Biochar for agronomy, animal farming, anaerobic digestion, composting, water treatment, soil remediation, construction, energy storage, and carbon sequestration: a review.

In the context of climate change and the circular economy, biochar has recently found many applications in various sectors as a versatile and recycled material. Here, we review application of biochar-based for carbon sink, covering agronomy, animal farming, anaerobic digestion, composting, environmental remediation, construction, and energy storage. The ultimate storage reservoirs for biochar are soils, civil infrastructure, and landfills. Biochar-based fertilisers, which combine traditional fertilisers with biochar as a nutrient carrier, are promising in agronomy. The use of biochar as a feed additive for animals shows benefits in terms of animal growth, gut microbiota, reduced enteric methane production, egg yield, and endo-toxicant mitigation. Biochar enhances anaerobic digestion operations, primarily for biogas generation and upgrading, performance and sustainability, and the mitigation of inhibitory impurities. In composts, biochar controls the release of greenhouse gases and enhances microbial activity. Co-composted biochar improves soil properties and enhances crop productivity. Pristine and engineered biochar can also be employed for water and soil remediation to remove pollutants. In construction, biochar can be added to cement or asphalt, thus conferring structural and functional advantages. Incorporating biochar in biocomposites improves insulation, electromagnetic radiation protection and moisture control. Finally, synthesising biochar-based materials for energy storage applications requires additional functionalisation.

Radiation-induced synthesis of tween 80 stabilized silver nanoparticles for antibacterial applications.

Recently, Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have become widely applied nanomaterial in human contacting areas such as cosmetics, food and medicine due to their antibacterial property. On the other hand, surfactants are essential ingredient of several industrial and consumer formulations. Based on these important applications, the current research was aimed to carry out the synthesis and characterization of Tween 80 capped silver nanoparticles (T80-AgNPs) using gamma radiation reduction method. Characterization of T80-AgNPs was occurred by using UV-Vis, XRD, FTIR and TEM techniques. UV-Visible spectra showed surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak in the range of 420 nm signifying the synthesis of colloidal AgNPs. TEM confirmed the formation of spherical and uniformly distributed AgNPs with average size of 18 nm. XRD analysis illustrated the formation of pure crystalline AgNPs. The FTIR analysis provides evidence for the stabilization of AgNPs by Tween 80. The synthesized T80-AgNPs were evaluated for antibacterial activity against both Escherichia coli (E. coli) as gram negative (G -ve) bacteria and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) as gram positive (G + ve) bacteria and anti-biofilm activity to P. aeruginosa. The results show that T80-AgNPs exhibits excellent antibacterial and antibiofilm activities.

A comparative dosimetry study of an alanine dosimeter with a PTW PinPoint chamber at ultra-high dose rates of synchrotron radiation.

The use of synchrotron X-ray sources provides innovative approaches in radiation therapy. The unique possibility to generate quasi-parallel beams promoted the development of microbeam radiation therapy (MRT), an innovative approach able to reduce damages to normal tissues while delivering considerable doses in the lesion. Accurate dosimetry in broad-beam configuration (prior to the spatial fractionation of the incident X-ray fan) is very challenging at ultra-high dose rate synchrotron sources. The available reference dosimetry protocol based on the use of a PTW PinPoint ionization chamber was compared with alanine dosimetry at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) ID17 Biomedical beamline, an orthovoltage X-ray source with an average dose rate of 11.6 kGy/s. Reference dose measurements of the alanine pellets were performed at the National Centre for Radiation Research and Technology (NCRRT) 60Co facility in Egypt. All alanine dosimeters were analysed by an electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometer. We determined a relative response rESRF = 0.932 ± 0.027 (1σ) of the alanine pellets irradiated at the ESRF compared to the 60Co facility. Considering the appropriate corrections for the ESRF polychromatic spectrum and the different field size used, our result is in agreement with the previous work of Waldeland et al. for which the utilised alanine contained the same amount of binder, and it is consistent with the works of Anton et al. and Butler et al. for which the utilised alanine contained a higher amount of binder. We confirm that alanine is an appropriate dosimeter for ultra-high dose rate calibration of orthovoltage X-ray sources.

A new EPR dosimeter based on glutamic acid for radiation processing application.

L-Glutamic acid (L-GA) pellets (3.8 mm × 4 mm) and powder dosimeters were studied in the dose range of 0.1-150 kGy using the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) technique. The EPR spectra of irradiated L-GA pellets showed an EPR signal with eight lines, and the intensity of the signal increased with an increase of absorbed dose. The results obtained in terms of the energy-absorption coefficients suggest a similar performance of the L-GA pellets as compared to alanine pellets. The value of the temperature coefficient for the L-GA pellets during irradiation was around - 0.08%/°C which is lower than that reported for alanine dosimeter, 0.14%/°C. The influence of humidity on the pellet response was found to be negligible; i.e., the increase in response was only about 2% for a relative humidity of up to 94%. The response of L-GA powder reached stability 4 h after irradiation and continued to be stable until 47 days after irradiation. In contrast, the response of the L-GA pellet dosimeter reached stability 22 h after irradiation and continued to be stable until 8 days after irradiation. For routine applications, the L-GA pellet dosimeter should be analyzed during the stable period after irradiation, to minimize the uncertainties in dose assessment. The overall two-sigma uncertainties in absorbed dose estimation were 5.1% and 3.9% for the dose ranges of 0.1-15 kGy and 15-150 kGy, respectively. It is concluded that L-GA pellets represent a promising dosimeter material for quantification of radiation doses in food irradiation, medical sterilization and polymer modification.