Devendra Narain Singh

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Verified

Devendra verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

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• Ph.D.
• D. L. Shah Chair Professor for Innovation at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

According to the present disclosure, a system and method for collecting and removing landfill leachates, has been disclosed. The system comprises a base soil, a geomembrane impermeable layer, a drainage layer and a porous geosynthetic liner layer. The base soil is the existing strata within the landfill site for receiving the waste materials. The g...

Shi et al. [10] investigated the potential of phosphogypsum (PG) as a mine backfill material using microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) technique following ureolytic pathway. Sporosarcina pasteurii was utilized to prepare the bacterial inoculum while 2 M urea solution was employed as a substrate. The effectiveness of PG as the sole calc...

The escalating environmental challenges posed by waste rubber tyres (WRTs) necessitate innovative solutions to address their detrimental effects on the geoenvironment. Thus, the knowledge about the recent advancements in material recovery from WRTs, emphasising their utilisation within the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goa...

The present invention relates to an economically significant method for the fabrication of synthetic lightweight aggregates from the waste plastics sourced from the landfills and the reclaimed rubber sourced from the end-of-life automobile tires. The present invention further discloses an optimal composition of waste plastics and waste rubber for t...

In recent times, rubberized concrete (RubCrete) has been considered a sustainable solution to address various issues associated with the environmental impacts of the waste rubber (WasRub) sourced from end-of-life tires. Though this strategy professes sustainable development goals (SDGs) associated with WasRub disposal, the question is what characte...

According to the present disclosure, a construction worthy soil from wastes and a method of preparing the same are disclosed. The method comprises the step of preparing a soil mixture with dredged sediments (DS) and landfill-mined-soil-like fractions (LFMSF) and mixing a binding material with the soil mixture uniformly. Dredged sediments (DS) mixed...

This paper presents the vital importance and exciting prospects of environmental geomechanics (EG) in tackling sustainable engineering in India. Specifically, it prospectively focuses on the innovative initiatives the Government of India took and its aspirational collaborations with academicians and researchers alike, the pioneering policies and re...

Vapor-phase perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), along with methane emissions from landfills has been key contributors of their atmospheric transport and global distribution. Given the persistence, bioaccumulation, and potential health risks associated with PFAS, understanding their transport behavior in landfill gas barrier is of...

The transition to a clean-energy economy in an effort to mitigate climate change has brought a need for intense mining exploration of a critical class of minerals, previously mined and used at a fraction of what is required today and for the upcoming decades. For some common metals, such as copper, major deficits are forecasted for 2030, and for so...

Abandoned oil and gas wells (AOGWs) are a prospective source of geothermal energy for sustainable development by opting for various geothermal energy systems (GTESs), viz., deep borehole heat exchangers and enhanced geothermal systems. In our opinion, the feasibility of utilizing AOGWs can be quantified by employing the yield of heat (YOH), defined...

Pandemic outbreaks are a major challenge in terms of human health and environmental impact. Pandemics cause an increase in waste production, a significant reduction in waste recycling, and the release of disinfectants into the environment. In order to minimize the negative impact on the environment, it is essential to acquire and develop universal...

The utilization of waste rubber in concrete, known as rubberized concrete (RubCrete), offers significant environmental advantages, primarily through enhanced waste management and circular economy benefits. However, a comprehensive understanding of the role of the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) that exists between the rubber aggregates and the ce...

The constraints associated with the availability of huge amounts of natural resources for infrastructure and agricultural development calls for the reuse and recycling of anthropogenically created geomaterials, which is in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In this context, valorization of dredged sediments (DS), obtained from water bo...

Methane (CH4) emissions from the waste industry in the U.S.A. and the European Union (EU) have decreased by over 38% from 1990 to 2021. The success in CH4 emission reduction in the U.S.A. is attributable to two main reasons. Firstly, the increase in the recycling and composting share to 32% of managed waste, thus removing decomposable material from...

The increased number of abandoned oil and gas wells, AOGWs around the globe is incurring problems of methane leakage and groundwater contamination worldwide. Decommissioning of these wells is a cost-intensive affair and requires meticulous planning. A prospective strategy for this could be to refabricate such wells and harness geothermal energy fro...

Methane (CH4) emissions from the waste industry in U.S.A. and the European Union (EU) have decreased by over 38% from 1990 to 2021. The success in CH4 emission reduction in U.S.A. is attributable to two main reasons. Firstly, the increase of the recycling and composting share to 32% of the managed waste, thus removing decomposable material from lan...

