Background: Kuwait State is branded by the recurrent dust storms and high pollution level. It has the highest dust concentration and surface temperature in Peninsula. The aim of the present study was to assess the respirable particulates during days with and without dust storms in two residential areas in Kuwait State. Materials and Methods:This time-series comparative study was accomplished during the period from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2013. It was conducted by recording the local meteorological data in the two sampling stations at Mansoria (A) and Ali Sabah Al-Salem (B) residential areas, in addition to the sampling and analysis of respirable particulates (PM10) using the SOP-10 High-Volume PM10 Samplers' Standard Method. Results: There were 256 and 278 measurement days (70.1 and 75.1% of the yearly days) in monitoring stations A and B, respectively, with a total of 119 (46.5%) and 134 (48.2%) days with dust storms, respectively. The daily concentrations of PM10 were higher than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards of Kuwait State (150 µg/m3) at the two stations. The annual PM10 concentration of B station [192.5 (264.5) µg/m3] was nonsignificantly higher than that of A [191.2 (182.7) µg/m3]. At the two stations, the levels of PM10 during days with dust storms were significantly higher than that during days without. Conclusion: Respirable particulate is slightly higher in Ali Sabah Al-Salem than in Mansoria. Days with dust storms have significantly greater PM10 levels than those without. The study recommends application of land-use planning, and windbreaks, combating desertification, and enhancing stoppage of outdoor activities during dust storms among public.

Respirable particulate is slightly higher in Ali Sabah Al-Salem than in Mansoria. Days with dust storms have significantly greater PM10 levels than those without. The study recommends application of land-use planning, and windbreaks, combating desertification, and enhancing stoppage of outdoor activities during dust storms among public.

Background: Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) is a scale, which was designed in Canada to help people to understand how the air quality affects their health. It measures the relationship between the air quality and health on a scale from 1 to 10+. Aim: The aim of this study was to assess traffic AQHI on one street in Alexandria, Egypt at different seasonal conditions. Methods: This was a time-series study that was conducted during the period from January 1 to December 31, 2016 at Ibrahim Sherif Street. It was accomplished by three-hour air sampling of respirable particulates (PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and ground-level ozone (O3), during the morning rush hours. A total of 156 samples for each pollutant covered all seasonal variations and activities. After laboratory analysis, the added health risks (%AR) and AQHI were calculated using the Hong Kong equation. Results: The uppermost median value of %AR was during April [72.9 (23.4)] and the minimum was during January [32.2 (10.0)]. The traffic AQHIs in the study setting were of the serious category 10+ in almost all sampling days. The maximum %AR was during spring [70.0 (19.7)], and the minimum was during winter [40.6 (19.0)]. Conclusion: From the results of the present study, we can conclude that; the highest %AR was during April, and the minimum was during January. The traffic AQHIs in the study setting were of the serious category 10+ in almost all sampling days. The most dominating pollutant affecting the %AR and AQHI was the PM10.

Phenol exposure is one of the hazards in the industrial wastewater treatment basin of any refinery. It additively interacts with hydrogen sulfide emitted from the wastewater basin. Consequently, its concentration should be greatly lower than its threshold limit value. The present study aimed at controlling occupational exposure to phenol in the work environment of wastewater treatment plant in a refinery by reducing phenolic compounds in the industrial wastewater basin. This study was conducted on both laboratory and refinery scales. The first was completed by dividing each wastewater sample from the outlets of different refinery units into three portions; the first was analyzed for phenolic compounds. The second and third were for laboratory scale charcoal and bacterial treatments. The two methods were compared regarding their simplicities, design, and removal efficiencies. Accordingly, bacterial treatment by continuous flow of sewage water containing Pseudomonas Aeruginosa was used for refinery scale treatment. Laboratory scale treatment of phenolic compounds revealed higher removal efficiency of charcoal [100.0(0.0) %] than of bacteria [99.9(0.013) %]. The refinery scale bacterial treatment was [99.8(0.013) %] efficient. Consequently, level of phenol in the work environment after refinery-scale treatment [0.069(0.802) mg/m(3)] was much lower than that before [5.700(26.050) mg/m(3)], with removal efficiency of [99.125(2.335) %]. From the present study, we can conclude that bacterial treatment of phenolic compounds in industrial wastewater of the wastewater treatment plant using continuous flow of sewage water containing Pseudomonas Aeruginosa reduces the workers' exposure to phenol.

This study aims at optimizing environmental and operational factors affecting the bioremediation of H2S as air pollutants. Sulfur gases are emitted from many industrial sources and have adverse effects on the public health and the environment. Bioremediation of waste gases represents a new treatment alternative that has been seen as a competitive to the physico-chemical treatment technologies. Sulfur gases, such as H2S were among the inorganic gases that have been proven to be suitable candidates to Bioremediation. The process of biological treatment depends on using sulfur eating bacteria which can use the target sulfur gas or compound as energy or supplementary source converting it to another sulfur form. Sulfur bacteria are dominant microorganisms in many natural media. The bioreactor used was an aerobic reactor for oxidizing H2S to elemental sulfur by Sulphur Oxidizing Bacteria (SOB). It consisted of aerobic bioreactor, a settler, and H2S-laden gas producing system. The microorganism used is SOB isolated from sewage sludge. Microbial activity is affected by environmental factors and operational factors. The results revealed that the optimum CO3-concentration range for complete removal and conversion, i.e. 100% recovery of H2S is 61.5 to 615 g/m 3. The SOB was highly preferment within a nitrogen concentration range of 30.8 to 123.1 g/m 3 , achieving 100% removal or conversion efficiency. The minimum P concentration that maintained maximum activity of the resident SOB was about 24.6 g/m 3. The mesophilic range was the optimum for the SOB used in this study (38-43 o C). The highest performance of the bioreactor was attained at pH range from 7.5 to 9 with optimum operation at pH 8. Results explained that the resident SOB at pH 8 tolerated total sulfide concentrations higher than at pH 7. 100% removal efficiency of the bioreactor reaching at O2/H2S range 0.5-1.5. The maximum elemental sulfur yield obtained was 92.4%. The increase of H2S inlet concentration required increase of contact time. The measurements of SOB concentration in the suspension reported average about 3.56×10 8 cells/ml (range from 3.5 to 3.62×10 8 cells/ml). This implies that the maximum cell capacity was about 1.23×10-12 g H2S/cell.h. The activity of the SOB was not affected at SO4-concentrations below 20,000 g/m 3. The removal efficiency was 100% below this concentration. The S2O3-concentrations higher than 10,000 to 15,000 g/m 3 may be inhibitive to the SOB. This study recommended encourages the using of air pollutant gases bioremediation in industries scale.