Sustainability, Development & Environment: 17 (1)

Open Access Article

1 - Hazard Identification and Risk Analysis in the Light of Process Safety Management in Mobarakeh Steel Company (Case study: Oxygen and Hydrogen Unit)
Hanieh Nikoomaram Hossein Modaresifar Javad Kiani Mohammad Dehbozorgi

Background and Objective: The steel industry is one of the most hazardous process industries due to the nature of metal melting and high heat, gases and hazardous chemicals. The high potential of process incidents with consequences such as fire, explosion and release of More

Background and Objective: The steel industry is one of the most hazardous process industries due to the nature of metal melting and high heat, gases and hazardous chemicals. The high potential of process incidents with consequences such as fire, explosion and release of toxic substances in the mentioned industry emphasizes the importance of hazard identification as the first step in process safety risk management. In the present research, to provide the necessary infrastructure, including a written methodology for hazard identification and risk analysis studies as one of the most vital requirements of Process Safety Management (PSM) and in line with PSM implementation in Mobarakeh Steel Company, the relevant procedure was developed and to ensure its applicability, process safety hazards and their associated incidents in one of the most hazardous units (oxygen and hydrogen unit) were identified and analyzed using the aforementioned procedure. Material and Methodology: The “hazard identification and process safety risk analysis” procedure was developed in accordance with the requirements of process safety management expatiated in PSM best practices and other relevant technical documents. The procedure includes hazard identification (HAZID) worksheet, guide words, levels of probability of occurrence and severity of consequences, risk matrix, implementation methodology, etc. In order to conduct the HAZID study in the oxygen and hydrogen unit, a team including experts and experienced engineers in their relevant job fields was formed, and after preparing the necessary arrangements such as reviewing the documents, HAZID meetings were held according to the developed methodology, the worksheets were completed and analyzed as per the study nodes and relevant corrective measures were also suggested. Findings: From the total of 40 process safety incidents identified in the oxygen and hydrogen unit, 5% had a low-risk level, 65% had a medium-risk level, 15% had a high-risk level and 15% had an extreme-risk level. Therefore, the majority of the identified process safety risks had a medium (tolerable) risk level. Major Process Incidents (MPIs) with high (unacceptable) and extreme (intolerable) risk levels also constitute 30% of all incidents. The plants of the oxygen unit had the most process incidents in terms of the number, and gas and liquid tanks had the highest risk level of process safety incidents. In total, 12 MPIs with high and extreme risk levels were identified. Discussion and Conclusion: One of the key achievements of the research is the development of the “hazard identification and process safety risk analysis” procedure in Mobarakeh Steel Company to identify and analyze the process safety incidents and other related characteristics such as the causes and consequences of incidents, prevention and mitigation controls, the probability of occurrence and severity of consequences, risk level, etc. Also, the aforesaid procedure would help deliver a coherent methodology for assessing process safety risks, provide a suitable platform for adopting corrective measures for major risks, conduct supplementary studies, and develop and implement other mechanisms required to meet PSM requirements. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

2 - Strategies to deal with salinity and oxidative stress in crops
Esmaeil Gholinezhad Reza Darvishzadeh Abbas Abhari

Background and Objective: A major challenge in global agriculture is to produce more food for another 2.3 billion people by 2050 worldwide. Salinity is a major stress that limits the supply of food products. The total land area is about 13.2 billion hectares, of which 7 More

Background and Objective: A major challenge in global agriculture is to produce more food for another 2.3 billion people by 2050 worldwide. Salinity is a major stress that limits the supply of food products. The total land area is about 13.2 billion hectares, of which 7 billion hectares are arable and 1.5 billion hectares are under cultivation, and about 23% of the cultivated lands around the world (about 345 million hectares) are affected by salinity stress and its amount is increasing day by day. Plants can be classified into two types, halophytes (which can resist salinity) and glycophytes (which cannot resist salinity and eventually die), and most major crops belong to this second category. The purpose of this article is to review scientific research related to the effects, mechanisms of tolerance, research methods, important measurable traits, management and control of salinity and oxidative stress in agricultural plants. Material and Methodology: This article is a review article that was obtained by searching related articles in reliable sites (Google scholar, Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, SID. Findings: Salinity have adverse effects on various plant characteristics such as physiological, metabolic, growth, germination, strength, quantity and quality of plants. The most important damages caused by salinity stress include ion imbalance due to reduced absorption of necessary ions, accumulation of harmful ions and dehydration due to decreased water absorption which reduces protein synthesis, transpiration, ion transfer and finally decreases seed yield. Mechanisms of salinity stress tolerance include ionic homeostasis, compatible salt accumulation and osmotic protection, antioxidant regulation, polyamines, nitric oxide, and hormonal regulation of salinity tolerance. Under stress, reactive oxygen species such as superoxide radicals, singlet oxygen and hydroxyl radical are produced, which damage cell structure, proteins, cell membranes, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, and eventually cause cell death. Discussion and Conclusion: Enzymatic or non-enzymatic antioxidants play a very important role in protecting plants against oxidative damage. Superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase, ascorbate peroxidase, glutathione reductase are enzymatic antioxidants and ascorbic acid, glutathione, carotenoids and tocopherols are non-enzymatic antioxidants which can reduce the damage caused by reactive oxygen species. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