The global imperative towards sustainable energy has intensified the research into unconventional energy sources. In this regard repurposing the Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells, AOGWs seems to be a panacea for untapping the huge potential of subsurface geothermal energy. Incidentally, harnessing geothermal energy from AOGWs makes it indispensable to un...

Geothermal heat extraction from Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells, AOGWs, is a panacea for increasing the longevity of sick/depleted oil wells and providing a sustainable solution to mitigate the environmental issues caused due to the leaking of these wells (Rashid and Singh 2024a). Prior to the extraction of geothermal energy from AOGWs, techno-economic...

Хранение энергии в настоящее время считается наиболее реалистичным и эффективным выбором во всем мире, имеющим большой потенциал для оптимизации управления энергией и контроля ее утечки. Технологии хранения в первую очередь предназначены для сбора энергии из различных источников, преобразования и хранения энергии по мере необходимости для различных...

Surface and sub-surface fire in municipal solid waste landfills (including dumpsites) is a complex and intricate phenomenon, whose frequency is expected to increase due to climate change. Partial or incomplete combustion of landfill waste at low temperatures during fires leads to generation of toxic compounds, including hydrocarbons, particulate ma...

The swift growth of the automobile industry has resulted in the generation of huge quantities of waste rubber from end‐of‐life tires. Incidentally, the humungous quantities of waste plastics that are an integral part of the legacy landfills/dumpsites, lying unattended and about which not many valorization schemes are available, pose various geoenvi...

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Wildfires have short- and long-term impacts on the geoenvironment, including the changes to biogeochemical and mechanical properties of soils, landfill stability, surface- and groundwater, air pollution, and vegetation. Climate change has increased the extent and severity of wildfires across the world. Simultaneously, anthropogenic activities—throu...

Wildfires have short- and long-term impacts on the geoenvironment, including the changes to biogeochemical and mechanical properties of soils, landfill stability, surface- and groundwater, air pollution, and vegetation. Climate change has increased the extent and severity of wildfires across the world. Simultaneously, anthropogenic activities—throu...

We read with great interest the recent article by Anglaaere et al. (2023). In this article, clay soil with various contents of glass powder (GP) and tyre shred particles (TSP) were subjected to direct shear and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test, and shear strength (τ) parameters and bearing capacity were reported, respectively. Furthermore, Angla...

Plastics are an essential commodity due to their superior engineering properties, durability and low cost for utilization in various commercial products. However, the degradation of plastics due to several environmental stresses has led to the formation of microplastics (MPs). MPs have risen to the top of environmental concerns due to their affinit...

Plastic pollution in the terrestrial environment is emerging as another significant human-made threat to ecosystem function and health. Plastic contamination can range from the macro- to the nanoscale, and environmental impacts are evident at each level. Although significant knowledge gaps remain regarding the interactions between the natural envir...

Geothermal heat extraction from close to decommissioning oil and gas wells is a proven benison for avoiding permanent plugging and ensuring the sustainability of such wells. These end-of-hydrocarbon productivity life wells, EHPLWs can be valuable to today’s energy-deficient society as they play an instrumental role in the energy transitioning of th...

Wan and Zaoui (2024) conducted molecular dynamics simulations (MDS) to explore friction dynamics at the rubber-clay interface under the realm of rubber-soil mixtures (RSM). It’s an interesting deviation from the regular RSMs wherein rubber-sand mixtures only have been considered so far. However, it should be noted that the mixing of rubber with cla...

We read with great interest the recent article by Erenson (2023)entitled “Dispersion characteristics of clayey soils containing waste rubber particles”. The author has studied the dispersion characteristics of clayey soils containing different percentages of waste rubber particles (WRPs) by performing several tests (viz. consistency limit, linear s...

The pore size, shape and orientation of an illite-dominant clay were mapped during one-dimensional compression, using mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), scanning electron microscopy and gas adsorption. The total porosity was found to spread over the three International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry classes of pores sizes: micropores (below...

The patent is on a novel setup: CalVaDet to measure the calorific value of heterogeneous geomaterials. It allows a larger sampling size of up to 100cc making it to have a representative sample of the heterogeneous sample such as municipal solid waste, landfill-mined residues, biomass, refuse-derived fuels, etc. Using a conventional bomb calorimeter...

Reef breakwaters are widely employed soft engineering solutions to control shoreline erosion and to protect the existing coastal structures from increased wave action. The adoption of reef breakwaters for coastal protection has been growing owing to several benefits, such as protecting the coast by reducing wave energy, enhancing the performance of...

