Marina M.S Cabral Pinto

University of Aveiro | UA

An experimental investigation was conducted to recover and recycle a precious metal (molybdenum) while treating industrial wastewater using a novel membrane-integrated hybrid technology. Hollow-fiber crossflow modules containing ultrafiltration and nanofiltration membranes in the recirculation mode successfully separated 96.5% of the molybdenum fro...

Nanotechnology and nanomaterials have gained much attention in recent years due to their remarkable features. Among nanoparticles, photocatalytic material, such as zinc oxide, have shown tremendous applications in each and every field of science. In the present research, investigators have synthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) using Scallio...

Intensive and inefficient exploitation of pesticides through modernized agricultural practices has caused severe pesticide contamination problems to the environment and become a crucial problem over a few decades. Due to their highly toxic and persistent properties, they affect and get accumulated in non-target organisms, including microbes, algae,...

Mangroves provide various ecosystem services, carbon sequestration, biodiversity depository, and livelihoods. They are most abundant in marine and coastal ecosystems and are threatened by toxic contaminants like heavy metals released from various anthropogenic activities. However, they have significant potential to survive in salt-driven environmen...

Groundwater resources are alarmingly depleting due to over-exploitation and significant climate changes over time. Therefore, demarcation of groundwater potential zones is essential for addressing the needs of various industries in semi-arid area. Depleting groundwater resources, topography, aquifer features and climatic factors make it necessary t...

Celtis australis is an important agroforestry tree in the Himalayan region providing major fodder to the livestock and many other needs for sustaining life in local rural communities. Including their fodder value and wide altitudinal distribution ranges, it is extracted by the villagers in large scale during the lean period (May to June). Thus, the...

Due to the declining land resources over the past few decades, the intensification of land uses has played a significant role in balancing the ever-increasing demand for food in developing nations such as India. To optimize agricultural land uses, one of the crucial indicators is cropping intensity, which measures the number of times a single parce...

The quality of groundwater in the Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh is poorly studied despite the fact that it is the only supply of water for both drinking and irrigation and people use it without any pre-treatment. The evaluation of groundwater quality and suitability for drinking and irrigation is presented in this study. Groundwater samples wer...

C. sinensis (L.) Osbeck is grown in large-scale, in-home gardens of traditional agroforestry systems in the Garhwal Himalaya. The present investigation of C. sinensis was conducted on the basis of twenty-six populations in different home gardens located in different geographical variables. The aim was to understand variations in physicochemical pro...

Environmental pollution is becoming more prevalent in both human life and the ecosystem. The increased use of fossil fuels, mining, and the burning of wastes, as well as industrial wastewater discharge, are polluting natural resources such as water, soil, and air. Metals (loid)s (Cu, Cr, Cd, Zn, Ni, Pb, Hg, Sb, Sn, and As) contribute to several eco...

Incense sticks ash contains nearly 49-55% which acts as a potential candidate as a raw material for calcium carbonate. The synthesis of CCMPs, from ISA, involves pretreatment that includes: the extraction of ferrous particles, and the removal of aluminum and silica. The synthesized CCMPs were characterized by sophisticated instruments for detailed...

Pesticides are a class of xenobiotic compounds that are recalcitrant and show persistence in the environment for a longer period of time. Research studies have linked their potential for mutagenicity, teratogenicity, and carcinogenicity. The accumulation of pesticides in water sources due to runoff from agricultural lands has posed a serious threat...

Bhimal (Grewia oppositifolia) is the most important agroforestry tree species used for fodder, fuel and fiber in the Himalayan region. In the present study, G. oppositifolia-based traditional agroforestry systems were selected for the estimation of carbon stock and the production potential of barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea) and finger mil...

Oak (Q. leucotrichophora) are the oldest forest in temperate region of Himalaya and grow in wide altitudinal ranges. Oak provides various ecosystem services and conserved soil and water and sustained the Himalayan agriculture for subsistence including storing and sequestering CO2. The Oak forests fulfill the needs of the Himalayan people and theref...

Using a plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition (PACVD) process, the carbon steel samples were coated with an organosilicon layer less than 2.5 microns thick. Ellipsometry, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), contact angle, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy were used to analyze the films (AFM). Additionally, gravimetr...

