Using a novel bio-based cationic flocculant for food industry wastewater treatment.

Wastewater from the food industry is considered harmful to human health and aquatic life, as well as polluting water and soil. This research is centered around finding an affordable and easy physicochemical method for dealing with waste generated by the food industry. To accomplish this goal, a new bio-based flocculant called 4-benzyl-4-(2-oleamidoethylamino-2-oxoethyl) morpholin-4-ium chloride was created using sustainable sources, specifically crude olive pomace oil. Its chemical structure was confirmed using various spectroscopic techniques such as FTIR, 1H-NMR, mass spectra, and 13C-NMR. This new bio-based cationic flocculant was combined with alum to act as a coagulant in the waste treatment process. Also, a study was conducted to determine the optimal conditions for the coagulation-flocculation process parameters, namely, pH and alum dosage, on COD and removal efficiency. The results showed that the optimal conditions for flocculation were achieved at pH 5.8, with 680 mg/L alum and 10 mg/L of commercial flocculant dose compared to only 5 mg/L of a new bio-based cationic flocculant. A comparison was made between the new bio-cationic flocculant and a commercial CTAB one for treating wastewater in the food industry. The study found that the new bio-based cationic flocculant was more effective in reducing the chemical oxygen demand, achieving a reduction of 61.3% compared to 54.6% for using a commercial cationic flocculant. Furthermore, using a new bio-based cationic flocculant costs only 0.49 $/g, which is less than the present cationic flocculant, which costs 0.93 $/g. The adoption of this new flocculant provides a sustainable alternative to existing industrial wastewater treatment processes.

Synthesis, biofilm formation inhibitory, and inflammation inhibitory activities of new coumarin derivatives.

Coumarins are heterocycles of great interest in the development of valuable active structures in chemistry and biological domains. The ability of coumarins to inhibit biofilm formation of Gram positive bacterium (Staphylococcus aureus), Gram negative bacterium (Escherichia coli) as well as the methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) has been previously described. In the present work, new hybrid coumarin-heterocycles have been synthesized via the reaction of coumarin-6-sulfonyl chloride and 6-aminocoumarin with different small heterocycle moieties. The biological efficacy of the new compounds was evaluated towards their ability to inhibit biofilm formation and their anti-inflammatory properties. The antimicrobial activities of the newly synthesized compounds were tested against Gram positive bacterium (S. aureus ATCC 6538), Gram negative bacterium (E. coli ATCC 25922), yeast (Candida albicans ATCC 10231) and the fungus (Aspergillus niger NRRL-A326). Compounds 4d, 4e, 4f, 6a and 9 showed significant MIC and MBC values against S. aureus, E. coli, C. albicans, and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) with especial incidence on compound 9 which surpasses all the other compounds giving MIC and MBC values of (4.88 and 9.76 µg/mL for S. aureus), (78.13 and 312.5 µg/mL for E. coli), (9.77 and 78.13 µg/mL for C. albicans), and (39.06 and 76.7 µg/mL for MRSA), respectively. With reference to the antibiofilm activity, compound 9 exhibited potent antibiofilm activity with IC50 of 60, 133.32, and 19.67 µg/mL against S. aureus, E. coli, and MRSA, (respectively) considering the reference drug (neomycin). Out of all studied compounds, the anti-inflammatory results indicated that compound 4d effectively inhibited nitric oxide production in lipopolysaccharide-(LPS-) stimulated RAW264.7 macrophage cells, giving NO% inhibition of 70% compared to Sulindac (55.2%).