Cricket pitch soil mineralogy, which is fundamental to any soil and a resultant of the weathering of parent material, acts as the DNA of pitch soil and provides a template that defines the morphological, physical, chemical, and biological behaviour of a cricket pitch. The quantity and quality of clay minerals present in the pitch soil determine the...

The goal of this chapter is to understand the fundamental scientific principles and logic underlying the art of measuring, analysing, and interpreting pitch surface behaviour (based on their morphological, structural, physical, chemical, and mineralogical properties, predominant exchangeable cations, existing weather variables such as temperature,...

Rollers with different compactive potential and turf pitch grass (for controlled desiccation and drying of the cricket pitch profile through evapotranspiration) under available weather variables (temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, evapotranspiration, etc.) are the basic and important tools through which the curators achieve the desira...

Curators construct and prepare the wicket (subcontinental or continental pitches) in almost all the available pH ranges, varying from very strongly acidic (4.5–5.00), neutral (6.6–7.3), to very strongly alkaline or sodic levels (pH levels > 8.5, ESP > 15, EC 4 mmho/cm). Without considering the influence of pH on cricket pitch performance, methods a...

Pitch soil moisture controls the morphological, physical, chemical, biological, and mineralogical activities of pitch soil complex and is highly dependent on the quantity and quality of pitch soil colloidal complex (both inorganic and organic). The exclusive colloidal behaviour desired for the pitch comes in the form of high swelling and shrinking...

The code helps the user to fuse the visible light and IR images of coarse fractions of LMR (Landfill Mined Residues) according to four different image fusion techniques

The effect of in-situ reservoir conditions (high temperature and pressure) on the fracture characteristics (aperture, asperities) and behaviour of fluid through the fractures is a very niche study area for varied energy fields like (i) enhanced geothermal energy systems (ii) nuclear energy storage (iii) CO2 sequestration, (iv) petroleum engineering...

The effect of in-situ reservoir conditions (high temperature and pressure) on the fracture characteristics (aperture, asperities) and behaviour of fluid through the fractures is a very niche study area for varied energy fields like (i) enhanced geothermal energy systems (ii) nuclear energy storage (iii) CO2 sequestration, (iv) petroleum engineering...

Rubber manufacturers, and especially the automobile industry, along with urban local bodies, recyclers, and society by large, are facing a major challenge in terms of reuse and/or valorization of the huge quantities of the Waste Rubber, read as WasRub. The WasRub being highly resistant to thermal, biological, chemical, and photochemical degradation...

Establishing concentration of microplastics (MPs), designated as CMP, in aqueous, semi-solid and solid samples originating from unscientifically created landfills/dumpsites (UCLDs) and engineered landfills (ELFs) is of utmost importance to assess their impact on the geoenvironment. However, the accuracy of CMP will be guided by the extraction effic...

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emission flux and their concentration profiles were measured at a final municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill cover in Hangzhou, China. The influencing parameters, especially ground surface air temperature and pressure were monitored concomitantly. Furthermore, a numerical model incorporating coupled thermo-hydro-ch...

Environmental regulations on landfills contain detailed instructions for monitoring the impacts of pollution from leachate on water, air and soil. However, references to the impact of landfills on the landscape and the need to monitor the surrounding vegetation are described only in general terms. Studies have indicated that near-surface pollution...

Unscientifically created landfills/dumpsites and engineered landfills, which occupy vast precious land, have become an integral part of modern-day megacities. Improper management of these facilities often harms the geoenvironment owing to the release of landfill gases and leachates laden with heavy metals and emerging pollutants, structural failure...

Increasing quantities of discarded rubber tires have lead to various geoenvironmental and societal issues, and hence strategies for their utilization are a top priority. As the rubber in tires is crosslinked (vulcanized) with sulfur, it is highly resistant to decomposition due to chemical, thermal, biological, and photochemical activities, under am...

The implementation of circular economy (CE) strategies has facilitated a comprehensive approach to waste management (WM) in university campuses. Composting food waste (FW) and biomass can mitigate negative environmental impacts and be part of a closed-loop economy. The compost can be used as a fertilizer, thereby closing the waste cycle. Implementi...

Gas hydrates are regarded as one of the most promising alternative sources of energy, which have the potential to address the energy demand of the contemporary society. Based on the field explorations in the Eastern Nankai Trough (Japan), a multi-layered hydrate reservoir model has been conceptualized and its behaviors during depressurization produ...

Abandoned oil and gas wells AOGWs are considered as a prospective source of geothermal energy, which can be utilized after their oil producing potential is lost. For using any AOGWs as a source of geothermal energy firstly there is a need to determine the technical and economic feasibility either by (i) resorting to numerical modelling with the hel...

Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is a technique that utilizes thermogravimeters, TGs, an instrument that thermally decomposes a material in a controlled gaseous environment (such as N2, O2, Air, CO2, etc.) by adjusting the heating and gas flow purge rates. Though these TGs are being used very routinely in several fields of science and technology, t...

Physicochemical characterization of geomaterials at the microscopic level is of utmost importance to the present-day R&D activities such as (i) assessment of microplastics contamination in air, aquatic and terrestrial environments, (ii) assessment of heterogeneity associated with the recycled composites/bends manufactured from mixed polymer waste b...

An increasing number of automobile vehicles generates an enormous quantity of waste rubber tires, WRTs, at the end of their service life. When disposed of in landfills and dumpsites, the WRTs create several well-known health and geoenvironmental issues in the nearby vicinity, apart from occupying a lot of landfill space. To come out of these unwant...

An extruder, GolDN (read GOLDEN, and which has been acronymed after the names of its inventors) that can be employed for making composites from waste plastics (viz., LDPE, HDPE, PET, PS, PVC, PA-6, PP, etc.) and fillers (red mud, carbon black, fly ash, landfill mined soil like fractions, rubber waste, slags of different types, etc) has been designe...

Safe, proper design and installation of several thermo-active structures necessitate establishing zone of extent of heat migration in soil mass. This zone is termed as ‘zone of influence’, ZOI, and its determination is imperative to avoid unwanted situations, which could be threat to the surrounding structures. This is where in-situ monitoring of t...

Utilization of Landfill-mined-soil-like-fractions (LFMSF), a major constituent of landfill mined residues and resembles organic soil, is essential for landfill mining activity to be a sustainable practice. In this context, the potential utilization schemes of LFMSF such as compost, buffering material, landfill bio cover, road subbase, and structura...

The current paper discusses some selected developments for efficient management of the globally increasing quantity of waste. Incinerator bottom ash (IBA), the heavier ash generated during incineration of municipal waste, is currently utilised in two distinct ways. One pathway is not to fragment IBA and use it as a building material in road constru...

Landfill gas (LFG) emission is gaining more attention from the scientific fraternity and policymakers recently due to its threat to the atmosphere and human health of the populace living in surrounding premises. Though landfill cover (LFC) (viz., daily, intermittent and final cover) is widely used by landfill operators to mitigate or reduce these e...

Accurate measurement of the thermal properties (viz., thermal conductivity, thermal resistivity, volumetric heat capacity, and thermal diffusivity) of soils in cold regions necessitates the development of techniques that are robust and efficient and that can incorporate different heat migration mechanisms under the influence of complex initial and...

The utilization of landfill-mined-soil-like fractions (LFMSF), which is a major fraction resulting from landfill mining (LFM) activity, is being debated owing to a lack of comprehensive understanding of its characteristics. In this context, based on the physicochemical properties of LFMSF, several of the earlier researchers have opposed its utiliza...

Extraction of methane gas from the gas hydrate bearing sediments (GHBS) would primarily depend upon its overall characteristics such as type of the sediments and their stratification, hydrate saturation and morphology, thermo-hydro-mechanical properties (viz., thermal properties, permeability, compressibility), in-situ pressure and temperature cond...

Landfill mining, LFM, is considered to be one of the alternatives to overcome adverse effects of unscientifically created landfills/dumpsites, UCLDs, and engineered landfills, ELFs. However, the feasibility of various pathways for the valorization of its yield, designated as the landfill mined residues, LMRs, for sustainable development is still be...

Leachate is a contaminated liquid generated during the bio-chemical decomposition processes of municipal solid waste (MSW) that occurred at semi-solid or solid-state in a bioreactor landfill (BLF). Conceptually, leachate from a BLF is analogous to the urine generated in the ‘human body’, on which the medical practitioners rely to diagnose and remed...

The revitalisation of the global economy after the Covid-19 era presents environmental geotechnics with the opportunity to reinforce the need for a change in paradigm towards a green, circular economy and to promote aggressively the use and development of sustainable technologies and management practices. This paper aims to assist in this effort by...

The identification of clayey soil desiccation cracks is an important practical issue in geotechnical engineering and engineering geology. The desiccation cracks can dramatically increase the hydraulic conductivity and deteriorate the mechanical performance of clayey soils. Traditionally, the analysis of soil desiccation cracks relies on visual insp...

