Green synthesis of Mn3O4 nanoparticles using Costus woodsonii flowers extract for effective removal of malachite green dye.

The pollution of organic dyes such as malachite green is one of the globally critical issues, calling for efficient mitigation methods. Herein, we developed green Mn3O4 nanoparticles synthesized using natural compounds extracted from Costus woodsonii flowers under an ultrasound-assisted mode. The materials were characterized using several physicochemical techniques such as Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and N2 adsorption desorption isotherm measurement. The X-ray diffraction and N2 isotherm plots confirmed the presence of tetragonal γ-Mn3O4 phase and mesoporous structure, respectively. Carbonyl groups derived from flavonoids or carboxylic compounds were found in the surface of green Mn3O4 nanoparticles. The effect of pH, contact time, dose, and concentration on the adsorption of malachite green over green Mn3O4 was carried out. The maximum malachite green adsorption capacity for green Mn3O4 nanoparticles was 101-162 mg g-1. Moreover, kinetic and isotherm adsorption of malachite green obeyed Langmuir (Radj.2 = 0.980-0.995) and pseudo first-order models (Radj.2 = 0.996-1.00), respectively. Adsorption of malachite green over green Mn3O4 was a thermodynamically spontaneous process due to negative Gibbs free energy values (ΔGο < 0). Green Mn3O4 nanoparticles offered a high stability through the FR-IR spectra analysis. With a good recyclability of 4 cycles, green Mn3O4 nanoparticles can be used as potential adsorbent for removing malachite green dye from water.

Lab-on-a-chip technologies for food safety, processing, and packaging applications: a review.

The advent of microfluidic systems has led to significant developments in lab-on-a-chip devices integrating several functions onto a single platform. Over the years, these miniature devices have become a promising tool for faster analytical testing, displaying high precision and efficiency. Nonetheless, most microfluidic systems are not commercially available. Research is actually undergoing on the application of these devices in environmental, food, biomedical, and healthcare industries. The lab-on-a-chip industry is predicted to grow annually by 20%. Here, we review the use of lab-on-a-chip devices in the food sector. We present fabrication technologies and materials to developing lab-on-a-chip devices. We compare electrochemical, optical, colorimetric, chemiluminescence and biological methods for the detection of pathogens and microorganisms. We emphasize emulsion processing, food formulation, nutraceutical development due to their promising characteristics. Last, smart packaging technologies like radio frequency identification and indicators are highlighted because they allow better product identification and traceability.

Invasive plants as biosorbents for environmental remediation: a review.

Water contamination is an environmental burden for the next generations, calling for advanced methods such as adsorption to remove pollutants. For instance, unwanted biowaste and invasive plants can be converted into biosorbents for environmental remediation. This would partly solve the negative effects of invasive plants, estimated at 120 billion dollars in the USA. Here we review the distribution, impact, and use of invasive plants for water treatment, with emphasis on the preparation of biosorbents and removal of pollutants such as cadmium, lead, copper, zinc, nickel, mercury, chromate, synthetic dyes, and fossil fuels. Those biosorbents can remove 90-99% heavy metals from aqueous solutions. High adsorption capacities of 476.190 mg/g for synthetic dyes and 211 g/g for diesel oils have been observed. We also discuss the regeneration of these biosorbents.

Green synthesis of ZrO2 nanoparticles and nanocomposites for biomedical and environmental applications: a review.

Pollution and diseases such as the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) are major issues that may be solved partly by nanotechnology. Here we review the synthesis of ZrO2 nanoparticles and their nanocomposites using compounds from bacteria, fungi, microalgae, and plants. For instance, bacteria, microalgae, and fungi secret bioactive metabolites such as fucoidans, digestive enzymes, and proteins, while plant tissues are rich in reducing sugars, polyphenols, flavonoids, saponins, and amino acids. These compounds allow reducing, capping, chelating, and stabilizing during the transformation of Zr4+ into ZrO2 nanoparticles. Green ZrO2 nanoparticles display unique properties such as a nanoscale size of 5-50 nm, diverse morphologies, e.g. nanospheres, nanorods and nanochains, and wide bandgap energy of 3.7-5.5 eV. Their high stability and biocompatibility are suitable biomedical and environmental applications, such as pathogen and cancer inactivation, and pollutant removal. Emerging applications of green ZrO2-based nanocomposites include water treatment, catalytic reduction, nanoelectronic devices, and anti-biofilms.