A total of six vegetables (S. tuberosum, D. carota, S. lycopersicum, A. esculentus, S. oleracea and B. juncea) were analysed for five heavy metals (As, Cd, Cr, Hg, and Pb) to evaluate the contamination load in vegetables collected from five cultivated and two market sites (n=504) at Delhi, India. The irrigation water samples and soil samples (n=180...

Volcanic regions are associated with increased environmental and human health risks due to elevated concentrations of potentially toxic elements (PTEs). Fogo Island, Cape Verde, experienced recent volcanic eruptions, which raised the questions around the potential for local soils to pose such risks. In order to better understand the relationships b...

With rapid industrialization, there is an ever-increasing demand for iron oxides, calcium oxides, aluminum oxides, silica, and zeolites as raw materials for various industries, but reserves of such metal oxides are continuously diminishing. Therefore, there is an urgent need to explore new alternatives for such value-added minerals. One such materi...

Engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) are advanced, high-throughput materials that have revolutionized almost every aspect of human life over the past decade with its numerous commercial applications across the globe. However, these particles have made their way into the environment through various pathways, eliciting unintended environmental consequence...

The widespread distribution of organic and inorganic pollutants in water resources have increased due to rapid industrialization. Rhizospheric zone-associated bacteria along with endophytic bacteria show a significant role in remediation of various pollutants. Metaomics technologies are gaining an advantage over traditional methods because of their...

Heavy metals contamination of soil and edible parts of vegetables is presently a challenging environmental issue worldwide. The present study determined the accumulated amount of cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and manganese (Mn) in soil, coriander, onion, and tomato collected from agricultural fields of J...

The book explores soil carbon sequestration, the impact of deforestation on climate change, vulnerability risk for climate and ecological life, socioeconomic impacts, and strategies for the mitigation of future climatic impacts. The theme of the Special Issue extends across terrestrial ecosystems, environmental policy domains (e.g., REDD+ and the P...

The development of advanced biofuels from waste organic matter, such as lignocellulosic biomass, is critical for global sustainable waste management and to delay climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions via partial replacement of fossil fuels. However, the inherent recalcitrance of lignocellulosic biomass due to the presence of inhibitor...

In the modern era of industrial revolution, urbanization, and deforestation of forest land, carbon (C) sequestration through well-known activities called “land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF)” could establish a win–win situation from a climate change and sustainable development perspective [...]

Indian incense stick ash (ISA) contains about 4–8% ferrous iron (Fe 2+ ) which is the fourth-highest metal oxide mineral in ISA as confirmed by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF). The source of the ferrous iron fractions in ISA is coal powder which is used as a facilitator for the smoother burning of incense sticks. Ferrous iron is extracted by...

The accumulation of heavy metals (HMs) in soil is presently a significant threat to the environment. The Cu, Mn, Zn, Cd, Pb, Ni, and Co concentrations were assessed in the agricultural soil samples. The results of various contamination indices including contamination factor, geo-accumulation indices, and ecological risk indices revealed that Cd is...

Phosphorus (P) is a vital nutrient for the ecosystems and its excess in wastewater streams leads to some environmental issues such as extensive algae growth (eutrophication). Phytoremediation is a green technology that is based on the combined actions of plants and their associated microbial groups to remove and transfer the toxic compounds in surf...

MEDICAL GEOLOGY

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have received great attention in a recent material sciences revolution. The present study was conducted to investigate the performance of two different synthesized MOFs for adsorption of a common synthetic endocrine-disrupter Bisphenol A (BPA) from the aquatic system. Highly crystalline MIL-53 and MOF (Ni) were synth...

In this study, the potential of LaPO4 foam as a heterogeneous catalyst to produce biodiesel from highly acidic waste cooking oil (WCO) was investigated. The LaPO4 supported nickel foam was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray mapping analysis (EDX), X-ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR). I...

This study presented a nonlinear dynamic approach to investigate dynamic responses of the plated structures taking into account the strain rate, material, and geometrical nonlinearities. The higher-order shear deformation theory was employed together with Hamilton’s principle to obtain governing equations of motion. The inclusion of material and ge...

Incense sticks ash is one of the most unexplored by-products generated at religious places and houses obtained after the combustion of incense sticks. Every year, tonnes of incense sticks ash is produced at religious places in India which are disposed of into the rivers and water bodies. The presence of heavy metals and high content of alkali metal...

Volcanic regions are associated with increased environmental and human health risks due to elevated concentrations of potentially toxic elements (PTEs). Fogo Island, Cape Verde, experienced recent volcanic eruptions, which raised questions about local soils' potential to pose such risks. To better understand the local mineralogy and geochemistry, a...

