• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.2016-2023
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• 2015

Xylanase plays important roles in a broad range of industrial production as a biocatalyst, and its applications commonly require immobilization on supports to enhance its stability. Aluminum hydroxide, a carrier material with high surface area, has the advantages of simple and low-cost preparation and resistance to biodegradation, and can be potentially used as a proper support for xylanase immobilization. In this work, xylanase from Thermomyces lanuginosus was immobilized on two types of aluminum hydroxide particles (gibbsite and amorphous Al(OH)₃) through adsorption, and the properties of the adsorbed enzymes were studied. Both particles had considerable adsorptive capacity and affinity for xylanase. Xylanase retained 75% and 64% of the original catalytic activities after adsorption to gibbsite and amorphous Al(OH)₃. Both the adsorptions improved pH and thermal stability, lowered activation energy, and extended lifespan of the immobilized enzyme, as compared with the free enzyme. Xylanase adsorbed on gibbsite and amorphous Al(OH)₃ retained 71% and 64% of its initial activity, respectively, after being recycled five times. These results indicated that aluminum hydroxides served as good supports for xylanase immobilization. Therefore, the adsorption of xylanase on aluminum hydroxide particles has promising potential for practical production.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.342-346
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• 2015

Haloacetonitriles (HANs) are nitrogenous disinfection by-products (DBPs) that have been reported to have a higher toxicity than the other groups of DBPs. The adsorption process is mostly used to remove HANs in aqueous solutions. Functionalized composite materials tend to be effective adsorbents due to their hydrophobicity and specific adsorptive mechanism. In this study, the removal of dichloroacetonitrile (DCAN) from tap water by adsorption on thiol-functionalized mesoporous composites made from natural rubber (NR) and hexagonal mesoporous silica (HMS-SH) was investigated. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) results revealed that the thiol group of NR/HMS was covered with NR molecules. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated an expansion of the hexagonal unit cell. Adsorption kinetic and isotherm models were used to determine the adsorption mechanisms and the experiments revealed that NR/HMS-SH had a higher DCAN adsorption capacity than powered activated carbon (PAC). NR/HMS-SH adsorption reached equilibrium after 12 hours and its adsorption kinetics fit well with a pseudo-second-order model. A linear model was found to fit well with the DCAN adsorption isotherm at a low concentration level.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.1289-1297
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• 2014

In this study, PVC-LMO beads were prepared by immobilizing lithium manganese oxide (LMO) with poly vinyl chloride (PVC) diluted in dioxane solvent. XRD and SEM analysis confirmed that LMO was immobilized well in PVC-LMO beads. The diameter of PVC-LMO beads prepared by dioxane solvent was about 2 mm. The adsorption experiments of lithium ions by PVC-LMO beads were conducted batchwise. The optimum pH was pH 10. The adsorption characteristics of lithium ions by PVC-LMO beads was well described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The maximum adsorption capacity obtained from Langmuir model was 24.25 mg/g. The thermodynamic parameters such as ${\Delta}H^{\circ}$, ${\Delta}S^{\circ}$ and ${\Delta}G^{\circ}$ were evaluated. The calculated ${\Delta}G^{\circ}$ was between -6.16 and -4.14 kJ/mol (below zero), indicating the spontaneous nature of $Li^+$ adsorption on PVC-LMO beads. Also, the results showed that PVC-LMO beads prepared in this study could be used for the removal of lithium ions from seawater containing coexisting ions such as $Na^+$, $K^+$, $Mg^{2+}$ and $Ca^{2+}$.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.53-60
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• 2014

Adsorption of phenol on activated carbon in a fixed bed was studied. The effects of fixed-bed length, superficial velocity (flow rate) and particle size of adsorbent on fixed-bed performance were investigated. Some characteristic parameters such as the breakthrough time ($t_{0.05}$), saturation time ($t_{0.95}$), length of mass transfer zone ($L_{MTZ}$), adsorptive capacity (W), and adsorption rate constant ($K_a$) were derived from the breakthrough curves. Adsorbent particle sizes significantly affected the shape of the breakthrough curve. Larger particle sizes resulted in an earlier breakthrough, a longer $L_{MTZ}$ and a lower adsorption rate. Superficial velocity was a critical factor for the external mass transfer during fixed-bed adsorption process. The external mass transfer resistance was dominant as increasing superficial velocity.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.574-579
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• 2005

Optimal management of indoor air quality in a confined pig house, especially in winter, is indispensable for preventing infectious respiratory disease to workers and animals. This study was performed to elucidate the correlation of aerial contaminants and climate factors in a confinement. It was observed that indoor air contaminants ion in the confinement was the highest at 2:00-5:00 pm in a day, followed by 8:00-11:00 pm and 8:00-11:00 am. This was attributed to the increase of pig activities in the afternoon. The concentration of total dust and total airborne bacteria was found to have a significant correlation with temperature and relative humidity (p<0.05). Correlation of total dust and total airborne bacteria, total dust and ammonia, and total dust and odor were shown statistically significant at 95% confidence level. In conclusion, temperature and total dust concentration correlated significantly with all the parameters except for hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$). This could be explained by the fact the dryness of pig feces by increase of interior temperature and resuspension of feed deposited on the floor by the pig activity, resulted in high generation of dust which adsorbed and carried the airborne bacteria and odor compounds in a confined pig house. It was proved that the adsorptive capacity of dust with ammonia ($NH_3$) was higher than that with hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$).

