VOLUME 43, NO2, APR-2021

Prediction of Succinic Acid Extraction Efficiency in the Emulsion Liquid Membrane by using Machine Learning Techniques

This research aims to predict succinic acid concentration in the external phase during the emulsion liquid membrane process by using artificial neural networks along with a popular alternative method: k-nearest neighbor technique. The solute concentration values can be predicted by the proposed method without performing a great number of emulsion liquid membrane experiments. Several computer simulations were performed to demonstrate the success of the system. Simulation results showed that the estimated solute concentration values are very close to the achieved experimental results. The optimal conditions for emulsion liquid membrane were found to be: solvent kerosene, TOPO concentration (1%w/w), Amberlite LA-2 concentration (4%w/w), surfactant concentration (5%w/w), Na2CO3 concentration (5%w/v), modifier (decanol) concentration (2%w/w), mixing speed 300 rpm. The average accuracy percentages achieved by artificial neural network and k-nearest neighbor approaches were 88.75±1.94% and 90.2±1.2%, respectively.read more

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Sevda Gül, Aynur Manzak and Gökçen Çetinel

Use of Bioballs as an Adsorbent for the Removal of Copper

Nowadays, heavy metals, which are among the various hazardous pollutants, are present at a high level of density in the receiving environments. Among heavy metals, especially copper is mainly present in wastewater due to the industrial activities. Adsorption is the most practical method to prevent this pollution, and in recent years, researchers have been involved in researching both adsorption and cost-efficient, accessible, easy-to-apply environmentally friendly adsorbents. In this study, the adsorption capacity of high density bioballs having a potential adsorbent characteristic was investigated. Accordingly, different pH values (2.0 – 6.0) and the contact times (1 -150 minutes) of a solution on the adsorption process was evaluated under a constant agitating speed (150 rpm), a constant temperature (25°C) and a fixed amount of adsorbent (2.0 g). Experimental data on the pH and contact times obtained were evaluated using different isotherm and kinetic models in a batch process. The optimum conditions for the adsorption process were determined as follows: adsorbent dose = 2 g/L, pH = 6.23 and contact time = 45 minute. The maximum copper refining efficiency of a high density bioball was calculated to be approximately 78% under the optimum conditions determined. The maximum adsorption capacity based on the Langmuir isotherm is 5.60 mg/g, and the adsorption of the copper element onto the high-density bioball is defined by a pseudo-second-order kinetics. The process was found to be applicable, spontaneous, and endothermic according to thermodynamic parameters. As a result, it has been noted that high density bioballs used as a biofilm material may be an alternative adsorbent for copper and the other heavy metals.read more

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Hakan Çelebi

One-Pot Fabrication of K-Doped g-C3N4/SiO2Composite with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity for Degradation of Tetracycline

K-doped g-C3N4/SiO2composite (SiO2/K-CN) was synthesized by a facile thermal polymerization with potassium chloride, melamine and nano-silica as raw materials. The as-prepared SiO2/K-CN was characterized by various measures. The photocatalytic activity of SiO2/K-CN was tested via the photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline under visible-light irradiation. The results showed that the specific surface area of SiO2/K-CN catalyst was 28.16m2/g, which is larger than that of pristine K-doped g-C3N4. Both K-doping and silica-combination can reduce the recombination rate of photo-generated electrons-holes pairs and broaden the region of visible light-harvesting. Compared with the pristine K-doped g-C3N4 and composite SiO2/g-C3N4, SiO2/K-CN exhibits distinctly higher photocatalytic activity for degradation of tetracycline. The enhanced photocatalytic performance of SiO2/K-CN is attributed to the increased specific surface area and the synergistic effect of K-doping and silica-combination in both accelerating separation of charged carries and improving visible light-absorption. During photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline, superoxide radicals play the most important role, followed by holes.SiO2/K-CN complex has excellent stability and shows promising application in photocatalytic degradation of organic contaminants in water.read more

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Min-keng He, Jin Zhang, Fang-yan Chen, Ke-keShu, Yu-bin Tang

A Comparative Application of Latin Hypercube Design and Box-Behnken Design Methods in Extracting Sesameoil

In the past decades, most researchers focus on process optimization and extraction methods to improve oil extraction from oilseeds. However, no information available on comparative analysis of different design methods to improve the process. The objective of this study was to evaluate the applicability of Latin hypercube design (LHD) and Box-Behnken Design (BBD) in oil extraction. Experimental oil yield, analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the model, and practical observation were used to compare the methods. The result shows both methods can supply adequate data for experiments. The range of oil yield is 26 – 41% for BBD and 31 – 41% for LHD. Analytically, the ANOVA result indicates that the model constructed of the LHD experiment has a better prediction of observed oil yield at a regression coefficient (R2) of 0.98 and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 0.4 while BBD has R20.87 and RMSE 1.4. From the experiment result, BBD is more suit to design, efficient, and easier to extract oil. LHD has better design options, more flexible but less efficient in the experiment. For the given process conditions, theresult comparison empirically analyzed suggests both methods can be applied for oil extraction.read more