3 - Comparison of the Efficiency of Fe3O4 Magnetite Nanoparticles and Zero-valent Iron Nanoparticles in the Advanced Oxidation Process Based on Diproxipersulfate in Sewage Treatment of Leather Industry
Seyed mohsen Beladi roya mafigholami Ali Hashemi zavareh

Background and Objective: Industrial wastewater treatment is more difficult than urban sewage due to the presence of various pollutants. Sewage produced in the leather industry should be treated to the environment due to having a pollution load and the presence of high More

Background and Objective: Industrial wastewater treatment is more difficult than urban sewage due to the presence of various pollutants. Sewage produced in the leather industry should be treated to the environment due to having a pollution load and the presence of high chloride ion before discharge. The advanced oxidation process based on dioxy persulfate is considered a new process in the presence of active agents. This process has a great capability in wastewater treatment with high pollution. In this study, the anion process of persulfate was used with the activation of magnetic iron (Fe3O4) and zero-valent iron at laboratory scale in order to treat and reduce the organic load (COD) waste water of leather industry. Material and Methodology: In this process, the effect of primary pH variables of wastewater (5-9), reaction time (0-60 minutes), Anion concentration of persulfate (50-200 mg per liter) and the amount of iron-containing nanoparticles (0.5-2 grams per liter) were investigated. Findings: The best conditions of the advanced oxidation process in the presence of zero-valent iron include pH 3، The amount of magnetic iron nanoparticles was equal to one gram per liter and the amount of dioxy persulfate was equal to 100 mg per liter. During the mentioned conditions, the efficiency of the process was achieved by 85 percent. The findings revealed that the initial COD (COD process reduced 3,700 milligrams per liter to below 1,000 milligrams per liter ¬COD final to 555 milligrams per liter. Discussion and Conclusion: Advanced oxidation process based on dioxy persulfate in the presence of iron compounds (zero-valent iron and magnetic iron) due to high performance (removal of 85 percent of primary COD and reduction to 555 milligrams per liter, can be used for decomposition and mineralization of pollutants, pollutants, water, especially industrial sewage. The effluent from this system can be drained into municipal wastewater treatment plants, so by reducing COD to 555 mg per liter, it still cannot be used alone. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

4 - Comparative Study of Social Sustainability in the Rural Areas Covered by the Gavoshan Dam Irrigation and Drainage Network
Fatemeh Javanbakht-Sheikhahmad farahnaz Rostami Hadi Veisi Farzad Amiri

Background and Objective: Rural development provides a platform for macro-development at national level by strengthening social sustainability criteria. A lack of understanding of social sustainability criteria makes the planning and implementation process of rural deve More

Background and Objective: Rural development provides a platform for macro-development at national level by strengthening social sustainability criteria. A lack of understanding of social sustainability criteria makes the planning and implementation process of rural development projects more difficult. Therefore, it is important to study social sustainability indicators in the rural development process. The water supply project of the Gavoshan dam is an example of a rural development project that did not pay attention to social sustainability criteria and caused many problems in the upstream and downstream rural areas. To fill this gap, this research has investigated the social sustainability indicators and compared them in the rural areas of the Bilehvar and Miandarband plains. Material and Methodology: This study surveyed 155 farmers from rural areas covered by the Gavoshan dam irrigation network, whose farms were more than half a hectare in size. A questionnaire was used for descriptive statistical and inferential analysis in this research. One-Sample T-test and independent groups T-test were performed to compare social sustainability indicators between the rural areas of Beilevar and Miandarband plains. Findings: The results showed that the social responsibility index with the highest average (3.69) in the rural areas of Bilehvar plain and the social security index with the lowest average (2.65) in the rural areas of Miandarband plain are among the influencing indicators in social sustainability. Furthermore, analysis of variance showed that the indicators social security, quality of life, social responsibility and social trust affect the level of social sustainability with a significant difference at the 95% level. Discussion and Conclusion: Based on the results, the rural areas in the Bilehvar plain show a favorable level of social sustainability, while the average of the social sustainability indicators in the rural areas of the Miandarband plain is in an unfavorable state. In fact, the unbalanced development in the mentioned rural areas is due to the lack of fair access to water resources. Hence, it is suggested managers and policy-makers pay attention to the quantitative and qualitative strengthening of social sustainability indicators to achieve rural development. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