Endophytic fungus Diaporthe caatingaensis MT192326 from Buchanania axillaris: An indicator to produce biocontrol agents in plant protection.

The study aims at the Isolation, screening and antibacterial evaluation of Camptothecin (CPT) and its derivatives, an anticancer molecule from endophytic fungus Diaporthe caatingaensis MT192326 of the medicinal plant, Buchanania axillaris. Plant parts were collected from Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve forest, Tamil Nadu. The fungus was isolated using DEKM07 medium was used as the screening medium for the presence of CPT. The strain with the highest yield of CPT was identified at the molecular level by 18S rDNA sequencing. CPT was isolated and analyzed by UV-Vis spectrophotometry, Thin layer chromatography, High-Performance Liquid Chromatography, Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy, and Electron spray ionization-mass spectrometry. The compounds identified by ESI-MS from the fungal extract were studied for their antibacterial assays against procured MTCC bacterial pathogens. The maximum yield of 0.681 mg/L of CPT was produced by the fungus D.caatingaensis. CPT derivatives were identified at m/z of 305, 348 and 389 through ESI-MS analysis. Antibacterial studies revealed that the endophytic fungal extract compounds were studied for antibacterial activities of disc diffusion assay, exhibiting a growth inhibition range of 15-22 mm in nutrient agar plate medium. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration revealed the antibacterial potential at a lower concentration of 12.5-25 µg/ml with all bacteria studied. The relatively lower antimicrobial efficacy of partially purified bio-metabolites than the positive control streptomycin (3.125) concentration could be due to the presence of derivatives of the compounds that hinder the activity of the biometabolite. This is the first initiative to screen, isolate and analyze the antibacterial assays of CPT and derivatives from endophytic fungus D.caatingaensis of ethnopharmacologically important B.axillaris plant from STRF.

Food preservation techniques and nanotechnology for increased shelf life of fruits, vegetables, beverages and spices: a review.

Food wastage is a major issue impacting public health, the environment and the economy in the context of rising population and decreasing natural resources. Wastage occurs at all stages from harvesting to the consumer, calling for advanced techniques of food preservation. Wastage is mainly due to presence of moisture and microbial organisms present in food. Microbes can be killed or deactivated, and cross-contamination by microbes such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) should be avoided. Moisture removal may not be feasible in all cases. Preservation methods include thermal, electrical, chemical and radiation techniques. Here, we review the advanced food preservation techniques, with focus on fruits, vegetables, beverages and spices. We emphasize electrothermal, freezing and pulse electric field methods because they allow both pathogen reduction and improvement of nutritional and physicochemical properties. Ultrasound technology and ozone treatment are suitable to preserve heat sensitive foods. Finally, nanotechnology in food preservation is discussed.

Techniques and modeling of polyphenol extraction from food: a review.

There is a growing demand for vegetal food having health benefits such as improving the immune system. This is due in particular to the presence of polyphenols present in small amounts in many fruits, vegetables and functional foods. Extracting polyphenols is challenging because extraction techniques should not alter food quality. Here, we review technologies for extracting polyphenolic compounds from foods. Conventional techniques include percolation, decoction, heat reflux extraction, Soxhlet extraction and maceration, whereas advanced techniques are ultrasound-assisted extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, supercritical fluid extraction, high-voltage electric discharge, pulse electric field extraction and enzyme-assisted extraction. Advanced techniques are 32-36% more efficient with approximately 15 times less energy consumption and producing higher-quality extracts. Membrane separation and encapsulation appear promising to improve the sustainability of separating polyphenolic compounds. We present kinetic models and their influence on process parameters such as solvent type, solid and solvent ratio, temperature and particle size.

Strategies for microbial bioremediation of environmental pollutants from industrial wastewater: A sustainable approach.

