Bimetallic NiCo2O4 catalyst application for hydrogen generation via ethanol steam reforming

AKumar Ashutosh, Prasad Ram and Sharma Yogesh Chandra

Ethanol steam reforming (ESR) is one of the sustainable options for renewable hydrogen generation. In this study Co, Ni and their bimetallic spinel (NiCo2O4) were studied for ESR performance. The prepared catalyst was characterized with surface area analyser, XRD, XPS and SEM. The ethanol and water mixture were taken in stoichiometric condition and reaction was performed from 573K to 823K at interval of 50K.

The NiCo2O4 catalyst has shown completion of ethanol conversion with higher hydrogen selectivity (62%) comparative to Ni and Co at 773K. The product gas distribution in outlet gas found that dehydrogenation, hydrogenolysis and decomposition of ethanol are most favoured reactions during ESR.

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Synthesis of porous graphene sheets from agricultural waste by chemical methods

Manoj B.

A facile technique to synthesise wrinkled graphene like nano carbon (GNC) agricultural waste like wood and coconut charcoal is reported in the current study. The charcoal is produced by thermal decomposition of wood and coconut shell and is intercalated by Hummer’s method. It is separated by centrifugation and sonication to get few layer graphene sheets. The structural and chemical changes of the nanostructure are elucidated by Raman spectroscopy, TEM, SEM-EDS and XPS.

Raman spectra revealed the existence of highly graphitized amorphous carbon, which is confirmed by the appearance of five peaks in the deconvoluted first order Raman spectra. The SEM analysis reveals the formation of large area graphene sheets with nano-porous structure in it. The TEM/SAED analysis exhibits the presence of short range few layers graphene.

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Evaluation of Biosynthesized Magnetite Nanoparticles for COD Reduction from Paper Recycling Plant Wastewater

Soha Farag, Anwar Arafa, Marwa F. Elkady, Mai M. Badr and Magda M. Abdel Aty

Water plays an important role in the all sources of life on earth. Several methods have been used for treatment of water but recently application of nanotechnology is increasing in water and wastewater treatment. In this study, eco-friendly synthesis of magnetite nanoparticles (MNPs) was achieved by an isolated bacterial identified as Ochrobactrum sp. under accession number (ac: KY676782). The effects of different production media, incubation times, static or shaking states, pH, temperatures, and iron salt concentrations on the formation of MNPs were studied. The optimum conditions were found to be shaking state at 30 ºC, pH 7 and 5% (1: 2 mM) FeSO4: FeCl3 after three days incubation. The biosynthesized MNPs using Ochrobactrum sp. strain were characterized by X-ray diffraction, EDX, UV-visible, SEM and TEM analysis in order to confirm nanoparticles formation.

Different approaches of biosynthesized MNPs were prepared which are biomass “approach A”, supernatant “approach B” and sonicated biomass “approach C”. Different concentrations of three prepared approaches were examined for the treatment of real wastewater from paper recycling plant by estimating the chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction. Among these three approaches and doses, the approach C (15 mL) was the best as it reduced COD to 50.7% after the first day. Finally, the results were assessed for complying with the Egyptian laws which determine the limitation of discarding wastewater after treatment.

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Bioremediation of pulp and paper mill effluent using Bacillus subtilis and phyto-toxicity studies of treated effluent using Vigna radiata

Dhanushree M.S. and Hina Kousar

Pulp and paper industry are one of the core industrial sector in India and major contributor of industrial water pollution. The paper mill effluent possesses high levels of BOD, COD, phenols, lignin and intense color. In the present investigation, treatment efficiency of Bacillus subtilis was evaluated under stationary conditions. Organism shows reduction in COD, BOD and phenols by about 83.25%, 80.74% and 75.80% respectively. Phytotoxicity studies revealed that organism was efficient in pollution remediation of pulp and paper mill effluent.

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Performance Evaluation of Electrodes TiO2/Zn and Zinc in the treatment of disperse dye by Electrocoagulation Process – A Comparative Study

Kurian Geenu, Parameswari K. and Jegathambal P.

