Assessing the Relevance of Indus Waters Treaty to the International Law on NonNavigational Uses of the International Watercourses

Indus Waters Treaty is the most comprehensive and complex document which divides Indus Rivers System between India and Pakistan. It has continued to function through three wars and various political tensions between both neighboring states. It was signed in 1960 when no international law was available to deal the non-navigational uses of the international watercourses. Since the Helsinki rules were adopted by the International Association of Law in 1966 and the United Nations Convention on International Water Courses was approved by the United Nations General Assembly in 1997, both documents have little effect on the terms and conditions of the Indus Waters Treaty. This paper is an attempt to explore the relevance of the provisions of the Treaty to the contemporary international law on non-navigational uses of the international rivers

Crossbreed Pilot Plant Membrane Separation of Surfactants from Wastewater Using Fused Magnetite Carbon Nanocomposite As an Adsorbent

Fused magnetite carbon nanocomposite (MCNC) have been prepared from peanut and almond shells by co-precipitation method. The characterization of the prepared materials were carried out via different techniques such as BET/BJH surface area, scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal gravimetric analysis/differential thermal analysis (TGA/DTA), energy dispersive spectrum (EDS) and point zero charge (PZC). The SEM, XRD and FTIR results indicated the existence of iron oxide as adsorbate materials on the surface of MCNC. The BET surface area of peanut and almond MCNC are 112.45 and 74.99 m2g-1 respectively and BJH pore size distribution are 66.80 and 61.08 m2g-1 respectively, whereas, the total pore volume and pore diameter of both MCN are 0.068 and 0.073 cm3g-1 and 14.95 and 15.55 Ao respectively. The FTIR spectra of MCNC shows the surface functional groups such as carboxylic acid, phenols and ether groups.The bands at the 580 cm-1 for FeO. The pHpzc of peanut and almond MCNC were found to be 7.8 and 7.7 respectively.The removal of surfactants such as cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB), cetyldimethylethyl ammonium bromide (CDEAB), Triton-x 100 and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) from wastewater were investigation by using fused magnetite carbon nanocomposite (MCNC) adsorbent. During equilibration process of adsorption, the equilibrium was established with one hour for all surfactants. From the adsorption kinetics of surfactants it was concluded that the process of adsorption was initially fast up to 10 minutes and then slow down. The kinetic parameters were recorded initially for both 1st, 2nd order pseudo kinetics, power function, Elovich and Intraparticle diffusion models. Pseudo 2nd order kinetics and Intraparticle diffusion models were found best fits to the adsorption kinetics data. Moreover the contact time, pH effect, ionic strength, adsorbent quantity, initial concentration and temperature on MCNC adsorption were performed. Interestingly after the adsorption process methanol, sodium hydroxide and distillated water use to regenerate the MCNC. Different thermodynamic parameters like rate constant (K), ∆?°, ∆?° and ∆?° were determined using the Van’t Hoff equation. Adsorption isotherm study for CTAB, CDEAB, Triton-x 100 and SDS on MCNC were also investigated. Different linear model were used for knowing the adsorption phenomenon such as Langmuir, Freundlich, Tempkin and Jovanovich. Freundlich and jovanovich equation was found best fitted to the adsorption data. Modified enhanced permeate flux (J) as well as percent retention of surfactants were investigated through crossbreed pilot plant membrane process i.e. MCNC/UF (magnetite carbon nanocomposite/ultrafiltration), MCNC/NF (magnetite carbon nanocomposite/nanofiltration) and MCNC/RO (magnetite carbon nanocomposite/ reverse osmosis). The 100 percent removal of surfactants was achieved through MCNC/RO (magnetite carbon nanocomposite/reverse osmosis) membrane.