5 - Analysis of the amount of natural light and the effect of photovoltaic cells in green educational buildings using the native architecture of Gilan (Case study: Imam Ali Boys' High School, Rasht)
saeed azemati kimia jamshidzadeh

Background and Objective: Using natural light during the day is known as a suitable means to reduce artificial lighting in non-residential buildings. Traditional Iranian architecture is one of the symbols of sustainable architecture, which has responded to the optimizat More

Background and Objective: Using natural light during the day is known as a suitable means to reduce artificial lighting in non-residential buildings. Traditional Iranian architecture is one of the symbols of sustainable architecture, which has responded to the optimization of energy consumption, both in terms of low initial price and low current and functional price of the building. Weather conditions and living environment are very important parameters in the design of buildings that are provided to create a suitable space for human comfort. In this research, the main goal is the effect of the depth of the porch, the dimensions of the openings and the effect of the photovoltaic cell on the amount of natural lighting in the classroom. Material and Methodology: At first, Climate Consultant software was used to check the annual radiation level of Rasht city. With the help of this software and using the weather data of the city of Rasht, the annual radiation diagram of this city is checked and then based on the building specifications including; Physical structure, users, as well as annual weather data hour by hour, the location of the building, taking into account all the conditions, especially the accuracy and validity of the results of the calculation algorithms, two software Builder Design and DIALux for simulating Construction was selected. Findings: According to the surveys, the maximum range of light required in the classrooms is between 2150-1614 lux, while the light received by the investigated building is more than the maximum range. Discussion and Conclusion: The outputs of the software show that the presence of a porch with a shallow depth can be very effective in creating a filter to prevent the entry of high intensity of light and creating glare in the space. If the current classrooms require a significant amount of artificial light source. Also, the analysis shows that in the first floor, due to the use of photovoltaic cells, we see more lighting. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

6 - Analysis of Environmental inhibitors of Extension worker for activity in production areas (Case study: Organization of Agricultural Jihad in Kermanshah Province)
Narges Moradi Ahangarani Susan Laei Faramarz Malekian Sahar Mohammadi

Background and Objective: The main subject of this research is the Analysis of environmental inhibitors of Extension worker for activity in production areas of the new system of agricultural extension in the organization of agricultural jihad in Kermanshah province. Ma More

Background and Objective: The main subject of this research is the Analysis of environmental inhibitors of Extension worker for activity in production areas of the new system of agricultural extension in the organization of agricultural jihad in Kermanshah province. Material and Methodology: This research was conducted in the form of a qualitative approach, using the Ground Theory method and in the year 2020-2021. The studied population consisted of 16 managers of Dehistan Agricultural Jihad Centers and 32 experts of the production areas of Kermanshah Agricultural Jihad Organization, who were selected using the method of successive targeted sampling of the snowball type. Data collection was done using semi-structured individual interview technique, focused group, field observation and note-taking, and in order to validate the research findings, data collection in the study community was also done from the diversity methods. variety, maximum diversity was used in the selection of samples and control by members. Findings: The results showed factors such as the weaknesses of human resources working in the agricultural extension sector, lack of infrastructure and lack of environmental educational facilities, executive, structural and administrative problems and limitations, lack of evaluation of environmental educational programs, cultural and communication factors, and problems and limitations related to the environmental research sector, has caused the Extension worker to not have the necessary skills, and to improve the skill conditions of the Extension worker and the development of the region, strategies such as strengthening communication and Extension skills, Extension planning, monitoring and evaluation, management, empowerment and knowledge enhancement have been presented. Discussion and Conclusion: Since environmental problems have been created by humans, the most effective solution to solve these challenges is to improve the knowledge and awareness of agricultural sector users, to promote public culture and to establish appropriate laws, and to achieve this goal., it requires the development of the training of executives and experts responsible for production areas and improving their role, skills and increasing their general environmental knowledge. Manuscript profile

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