Pharmaceuticals have been widely remaining contaminants in wastewater, and diclofenac is the most common pharmaceutical pollutant. Therefore, the removal of diclofenac from aqueous solutions using activated carbon produced by pyrocarbonic acid and microwaves was investigated in this research. Apricot seed powder and pyrophosphoric acid (45 wt%) were selected as raw material and activator respectively, and microwave irradiation technique was used to prepare the activated carbon. The raw material was impregnated in pyrophosphoric acid at 80◦C with an impregnation ratio of 1: 3 (apricot seeds to phosphoric acid), the impregnation time was 4 h, whereas the power of the microwave was 700 watts with a radiation time of 20 min. A series of experiments were conducted at constant mixing speed (300 revolutions per minute) to evaluate the effect of experimental factors likes, adsorption time, pH of diclofenac solution, diclofenac initial concentration, and dosage of activated carbon on removal efficiency. The design of experiments (version 13 Stat-Ease) was implemented using the central composite method to define the optimum effect of the process factors on the removal efficiency. The analysis of variance showed that the quadratic model for the experiment was significant with a very low probability value (P- value < 0.0001). The adjusted R2 of the model was 0.9826 and the predicted R2 was 0.9574. Whereas the optimum conditions suggested by the model for the process variable were found to be 150 min, 3.25 pH, 30 mg/L, 0.267g, for adsorption time, pH of diclofenac solution, diclofenac initial concentration, a dosage of activated carbon, respectively and the maximum removal efficiency was found to be 94.6%. The data obtained from the experiments were fitted with Langmuir and Freundlich models and the results show that the data was well fitted Langmuir model with R2 = 0.9685 as compared to the Freundlich model which has R2 = 0.93249. Likewise, the data was analyzed by pseudo first and second-order kinetic models and the results show that the adsorption on apricot-activated carbon was well adequate with the pseudo-second-order model.
Pathological blood clot in blood vessels, which often leads to cardiovascular diseases, are one of the most common causes of death in humans. Therefore, enzymatic therapy to degrade blood clots is vital. To achieve this goal, bromelain was immobilized and used for the biodegradation of blood clots. Bromelain was extracted from the pineapple fruit pulp (Ananas comosus) and purified by ion exchange chromatography after precipitation with ammonium sulphate (0-80 %), resulting in a yield of 70%, purification fold of 1.42, and a specific activity of 1175 U/mg. Bromelain was covalently immobilized on functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), with an enzyme loading of 71.35%. The results of the characterization of free and immobilized
... Show MoreA total of 37 Staphylococcus epidermidis isolates, isolated from corneal scraping of patients with bacterial keratitis and 20 isolates from healthy eyes (as control) (all isolates, isolated from, Ibn Al- Haietham eye hospital / Baghdad), were tested for slime production, 52.63% of all isolates were positive-slime production (23 isolates from patients and 7 isolates from controls). It was found that positive-slime producing S. epidermidis were exhibited a high resistance to antibiotics as compared to negative-slime producing isolates.
This work deals with separation of the aromatic hydrocarbons benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX) from reformate. The separation was examined using adsorption by molecular sieve zeolite 13X in a fixed bed process. The concentration of aromatic hydrocarbons in the influent and effluent streams was measured using gas chromatography. The effect of flow rate and bed length of adsorbent on the adsorption of multicomponent hydrocarbons and adsorption capacity of molecular sieve was studied. The tendency of aromatic hydrocarbons adsorption from reformate is in the order: benzene >toluene>xylenes.
Electrochemical Grinding (ECG) process is a mechanically assisted electrochemical process for material processing. The process is able to successfully machine electrically conducting harder materials at faster rate with improved surface finish and dimensional control. This research studies the effect of applied current, electrolyte concentration, spindle speed and the gap between workpiece and tool on hardness and material removal rate during electrochemical grinding for stainless steel 316. The characteristic features of the electrochemical grinding process are explored through Taguchi-design-based experimental studies. The better hardness can be obtained at 10 A of the current, 150 g/l of the electrolyte concentration, 0.3 mm of gap an
... Show MoreFour electrodes were synthesized based on molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). Two MIPs were prepared by using the diclofenac sodium (DFS) as the template, 2-hydroxy ethyl metha acrylate(2-HEMA) and 2-vinyl pyridine(2-VP) as monomers as well as divinyl benzene and benzoyl peroxide as cross linker and initiator respectively. The same composition used for prepared non-imprinted polymers (NIPs) but without the template (diclofenac sodium). To prepared the membranes electrodes used different plasticizers in PVC matrix such as: tris(2-ethyl hexyl) phosphate (TEHP), tri butyl phosphate (TBP), bis(2-ethyl hexyl) adipate (BEHA) and tritolyl phosphate (TTP). The characteristics studied the slop, detection limit, life time and linearity range of DF
... Show MoreShort Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes functionalized with OH group (MWCNTs-OH) were used to synthesize flexible MWCNTs networks. The MWCNTs suspension was synthesized using Benzoquinone (BQ) and N, N Dimethylformamide alcohol (DMF) in specific values and then deposited on filter paper by filtration from suspension (FFS) method. Polypyrrole (PPy) conductive polymer doped with metallic nanoparticles (MNPs) prepared using in-situ chemical polymerization method. To improve the properties of the MWCNTs networks, a coating layer of (PPy) conductive polymer, PPy:Ag nanoparticles, and PPy: Cu nanoparticles were applied to the network. The fabricated networks were characterized using an X-ray diffractometer (XRD), UV-Vis. spectrometer, and Ato
... Show MoreThe discharge of dyes into the water is a significant source of pollution, which is especially concerning given that textile mills are the primary contributor. Nanomaterial-based solutions to this issue have required extensive research and investigation due to their complex nature. In this research, novel nanoparticle were successfully synthesized using the leaves of the Eruca sativa plant. The nano was analyzed using scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) measurements, and their crystal structure was determined using the X-ray diffraction technique (XRD). The incorporation of NPs resulted in an increase in the uptake of the Cibacron red dye. At a contact time of 30 minutes, observed a faster adsorption o
... Show MoreThe present research was conducted to reduce the sulfur content of Iraqi heavy naphtha by adsorption using different metals oxides over Y-Zeolite. The Y-Zeolite was synthesized by a sol-gel technique. The average size of zeolite was 92.39 nm, surface area 558 m2/g, and pore volume 0.231 cm3/g. The metals of nickel, zinc, and copper were dispersed by an impregnation method to prepare Ni/HY, Zn/HY, Cu/HY, and Ni + Zn /HY catalysts for desulfurization. The adsorptive desulfurization was carried out in a batch mode at different operating conditions such as mixing time (10,15,30,60, and 600 min) and catalyst dosage (0.2,0.4,0.6,0.8,1, and 1.2 g). The most of the sulfur compounds were removed at 10 min for all catalyst types. The maximum
... Show MoreCopper is a cheaper alternative to various noble metals with a range of potential applications in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. However, copper nanoparticles have major limitations, which include rapid oxidation on exposure to air. Therefore, alternative pathways have been developed to synthesize metal nanoparticles in the presence of polymers and surfactants as stabilizers, and to form coatings on the surface of nanoparticles. These surfactants and polymeric ligands are made from petrochemicals which are non- renewable. As fossil resources are limited, finding renewable and biodegradable alternative is promising.The study aimed at preparing, characterizing and evaluating the antibacterial properties of copper nanoparticle
... Show More