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.
In this research, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were manufactured using aqueous extract of mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus. Anticancer potential of AgNPs was investigated versus human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7). Cytotoxic response was assessed by MTT assay. AgNPs showed inhibition effect at the following concentrations 12.5, 25, 50, 100 and 200 µg/ml versus MCF-7 cell line, and all treatments had a positive result. The MCF-7 cells were inhibited up to 85.14 % at the concentration 200 μg/ml of AgNPs which reduced cells viability to 14.86%, while 12.5 μg/ml of AgNPs caused 24.23% cells inhibition with reduction of cells viability to 75.77%.
This study uses an environmentally friendly and low-cost synthesis method to manufacture zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) by using zinc sulfate. Eucalyptus leaf extract is an effective chelating and capping agent for synthesizing ZnO NPs. The structure, morphology, thermal behavior, chemical composition, and optical properties of ZnO nanoparticles were studied utilizing FT-IR, FE-SEM, EDAX, AFM, and Zeta potential analysis. The FE-SEM pictures confirmed that the ZnO NPs with a size range of (22-37) nm were crystalline and spherical. Two methods were used to prepare ZnO NPs. The first method involved calcining the resulting ZnO NPs, while the second method did not. The prepared ZnO NPs were used as adsorbents for removing acid black 210
... Show MoreErbium, as optical probe, doped silicate sol-gel glass with
different Er concentrations was formed by wet chemical synthesis
method using ethanol, water and tetraethaylorthosilicate
[Si(OC2H5)4] precursor. Erbium ions were incorporated into silica
sol-gel matrix via dissolution of Erbium chloride solution into the
initial Si(OC2H5)4 precursor sol. Aluminum (Al) as a co-dopant was
added to the final precursor in the form of Aluminum chloride
(AlCl3) solution. The prepared samples were analyzed using atomic
absorption analysis, X-ray diffraction and spectroscopic tests. The
experimental results concerned with the transmission spectra suggest
that the final samples have a good transparency and homogeneity.
A
Copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) were prepared with different diameters by sonoelectrodeposition technique using Electrodeposition process coupled with high-power ultrasound horn (Sonoelectrodeposition). The particle diameter of the CuNPs was adjusted by varying CuSO4 solution acidity (pH) and current density. The morphology and structure of the CuNPs were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). It was found that the size of the produced copper nanoparticles ranged between 22 to 77 nm, where the diameter of CuNPs increases with reduction the solution acidity from 0.5 to 1.5 pH and increasing the current density of the deposition from 100 to 400 nm. Finally the produced CuNPs were pressed to fabricate disc
... Show MoreIron oxide(Fe3O4) nanoparticles of different sizes and shapes were synthesized by solve-hydrothermal reaction assisted by microwave irradiation using ferrous ammonium sulfate as a metal precursor, oleic acid as dispersing agent, ethanol as reducing agent and NaOH as precipitating agent at pH=12. The synthesized Fe3O4 nano particles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR and thermal analysis TG-DTG. Sizes and shapes of Fe3O4 nanoparticles were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM).
A new application of a combined solvent extraction and two-phase biodegradation processes using two-liquid phase partitioning bioreactor (TLPPB) technique was proposed and developed to enhance the cleanup of high concentration of crude oil from aqueous phase using acclimated mixed culture in an anaerobic environment. Silicone oil was used as the organic extractive phase for being a water-immiscible, biocompatible and non-biodegradable. Acclimation, cell growth of mixed cultures, and biodegradation of crude oil in aqueous samples were experimentally studied at 30±2ºC. Anaerobic biodegradation of crude oil was examined at four different initial concentrations of crude oil including 500, 1000, 2000, and 5000 mg/L. Complete removal of crud
... Show MoreThe effect of the aqueous extract of fenugreek seeds (Trigonella Foenum Graecum L.), Rhodium complex (?) with formula [RhL2CLH2O].1 1/2 ETOH and palladium (?) [pdl2].2ETOH,where L=2-hydroxy phenyl piperonalidine was studied on two cancer cell lines. The first cell line was intestine cancer of female albino mice (L20B), the second one was Rhabdomysarcomas (RD)cell line in human. The activity of the new complexes and the aqueous extract was compared to the well-known anticancer drug (cis-platin) by utilizing the in vitro system. The cell lines were treated with four concentrations of cis-platin 31.25,62.5,125 and 250 ?g/ml for 72 hour exposure time. The same concentrations were used with extract and the new complexes. This study showed that t
... Show MoreSilver nanoparticles synthesized by different species
The removal of heavy metal ions from wastewater by sorptive flotation using Amberlite IR120 as a resin, and flotation column, was investigated. A combined two-stage process is proposed as an alternative of the heavy metals removal from aqueous solutions. The first stage is the sorption of heavy metals onto Amberlite IR120 followed by dispersed-air flotation. The sorption of metal ions on the resin, depending on contact time, pH, resin dosage, and initial metal concentration was studied in batch method .Various parameters such as pH, air flow rate, and surfactant concentration were investigated in the flotation stage. Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and Hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (HTAB) were used as anionic and cationic surfactant re
... Show More