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Carbamazepine is an anti-epileptic pharmaceuticalcompound which is frequently detected in wastewater. However, this compound is hardly degraded naturally due to its persistency. Thus, carbamazepine presents in water stream and household water supply as well as wastewater treatment plant. This paper focuses on various species of fungi and bacteria used in carbamazepine biodegradation and the carbamazepine degrading-enzymes involved in the degradation pathways. Selected research papers on carbamazepine biodegradation using fungi and bacteria were reviewed. The efficiency and approaches in term of methodologies and technologies used were highlighted in this paper. Such study sheds light on gaps of study and future research direction on carbamazepine biodegradation.

Sewer system design must be integrated with wastewater treatment plant design when moving towards a more sustainable urban wastewater management. This integration allows an optimization of the design of both systems to achieve a better and more cost-effective wastewater management. Hitherto integrated process design has not been an option because the tools to predict in-sewer wastewater transformations have been inadequate. In this study the WATS model--being a new and validated tool for in-sewer microbial process simulations--is presented and its application for integrated sewer and treatment plant design is exemplified. A case study on a Malaysian catchment illustrates this integration. The effects of centralization of wastewater treatment and the subsequently longer transport distances are addressed. The layout of the intercepting sewer is optimized to meet the requirements of different treatment scenarios.

Due to the health and environmental risks posed by the presence of petroleum-contaminated areas around the world, remediation of petroleum-contaminated soil has drawn much attention from researchers. Combining Fenton reaction with a solvent has been proposed as a novel way to remediate contaminated soils. In this study, a green solvent, ethyl lactate (EL), has been used in conjunction with Fenton's reagents for the remediation of diesel-contaminated soil. The main aim of this research is to determine how the addition of EL affects Fenton reaction for the destruction of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) within the diesel range. Specifically, the effects of different parameters, including liquid phase volume-to-soil weight (L/S) ratio, hydrogen peroxide (HO) concentration and EL% on the removal efficiency, have been studied in batch experiments. The results showed that an increase in HO resulted in an increase in removal efficiency of TPH from 68.41% at HO = 0.1 M to 90.21% at HO = 2 M. The lowest L/S, i.e. L/S = 1, had the highest TPH removal efficiency of 85.77%. An increase in EL% up to 10% increased the removal efficiency to 96.74% for TPH, and with further increase in EL%, the removal efficiency of TPH decreased to 89.6%. EL with an optimum value of 10% was found to be best for TPH removal in EL-based Fenton reaction. The power law and pseudo-first order equations fitted well to the experimental kinetic data of Fenton reactions.

This study focuses on activated carbon preparation from spent mushroom farming waste (SMFW) via chemical activation using Box-Behnken design (BBD) of Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Potassium hydroxide (KOH) functions as activating reagent and it plays an important role in enhancing the activated carbon porosity. Three input parameters and two responses were evaluated via this software generated experimental design. The effects of three preparation parameters of impregnation ratio, activation time and activation temperature as well as two responses of carbon yield and iodine number were investigated. The optimum conditions for preparing activated carbon from SMFW was found at SMFW: KOH impregnation ratio of 0.25, activation time of 30 min and activation temperature of 400 o C which resulted in 28.23 % of carbon yield and 314.14 mg/g of iodine number with desirability of 0.994. The predicted results were well corresponded with experimental results. This study is important in economical large scale SMFW activated carbon preparation for application study of adsorption process for metal treatment in wastewater with minimum chemical and energy input.Keywords: activated carbon, spent mushroom farming waste, Box-Behnken design, response surface methodology Abstrak Kajian ini memfokuskan penyediaan arang teraktif daripada sisa tanaman cendawan terpakai melalui reka bentuk box-behnken (BBD) dari kaedah gerak balas permukaan (RSM). Potasium hidroksida (KOH) berperanan sebagai agen pengaktifan dan penting untuk meningkatkan liang arang teraktif. Tiga parameter input dan dua respon telah dinilai oleh perisian ini yang dihasilkan oleh rekabentuk eksperimen. Kesan daripada penyediaan tiga parameter iaitu nisbah pemadatan, masa pengaktifan dan suhu pengaktifan serta dua respon iaitu hasil arang teraktif dan nilai iodin telah disiasat. Keadaan optimum dalam penyediaan arang teraktif telah didapati pada nisbah SMFW: KOH iaitu 0.25, tempoh pengaktifan selama 30 min dan suhu pengaktifan 400 °C, di mana ia menghasilkan jumlah maksimum arang teraktif sebanyak 28.23 % dan nilai iodin yang boleh diterima iaitu sebanyak 314.14 mg/g dengan ketepatan 0.994. Keputusan yang telah diramalkan adalah seiring dengan keputusan eksperimen. Kajian ini adalah penting dalam penyediaan arang teraktif secara berskala besar dengan ekonomi daripada sisa tanaman cendawan terpakai untuk kajian proses penjerapan terhadap rawatan logam dalam air sisa dengan input bahan kimia dan tenaga yang minimum. ISSN -2506 Nurul-Shuhada et al: OPTIMIZATION OF ACTIVATED CARBON PREPARATION FROM SPENT MUSHROOM FARMING WASTE (SMFW) VIA BOX-BEHNKEN DESIGN OF RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY 462Kata kunci: karbon teraktif, sisa tanaman cendawan terpakai, reka bentuk Box-Behnken, kaedah gerak balas permukaan Introduction Activated carbon (AC) is a carbonaceous material with large surface area and high porosity. The surface area and pore size distribution are important factors in determination of AC performance. The macropores act as the entrance to the AC, while the m...