scholarly journals APPLICATION OF THE ACEROLA SEED (MALPIGHIA EMARGINATA) AS A NATURAL ADSORBENT FOR GROUNDWATER SOFTENING

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (29) ◽  
pp. 49-55
Author(s):  
A. C. P. da SILVA ◽  
F. P. de ANDRADE JUNIOR ◽  
V. A. da COSTA ◽  
D. D. da SILVA

With increasing contamination of water by various pollutants, which makes this resource increasingly scarce and unfit for use, there is a need to develop new treatment methods that are accessible, efficient, renewable and do not produce polluting waste that degrades the environment. Due to this the use of natural adsorbents has become one of the most investigated alternatives for the treatment of waters whether for the removal of organic or inorganic pollutants. This work aims to study the adsorption potential of a natural adsorbent from acerola seed by means of column chromatography to adjust the total hardness of groundwater after the characterization of physicochemical parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity, Turbidity, total dissolved solids, chlorides, alkalinity and total hardness. The adsorbent samples before and after being used for the treatment were characterized by infrared absorption spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The use of the natural adsorbent obtained from the acerola seed was very effective for the treatment of hardness of the analyzed.

Author(s):  
T. C. Tisone ◽  
S. Lau

In a study of the properties of a Ta-Au metallization system for thin film technology application, the interdiffusion between Ta(bcc)-Au, βTa-Au and Ta2M-Au films was studied. Considered here is a discussion of the use of the transmission electron microscope(TEM) in the identification of phases formed and characterization of the film microstructures before and after annealing.The films were deposited by sputtering onto silicon wafers with 5000 Å of thermally grown oxide. The film thicknesses were 2000 Å of Ta and 2000 Å of Au. Samples for TEM observation were prepared by ultrasonically cutting 3mm disks from the wafers. The disks were first chemically etched from the silicon side using a HNO3 :HF(19:5) solution followed by ion milling to perforation of the Au side.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
NITU SINGH ◽  
FATIMA SULTANA

India is a developing nation and is dependent on its natural resources for growth and development. Water, being one of the vital natural resource, must be used judicially for the sustainable development. Present study focuses on the analysis of physicochemical parameters (pH, Turbidity, Alkalinity, Total Hardness, Total dissolved solids, Conductivity, Chloride, Sulfate, Fluoride contents) of ground water and surface water in Kota City (Rajasthan). The study shows the adverse impact of exploitation and urbanization on water resources of Kota City (Rajasthan). Some physicochemical parameters exceed the desirable limits as defined by WHO and Indian Standards in the selected sites. The level of pollution in ground water and surface water of Kota City is increasing due to urbanization.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 1757
Author(s):  
Yesica Vicente-Martínez ◽  
Manuel Caravaca ◽  
Antonio Soto-Meca ◽  
Miguel Ángel Martín-Pereira ◽  
María del Carmen García-Onsurbe

This paper presents a novel procedure for the treatment of contaminated water with high concentrations of nitrates, which are considered as one of the main causes of the eutrophication phenomena. For this purpose, magnetic nanoparticles functionalized with silver (Fe3O4@AgNPs) were synthesized and used as an adsorbent of nitrates. Experimental conditions, including the pH, adsorbent and adsorbate dose, temperature and contact time, were analyzed to obtain the highest adsorption efficiency for different concentration of nitrates in water. A maximum removal efficiency of 100% was reached for 2, 5, 10 and 50 mg/L of nitrate at pH = 5, room temperature, and 50, 100, 250 and 500 µL of Fe3O4@AgNPs, respectively. The characterization of the adsorbent, before and after adsorption, was performed by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Nitrates can be desorbed, and the adsorbent can be reused using 500 µL of NaOH solution 0.01 M, remaining unchanged for the first three cycles, and exhibiting 90% adsorption efficiency after three regenerations. A deep study on equilibrium isotherms reveals a pH-dependent behavior, characterized by Langmuir and Freundlich models at pH = 5 and pH = 1, respectively. Thermodynamic studies were consistent with physicochemical adsorption for all experiments but showed a change from endothermic to exothermic behavior as the temperature increases. Interference studies of other ions commonly present in water were carried out, enabling this procedure as very selective for nitrate ions. In addition, the method was applied to real samples of seawater, showing its ability to eliminate the total nitrate content in eutrophized waters.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 3910
Author(s):  
Saba Shirin ◽  
Aarif Jamal ◽  
Christina Emmanouil ◽  
Akhilesh Kumar Yadav