Heavy metals are hazardous and bring about critical exposure risks to humans and animals, even at low concentrations. An assortment of approaches has been attempted to remove the water contaminants and keep up with water quality, for that microbial bioremediation is a promising way to mitigate these pollutants from the contaminated water. The flexibility of microorganisms to eliminate a toxic pollutant creates bioremediation an innovation that can be applied in various water and soil conditions. This review insight into the sources, occurrence of toxic heavy metals, and their hazardous human exposure risk. In this review, significant attention to microbial bioremediation for pollutant mitigation from various ecological lattices has been addressed. Mechanism of microbial bioremediation in the aspect of factors affecting, the role of microbes and interaction between the microbes and pollutants are the focal topics of this review. In addition, emerging strategies and technologies developed in the field of genetically engineered micro-organism and micro-organism-aided nanotechnology has shown up as powerful bioremediation tool with critical possibilities to eliminate water pollutants.

A critical review on the removal of toxic pollutants from contaminated water using magnetic hybrids.

The persistence of organic/inorganic pollutants in the water has become a serious environmental issue. Among the different pollutants, dyes and heavy metal pollution in waterways are viewed as a global ecological problem that can have an impact on humans, plants, and animals. The necessity to develop a sustainable and environmentally acceptable approach to remove these toxic contaminants from the ecosystem has been raised. In the past two decades, rapid industrialization and anthropogenic activities in developed countries have aggravated environmental pollution. Industrial effluents that are discharged directly into the natural environment taint the water, which has a consequence for the water resources. Magnetic nanohybrids are broadly investigated materials used in the adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of poisonous pollutants present across water effluents. In the present review, the toxic health effects of heavy metals and dyes from the water environment have been discussed. This paper reviews the role of magnetic nanohybrids in the removal of pollutants from the water environment, providing an adequate point of view on their new advances regarding their qualities, connection methodologies, execution, and their scale-up difficulties.

A critical review on the environmental applications of carbon dots.

The discovery of zero-dimensional carbonaceous nanostructures called carbon dots (CDs) and their unique properties associated with fluorescence, quantum confinement and size effects have intrigued researchers. There has been a substantial increase in the amount of research conducted on the lines of synthesis, characterization, modification, and enhancement of properties by doping or design of composite materials, and a diversification of their applications in sensing, catalysis, optoelectronics, photovoltaics, and imaging, among many others. CDs fulfill the need for inexpensive, simple, and continuous environmental monitoring, detection, and remediation of various contaminants such as metals, dyes, pesticides, antibiotics, and other chemicals. The principles of green chemistry have also prompted researchers to rethink novel modes of nanoparticle synthesis by incorporating naturally available carbon precursors or developing micro reactor-based techniques. Photocatalysis using CDs has introduced the possibility of utilizing light to accelerate redox chemical transformations. This comprehensive review aims to provide the reader with a broader perspective of carbon dots by encapsulating the concepts of synthesis, characterization, applications in contaminant detection and photocatalysis, demerits and research gaps, and potential areas of improvement.

Synthesis, Computational and cytotoxicity studies of aryl hydrazones of ß-diketones: Selective Ni2+ metal Responsive fluorescent chemosensors.

A new fluorescent sensor 2-(2-(3-chloro-4-fluorophenyl)hydrazono)-5,5-dimethyl cyclohexane-1,3-dione (A) and 2-(2-(4-chloro-2-nitrophenyl)hydrazono)-5,5-dimethyl cyclohexane-1,3-dione (B) composed of a ß-diketones of aryl hydrazones synthesized by simple and cost-effective method. Various analytical tools analyzed the structural investigations of the synthesized substituted ß-diketones of aryl hydrazones like FT-IR, 1H, 13C NMR and UV-Vis techniques, Single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies (SCXRD) (for A), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and fluorescence spectroscopy. SEM also investigates surface morphology modifications of aryl hydrazones and Ni2+ complex. Furthermore, the metal sensing (Chemo sensing) behavior of newly prepared aryl hydrazones of ß-diketones derivatives was further studied by fluorescence spectroscopy. The aryl hydrazones sensor materials show admirable fluorescence selectivity with enrichment to Ni2+ over different cations in an aqueous ethanol solution with a recognition extremity of 4 µM-7 µM. A joint experimental and theoretical investigation was led on the chemical structure employing a density functional theory (DFT) (B3LYP), engaging a 6-31G basis set. The DFT technique's enhanced geometrical bond angles and lengths exhibited great covenant with the experimental results. The highest occupied molecular (HOMO) orbital and lowest unoccupied (LUMO) molecular orbital energy has been concluded. The cytotoxicity studies show these compounds impede the growth of KB cells highly and from the studies to evaluate their capability to accurately dock aryl hydrazones to antibodies of cancer protein such as 4LRH, 4L9K, 4 EKD and 4GIW cancer proteins.

