Faculty Publications

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  • Item
    Characterization of the MSW leachate at Mangalore dump yard, India
    (2006) Ravishankar, R.; Madhuri, B.; Mugeraya, G.
    In India, solid waste generation is about 1,00,000 MT per day, of which over 90% is land filled. Landfills are nothing but dump yards without top and bottom impermeable layers. All types of wastes viz., Hazardous, Industrial and even biomedical waste are dumped in these yards. Municipal agencies, responsible for handling wastes, are constructing engineered land fills wherever additional land is available as per MSW (Handling & Management) Rules 2000. The rule stipulates the same limits for leachate discharge as that of industrial wastes. But the characteristics of leachate are not available with the authorities to decide on the system of treatment process. As new landfills are being constructed it is very essential to have a data on the MSW leachate characteristics for deciding on the best treatment method. Therefore in this study the characteristics of the leachate generating from Mangalore MSW landfill was studied during July 2004 to November 2004. pH of the leachate is on the basic side with the value around 8.1±0.2. There is no much variation in the temperature as it was 27°C during July'04 and increased only by 2°C to 29.2°C. towards the end of the study period. Total solids initially decreased from 12800 mg/L to 10300 mg/L due to post monsoon season and as the rainwater dilution decreases, the value of solids increased to 14530 ppm. Total dissolved solids gradually increased from 6700ppm to 10,530 ppm, which is very high compared to standards (2100 ppm). BOD and COD values gradually increased from 200 to 1200 ppm and 2000 to 7200 ppm respectively. This gradual increase can be attributed to the decreased amount of infiltration. These values are much higher than the stipulated standards. Copyright © Enviromedia.
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    Life cycle assessment of municipal solid waste management options for India
    (Elsevier Ltd, 2019) Khandelwal, H.; Thalla, A.K.; Kumar, S.; Kumar, R.
    Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool can be used for environmental assessment of Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) system. The present study aims to evaluate the impact of MSWM system in Nagpur city, India under four different scenarios. i.e., composting combined with landfilling (S1), material recovery facility (MRF) & composting combined with landfilling (S2), MRF & anaerobic digestion (AD) combined with landfilling (S3) and MRF, AD & composting combined with landfilling (S4) using LCA tool. The sensitivity analysis was also performed for evaluating the influence of recycling rate of valuable resources in all the considered scenarios. The scenarios were compared using Gabi 8.5.0.79 model and CML-1A impact characterization method. S2 was found to have the least environmental impacts on global warming, human toxicity, eutrophication, and photochemical ozone creation potential categories. The sensitivity analysis indicated an inversely proportional relation between change in recycling rate and total environmental burdens. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd
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    Predictive simulation of leachate transport in a coastal lateritic aquifer when remediated with reactive barrier of nano iron
    (Elsevier B.V., 2020) Divya, A.; Shrihari, S.; Ramesh, H.
    The current study focuses on determination of extent of groundwater contamination on a typical tropical coastal aquifer due to a landfill located at Vamnjoor in Dakshina Kannada district, India with the help of groundwater flow model, MODFLOW and MT3DMS when remediated with permanent reactive barrier of nano iron. The aquifer considered is a shallow, unconfined one with laterite soil which gets good rains during monsoon and will be dry during rest of the year. The adsorption by laterite soil has been considered. The specific yield and transmissivity were estimated to be 7.85% and 213m2/day respectively. After calibrating successfully with Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency 0.8, horizontal hydraulic conductivity was set as 7 m/day. Validation of model was then done with the field data and is applied for forecasting the spread of contaminant for anticipated future scenarios. The results show that in spite of retardation offered by lateritic soil, contaminant trail is expanding with a velocity of 0.15 m/day in downstream direction. When permeable reactive barrier of nano iron which can adsorb nearly 65% of chemical oxygen demand is installed, it is showing that the contaminant spread can be reduced to 400 mg/l at the observation well located at 1 km from landfill. Hence a comprehensive remedial alternative of permanent reactive barrier of nano iron can be recommended for preventing groundwater contamination from landfill leachate. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.
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    An Assessment of Municipal Solid Waste Management in Bengaluru: A Case Study
    (L and H Scientific Publishing, LLC, 2022) Majhi, R.; Muhammad, A.