Acid mine drainage (AMD) occurs naturally in abandoned coal mines, and it contains hazardous toxic elements in varying concentrations. In the present research, AMD samples collected from an abandoned mine were treated with fly ash samples from four thermal power plants in Singrauli Coalfield in the proximate area, at optimized concentrations. The AMD samples were analyzed for physicochemical parameters and metal content before and after fly ash treatment. Morphological, geochemical and mineralogical characterization of the fly ash was performed using SEM, XRF and XRD. This laboratory-scale investigation indicated that fly ash had appreciable neutralization potential, increasing AMD pH and decreasing elemental and sulfate concentrations. Therefore, fly ash may be effectively used for AMD neutralization, and its suitability for the management of coalfield AMD pits should be assessed further.


Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1275
Author(s):  
Simone Scafati ◽  
Enza Pellegrino ◽  
Francesco de Paulis ◽  
Carlo Olivieri ◽  
James Drewniak ◽  
...  

The de-embedding of measurement fixtures is relevant for an accurate experimental characterization of radio frequency and digital electronic devices. The standard technique consists in removing the effects of the measurement fixtures by the calculation of the transfer scattering parameters (T-parameters) from the available measured (or simulated) global scattering parameters (S-parameters). The standard de-embedding is achieved by a multiple steps process, involving the S-to-T and subsequent T-to-S parameter conversion. In a typical measurement setup, two fixtures are usually placed before and after the device under test (DUT) allowing the connection of the device to the calibrated vector network analyzer coaxial ports. An alternative method is proposed in this paper: it is based on the newly developed multi-network cascading algorithm. The matrices involved in the fixture-DUT-fixture cascading gives rise to a non-linear set of equations that is in one step analytically solved in closed form, obtaining a unique solution. The method is shown to be effective and at least as accurate as the standard multi-step de-embedding one.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan H. Trager ◽  
Emanuelle Rizk ◽  
Sharon Rose ◽  
Kuixi Zhu ◽  
Branden Lau ◽  
...  

AbstractThe presence of actinic keratoses (AKs) increases a patient’s risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma by greater than six-fold. We evaluated the effect of topical treatment with imiquimod on the tumor microenvironment by measuring transcriptomic differences in AKs before and after treatment with imiquimod 3.75%. Biopsies were collected prospectively from 21 patients and examined histologically. RNA was extracted and transcriptomic analyses of 788 genes were performed using the nanoString assay. Imiquimod decreased number of AKs by study endpoint at week 14 (p < 0.0001). Post-imiquimod therapy, levels of CDK1, CXCL13, IL1B, GADPH, TTK, ILF3, EWSR1, BIRC5, PLAUR, ISG20, and C1QBP were significantly lower (adjusted p < 0.05). Complete responders (CR) exhibited a distinct pattern of inflammatory gene expression pre-treatment relative to incomplete responders (IR), with alterations in 15 inflammatory pathways (p < 0.05) reflecting differential expression of 103 genes (p < 0.05). Presence of adverse effects was associated with improved treatment response. Differences in gene expression were found between pre-treatment samples in CR versus IR, suggesting that higher levels of inflammation pre-treament may play a part in regression of AKs. Further characterization of the immune micro-environment in AKs may help develop biomarkers predictive of response to topical immune modulators and may guide therapy.


2016 ◽  
Vol 88 ◽  
pp. 836-843 ◽  
Author(s):  
Songkeart Phattarapattamawong ◽  
Shinya Echigo ◽  
Sadahiko Itoh

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