Understating of forest functioning is crucial for ensuring the sustainable flow of forest ecosystem services. Climate regulation service of a forest ecosystem can be ensured through emission reduction by increasing carbon sequestration in forests. However, understanding about the functioning of forests for carbon sequestration is constrained due to...

Effects of Mineral Elements on the Environment

In this study, the geochemistry and mineralogy of regoliths formed on Fogo Island (Cape Verde), a polygenic stratovolcano built during the Quaternary, are used to assess the geomorphological factors that control the early stages of basalt weathering. Fogo Island soils are mainly derived from relatively homogenous silica-undersaturated basaltic rock...

The existing finite natural resources have witnessed unsustainable usage in the past few years, especially for food production, with accompanying environmental devastation and ecosystem damage. Regrettably, the global population and consumption demands are increasing ceaselessly, leading to the need for more resources for food production, which cou...

Background Despite numerous studies regarding the occurrence of AFM1 in Milk, no systematic review and meta-analysis study on a global scale was conducted. Scope and approach In our study, the concentration of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in livestock milk (cow, buffalo, goat, sheep, camel, donkey, and ewe) from 199 articles (320 data reports and samples of...

Industrialization and modernization of agricultural systems contaminated lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere of the Earth. Sustainable remediation of contamination is essential for environmental sustainability. Myco-remediation is proposed to be a green, economical, and efficient technology over conventional remediation technologies to combat e...

In Hungary, successive steps have been taken toward adjusting GHG emissions from all sectors on a national scale. However, few studies were carried out to analyze the environmental dimensions of GHG emissions from an economic point of view. In this research, the contemporary changes of GHG emissions between 1985 and 2018 were analyzed using the Man...

The recent spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SAR-CoV-2) and the accompanied coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has continued ceaselessly despite the implementations of popular measures, which include social distancing and outdoor face masking as recommended by the World Health Organization. Due to the unstable nature of the...

During the current COVID-19 pandemic, various forms of lockdown have been adopted, globally. This study evaluated the contamination changes (pre, post and during the lockdown) in the Yamuna River following the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown from 25 March–30 May (India). Samples of the surface water were taken from 9 sampling points to determine the p...

Today is the era of nanoscience and nanotechnology, which find applications in the field of medicine, electronics, and environmental remediation. Even though nanotechnology is in its emerging phase, it continues to provide solutions to numerous challenges. Nanotechnology and nanoparticles are found to be very effective because of their unique chemi...

The city of Kuito, in a tropical highland region of central Angola, has grown rapidly over the past few decades. Although industrialization is minor, the city evolved with poor planning and road traffic have been soaring. Physicochemical properties of two sets of soil samples, natural and urban, are compared to assess the transformations achieved d...

The present study assessed the phytoremediation efficiency of water fern (Azolla pinnata R.Br.) in the treatment of dairy wastewater (DWW). Batch mode experimentation was done using different dilutions (0 to 100%) of DWW transplanted with five healthy leaflets of A. pinnata. Besides this, the A. pinnata growth was captured using camera vision-based...

Geochemical mapping is frequently used to identify the regions of the planet with critical chemical elements and their natural or anthropogenic sources. In order to understand elements’ geochemistry and to identify the area's potentially harmful associations, high-resolution maps of chemical elements, physico-chemical parameters, a non-carcinogenic...

Chromium (Cr) is a trace element critical to human health and well-being. In the last few decades, its contamination, especially hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] form in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, has amplified as a result of various anthropogenic activities. Chromium pollution is a significant environmental threat, severely impacting our...

Every year a million tonnes of calcium rich agro and industrial waste are generated around the whole globe. These calcium rich waste like finger citron, shells of cockle, mussel, oysters etc., and egg shell are biological sources which have various organic compounds. The inorganic calcium rich waste includes gypsum, dolomite, sludge etc., which are...

The present work focuses on two recent flash floods in coastal Benguela (Angola), both triggered by moderate rainfall but which had disastrous consequences for local populations (namely 71 deaths in 2015 and 17 in 2019). The research involved a regional survey to establish the effects of these floods combined with a geomorphological and socio-econo...

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted all countries to adopt restraining measures to mitigate the spread of the disease. Usually, large-scale disasters tend to be accompanied by significant increases of psychological distress, depression and anxiety. Confinement measures imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to have similar consequences. In...

