Preparation and characterization of activated carbon from agricultural wastes and their ability to remove chlorpyrifos from water.

Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate insecticide linked to neurological dysfunctions, endocrine disturbance, cardiovascular illness, genotoxicity, histopathological abnormalities, immunotoxicity, and oxidative stress. Therefore, the aim of this study was to prepare activated carbon from agricultural waste to adsorb and remove chlorpyrifos from aqueous solutions, as well as to study the physicochemical characteristics of the prepared activated carbon.Activated carbon was prepared from agricultural waste (banana peels, orange peels, pomegranate peels and date stones). The activated carbon prepared showed an exterior surface that was irregular and full of cavities with Brunauer-Emmett-Teller(BET) surface areas of 94.26, 111.75, 183.89, and 289.86 m2/g for activated carbon prepared from orange peels, date stone, pomegranate peels, and banana peels respectively. The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) image revealed that the activated carbon's exterior surface was irregular and full of various shapes and sizes of cavities.The Energy Dispersive X-Ray (EDX) indicated the existence of carbon, oxygen, silicon and potassium in banana peels-derived activated carbon, whereas carbon, oxygen, silicon and potassium, in addition to aluminium, were detected in the pomegranate peels-derived activated carbon. The Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis of prepared activated carbon revealed several functional groups, including carboxylic acid, carbon dioxide, and aromatic compounds. Results also showed that the activated carbon significantly removed chlorpyrifos from water, recording 97.6%, 90.6%, 71.48%, and 52.00 % for activated carbon prepared from pomegranate peels, banana peels, date stones and orange peels, respectively. The study concluded that agricultural waste-derived activated carbon could be employed as an alternative pesticide adsorbent.

Experimental assessment of non-edible candlenut biodiesel and its blend characteristics as diesel engine fuel.

Exploring new renewable energy sources as a substitute of petroleum reserves is necessary due to fulfilling the oncoming energy needs for industry and transportation systems. In this quest, a lot of research is going on to expose different kinds of new biodiesel sources. The non-edible oil from candlenut possesses the potential as a feedstock for biodiesel production. The present study aims to produce biodiesel from crude candlenut oil by using two-step transesterification process, and 10%, 20%, and 30% of biodiesel were mixed with diesel fuel as test blends for engine testing. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and gas chromatography (GC) were performed and analyzed to characterize the biodiesel. Also, the fuel properties of biodiesel and its blends were measured and compared with the specified standards. The thermal stability of the fuel blends was measured by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scan calorimetry (DSC) analysis. Engine characteristics were measured in a Yanmar TF120M single cylinder direct injection (DI) diesel engine. Biodiesel produced from candlenut oil contained 15% free fatty acid (FFA), and two-step esterification and transesterification were used. FTIR and GC remarked the biodiesels' existing functional groups and fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) composition. The thermal analysis of the biodiesel blends certified about the blends' stability regarding thermal degradation, melting and crystallization temperature, oxidative temperature, and storage stability. The brake power (BP), brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), and brake thermal efficiency (BTE) of the biodiesel blends decreased slightly with an increasing pattern of nitric oxide (NO) emission. However, the hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxides (CO) of biodiesel blends were found decreased.

Monitoring of the pesticide levels in some water supplies and agricultural land, in El-Haram, Giza (A.R.E.).

Monitoring of pesticide residues were conducted at different locations in the El-Haram region Giza, Egypt. The water samples were collected from El-Haram Giza, canal water supplies (El-Zomor, Abd-el-aal land and seaside and El-Mansorya), in addition to El-Moheet drainage water. The soil samples were collected from the arable land that surrounds water canals. Water samples were obtained by solid phase extraction (SPE) and soil samples by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The combination of gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy with different ionization techniques was used for determination and identification of the pesticides, which were quantitatively determined as 1 microgram 1(-1) levels in environmental samples. The residues of pesticides were varied between different locations. Also, organochlorine pesticide residues in El-Moheet drainage water were relatively higher than in the canal water. The concentrations of organophosphorous compounds (chlorpyrifos, dimethoate and parathion) seem to be low in water as compared to soil samples. Most findings were less than 1 microgram g(-1), which is considered a low-level finding. Sixteen organochlorine pesticides were detected in most of the water samples and the percent of positive samples followed the order drins > total BHC > total DDT > endosulfan > heptachlor epoxid > heptachlor. Pentachlorophenol (PCP) was detected only in El-Zomor and Abd-el-aal canal water. Results obtained confirm the presence of different pesticide residues representing different chemical classes in the canal waters. This means that the discharging of wastes in to the water supplies must be controlled. Drainage water was highly polluted and contains much more pesticide residues than different canal waters.

Aflatoxin destruction by microwave heating.

Microwaves were used in the present work in order to destroy pure aflatoxins (model system), and yellow corn and peanuts containing aflatoxins (food system). Pure aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1 and G2) were individually coated on a silica gel and exposed to microwaves at various power settings and periods. The same technique was adopted for peanuts and yellow corn deliberately infected by Aspergillus flavus. The aflatoxins were extracted, fractionated by thin-layer chromatographic technique and quantitatively determined by spectrodensitometry. In all cases, the content of different aflatoxins in the deliberately infected yellow corn was in the decreasing order B1 = G1 > B2 > G2. Infected peanuts were characterized by the highest B1 level, being approximately 3, 2, and 4.4 times as great as that in B2, G1 and G2, respectively. The rate of aflatoxin destruction of model and food systems increased with the increase of microwave oven power setting (low, moderate and high) and exposure time to microwaves.