Research Journal of Chemistry and Environment

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Vol. 23(4) April 2019

Equilibrium and Kinetic Studies on Adsorptive Removal of Boron from Aqueous Solutions by Date Pits Powder

Boulhouchet Besma, Boukerzaza Imène-Moufida, Kebabi Brahim and Mennour Ammar

Page No. 1-11

This work aims at investigating the adsorptive removal of boron from aqueous solutions using date pits powder (DPP). Characteristics of the adsorbent were established using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area. Batch adsorption experiments were performed to assess performances and process mechanisms. The influences of various experimental parameters such as initial solution pH, contact time, reaction temperature and initial boron concentration were studied. With increasing pH, the adsorption efficiency progressively increases, becomes optimal in the pH zone 6 to 9 and then drastically decreases. The adsorption equilibrium was attained after 90 minutes and the experimental data were well described by Dubinin–Radushkevich and Tempkin adsorption isotherms. The boron adsorption process followed Elovich and pseudo-second order kinetic models and appeared to be controlled by both intraparticle diffusion and liquid film mass transfer.

FTIR spectroscopy evidenced that hydroxyl groups are the primary active sites involved in binding of boron species. The kinetic and equilibrium studies show that DPP has considerable potential for the removal of boron from aqueous solution. This agricultural byproduct may be an eco-friendly material and cost-effective alternative to more costly chemical sorbents.

Utilization of orange peels for making mosquito repellent and solid biomass fuel pellet

Bhange Vivek P., Bhandarkar Awani and Bhivgade Urvashi V.

Page No. 12-16

Mosquitoes are the vectors of variety of pathogen for major disease which cause health problems and turned into one of the important issues in India. The outcome of the present work highlighted to utilize the orange peel waste by producing commercial and beneficial products that are mosquito repellent and fuel pellet. A laboratory-based study has been conducted to evaluate the repellency of the formed repellent from orange peel waste.

The examined peel distillate exhibited significant repellent properties and it has been found that it could serve as a potent repellent against mosquitoes. Residue can be re-utilized as fuel pellet as limonene is already separated by distillation process. This fuel pellet exhibit calorific value which made this product promising in field of heat application. These products can be alternative in fruit juice processing industry as waste management.

Comparative studies on the magnetic and gas sensing properties of nanostructured NiFe2O4 and Ni0.8Zn0.2Fe2O4

Kalpanadevi K. and Manimekalai R.

Page No. 17-20

Nanostructured NiFe2O4 and Ni0.8Zn0.2Fe2O4 were prepared by using their respective single source precursors. The prepared samples were investigated for their magnetic properties and gas sensing properties towards various gases such as Liquefied Petroleum Gas, Ethanol vapour, Acetone vapour, Cl2 and NH3. The gas sensitivity increases with increasing operating temperature and reached a maximum value at an optimum temperature of about 350°C.

It was also evident that the sensitivity to Liquefied Petroleum Gas is high for all the samples. Zn doped nickel ferrite is found to possess higher sensitivity than the undoped one. The results obtained are stimulating for further developing of such devices.

The Effect of Pb Immobilization on Fly Ash Geopolymer Microstructure and Compressive Strength

Ufafa Anggarini and Victor Purnomo

Page No. 21-26

Fly-ash based geopolymer was synthesized with the influence of immobilized Pb as a heavy metal on its polymer chain formation. In this research, lead immobilization was successfully applied to geopolymer specimens at various ratios of Pb weight against fly ash weight between 0 - 0.5 %wt. This was proven by using XRD analysis whose diffractogram shows hump peak around 28-30º. FTIR analysis results show that Al-O-Si bending vibration and Si-O-T asymmetric stretching mode are detected in geopolymers.

The highest compressive strength of lead-impregnated geopolymer was 69 MPa after 0.5%wt Pb immobilization in geopolymer. Pb was equally distributed to geopolymer surface after immobilization. Pb immobilization in geopolymer is recommended since the amount of Pb released to leachate after leaching was quite low.

Kinetic and thermodynamic investigations of the oxidation of Cinnamyl alcohol by some organic oxidants in alkaline medium

Rana Chetana and Prabhu D.V.

Page No. 27-30

Cinnamyl alcohol is a naturally occurring unsaturated primary alcohol found in the bark of cinnamon trees and finds extensive use in perfumery and deodorant formulations. The first order kinetics of the oxidation of Cinnamyl alcohol to Cinnamaldehyde was studied with respect to the organic oxidants 1) Sodium-N-chloro-p-toluene sulphonylamide in alkaline medium and 2) N-Bromosuccinimide in alkaline medium. The rate of oxidation was determined by iodometric estimation of the unreacted oxidant at regular time intervals during the course of the reaction.