A review on biological methodologies in municipal solid waste management and landfilling: Resource and energy recovery.

Rapid industrialization and urbanization growth combined with increased population has aggravated the issue of municipal solid waste generation. MSW has been accounted for contributing tremendously to the improvement of sustainable sources and safe environment. Biological processing of MSW followed by biogas and biomethane generation is one of the innumerable sustainable energy source choices. In the treatment of MSW, biological treatment has some attractive benefits such as reduced volume in the waste material, adjustment of the waste, economic aspects, obliteration of microorganisms in the waste material, and creation of biogas for energy use. In the anaerobic process the utilizable product is energy recovery. The current review discusses about the system for approaching conversion of MSW to energy and waste derived circular bioeconomy to address the zero waste society and sustainable development goals. Biological treatment process adopted with aerobic and anaerobic processes. In the aerobic process the utilizable product is compost. These techniques are used to convert MSW into a reasonable hotspot for resource and energy recovery that produces biogas, biofuel and bioelectricity and different results in without risk and harmless to the ecosystem. This review examines the suitability of biological treatment technologies for energy production, giving modern data about it. It likewise covers difficulties and points of view in this field of exploration.

A recent update on green synthesized iron and iron oxide nanoparticles for environmental applications.

Nanotechnology is considered the budding discipline in various fields of science and technology. In this review, the various synthesis methods of iron and iron oxide nanoparticles were summarised with more emphasis on green synthesis - a sustainable and eco-friendly method. The mechanism of green synthesis of these nanomaterials was reviewed in recent literature. The magnetic properties of these nanomaterials were briefed which makes them unique in the family of nanomaterials. An overview of various removal methods for the pollutants such as dye, heavy metals, and emerging contaminants using green synthesized iron and iron oxide nanoparticles is discussed. The mechanism of pollutant removal methods like Fenton-like degradation, photocatalytic degradation, and adsorption techniques was also detailed. The review is concluded with the challenges and possible future aspects of these nanomaterials for various environmental applications.

A review on landfill system for municipal solid wastes: Insight into leachate, gas emissions, environmental and economic analysis.

Landfill is one of the common processes for removing and disposing waste materials that comprises the final method of disposing municipal solid waste. Disposal of municipal solid waste through land filling has become an important environmental problem all over the world which results in environmental contamination and pollution. Microbes present in the land act on the dumped materials and decompose the organic content present. The leachate from landfill is rich in organic, inorganic and suspended particles which may cause threat to ecosystem. The pollutants from leachate may be heavy metals, organic and inorganic content and organic compounds. The geological properties of soil get altered when leachate migrates. The physical, chemical and biological properties of the dumped material are determined by the decomposition of substances and microbes acting onto it. Trace gas emission may occur due to volatilization of chemical substances, degradation of waste materials and conversion reactions. The concentration of gas released varies from region to region of dumping, covered and uncovered dumped materials. The current review recommends an engineered landfill design helpful for landfill gas generation which replaces the fossil fuel as a compressed natural gas or liquefied natural gas. The landfill area is separated into organic and inorganic cells to scope at the objective of energy generation and resource recovery. However, the impact of these released gaseous emissions has been analyzed completely.

Evaluation of phase transfer kinetics and thermodynamic equilibria of Reactive Orange 16 sorption onto chemically improved Arachis hypogaea pod powder.

