Independent University Bangladesh

Environmental Science

Assignment

 Title : ENV216, Water Pollution And Control

 Name: MD NAFIU IBNE MAZHAR SIAM
 ID : 1631256 Section: 01

 Date of submission: 25-02-2019

Course Instructor: Tahmina Sultana

The threat to environment has increased alarmingly over the years. We all owe a duty and
responsibility to make our Earth a cleaner and safer place to live in for ourselves as well as for our
next generations. But by indiscriminate use of the environmental resources, we have disturbed the
ecological balance. It is imperative for us to live in harmony with the environment rather than
experimenting with it and over-exploiting it. We should remember that our actions and activities
directly and indirectly impact the whole ecosystem. To save the environment we can give some effort by
doing some activities like Biochar.

A way of trapping carbon with "green coal". Any biomass waste – from wood to
peanut shells – releases carbon as it decomposes. But it can be burned in a kiln
by pyrolysis (an airless burning technique) to create biochar, also known by the
soubriquet green coal. The biochar is then dug back into the ground in order to
lock carbon into the soil following a system set out by ancient South American
civilisations – which exposes the idea as nothing new. What is groundbreaking,
however, is using it to mitigate our current predicament – ie, runaway
greenhouse gas emissions. According to experts, billions of tonnes of carbon
could potentially be sequestered in the world's soils, specifically from agriculture
and forestry residual biomass. Biochar appears to lock carbon in for much longer
than other forms or sequestration: a plant or tree will only sequester for 15 to 20
years, for example, whereas it seems reasonable to suggest that the biochar
system will sequester for at least 100 years. Also, biochar just happens to anchor
soil nutrients extremely well at a time when the planet's soils have lost half of
their carbon thanks to industrialised agriculture.

Fertilising the ocean Dumping iron dust in the ocean to remove

carbon.It is acknowledged that the oceans are the planet's biggest global sink,
soaking up 2bn tonnes of carbon every year. Spreading iron dust on ocean waters
can in fact trigger huge plankton blooms the size of a small city. The algae would
then absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and when the algae dies, the
whole lot sinks to the bottom of the ocean and is sequestered on the seabed.
Proponents – notably Victor Smetacek, an oceanographer from the University of
Bremen – suggest that it would take just five to 10 ocean-going ore carriers to
deposit iron sulphate, a waste product from iron and titanium smelters, into the
world's oceans, and that the phytoplankton created would then remove 1 trillion
kilograms of CO2 every year.