Numerous applications of hydraulic conductivity of porous media (e.g., soils, clay liners, rocks, concrete, ceramic filters, etc.) in their unsaturated state are well established in the field of geotechnical and agriculture engineering. In recent years, researchers have developed laboratory techniques by resorting to thermal flux sensors, electrica...

https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/9072

For a long time in the practice of geotechnical engineering, soil has been viewed as an inert material, comprising only inorganic phases. However, microorganisms including bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes are ubiquitous in soil, and have the capacity and capability to alter bio-geochemical processes in the local soil environment. The cumulative cha...

Geomechanical properties such as shear strength, stiffness, and compressibility of soils subjected to subzero temperatures are of utmost importance for executing various projects related to infrastructure development and harnessing sustainable energy in cold regions. In this context, earlier researchers have employed sophisticated equipment such as...

The utilization of industrial byproducts, IBPs, for creating huge infrastructure projects (viz., land reclamation, rehabilitation of low-lying areas, backfilling of mines and construction of embankments, etc.), is being hypothesized to address the issues related with the sustainability. One of such IBPs are the bauxite residues, BRs, which get gene...

Soils are a host to several micro-organisms which are responsible for various biogeochemical processes prevailing in the geoenvironment. Such processes have been utilized to alter engineering properties of the coarse-grained soils viz., sands, such as strength, liquefaction potential and permeability. One of such processes, which has been explored...

Estimation of temporal changes undergone by municipal solid waste (MSW) in its physico–chemico–geomechanical properties in a bioreactor landfill (BLF) is essential for: (i) efficient landfilling, (ii) establishing the state of decomposition of MSW with time and (iii) deciding upon the appropriate time to initiate landfill mining. To achieve this, a...

Biochemical decomposition of municipal solid waste (MSW) in landfills leads to the generation of leachate, gases and humus substances. In this context, a methodology to assess D ecomposition of MSW , designated as DecoMSW , has been developed; based on a series of tests conducted on samples of the fresh MSW and those retrieved from the active biore...

Soil surface erosion is a common natural phenomenon, considerably leading to land degeneration and environment deterioration. In this study, microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP), a green and sustainable bio-mediated technique to stabilize soils, has been proposed as a promising solution to control surface erosion of the clayey...

The thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) properties of frozen soils depend primarily on the parameters like volumetric ice content, unfrozen water content, dry density, mineralogy, temperature etc. However, establishing the influence of ice/unfrozen water content on the abovementioned properties of frozen soils becomes a challenging task owing to the depe...

The safe handling, storage, disposal, and use of the bauxite residues (BRs) has become a bug bear to alumina refineries not only because of the enormous quantity that gets generated but also because of its characteristics, namely, extremely high alkalinity and sodicity. One of the ways to negotiate with this situation would be to “neutralize the BR...

COVID-19 is proving to be an unprecedented disaster for human health, social contacts, and the economy worldwide. It is evident that the SARS-CoV-2 may spread through municipal solid waste (MSW), if collected, bagged, handled, transported, or disposed of inappropriately. Under the stress placed by the current pandemic on the sanitary performance ac...

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic not only has created a health crisis across the world but is also expected to impact negatively the global economy and societies at a scale that is maybe larger than that of the 2008 financial crisis. Simultaneously, it has inevitably exerted many negative consequences on the geoenvir...

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has posed severe threats to humans and the geoenvironment. The findings of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (Sars-CoV-2) traces in waste water and the practice of disinfecting outdoor spaces in several cities in the world, which can result into the entry of disinfectants and their by-products int...

This paper reports the impact of COVID-19 on the practice and delivery of geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering (GGE) education modules including lectures, lab sessions, student assessments, and research activities based on the feedback from faculty members in 14 countries/regions around the world. Faculty members have since adopted a serie...

The presence of combustible fractions (CFs) such as plastic, paper and cardboard, textiles, wood, leather, and rubber in municipal solid waste (MSW), which are incalcitrant to microbial activities, has become a limitation for their utilization through biochemical processes. This results in the creation of MSW heaps within the premises of municipali...

Microplastics (MPs) are emerging persistent contaminants in the terrestrial subsurface, and evidence has emerged for significant effects of MPs on soils’ biological and ecosystem functions. Main MPs sources include land spreading of sewage sludge and biowaste composts, plastic mulching film used in horticultural fields, wastewater irrigation, and l...

Unscientifically Created Landfills and Dumps, UCLDs, pose a severe threat to geoenvironment due to uncontrolled release of greenhouse gases and toxic leachate, accidental fire(s) and occasional slope failure(s). Further, UCLDs also become a socio-economic burden on the municipalities through the consumption of enormous land of the modern-day cities...