Effect of Oxalic Acid and Citric Acid on Recovery of Ni and Cd from Waste Batteries: Electrochemical and Thermal Investigation of Ni(OH)2 Obtained from Leach Solution

Mylarappa M., Venkata Lakshmi V., Vishnu Mahesh K.R., Kantharaju S. and Sreenivasa S.

Page No. 1-15

In the present study, the recovery of Ni and Cd from waste Ni-Cd/Ni-MH batteries using eco-friendly materials like oxalic acid (OA) and citric acid (CA) by hydrothermal method were studied. The prepared Ni(OH)2 from the leach liquor was used to investigate the electrochemical and thermal studies. The amount of Ni+2 and Cd+2 present in the leach solution was analysed by Inductive Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). The dry, washed battery powder and Ni(OH)2 were characterized by using powder X-ray powder diffraction (PXRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X Ray analysis (EDX) and the functional groups attached were observed by using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR). The recovered material was further studied for Thermal analysis using Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) and Dynamic Thermal Analysis (DTA).

The CV measurements indicate that the reversibility of the electrode reaction increases whereas the EIS studies reveal that a reduction in the charge transfer resistance increases the double layer capacitance of the nickel electrode. From the electrochemical studies, Ni(OH)2 with addition of ascorbic acid (AA) and citric acid (CA) were outstanding improvement in the electrochemical reversibility of the electrode redox reaction. The recovered nickel hydroxide also showed a higher proton diffusion co-efficient and a lower charge transfer resistance. These results suggested that Ni(OH)2 possesses an enriched electrochemical response and thus can be recognized as a promising material for battery electrode or new pathways for the advanced novel materials for energy storage applications.

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Determination of methyl viologen in Food, Agricultural and Biological samples by using spectrophotometer

Shukla Madhurani and Tiwari Kishore K.

Page No. 16-21

A simple spectrophotometric method for the determination of methyl viologen using reducing agent D-galactose has been developed. Methyl viologen is reduced with D-galactose in an alkaline medium and produces a blue color of 1, 1’-dimethyl-4, 4’-bipyridinium mono cation radical with absorbance maxima at 600nm. Beer’s law is obeyed in the range of 0.4-4.4 µg/10ml of methyl viologen solution with a correlation coefficient of 0.999.

Sandell’s sensitivity, molar absorptivity and detection limit of the method were found to be 0.00041µgcm-2, 6.23×105L mol-1cm-1 and 0.0071µg ml-1 respectively. This method is free from the commonly used pesticides interferences. The proposed method was successfully applied for the determination of methyl viologen in various foods, agricultural and biological samples.

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Green route of copper (Cu) nanoparticles synthesis using Hemidesmus indicus aqueous root extracts and its antimicrobial activity

Ashwini D. and Gayathri Mahalingam

Page No. 22-31

The recent advancements in the field of nanotechnology leads to the productivity of wide range of nano scale products in many fields. Hemidesmus indicus is commonly known as Indian Sarsaparilla which was well explored as an antidiabetic, antitumor, antimicrobial, antioxidant and so on. The present research work focuses on the synthesis of copper (Cu) nanoparticles using the medicinal plant Hemidesmus indicus which was characterized by various preceding analytical tools and its antibacterial properties were investigated against bacterial pathogens. The green route of copper (Cu) nanoparticles synthesis from the root extracts were done by using standard protocols with the time duration of 9-12 hrs. Characterization studies were done by using UV-VIS spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) Spectrum, X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy Analysis (EDAX) and Dynamic Light Scattering Analysis (DLS).

Antibacterial activity against bacterial pathogens was done by agar well diffusion method. The synthesized Cu nanoparticles have a spherical shaped structure figured out from the XRD studies. The Structure morphology was elucidated with the SEM analysis. The FTIR results shows the functional groups present in it and DLS gives the stability of the Cu nanoparticles. The EDAX studies showed the potential compounds capped on the surface of the Cu nanoparticles and it has exhibited a potential antibacterial agent against all the tested strains. The synthesized Cu nanoparticles can be used for its biomedical applications and in the field of nanomedicine.

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A case study of seasonal occurrence of rhizosphere mycoflora associated with selected plant species under solid waste pollution

Dubey Ekta, Sharma Shashank and Singh B. Sunder

Page No. 32-37

Most investigations of rhizosphere effects have been conducted at the scale of individual plants, however, as a result, the ecological significance of these effects is poorly understood. Moreover, recent studies suggest that rhizosphere processes may play a central role in mediating ecosystem feed backs to climate change through their effect on net primary production, decomposition and storage.5,16 Many anthropogenic activities such as city development, agriculture, use of pesticides and pollution can potentially affect soil micro diversity.7

Soils under pollution stress can maintain microbial activity because sensitive microbial communities can be replaced by more tolerant ones. Changes in microbial communities’ structure were observed in long term studies.12 During the present study, seasonal occurrence of rhizosphere mycoflora associated with selected plant species growing under Solid Waste Pollution, was investigated through microbial ecological techniques. The distribution patterns of fungal isolates based on their percentage occurrence were determined. Further pollution indicator fungi are being identified. The present studies indicated the role of various ecological factors, stress due to presence of SWP in the soil samples investigated, interaction between individual selected plant species and its rhizosphere fungal community ultimately decided the existence, survival of fungal isolates, in various seasons. Some of them i.e. Aspergillus niger, Absidia glauca, Rhizopus nigricans and Trichoderma koningi are recognized as pollution indicators.