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.561-568
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• 2019

Objectives: The most commonly detected heavy metals in rocks and soils, including Pb, Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn and As, are representative pollutants discharged from abandoned mines and have been listed as potential sources of contamination in drinking water. This study focused on increasing the removal efficiency of heavy metals from drinking water resources by surface modification of natural adsorbents to reduce potential health risks. Methods: Iron oxide coating and graft polymerization with zeolites and talc was conducted for bipolar surface modification to increase the combining capacity of heavy metals for their removal from water. The removal efficiency of heavy metals was measured before and after the surface modification. Results: The removal efficiency of Pb, Cu, and Cd by surface modified zeolite showed 100, 92, and 61.5%, respectively, increases compared to 64, 64, and 38% for non-modified zeolite. This implies that bipolar surface modified natural adsorbents have a good potential use in heavy metal removal. The more interesting finding is the removal increase for As, which has both cation and anion characteristics showing 27% removal efficiency where as non-modified zeolite showed only 2% removal. Conclusions: Zeolite is one of the most widely used adsorptive materials in water treatment processes and bipolar surface modification of zeolite increases its applicability in the removal of heavy metals, especially As.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.205-214
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• 2014

Petroleum a vital commodity affecting every aspect of 21st century. Toxicity and adverse effects of sulphur as catalyst in petroleum products is of great concern required development of techniques for desulphurization in compliance with the International standards. Installation of desulphurizing units costs over $200 million per unit placing economic burden on developing countries like Pakistan. Present study analysis of commercial fuels (station petrol and jet fuel JP8) on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) identified sulphur concentration of 19.94 mg/L and 21.75 mg/L, respectively. This scenario urged the researcher to attempt synthesis of material that is likely to offer good adsorption capacity for sulphur. Following protocol of sol-gel method, transition metals (Ni, Cu, Zn) solution is gelated with tetraethoxysilane (TEOS; silica precursor) using glycerol. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra revealed bonding of Zn-O, Cu-O, and Ni-O by stretching vibrations at $468cm^{-1}$, $617cm^{-1}$, and $468cm^{-1}$, respectively. Thiophene and Benzothiophene mixed in n-heptane and benzene (4:1) for preparation of Model Fuels I and II, respectively. Each of silica based metal was applied as adsorbent in batch mode to assess the removal efficiency. Results demonstrated optimal desulphurization of more than 90% following efficacy order as Si-Ni > Si-Zn > Si-Cu based adsorbents. Proposed multilayered (Freundlich) adsorption mechanism follows ${\pi}$-complexation with pseudo secnd order kinetics.

• Journal of odor and indoor environment
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.396-403
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• 2018

In this study, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from printing industries were analyzed, and an inorganic adsorbent, ${\gamma}-alumina$, was selected for the effective control of the VOC emissions. Printing processes commonly require inks, thinners, and cleaners, and they were mixed organic solvents containing aromatic compounds, ketones, and alcohols. Therefore, toluene, methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) were selected as model compounds for this study. The adsorptive properties using ${\gamma}-alumina$ were determined for the model compounds. Both batch isotherm and continuous flow column tests demonstrated that the adsorption capacity of MEK and IPA was 3~4 times higher than that of toluene. The column test performed at an inlet toluene concentration of 100 ppm showed that an 80% breakthrough for toluene was observed after 3 hours, but both MEK and IPA were continuously adsorbed during the same time period. A numerical model simulated that the ${\gamma}-alumina$ could remove toluene at a loading rate of 0.4 mg/min only for a 4-hour period, which might be too short of a duration for real applications. Consequently, lifetime enhancement for ${\gamma}-alumina$ must be implemented, and ozone oxidation and regeneration would be feasible options.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.125-132
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• 2018

We studied a simple approach for synthesis of mesoporous Y(M-Y) from commercial zeolite Y precursors by treating of NaOH with $CH_3(CH_2)_{15}N(Br)(CH_3)_3$ as template. The physicochemical properties of the mesoporous zeolites Y were then analyzed using XRD, nitrogen full-isotherms at 77 K, SEM and TEM. The nitrogen adsorption-desorption analysis showed that surface area and pore diameter of synthesized mesoporous zeolite Y(M-Y) were $1072m^2/g$ and ~3.3 nm, respectively. And M-Y was applied for the removal of $Mn^{2+}$ and $Fe^{2+}$ from aqueous solution. This material, which introduces mesoporosity with zeolite Y character, displayed a superior adsorption capacity than commercial zeolite Y when used as an adsorbent for the removal of $Mn^{2+}$ and $Fe^{2+}$.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.667-678
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• 2021

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were first oxidized (O-CNTs) to introduce carboxylic group and then further functionalized (F-CNTs) with m-phenylenediamine, which was confirmed by FTIR and SEM. It was used as an effective adsorbent for the adsorptive removal of diclofenac drug from water. Under optimum conditions of pH 6, stirring speed 600 rpm, the maximum adsorption capacity obtained was 532 mg g^-1 which is superior to the values reported in literature. The adsorption was quite rapid as 25 mg L^-1 drug solution was adsorbed in only 3 minutes of contact time with 10 mg of adsorbent dose. The adsorption kinetics and isotherms were studied using various models to evaluate the adsorption process. The results showed that the data best fit in kinetics pseudo-second order and Langmuir isotherm model. Furthermore, the oxidized and functionalized MWCNTs were applied on gram-negative Escherichia coli and gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus using agar disc diffusion assay to validate their anti-microbial activity. Results were unique as both oxidized and functionalized MWCNTs were equally active against both E. coli and S. aureus. The newly synthesized F-CNTs have great potential in water treatment, with their dual action of removing drug and pathogens from water, makes it potential applicant to save environment.