Biosorbent from pods of Arachis hypogaea (AhP) were inducted with sulphuric acid treatment and then the activated materials were employed to sequester a sulphonated textile dye; Reactive Orange 16 (RO16) from water system. The characteristic features of the surface functionalized AhP (Ct-AhP) were analysed using instrumentation techniques. The biosorption influencing variables like operating pH, agitating time, initial RO16 concentration and temperature effects were investigated. One-factor optimization revealed that 0.5 g Ct-AhP was sufficient to achieve maximum removal of RO16 (20-120 mg/L) within 180 min agitation at 150 rpm. The isotherm data were applied to non-linear isotherms viz., Freundlich, Langmuir and Temkin models as well as rate limiting steps were elucidated using kinetic models. Freundlich isotherm showed good fit and pseudo-second order kinetic data explained RO16 removal by Ct-AhP followed chemisorption. The outcome of thermodynamic parametric values infer that RO16 biosorption was spontaneous, feasible and involved exothermic type of heat. Elovich and intraparticle diffusion revealed the biosorption mechanisms. The maximum RO16 biosorption (56.48 mg/g) by 0.5 g Ct-AhP were witnessed in the system containing 120 mg/L RO16 agitated at 150 rpm operating at pH 7.0, 303 K for a span of 180 min. Thus, the Ct-AhP is considered to be a promising biosorbent which can be employed in treating the textile effluents.

Conversion of waste plastics into low emissive hydrocarbon fuel using catalyst produced from biowaste.

Among the prevalent methods already in existence for the plastic waste management, catalytic pyrolysis has been proved to be an efficient one. The research work involved the synthesis of the catalyst from eucalyptus seeds, a commercially available agricultural waste product aided in pyrolysis. The raw eucalyptus seeds were cleaned, powdered, and surface-modified using sulphuric acid. Analysis of the surface-reformed eucalyptus seeds showed that they possess the characteristics equivalent to the activated carbon and micropores similar to that of zeolite which is used as a catalyst for pyrolysis. Hence, the prepared catalyst was used in the pyrolysis process and its performance was compared with that of the commercial activated carbon and zeolite. Zeolite Y generally lowers the temperature of the pyrolysis reaction to 180-190 °C, while the produced catalyst made the pyrolysis reaction possible between 120 and 130 °C. The output of the pyrolysis reaction was a hydrocarbon oil, which was analysed using gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID). The oil was found to have a composition between C6 and C20, which includes petroleum, kerosene, and diesel. Hence, the oil obtained was proven to be more useful, as a fuel for locomotive and reheating purposes.

Statistical analysis of adsorption isotherm models and its appropriate selection.

In adsorption research, there was a good amount of adsorption data on various absorbent-adsorbate systems and many isotherm models were studied but there was no study on applicability of models to a group of adsorbent-adsorbate systems. In order to establish this, adsorption data obtained from literature for activated carbon with different solutes/sorbate(s) were considered and modelled with various adsorption models. The molecular mass of the solutes varies from 78.118(Benzene) to 932(Direct blue 2B dye) g.mol-1 and adsorbent surface area varies from 516 to 1100 m2 g-1. In this work, twelve commonly known isotherms models were employed to correlate the adsorption data. For modelling polymath® software has been used. The input data for the polymath® software were amount of adsorbate per unit amount of adsorbent, qe vs. concentration, ce. Nonlinear optimization of isotherm data gives model parameters. The correlating ability of the various models was compared in terms of arithmetic average relative deviation (AARD) calculated based on qe. The lowest overall AARD% values were observed for Baudu Isotherm and Langmuir-Freundlich and the corresponding AARD% values were 2.6 and 2.8 respectively. The highest overall AARD% value was observed for Marczewski-jaroniec isotherm and the corresponding AARD% is 23.5. Corrected Akaike's information criterion (AICcorrected) was employed to known the best model. We observed lowest AICcorrected(15.859) value for Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm and the highest AICcorrected(59.283) value for Marczewski-jaroniec isotherm. AICcorrected reveals that Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm was efficient in correlating the isotherm data. Further, Pair-t test was performed between Baudu isotherm and other model.

Kinetic modelling of high turbid water flocculation using native and surface functionalized coagulants prepared from shed-leaves of Avicennia marina plants.

