH4-N, 89.0% of TKN, and 98.79% of PO4-P are recovered. The observed yield (g m−3 effluent) of biomass, lipids, ω-3 fatty acid, and biogas (L m−3 effluent) was 290, 56, 11.2, and 80 L, respectively. In brief, the integration of struvite production and microalgae cultivation can be used as an effective treatment system for fertilizer industry wastewater.

Phosphate fertilizer industry is one of the most environmental polluting industries in Egypt. To identity the prevalence of abnormal ventilatory functions and to assess environmental safety measures in phosphate fertilizer industry in the middle region of the Nile Delta, Egypt. The study included 180 exposed male workers in phosphate fertilizer factory at Kafr El-Zayat City. An interview questionnaire was used to collect data related to socio-demographic, occupational history, and work-related respiratory manifestations. Spirometer was used for measuring ventilatory functions tests. Assessment of workplace safety measures was done by using Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Inspection Checklist, and environmental measures of total dust and sulfur dioxides (SOx) were obtained from records. Self-reported respiratory manifestations were found in 74/180 workers (41.11%), with rhinitis (49.3%), cough (38.9%), and expectoration (38.3%) were the most frequent. Abnormal ventilatory functions were confirmed and reported in about one-fourth of workers (43/180, 23.9%) with prominence of obstructive pattern. Significant negative correlation was found between age and MVV values ( r  = − 0.449, p  = 0.001) and between duration of work and values of both FEV1( r  = − 0.248, p  = 0.033) and MVV ( r  = − 0.473, p  = 0.001). The mean percent of applied safety practices and measures in workplace was 53.39% ± 16.4. The mean of sulfur dioxides values in English acid unit exceeded the permissible exposure level (PEL). Preventive medical and environmental safety measures were inadequate with a relatively high prevalence of abnormal ventilatory functions among workers. Sulfur dioxides measurements exceeded PEL.

To date, estimation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the natural gas (NG) value chain have focused on upstream (production) and midstream (gathering, transmission, and storage) operations. In this study, we estimate methane emissions from an important downstream consumer of NG, the ammonia fertilizer industry, which commonly uses NG as a feedstock and a fuel for the production of ammonia and other upgraded products. Using a Google Street View (GSV) car equipped with a high-precision methane analyzer, we adopted a mobile sensing approach to measure methane mixing ratios along public roads that are downwind of the ammonia fertilizer plants. Useful data were collected from six plants, which represent >25% of the total number of U.S NG-based ammonia fertilizer plants, and use >20% of the total NG consumption by this industry. Based on the measured data, a source characterization model was applied to estimate the methane emission rates from the upwind plants. Assuming that the estimates are representative of emissions during normal operations of a plant, we calculated the NG loss rate (i.e. the ratio between NG emission rate and NG throughput). If the sampled plants are representative of the U.S. ammonia fertilizer industry, the industrial-averaged NG loss rate (± standard deviation) is estimated to be 0.34% (±0.20%), and the total methane emissions (± standard deviation) from this industry are estimated to be 29 (±18) Gigagram per year (Gg CH4/yr) in 2015–2016. This is significantly higher than the reported methane emissions of 0.2 Gg CH4/yr from the U.S. EPA’s Facility Level Information on Greenhouse Gas Tools (FLIGHT). This study begins to fill an important knowledge gap in quantifying methane emissions along the NG value chain, and demonstrates the capability of mobile sensing for characterizing airborne emissions.

Ammonia (NH.sub.3) emissions have been on a continuous rise due to extensive fertilizer usage in agriculture and increasing production of manure and livestock. However, the current global-to-national NH.sub.3 emission inventories exhibit large uncertainties. We provide atmospheric inversion estimates of the global NH.sub.3 emissions over 2019-2022 at 1.27° x 2.5° horizontal and daily (at 10 d scale) resolution. We use IASI-ANNI-NH3-v4 satellite observations, simulations of NH.sub.3 concentrations with the chemistry transport model LMDZ-INCA, and the finite difference mass-balance approach for inversions of global NH.sub.3 emissions. We take advantage of the averaging kernels provided in the IASI-ANNI-NH3-v4 dataset by applying them consistently to the LMDZ-INCA NH.sub.3 simulations for comparison to the observations and then to invert emissions. The average global anthropogenic NH.sub.3 emissions over 2019-2022 are estimated as â¼97 (94-100) Tg yr.sup.-1, which is â¼61 % (â¼55 %-65 %) higher than the prior Community Emissions Data System (CEDS) inventory's anthropogenic NH.sub.3 emissions and significantly higher than two other global inventories: CAMS's anthropogenic NH.sub.3 emissions (by a factor of â¼1.8) and the Calculation of AMmonia Emissions in ORCHIDEE (CAMEO) agricultural and natural soil NH.sub.3 emissions (by â¼1.4 times). The global and regional budgets are mostly within the range of other inversion estimates. The analysis provides confidence in their seasonal variability and continental- to regional-scale budgets. Our analysis shows a rise in NH.sub.3 emissions by â¼5 % to â¼37 % during the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 over different regions compared to the same-period emissions in 2019. However, this rise is probably due to a decrease in atmospheric NH.sub.3 sinks due to the decline in NO.sub.x and SO.sub.2 emissions during the lockdowns.