The effects of alcohol and oxidant concentrations, ionic strength and temperature on the rate of oxidation of Cinnamyl alcohol were studied. For both oxidants, the oxidation rate of Cinnamyl alcohol increased with [alc.] but decreased with [oxidant]. In dilute solution, ionic strength (K2SO4) had no effect on the rate of oxidation of Cinnamylalcohol. The thermodynamic activation parameters E, ∆H*, ∆G* and ∆S* were evaluated from the variation of oxidation rate with temperature. The oxidation was accompanied by decrease in entropy of activation. Using steady state treatment, rate law equations have been derived for the oxidation of Cinnamylalcohol and suitable reaction mechanisms have been suggested. For the unsaturated alcohol under study, N-Bromosuccinimide was found to be a more efficient oxidizing agent than Sodium-N-chloro-p-toluene sulphonylamide in alkaline medium.

Determination of Bioconcentration factor (BCF) for copper and zinc in Pongamia pinnata plant and Blumea malcolmii plant signifying their role as bioindicators of soil contamination

Choudhari Smita V. and Shetye Sugandha

Page No. 31-35

To evaluate soil to plant transfer of metal ions, bioconcentration factor studies are carried out. The metal concentrations Cu and Zn were assessed in Blumea malcolmii, Pongamia pinnata plants and adjacent soil collected in Kundalika river stretch area of Roha, Maharashtra, India. The metal concentrations are determined using ICP-MS. The mean values observed for Bioconcentration factors for Cu metal in Pongamia pinnata were 4.28, 4.64, 5.00 and 1.51, 0.93, 1.33 for Zn metal at sites S2, S3 and S4 respectively and for Blumea malcolmii observed values are 2.68, 2.54 and 5.57 for Cu metal and 1.07, 0.82 and 2.15 for Zn metal. The experimental levels of the metals in soils were observed higher than the limits recommended by World Health Organization (WHO).

The results showed selected plant species are tolerant, hyperaccumulator of Cu, Zn and can act as bioindicators of elevated metal contamination in soil. This study showed efficiency for phytoextraction of Cu and Zn is more in Pongamia pinnata plant and Blumea malcolmii plant respectively. These observations are very useful for selection of plants that can be used as Bioindicators and Biofilters for eco-restoration of contaminated sites.

Intercalation and characterisation of novel broad-leaved herbicide nanocomposite from zinc/aluminium layered double hydroxide and quinmerac

Hashim Norhayati, Sharif Sharifah Norain Mohd, Isa Illyas Md, Mamat Mazidah, Ali Noorshida Mohd, Bakar Suriani Abu, Hussein Mohd Zobir, Bakar Norlaili Abu and Mahamod Wan Rusmawati Wan

Page No. 36-45

Quinmerac (QM), a type of quinolinecarboxylic acid herbicide that is commonly used for controlling broad-leaved weeds, was intercalated between the layers of Zn/Al-layered double hydroxide (LDH) using a co-precipitation method. Several techniques were used for the characterisation of the synthesised nanocomposite. The powder X-ray diffraction patterns show that the intercalation gives rise to an enlargement of the interlayer gallery from 8.8 to 16.3 Å thus indicating the successful intercalation of QM. The occurrence of the intercalation was also supported by Fourier transform infrared analysis. The chemical formula can be proposed as [Zn0.75Al0.25(OH)2][C10H7ClNCOO]-0.250.94H2O and the percentage loading of QM in Zn/Al-LDH-QM nanocomposite was found to be 29.9 %.

Based on the surface morphology and surface property analysis, some changes were observed after the intercalation as there is a significant increment in the surface area and a reduction in the pore diameter. Therefore, the results obtained from the characterisation study show that the co-precipitation method can be used to synthesise the Zn/Al-LDH-QM nanocomposite successfully. This synthesised nanocomposite is a promising material that will hopefully benefit the agricultural field in the future.

Algal Biomass from High Rate Algal Ponds for Bioethanol Production

Samhan Farag A., Abdo Sayeda M., El-Mekkawi Samar A. and Ali Gamila H.