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Synthesis and biological evaluation of Substituted Pyrimido and Pyrazolinocycloocta[b]Indoles

Tamilarasan B. and Sangeetha V.

Page No. 38-45

Investigation of pyrimido and pyrazolino fused cycloocta[b]indole derivatives; analogus to natural products, by means of synthesis and biological activities has been done. With the precursor 5,7,8,9,10,11-hexahydrocycloocta[b]indol-6-one (1a-d), 4-methyl-benzaldehyde is supposed to condense to give 7-(4'-methyl-benzylidene)-5,7,8,9,10,11-hexahydrocycloocta[b]indol-6-one 3(a-d). Promoting the compounds into their intended derivatives namely, pyrimidocycloocta[b]indole and phenyl-pyrazolinocycloocta[b]indole have been done by permitting the appropriate condensed product to react with guanidine nitrate and phenyl hydrazine hydrochloride which results in the formation of 2-amino-4-(4'-methyl)-phenyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro- pyrimido[5',6':8,7]-13H-cycloocta[b]indole 4(a-d) and 2-phenyl-3-(4'-methyl)-phenyl-4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-pyrazolino[3',4':8,7]-12H-cycloocta[b] indole 5(a-d) respectively.

Compounds are characterized by IR, NMR and CHN analyses. Biological studies have been done for the synthesized compounds against certain bacterial and fungal strains which show moderate potency of the prepared compounds.

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Biopotentialities of certain plant ingredients to survival and colour enhancement in Xiphophorus helleri

Divya M.S. and Sreeja J.

Page No. 46-53

Ornamental fish sector is a widely accepted flourishing industry playing an integral part in interior designing uplifing the economic status of developing and underdeveloped nations. With respect to natural fish, they dwell in captivity under confined space, may lack natural consumption of aquatic vegetation and could adversely affect its physiological aspects. In our study three plant materials of therapeutic uses such as A. sativum, B.monneiri and M.fragrans incorporated diet (TD2, TD3, TD4 and TD5) in individual and mixed proportion were provided to the ornamental fish X.helleri. The mean length, length gain, weight and weight gain relationship for tested diets CF, TD1, TD2, TD3, TD4 and TD5 in X. helleri analysed by paired test with Turkey HSD showed significance with p <0.01. The ANOVA test for length gain showed significant difference in gain in length among feeds at 1% level of significance (p-value<.01). The post hoc multiple comparison shows that there are three homogeneous groups. Even though the highest gain in length observed in TD4 showed no significant difference in gains identified among CF, TD1, TD2 and TD4. The ANOVA test done for weight gain showed that there was significant difference in gain in weight among feeds at 1% level of significance (p-value<.01).

The post hoc multiple comparison showed four homogeneous groups with highest gain in weight observed in TD5 followed by TD4 with no significant difference in gains among TD1, TD2 and TD3. Colouring the major factors determining the market value of fishes evaluated by HPTLC yielded in the decreasing order TD2 diet (1.5gm garlic with 15360.9 AU) > TD3 diet (2 gm brahmi with 11626.8AU) > TD4 diet (1.5gm with 6580.3AU) > TD5 diet (1:1.5:1 gm of garlic, brahmi and nutmeg with 6458.9AU) > TD1(commercial feed with 4831.1.AU) > CF (control feed without plant with 4555.5AU). The survival rate among fishes fed with six diets was observed 80% in CF and TD1, 90% in TD2, TD3 and TD5 and 100% in TD4. The present work hence enlightened the accuracy of medicinal plants in promoting survival and pigmentation in sword tail.

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The efficacy of microalgal biomass collected from high rate algal pond for dyes biosorption and biofuel production

Moghazy Reda M. and Abdo Sayeda M.

Page No. 54-60

The main objective of the present study is to evaluate the efficiency of algal biomass collected from High rate algal pond for dyes biosorption and biofuel production. The collected algal biomass was subjected to lipid extraction for determining the total lipid contents in order to show the possibility of biofuel production. The produced de-fatted algal biomass (DAB) was reused for dyes biosorption. Methylene Blue (MB) was used as a sorbate for evaluating the potential of raw and (DAB) as biosorbents. The biosorbents were characterized by High resolution transmission electron microscope (TEM) and FTIR analysis to show the mechanism of biosorption. The optimization studies were carried out by variation in different parameters i.e. pH values (3–9), biosorbent dosages (0.25–2.5 g/l), contact time intervals (0-90 min) and dye concentrations (20–80 mg /l).