In recent decades, carbon (C) management is an important point on the agenda to identify the best viable mitigation strategies for its reduction. The study was conducted at Jaldapara National Park located in the Eastern Himalayan region of India. The study quantified litter production, decomposition, periodic nutrient release, soil fertility status...

In the modern era, Gmelina arborea plantations are a hotspot of future research because of their high carbon sequestration potential. The present work was conducted during 2018 to 2020 on a young unmanaged Gmelina farm to understand the ecosystem’s carbon and its dynamics. The study area was categorized into three age classes: ≤ 5, 5–10, and 10–15...

In the present era, the global need for food is increasing rapidly; nanomaterials are a useful tool for improving crop production and yield. The application of nanomaterials can improve plant growth parameters. Biotic stress is induced by many microbes in crops and causes disease and high yield loss. Every year, approximately 20%-40% of crop yield...

In the modern era, Gmelina arborea plantations are the hot spot of future research because of their high carbon sequestration potential. The present work was conducted during 2018 to 2020 under young unmanaged Gmelina farm to understand the ecosystem’s carbon and its dynamics. The study area was categorized into three age classes, i.e., ≤ 5, 5–10,...

Zinc plays a key role in plants growth and application of Zinc can, therefore, contribute to crop yield improvement. Nowadays, nanoparticles have received high attention because to their novel properties. The current work is done with an aim to investigate the biosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) and effect on fungus Rhizoctonia solan...

Coal fly ash is found to be one of the key pollutants worldwide due to its toxic heavy metal content. However, due to advancements in technology, coal fly ash has gained importance in various emerging fields. They are rich sources of carbonaceous particles which remain unburnt during burning of various coals in thermal power plants (TPPs). Various...

Nano-fibrillated cellulose (NFC) was extracted by a chemical method involving alkali and acid hydrolysis. The characterisation of the citrus sinensis fruit peel bran and nano-fibrillated cellulose was performed by XRD, FTIR, TEM, and FESEM. XRD confirmed the phase of NFC which showed monoclinic crystal with spherical to rod shape morphology with a...

Coal fly ash (CFA) and coal-based incense sticks ash (ISA) have several similarities and differences due to the presence of coal as a common component in both of them. CFA are produced from the combustion of pulverized coal during electricity production in the thermal power plants while ISA are produced from the burning of incense sticks at religio...

Nickel (Ni) has been a subject of interest for environmental, physiological, biological scientists due to its dual effect (toxicity and essentiality) in terrestrial biota. In general, the safer limit of Ni is 1.5 μg g-1 in plants and 75-150 μg g-1 in soil. Litreature review indicates that Ni concentrations have been estimated upto 26 g kg-1 in terr...

Nickel (Ni) has been a subject of interest for environmental, physiological, biological scientists due to its dual effect (toxicity and essentiality) in terrestrial biota. In general, the safer limit of Ni is 1.5 μg g-1 in plants and 75-150 μg g-1 in soil. Litreature review indicates that Ni concentrations have been estimated upto 26 g kg-1 in terr...

he present study describes the phytoremediation performance of water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes L.) for physicochemical pollutants elimination from paper mill effluent (PME). For this, pot (glass aquarium) experiments were conducted using 0% (BWW: borewell water), 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% treatments of PME under natural day/light regime. Results of...

In recent times, the use of traditional herbal medicines in health care has declined, particularly amongst the rural population. This implies a risk of losing vital information from previous generations regarding plants and their use in traditional medicine. The objective of this study is to catalog the ways employed by inhabitants of the Garhwal H...

The present work integrates concentrations of potentially toxic elements (PTE) (i.e. As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb and Zn) from (i) environmental media (i.e. soil, crops) and (ii) human hair. The aim was to assess whether agricultural soil and vegetable quality are related to risks to human health from different exposures pathways and if there are any...

Cadmium (Cd) is a harmful heavy metal that can cause potent environmental and health hazards at different trophic levels through food chain. Cd is relatively non-biodegradable and persists for a long time in the environment. Considering the potential toxicity and non-biodegradability of Cd in the environment as well as its health hazards, this is a...

Metal tolerance is an important aspect for optimal production of edible plants for horticulture, cereals, spices, and medicinal and aromatic plants. Extravagant use of chemicals, fertilizers, and pesticides in agriculture along with contamination of irrigation water has made the soil and water resources unusable or highly contaminated with heavy me...