Page No. 46-53

Algal biomass fermentation is one of the promising alternatives for economic bioethanol production. In this work, Algal biomass was harvested from two High Rate Algal Ponds (HRAP-1 and HRAP-2) constructed at Zenin wastewater treatment plant (WTP), Giza, Egypt. The harvested algal biomass from HRAP-1 was dominated by Scenedesmus obliquus while the harvested algal biomass from HRAP-2 was dominated by Microcystis flos aqua. Separate hydrolysis fermentation process (SHF) was applied for algal biomass by immobilized Saccharomyces cerevisiae (ATCC 4126) in the conditions of stressed, non-stressed in parallel with commercial baker’s yeast. The results revealed that bioethanol productivity from fermenting biomass dominated by S. obliquus was 0.28, 0.26 and 0.22 g/(L.h) during 24 h by the stressed, non-stressed S. cerevisiae and baker’s yeast respectively.

The bioethanol productivity from fermented biomass was dominated by M. flos aqua using the stressed, non-stressed S. cerevisiae. Commercial bakery yeast during the first 24 hours was 0.27, 0.26 and 0.18 g/(L.h). The continuous production of bioethanol produced from fermenting algal biomass collected from HRAP-2 was 0.27 g/(L.h). The immobilized cell reactor was successfully operated for 30 days without any loss in ethanol productivity. This steady state production was simulated using Aspen HYSYS V 8.4 based on bioethanol to algal mass ratio 0.318.

Design, synthesis and X-ray single crystal structure of N-(2-morpholinoethyl-N-oxide)-3-nitro-1,8-naphthalimide

Dhara Koushik

Page No. 54-56

1,8-naphthalimide-morpholine based N-oxide molecule was designed and successfully synthesised. The tittle compound N-(2-morpholinoethyl-N-oxide)-3-nitro-1,8-naphthalimide was characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. X-ray single crystal data were collected using Mo-Ka (λ = 0.7107 Å) radiation on a SMART APEX II diffractometer equipped with CCD area detector.

Data collection, data reduction, structure solution/refinement were carried out using the software package of SMART APEX II. The compound LNO was synthesised via two steps where the first step was associated with the introduction of the morpholine unit to the naphthalic anhydride moiety and the second step related to the generation of N-oxide form.

Equilibrium and thermodynamic aspects of As(III) with temperature onto raw coconut husk and iron impregnated coconut husk

Bala Gautam Shashi, Suantak Kamsonlian and Siraj Alam M.

Page No. 57-69

The present work involves the study of As(III) adsorption behavior onto the surface of two adsorbents viz. Uncoated Coconut Husk (UCH) and Iron Impregnated Coconut Husk (IICH) at different temperatures. The experimental data were correlated with four isotherm models namely Freundlich, Langmuir, Redlich–Peterson and Temkin at different temperatures using nonlinear regression techniques.

It was found that Freundlich and Redlich-Peterson models fitted well the experimental data at different temperatures than that of Langmuir and Temkin isotherm models. The thermodynamic studies indicated that ∆G0 values for the adsorption of As(III) using UCH and IICH ranged from -9.58166 kJ/mol to -13.2491 kJ/mol and from -13.6712 kJ/mol to -20.389 kJ/mol respectively. The experimental results reveal the occurrence of a spontaneous process as ∆H0 and ∆S0 values were positive. The values obtained for ∆H0 and ∆S0 were 45.0626 kJ/mol and 86.42kJ/mol and 0.18337 kJ/mol and 0.33589 kJ/mol for UCH and IICH respectively. Further, ∆G0 for the IICH has relatively large negative values as compared to the UCH which confirms that As(III) adsorption is more favourable on coated IICH than on UCH. The isosteric heat of adsorption (ΔHst,a) was also calculated. The experimental results revealed that both adsorbents possess heterogeneous behavior.

Molecular docking study of the new series of ethyl 6-(furan-2yl) 4-(4-morpholino phenyl)-2 oxo cyclo hex 3-ene carboxylates and their bacterial activity

Senthieel Khumar A.B., Ezhilarasi M.R., Prabha B. and Raja C.

Page No. 70-77

The new series of ethyl 6-(fura-2yl) 4-(4-morpholino phenyl) -2 oxocyclo hex-3-ene carboxylates were synthesized by Michael-addition reaction of chalcone with ethylacetoacetate. The synthesized compounds were elicited with a help of IR, 1H and 13C NMR spectral data. Molecular docking studies were carried out for the compounds 4a-4c against the bacterial proteins known as 3UDI, 2X5O and 3TYE. Compound 4c showed good binding score and good binding interaction with above bacterial proteins.