The maximum adsorption capacity of this biomass (qmax) was found to be 21.8 and 26.5 mg/g for the raw and (DAB) respectively at an initial dye concentration of 30 mg/L, pH 6, an absorbent dosage of 2 g /l and a contact time of 30 minutes. Adsorption results were analyzed by Freundlich and Langmuir models, equilibrium data of dye adsorption fitted well in Langmuir isotherm than that of Freundlich isotherm in both raw and (DAB), the lipids content extracted from the raw algal biomass were 6% of the total dry weight, This study indicates that both raw and (DAB) collected from wastewater treatment plant could be used as efficient biosorbent for MB removal, as well as there is a need for high amount of algal biomass to produce a sufficient quantity of biofuel.

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Synthesis, characterization, thermal and mechanical properties of naphthalene containing alkyl substituted epoxy segments

Chaudhary Jyoti, Dadhich Supriya, Tailor Giriraj, Purohit Swati and Solanki Aruna

Page No. 61-67

4-ethoxyphenol and 4-methoxyphenol on reaction with excess formaldehyde yield 2, 6-dimethylol-4-ethoxyphenol (DME) and 2, 6-dimethylol-4-methoxyphenol (DMM) which further on condensation with 1-naphthol give phenolic resin. The obtained resins DMEN and DMMN were characterized by using CHN and spectral studies. Further, the epoxidation of resultant resins was carried out using excess epichlorohydrin. Resultant epoxy phenolic resin was designated as EDMEN and EDMMN, respectively and characterized using elemental, IR and NMR studies.

The curing study of these epoxy resins was carried out using differential scanning calorimeter. The mechanical, chemical and electrical properties of synthesized resin have been determined. Also, unreinforced cured samples of epoxy phenolic resins were studied by Thermogravimetric analysis used for the study of unreinforced cured samples of resins.

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In Vitro properties of acid phosphatase from lettuce seedlings

Nasri Nawel, Maatallah Samira, Saïdi Issam and Lachaâl Mokhtar

Page No. 68-72

Acid phosphatases are a group of enzymes which catalyse the hydrolysis of a variety of phosphate esters and play a major role in the supply of phosphate in plants. The objective of this study was to investigate the evolution of lettuce acid phosphatases during germination and to determine their kinetic parameters.

The germination process resulted in a significant increase of acid phosphatase activities in radicals, hypocotyls and cotyledons of lettuce seedlings. The enzyme displayed an optimum pH of 5-5.6. The temperature optimum for p-nitrophenyl phosphate (pNPP) hydrolysis was 60°C. Catalytic activity in vitro displayed a linear time course (90 min) and reached its half maximum value at 0.47 mM pNPP. The phosphatase activity was inhibited by ammonium molybdate, sodium dodecyl sulphate, inorganic phosphate, zinc and copper. It was activated by ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid, Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+ and Cl- in the reaction mixtures using p-nitrophenyl phosphate as synthetic substrate.

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Synthesis, Characterization, Anti-bacterial and DNA Nicking Activity of New Complexes of 1-(2,4-Dinitrophenylamino)- 4, 4, 6- trimethyl- 3, 4-dihydropyrimidine-2-(1H)-thione

Sethi Pooja, Dogra Pernita, Gupta G.K., Mostafa Sahar I. and Kaur Simrat

Page No. 73-88

New complexes of 1-(2,4-dinitrophenylamino)-4,4,6-trimethyl - 3, 4 - dihydropyrimidine - 2 - (1H) - thione (Hnmpt), [M(nmpt)2(H2O)n] (M(II) = Cu, Mn, Co; n = 2 and M(II) = Ni, Cd, Pd; n = 0) have been synthesized using environment friend protocol. They were characterized on the basis of elemental analyses, IR, 1H NMR, UV-visible and ESI-mass spectrometry, thermal and molar conductivity measurements. Hnmpt acts a mononegative bidentate ligand through the deprotonated cyclic nitrogen (N-3) and thione sulfur atoms.

The free Hnmpt and its complexes were tested against gram positive and gram-negative bacteria using ampicillin as a reference drug. The complexes have elevated anti-bacterial activity in comparison to the free ligand. In order to investigate the ability of these complexes to serve as metallonucleases, their DNA photocleavage activity was studied as they exhibit a remarkable DNA cleavage activity with pUC19 plasmid DNA.

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Microplastics Distribution and Characterization as vector toxicity in marine environment as contaminant: A short review

Suman Thodhal Yoganandham, Radhika Rajasree Santha Ravindranath, Joshua Amarnath Duvvuru, Alif Shaji, Faris Rahman Panangala Valappil, Gayathri Sathyamoorthy and Remya Rajan Renuka

Page No. 89-95

Microplastics are commonly observed everywhere in the oceans. Microplastics enter the seas from both land-based sources, from ships and other installations at sea, from point and diffuse sources and can travel long distances before being stranded. The role of marine plastic debris as a novel medium for environmental partitioning of chemical contaminants in the ocean. The toxic effects may result from plastic debris is important in marine animals.

Hence the review focuses on following objectives: 1) to discuss the distribution of micro plastic in marine environment; 2) to provide the details of various techniques used for characterization of micro plastic; 3) toxicity of micro plastics on marine organism; 4) micro plastic as carrier for toxicant in marine environment. It will add to our understanding of distribution as a vector, characterization and toxicity of micro plastics in marine environment.

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