    The challenges of solid waste are increasing every day as the population in the urban areas is increasing at a rapid pace. The challenge of solid waste such as landfilling is a major issue that requires urgent attention as it degrades the environment and causes adverse health hazards. The major legislation frameworks, policies, scientific handling related to municipal solid waste management (MSWM), and its effective implementation are essential to improve the state of MSWM. In this paper, various parameters of MSWM are evaluated along with the review ofMSW generation, collection, characterization of solid waste, treatment, and disposal ways practised in Bengaluru. This paper helps in understanding the scenario of solid waste in Bengaluru, the challenges it faces, and the opportunities it offers. Various issues like public-private partnerships, decentralization, rag-pickers role, local communities’ initiatives, etc. are discussed. The study concludes that it is the need of the hour to understand the various technological solutions that need to be implemented along with establishing recycling plants, biodigesters, and other solutions that are presented in this paper could help in generating energy and other resources, and improve the scenario of solid waste in the city © 2022. L&H Scientific Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved
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    Identifying Municipal Solid Waste Dumping Site Location Using AHP and GIS Techniques: A Case Study of Coimbatore District, India
    (Springer, 2022) Aishwarya, V.; Salma, S.; Dodamani, B.M.
    Increased municipal solid waste generation in urban areas is a result of fast population growth and urbanization. Dumping or landfilling in unsuitable areas becomes the biggest concern for solid waste management authorities. The present dump yard at Vellalore, Coimbatore district, affect nearby settlements with a foul stench and flying ashes due to strong winds. The study’s main goal was to provide alternative landfilling sites in the Coimbatore district using GIS and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) techniques. Nine criteria were considered. These were population density, slope, geology, geomorphology, land use/land cover, and proximity to road, river, railway, and airport. Weighted overlay, a spatial analyst tool that reclassifies raster maps and a final suitability map, is generated. According to the findings, the possible landfill zones were found in the northeastern region of Coimbatore. Hence, the environmentally suitable sites can be selected by using remote sensing and GIS techniques. © 2022, Indian Society of Remote Sensing.
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    An approach to quantify the contamination potential of hazardous waste landfill leachate using the leachate pollution index
    (Institute for Ionics, 2024) Ambujan, A.; Thalla, A.K.
    A significant portion of the hazardous wastes generated by rapid industrialisation and urbanisation end up in landfills. The wastes disposed of in hazardous waste landfills are less biodegradable; thus, the leachate generated due to the physical and chemical changes in the landfill renders high toxicity. If not monitored and handled appropriately, this leachate could lead to contamination affecting human and livestock health and adversely affect the soil and agriculture in the vicinity of the landfill site. A tool to quantify the contamination caused by improper handling of hazardous waste landfill leachate is essential to understand which landfill site would need immediate attention. In the present study, the leachate pollution index is developed based on the predominantly available pollutants in hazardous waste landfill leachate and their toxicity limits. Fuzzy Delphi-Analytic Hierarchy Process has been used to develop the index. These techniques have been used for screening and assigning weights to the pollutants. Further, sub-index curves have been developed considering the available concentration, the toxicity, and the standard concentration limits for each pollutant. The weighted linear sum function has been used to aggregate the weights and sub-index scores. The hazardous waste landfill leachate pollution index developed in this study can serve as a potential tool for quantifying the leachate contamination potential. Furthermore, it can be used as a comparison tool for ranking landfill sites based on the contamination potential. © 2023, The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Iranian Society of Environmentalists (IRSEN) and Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University.
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    A comprehensive study on quantification and characterization of microplastics in compost, landfill-soil and leachate
    (SAGE Publications Ltd, 2025) Dubey, A.P.; Thalla, A.K.
    Microplastics (MPs), a category of synthetic emerging pollutants, have been detected in various environmental matrices. This study assesses the abundance of MPs in the soil, wet compost (WC), Black soldier compost (BSC) and landfill leachate (LL) of the municipal solid waste management plant. Samples were pretreated with a Fenton reagent, followed by density separation and analysed using a digital portable microscope. They were then categorized based on their shape, colour and size to provide information on their distribution. The work reveals an average MP count of 7590?±?1004.092 MP kg?1in soil. MPs were 5900?±?565.69 MP kg?1for BSC, 11,350?±?353.55 MP kg?1for WC and LL samples 98.83?±?6.83 MP L?1. Notably, a significant proportion of MPs, 85% in soil, 86% in compost and 72.6% in LL, measured size less than 300?µm. Samples showed different proportions of fragments, microbeads and fibres, with white/transparent and black being the predominant colours of MPs. Additionally, the study identifies the physicochemical properties of the samples, and the polymer types are identified using attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The study revealed that polypropylene and polyethylene are the most abundant polymers in the samples, indicating that landfills serve as significant sources of MPs. The adopted MP extraction method was tested for its recovery efficiency, and the recovery rates for leachate, compost and soil were found to be 94.3%, 80% and 77.9%, respectively. This research offers insight into the types and abundance of MPs in southern India’s landfills, prompting further studies on detection methods. © The Author(s) 2025