Furthermore, the antimicrobial susceptibility test against the Staphylocococus aureus and Escherichia Coli was also carried out for the compounds 4a-4c. Here 4c also showed good zone of inhibition.

Synthesis of substituted aromatic sulfane using alumina supported zinc oxide catalyst

Shinde Ravindra S.

Page No. 78-80

Alumina supported on ZnO was prepared by a modest coprecipitation method using zinc acetate and alumina powder. Alumina/ZnO nanoparticles were characterized by using XRD, specific surface area measurement and thermogravimetric analysis. This catalyst was used as novel and excellent heterogeneous catalyst for ligand‐free C-C bond‐formation particularly in the synthesis of substituted aromatic sulfane by cross‐coupling reactions under air atmosphere without use of any Ar or N2 flow. The catalyst can be recovered and recycled several times without marked loss of activity.

Simulation of ethanol production process using Aspen plus and optimization based on response surface methodology

Gabhane Mihul and Kapoor Ashish

Page No. 81-89

Fermentation process of glucose for ethanol production is simulated in Aspen plus. Further, we employ response surface methodology (RSM) to develop a mathematical model for ethanol production. The key operating parameters influencing the process performance are identified to be feed concentration of raw material, temperature and pressure of flash vaporizer. The statistical tests are used to examine the effect of these parameters on ethanol production.

The results show that non-linear quadratic polynomial equation is best suited for representing the process behavior. Moreover, process optimization is performed using the model to maximize the concentration of ethanol, subject to process constraints. The optimum values of feed concentration of glucose, temperature and pressure of flash vaporizer are found to be 0.5 (w/w), 55°C and 5.5 atm respectively. The approach demonstrated here serves as an efficacious method to determine feasible design space for chemical processes and can be adopted in industrial applications.

Review on thermal modeling of solar desalination systems

Rani Anshika, Suresh S. and Kumar Anil

Page No. 90-102

Thermal models are having great benefit of expecting the performance of effectively designed solar stills before its fabrication. It saves time and cost. The design selection is based on many parameters such as yield requirement, local climatic conditions, material availability, economics, operational issues and water quality. Dunkle’s model is applied for calculating internal heat transfer coefficients for lower depth and increase in depth of water from 0.01 m-0.03 m; however there was a minimal difference in convective heat transfer coefficients with other methods.

Extreme values of electrical exergy, thermal exergy, thermal efficiency, overall thermal efficiency and exergy are found by researchers to be 20.74%, 75%, 28.53%, 69.09% and 25%. On the other side one researcher concluded that optimal angle of inclination for the single slope solar still’s top performance is 450 and minimum depth of water in still is the best for higher distillate output. It is concluded that very less work has been done for hybrid solar desalination system as compared to passive and active solar desalination system. Therefore, there is sufficient scope on developing energy efficient hybrid solar desalination system.

Benefits of Microwave-Assisted Organic Synthesis over Conventional methods in Synthetic Chemistry

Mishra Priyanka and Garg S.L.

Page No. 103-108

Microwave-assisted organic synthesis (MAOS) is a branch of Green Chemistry which has prolonged much deliberation in current age. Mainly, microwave-assisted chemical transformations are pollution free, environmental and offer high returns together with ease in processing and handling. This technique proposes a modest, renewed, efficient, fast and economic approach intended for the synthesis of large organic molecules. Currently, the microwave-assisted organic reaction has appeared as an advanced implement in organic synthesis.

In the current review, an attempt is made to focus on the benefits of microwave-irradiation in organic synthesis which reveal the Impact of MAOS over conventional method with the prominence in synthetic chemistry.

Methylene blue adsorption from aqueous solution using activated carbon – a review

Praseetha P.K. and Krishnaveni M.V.

Page No. 109-116

A review of the production of activated carbon from agricultural waste material is presented. Adsorption is carried out by activated carbon from agricultural waste. The results of various parameters on the pyrolysis methods are reviewed. Different types of chemical and physical activation parameters are also reviewed. The effects of different parameters such as different carbonization, temperature, time, activating agent and impregnation ratio were reviewed.

Various chemical and physical activation methods and their effects on surface area and pore volume were reviewed. Applications of activated carbon in various fields was also reviewed. Activated carbon from agricultural residue effectively removed Methylene blue dye from aqueous solution. Adsorption mechanism of various agricultural residues are briefly discussed. This review implied the potential of agricultural wastes for removal of dyes from the waste water.