This work primarily deals with the treatment of textile dyeing waste water followed by the utilization of waste material. The aim of the proposed study is to evaluate the performance of electrocoagulation process using TiO2/Zn electrodes by thermal decomposition of TiCl3 and to compare the performance with Zn - Zn. The process was investigated for color removal and energy consumption. The effects of the relevant key operating conditions such as applied current and electrolysis time, pH and electrolyte etc. were studied in order to evaluate the performance of electrodes.

The surface morphology and crystalline studies of the electrode was studied using SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope and) and XRD (X-Ray Diffraction) analysis. The synthetic disperse dye was obtained from Devi Industries in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu. The operating parameters were compared for both electrodes where the decolorization of disperse dye with newly developed TiO2/Zn electrode at pH 7.5 with the applied current 0.05A achieving high dye removal efficiency (98%) with less reaction time and energy in the coagulation process.

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Voltammetric Determination of Ampicillin and Penicillin G at a Mercury Meniscus modified Silver Amalgam Electrode

Wirzal Mohd Dzul Hakim, Yusoff Abdull Rahim Mohd and Qureshi Munawar Saeed

Due to the toxicity of mercury, an alternative electrode has to be constructed still having the unique properties of mercury electrode. Thus, mercury meniscus modified silver amalgam electrode (m-AgSAE) was constructed to overcome this problem and to be the suitable replacement commercial mercury electrode. The voltammetric behavior of antibiotic drugs (ampicillin and penicillin G) had been studied using m-AgSAE with Ag/AgCl (3M KCl) as the reference and the measurement was conducted in Britton-Robinson buffer (BRB).

Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and adsorptive stripping voltammetry (AdSV) techniques were used to conduct these studies. This study was done to observe and study the capability of m-AgSAE properties that can match with commercial mercury electrode. The optimal conditions for ampicillin and penicillin G determination were successfully evaluated in the concentration range of 10 µmol/L to 90 µmol/L. The limits of detection for ampicillin and penicillin G at m-AgSAE were found to be 3.8 µmol/L and 2.5 µmol/L respectively. Using the optimum conditions, the practical application of the newly developed method has been verified on the determination of ampicillin and penicillin G in spiked samples of drinking and river water.

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Standardisation of Fabrication of Microfluidic Paper based Analytical Devices (µPADs)

Lokur Anushree

Various technologies are available for fabrication of microfluidic devices. During this study, an effort has been made to standardise the fabrication of microfluidic paper based analytical devices (µPADs) using locally available raw material and indigenous technology for use in resource deficit or point of control settings. The microfluidic devices were fabricated using photolithography as a method of choice using low cost photoresist preparation formulated using locally available chemicals. In this work, solvent proportions, time of exposure to UV light, the type of paper and patterns to be used were standardised. The stability of the devices was also checked.

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An insight into Chemical Content, Biological Effect and Morphological Features of Pteris vittata L., Rarely Growing in Egypt

Gaafar Alaa A., Ali Sami I., Faried Ahmed M. and El-Hallouty Salwa M.

The morphological features, phytochemical composition and biological activities of Pteris vittata L., growing rarely in Egypt were investgated. The morphological features of P. vittata including pale brown scales, short creeping rhizome and different features of fronds and spores were investigated. A number of chemical compounds related to different families were screened for the first time in the hexane extract of P. vittata by the GC-MS method. Fourteen phenolic compounds including pyrogallol, coumaric acid, ellagic acid, ferulic acid and chlorogenic acid were identified by HPLC on methanol: acetone: H2O (2:2:1) extract of P. vittata.

The polar extracts of P. vittata possess proper antioxidant activity using DPPH˙, ABTS˙⁺ and reducing power activity assays . The cytotoxic effects of different extracts of P. vittata towards lung (A549), liver (HePG-2), prostate (PC-3) and breast (MCF-7) cancer cell lines are also reported for the first time.

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Indoor Air Pollution by Ozone at a Tropical Site in India – Kannur

Lekha V. and Pushpaletha P.

