Sorption of copper onto low molecular weight chitosan derivative from aqueous solution.

In this study, sorption of copper onto low molecular weight chitosan derivative was studied. Experimental parameters such as pH of the solution (A), temperature (B), dose of the sorbent (C), and concentration of solution (D) were considered. The statistical results indicated that the dose of sorbent (C) and Cu (II) concentration (D) influenced removal efficiency at 5% significance level. Also, some interactions such as ABCD, ACD, ABC and AC affected the removal process. The sorbent was characterized with FTIR, SEM and TG/DSC. Freundlich isotherm model was the best isotherm model. The kinetic study results correlated well with the pseudo-second-order model. The thermodynamic studies revealed that the nature of copper sorption was spontaneous and endothermic. Strong affinity of the sorbent for copper (II) was revealed by the Isothermal Titration Calorimetry (ITC) technique.

Sorption of heavy metal ions onto carboxylate chitosan derivatives--a mini-review.

Chitosan is of importance for the elimination of heavy metals due to their outstanding characteristics such as the presence of NH2 and -OH functional groups, non-toxicity, low cost and, large available quantities. Modifying a chitosan structure with -COOH group improves it in terms of solubility at pH ≤7 without affecting the aforementioned characteristics. Chitosan modified with a carboxylic group possess carboxyl, amino and hydroxyl multifunctional groups which are good for elimination of metal ions. The focal point of this mini-review will be on the preparation and characterization of some carboxylate chitosan derivatives as a sorbent for heavy metal sorption.

Pesticide Residues and Unauthorized Dyes as Adulteration Markers in Chilli Pepper and Tomato.

To assess the contamination of processed chilli pepper and tomatoes, a report over the past four decades since the establishment of the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) was retrieved and analysed. Out of the 887 notification reports assessed for eligibility, 446 were found regarding chilli pepper and tomato contamination. This study identified India as the country of origin with the highest number of reported cases relating to chilli pepper contamination. Italy and Türkiye were the countries with the highest number of reported cases regarding the exportation of adulterated tomatoes to other countries according to the RASFF report. Unauthorized dyes such as Sudan I, III, IV, orange II, rhodamine B, and para red were reported to have been detected in either chilli pepper or tomato in the supply chain. Almost all unauthorized dyes in this study were found to be more than the range (0.5 to 1 mg/kg) of the detection limit of Sudan dye and other related dyes using analytical methods set by the European Union. Unapproved pesticides by the European Union (EU) found in this study were acetamiprid, chlorothalonil, chlorpyrifos, dimethoate, methomyl, monocrotophos, omethoate, oxamyl, and thiophanate methyl. The present study indicates the persistence of chilli pepper and tomato contamination with harmful dyes and pesticide residues despite the ban on the use of certain chemicals in the food chain.

Estimating cocoa bean parameters by FT-NIRS and chemometrics analysis.

Rapid analysis of cocoa beans is an important activity for quality assurance and control investigations. In this study, Fourier transform near infrared spectroscopy (FT-NIRS) and chemometric techniques were attempted to estimate cocoa bean quality categories, pH and fermentation index (FI). The performances of the models were optimised by cross-validation and examined by identification rate (%), correlation coefficient (Rpre) and root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) in the prediction set. The optimal identification model by back propagation artificial neural network (BPANN) was 99.73% at 5 principal components. The efficient variable selection model derived by synergy interval back propagation artificial neural network regression (Si-BPANNR) was superior for pH and FI estimation. Si-BPANNR model for pH was Rpre=0.98 and RMSEP=0.06, while for FI was Rpre=0.98 and RMSEP=0.05. The results demonstrated that FT-NIRS together with BPANN and Si-BPANNR model could successfully be used for cocoa beans examination.