Superior removal of Co2+, Cu2+ and Zn2+ contaminants from water utilizing spongy Ni/Fe carbonate-fluorapatite; preparation, application and mechanism.

Spongy Ni/Fe carbonate - fluorapatite was synthesized from natural phosphorite enriched with iron impurities. The morphological, chemical and structural features of the product were estimated using several techniques as XRD, SEM, EDX, and FT-IR. It exhibits spongy structure of nano and micro-pores. The average crystallite size is about 8.27 nm. The suitability of the product for considerable decontamination of Zn2+, Co2+, and Cu2+, ions from water was studied based on several reacting parameters. The equilibrium was attained after 240 min for Zn2+ and Co2+ ions while the adsorption equilibrium of Cu2+ reached after 120 min. The adsorption data for the selected metals was represented well by a pseudo-second-order model which revealed chemisorption uptake. The equilibrium studies were appraised based on traditional models and two advanced models were designed according to the statistical physical theories. The adsorption results highly fitted with Langmuir model followed rather than the other models. This indicated a monolayer adsorption for the metal ions by spongy Ni/Fe carbonate - fluorapatite. The estimated qmax values are 149.25 mg/g, 106.4 mg/g and 147.5 mg/g for the uptake of Zn2+, Co2+, and Cu2+, respectively. Based on monolayer models of one energy and two energies, the number of receptor adsorption sites, number of adsorbed metal ions per active site, the average number of sites which occupied by ions, mono layer adsorption quantity and the adsorption quantity after total saturation were calculated for the first time for such materials.

Sulfonation of Natural Carbonaceous Bentonite as a Low-Cost Acidic Catalyst for Effective Transesterification of Used Sunflower Oil into Diesel; Statistical Modeling and Kinetic Properties.

Bentonite sample enriched in organic matters (oil shale) was functionalized with -SO3H sulfonated carbonaceous bentonite (S-CB) by sulfonation process as a low-cost and effective acidic catalyst for the transesterification spent sunflower oil (SFO). The sulfonation effect was followed by several analytic techniques including X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared, and scanning electron microscopy analysis. The catalytic performance of the sulfonated product was evaluated based on a statistical design which was built according to the response surface methodology and the central composite rotatable design. Using the S-CB acidic catalyst in the transesterification of spent SFO resulted in an actual biodiesel yield of 96% at studied conditions of 85 min at reaction interval, 50 °C as temperature,15:1 as methanol/oil ratio, and 3.5 wt % as S-CB loading. Moreover, the optimization function suggested enhancement to obtained yield up to 97.9% by selecting the values of temperature at 62 °C, the time at 98.5 min, the methanol/SFO ratio at 14.4:1, and S-CB loading at 3.4 wt %. The technical evaluation of the SFO biodiesel reflected the suitability of the product to be used as biofuels according to international standards. The kinetic behavior of the SFO transesterification reaction over S-CB is of pseudo-first order properties and of low activation energy. Finally, the synthetic S-CB as a solid acidic catalyst is of significant reusability and was reused five times with remarkable biodiesel yields.

Investigation of a Possible Association Between Refractory Iron Deficiency Anaemia to an Underlying Remote Helicobacter pylori Infection.

UNLABELLED: Helicobacter pylori is a bacterial infection accounts as the prevalent gastric pathogen. Helicobacter has been associated with many extradigestive disorders, as refractory iron deficiency anaemia (Sideropenic). The aim of this case control study was to investigate the role of remote Helicobacter pylori infection in refractory iron deficiency anaemia (RIDA); together with comparing two different methods for diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection. The study was conducted on thirty patients proved refractory IDA by therapeutic trial. Thirty normal non anaemic subjects were included as controls. Helicobacter pylori testing included stool antigen and Helicobacter pylori PCR. The Helicobacter pylori stool antigen test revealed 12 positive cases out of 30 IDA cases. Five of them were stool PCR cagA positive and four were stool PCR ureC positive. There was 100% agreement between PCR cagA and the stool antigen test in the detection of Helicobacter pylori infection (p= 0.003). Stool PCR cagA had a diagnostic accuracy of 76.67 and likelihood ratio of 3.57. There was 100% agreement between PCR ureC and the stool antigen test in the detection of Helicobacter pylori infection (p= 0.009). Stool PCR ureC had a diagnostic accuracy of 73.33 and likelihood ratio of 3.25. There was a very highly significant difference between the means of serum ferritin, serum iron, TIBC and transferrin saturation of Helicobacter pylori stool antigen positive and negative subjects (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: There was a very highly significant association between Helicobacter pylori infection and refractory iron deficiency anaemia. Serum ferritin levels were significantly lower in Helicobacter pylori stool antigen positive cases than in negative cases (p< 0.001). Helicobacter pylori positive cases were 2.7 times more likely to develop anaemia than negative cases. The Helicobacter pylori stool antigen testing by ELISA proved to be more reliable compared to the stool PCR which is tedious and time consuming.

Cosmetic and pharmaceutical qualifications of Egyptian bentonite and its suitability as drug carrier for Praziquantel drug.

The aim of this paper is to characterize and evaluate newly discovered bentonite deposits in Egypt for pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications as well as its suitability as carrier for Praziquantel drug. The study was performed for the raw bentonite sample, purified bentonite sample and alkali activated purified bentonite sample. The raw bentonite sample composed mainly of montmorillonite contaminated by little amounts of quartz and calcite, while the purified sample composed of montmorillonite without detected mineral impurities and matches the mineralogical properties of Wyoming bentonite as an international standard. Geochemically, the studied raw and purified samples appear to high purity with a chemical composition close to those of Wyoming bentonite and match the pharmacopeia specifications. The chemical properties in addition to the textural properties of the surface area, porosity, particle size distribution qualify the bentonite products to use as a function in powder, emulsion and creams. Investigation of pharmacopeia properties of pH, sedimentation volume and swelling capacity revealed the suitability of the raw and purified samples for pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications. Moreover, the microbiological tests indicated that the samples free from harmful microbial pathogens. At the optimum conditions of time (240 min), bentonite dose (250 mg) and reaction temperature (60 °C), the obtained encapsulation percentages of Praziquantel drug are 62%, 78.4% and 93.2% for raw bentonite, purified and alkali activated bentonite, respectively. The releasing percentage of the drug using an intestinal buffer at pH 7.4 is more efficient and the maximum obtained values were obtained after 420 min. The obtained releasing values are 71%, 79.2% and 87.4% for raw bentonite, purified bentonite and alkali activated bentonite, respectively.