This study examines the indoor ozone (O3) induced pollution in the rural location of Kannur, a tropical site in India, during March 2010 and the influence of their most important elements. Measurements of indoor O3, NO, NO2 and NOx were carried out in a residential building for a period of one week. Measurements were taken from the kitchen, as it had been identified as the most polluted room. The levels of background concentrations of O3, NO, NO2 and NOx were also monitored.

This study examines the indoor ozone (O3) induced pollution in the rural location of Kannur, a tropical site in India, during March 2010 and the influence of their most important elements. Measurements of indoor O3, NO, NO2 and NOx were carried out in a residential building for a period of one week. Measurements were taken from the kitchen, as it had been identified as the most polluted room. The levels of background concentrations of O3, NO, NO2 and NOx were also monitored.

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Slurry Sampling for Determination of Iron and Copper in Inactive Yeast Samples by Electrothermal Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

Kamal Alizadeh and Alireza Pourhossein

A simple method is developed for a rapid and efficient determination of iron and copper in the yeast of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry using slurry sampling. To optimize the procedure, several effective variables were investigated utilizing univariate and multivariate methods. The reliability of the proposed method was confirmed by comparing it with dry ashing digestion methods for the analysis of yeast samples.

The RSD was lower than 10% and recoveries for spiked samples were in the range of 97–105%. The detection limits were 0.1 ng g-1 and 0.05 ng g-1 for iron and copper respectively.

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Studies on the Removal of Auramine-O and Cu (II) ions from aqueous solutions using activated charcoal loaded Silver Chloride

Kavitha B., Arunadevi R. and Ajithkumar R.

The aim of this work was to investigate the utilization of activated charcoal derived from Lawsonia inermis linn loaded on AgCl as effective and economically viable adsorbent for removal of Auramine-O (Ar-O) dye and Cu(II) ions. The physico-chemical properties of the synthesized adsorbent were carried out. The effects of some parameters such as contact time, initial concentration, adsorbent dosage and agitation speed were examined.

Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms were used to analyze the equilibrium data obtained from different adsorption condition. It was observed that Langmuir isotherm provided better fit to the equilibrium data than Freundlich isotherm. The kinetics of the adsorption of Ar-O and Cu(II) ions on to the activated charcoal loaded AgCl was best described by a pseudo-second-order model.

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Legal and Safety issues of Genetically Modified Plants: Environmental Concern

Usha S.

The agricultural production in India or any part of the world is depending on various factors like availability of arable land, water resources, climatic and disease-free conditions etc. To overcome all these issues, plant genetic engineering is playing a vital role and it is considered as second green revolution and wide range of genetically modified organisms (GMO) and genetically modified products (GM products) are available today.

Those kinds of modified products are made by the introduction of desired foreign genes to plants resulting in solving problems that could not be solved through classical methods. However, the licit behind the growth of biotechnology in terms of genetically modified crops needs to be addressed, to the world of critics, in perceiving the enduring deliberation on GM crops. The major stigma associated with genetically modified products is that it poses a great danger to the society in a number of ways. The social media created new horizon of people's fantasy and they could be triggered for anything. This study deals with the safety issues and legal aspects of genetically modified organisms and their products.

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Review of various Amendments for Phytoremediation of Tannery Waste

Shweta Kandpal and Shumank Deep

Tanning Industry is an agro-based sector; research has related tanning and finishing as one of the leading industries causing soil and water pollution. The untreated effluent by the tanneries is most hazardous which is characterized by strong odors, water and soil contamination. It is considered to be a critical problem in India and around the globe. Among heavy metal from the waste, chromium has an essential part in contaminating soil and groundwater by tanning industry. As we are aware that researches have made it clear that plant-based remediation (Phytoremediation) is a growing biotechnological process, for cleaning metal contaminated soil, it is a cost-effective and easy technique to remediate the contaminated soil.

Still, research is lacking in speeding up the remediation process for better and rapid results. Hence, this study is a review on Phytoremediation of Tanneries especially on Chromium metal contaminated soil utilizing distinctive plant which highlights and discusses various amendments like physical, chemical and agronomic for enhancing the efficiency of the remediation process.

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