Coagulation performance of shed-leaves of Avicennia marina plants collected from Alang coastline, Gujarat (India) was scrutinized for the treatment of mud and starch water suspensions. For which, native, hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide and sodium chloride treated A. marina shed-leaves were processed with minimum environmental impact. Experiments were accomplished for the concentration of water suspensions (10-50 g/L) at the range of pH 7.0-8.0. The performances of these coagulants were assessed in terms of reduction in turbidity, pH, alkalinity, hardness, electrical conductivity and solids from water suspensions. The removal of bulk impurities was noted due to the floc formation of coagulant through hydrolysing salts, thus, resulted in the highest settlement at pH 7.82, 7.90 for mud and starch water, accordingly. Native and functionalized A. marina coagulants (AMCs) were characterized and interpreted using scanning electron microscopy, elemental analyses, energy dispersive and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. HCl treated AMC was relatively effective with good coagulation performance (96.76%), when compared with native and other treated AMCs. The turbidity removal by all AMCs obeyed with World Health Organization (WHO) acceptable limit of finished water, where HCl treated AMC clarified 15.15 and 16.36 NTU of mud and starch water suspensions to produce a clear water of 0.92 and 1.61 NTU, respectively. The proficiency of prepared AMCs were compared with other natural coagulants and surface functionalized (HCl > NaOH > NaCl) AMCs prepared in this study exerted better performance than the native AMC. The critical coagulation rate from the second-order kinetics were evaluated and the results were highly satisfying. Other physico-chemical parameters of water suspensions were evident for the adequate removal of impurities by non-toxic plant-based coagulants.

Analysis on the removal of emerging contaminant from aqueous solution using biochar derived from soap nut seeds.

For clearing pollutants and emerging contaminants like ciprofloxacin-500mg from wastewaters generated from pharmaceutical industries, soapnut seeds biochar was synthesized and used as an adsorbent for the effective removal process. Tubular furnace operated under nitrogen gas environment was used to synthesize biochar. The batch analysis were carried out successfully to study the removal mechanism and the removal efficiency of the chosen pollutant. The soapnut seeds biochar showed excellent adsorption of ciprofloxacin at pH 6 and temperature 303 K when the dosage was 0.07 g. The Langmuir removal capacity of 33.44 mg/g was received and the Freundlich model provided the best-fits. The ciprofloxacin-500mg adsorption process correlated well with the pseudo-second-order kinetics equation, and the intraparticle diffusion mechanism mainly controlled the process. The characterization of biochar concluded that O-H groups, CO groups, COO-groups and C-F groups, and π-π interactions, pore-filling effect, and cation exchange interactions played a role in the adsorption process. Therefore, the findings of the present work revealed that soapnut seeds biochar would be an excellent low-cost adsorbent for the removal of ciprofloxacin-500mg from wastewater.

Performance study on adsorptive removal of acetaminophen from wastewater using silica microspheres: Kinetic and isotherm studies.

Owing to the global industrialization, a new generation of pharmaceutical pollutants with high toxicity and persistency have been detected. In the present study, silica microspheres, a promising adsorbent has been employed to investigate the extent of removal of prevalent therapeutic acetaminophen, an emerging micropollutant, from wastewater in isolated batch experiments. The BET surface area of the adsorbent was 105.46 m2/g with a pore size of 15 nm. Characterization of adsorbent by scanning electron microscopy analysis revealed the microparticulate nature with a 15 ± 5 µm particle size. Optimization of reaction parameters for enhanced assimilative removal of pollutants was performed and the highest adsorption of 96.7% of acetaminophen with an adsorption capacity of 89.0 mg/g was observed upon contact time of only 30 min. Mild process conditions of pH 5.0, 20 ppm of acetaminophen, temperature of 303 K, and 100 ppm sorbent concentration further aided in the removal process. Obtained data were best corresponded with the Freundlich isotherm (n = 2.685), indicating highly favorable adsorption. Acetaminophen adsorption kinetics obeyed the pseudo second order and feasible energetic changes were yielded through the thermodynamic analysis. Silica microspheres recovery carried out through a single-step desorption process had a 99.14% retrieval ability.