Evaluation of acute toxicity of Scabiosa artropurperea var.maritima aqueous extracts in Swiss mice.

Scabiosa artropurperea var.maritima is a plant widely distributed in the Mediterranean region and used as a traditional medicine. The present study evaluated the biochemical composition and the potential toxicity of aqueous extract of whole Scabiosa artropurperea var.maritima through acute toxicity oral administration in male mice. Phytochemical analysis of the Scabiosa artropurperea var.maritima revealed high levels of reductor sugars and significant flavonoid and total phenol content. The aqueous extract of Scabiosa artropurperea var.maritima was daily oral administered to mice at doses of 300 (group 1), 2000 (group 2) and 4000 (group 3) mg/kg body weight per day for 14 days. We observed no significant difference in the consumption of food, body weight and relative organ weights except for an increase in the seminal vesicles weight in group 3. Hematological parameters revealed the non-adverse effects of prolonged oral consumption of Scabiosa artropurperea var.maritima except for a slight increase but significant of percentage of hematocrit in group 1 and 3 and a decrease in percentage of granulocytes in group 2. The histopathologic examination did not show any differences in vital organs. We also observed non-adverse effects on the reproductive parameters including testosterone concentration, spermatozoa motility and morphologies. Based on our findings, the aqueous extract of Scabiosa artropurperea var.maritima could be considered safe for oral medication in animals.

A packed bed membrane reactor for production of biodiesel using activated carbon supported catalyst.

In this study, a novel continuous reactor has been developed to produce high quality methyl esters (biodiesel) from palm oil. A microporous TiO2/Al2O3 membrane was packed with potassium hydroxide catalyst supported on palm shell activated carbon. The central composite design (CCD) of response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to investigate the effects of reaction temperature, catalyst amount and cross flow circulation velocity on the production of biodiesel in the packed bed membrane reactor. The highest conversion of palm oil to biodiesel in the reactor was obtained at 70 °C employing 157.04 g catalyst per unit volume of the reactor and 0.21 cm/s cross flow circulation velocity. The physical and chemical properties of the produced biodiesel were determined and compared with the standard specifications. High quality palm oil biodiesel was produced by combination of heterogeneous alkali transesterification and separation processes in the packed bed membrane reactor.

Removal of chromium ions from aqueous solutions by polymer-enhanced ultrafiltration.

This study deals with the removal of chromium species from aqueous dilute solutions using polymer-enhanced ultrafiltration (PEUF) process. Three water soluble polymers, namely chitosan, polyethyleneimine (PEI) and pectin were selected for this study. The ultrafiltration studies were carried out using a laboratory scale ultrafiltration system equipped with 500,000 MWCO polysulfone hollow fiber membrane. The effects of pH and polymer composition on rejection coefficient and permeate flux at constant pressure have been investigated. For Cr(III), high rejections approaching 100% were obtained at pH higher than 7 for the three tested polymers. With chitosan and pectin, Cr(VI) retention showed a slight increase with solution pH and did not exceed a value of 50%. An interesting result was obtained with PEI. The retention of Cr(VI) approached 100% at low pH and decreased when the pH was increased. This behavior is opposite to what one can expect in the polymer-enhanced ultrafiltration of heavy metals. Furthermore, the concentration of polymer was found to have little effect on rejection. Permeate flux remained almost constant around 25% of pure water flux.