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Aman Elmi Tufa, Youmin Hu, Shuai Huang, Wenwen Jin, Fengcheng Li

Research Publications Growth Rate of Chemistry and Related Subject Areas in Pakistan and Fifty Countries from 2001 to 2020

The study was designed to provide a comprehensive view of the chemistry research publications growth (%) of fifty (50) countries after 2000/01. Scopus; the world's largest abstract and citation database and Scifinder; the subject specific database for chemistry were primarily used for the purpose. According to the Scopus, from 2001 to March 2020 total 10,013,057 chemistry documents (majorly research articles, reviews, and conference papers) were published. From 2001- 2020, The United States secured the top position (2403235/ 24.00%) followed by China, (1929345/ 19.26%), Germany (727246/7.27), Japan (708947/7.08%) and UK (589025/ 5.88%). The highest growth rate was recorded for the year 2005 (9.17%), followed by 2011 (8.08%) and 2004 (7.52%). Furthermore, we also calculated the % growth rate of fifty (50) countries. As per growth rate calculations, the top three slots in the last nineteen (19) years are majorly occupied by Iran (11) Pakistan (10), China (7) Malaysia (6) and Egypt (5). Emerging economies like Brazil, Mexico, Serbia, Turkey, South Africa, Romania, Mexico, Slovenia, Slovkia and Bulgaria etc… also showed significant progress in research output. For the 1st time Pakistan has topped the relative growth rate in chemistry publications for three consecutive years (for 2017-19). The growth rate for 2017-19 was found to be 18.51, 14.17 and 17.57 %, respectively. In fact, Pakistan topped the ranking in 2006 and 2013 as well. To further extend the idea, we retrieved the per year chemistry publications data of Pakistan from 1947 to 2000. Data from World Bank, Pakistan Ministry of Finance, Pakistan Education Statistics, Pakistan Research Repository, Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Pakistan Federal Ministry of Education was also acquired to possibly explain the increase in chemistry research growth rate in Pakistan. Although the publication growth rate of Pakistan significantly improved from 2002 onwards, it still has a meager global share of 0.5 % (approximately) and highlights that concrete policy measures must be taken to improve the publication output.read more

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Waseem Hassan, Maria Khalid and Muhammad Raza Shah

Study of the Synthesis and Characterization of Poly(acrylic acid-co-acrylamide)-kaolinite Composite Reference to Adsorption of Cd and Pb from Aqueous Solutions

A novel poly(acrylic acid-co-acrylamide)/ kaolinite composite was produced by copolymerization of partially neutralized acrylic acid and acrylamide with sawdust for crosslinking applying Bis-acrylamide having linear formulae (C₇H₁₀N₂O₂.), (H₂C=CHCONH) 2CH₂, potassium persulfate, K2S2O8 as initiator and sodium sulphite used as accelerator to reduce the polymerization time. Physiognomy of the composite was performed by techniques viz., Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, X-Radiation Diffractometry (Crystallography), Structural-Equation-Modeling, Energy-Dispersal X-Radiation-Analysis and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller methods. Divalent cadmium and lead electrolytes (adsorbate) adsorption on the adsorbent (composite) in aqueous solution was studied in batch experiments optimizing reaction parameters like “IA” of equilibrium amount, “CT” (wet time), neutrality (alkalinity and acidity) and calefaction (thermal reading). The quasi 2nd order kinetic archetypal ensued by AK. Adsorption isotherrms were applied to the empirical statistics which fitted well with a) Irving-Langmuir-isotherm and b) Freundlich adsorption isotherm. The supreme adsorption dimensions, qm (from Irving-Langmuir isotherm) at 25oC, were 28.57 mg g-1 and 32.25 mg g-1 for divalent cadmium and lead electrolytes, respectively. Data of activation energy (12.148 kJ mol-1 and 7.165 kJ mol-1 for divalent cadmium and lead electrolytes respectively) indicated physio-absorption. Results of thermodynamic parameters like ∆Go, ∆Ho and ∆So for both divalent cadmium and lead electrolytes suggested the phenomenon of the endothermic and spontaneity nature of the process. The newly synthesized composite attributed to its cost effective and environment friendly nature of the synthesis which will be deemed as a capable substance for the exclusion of adsorbent divalent cadmium and lead electrolytes from aqueous suspensions.read more

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Munazzah Saeed, Manzoor Iqbal, Mahmood Iqbal, Sayed Muhammad Salman and Sadiq Afridi

DOX-Loaded Gelatin Composite Hydrogels with Oxidation-Triggered Drug Release Property

Hydrogels developed as stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems (DDSs) are increasingly concerned research focus in many fields such as chemistry, functional materials and biomedicine. Herein, we report the fabrication, characterization and drug release property of new gelatin composite hydrogels by using biocompatible gelatin and the doxorubicin (DOX)-loaded micelles of a redox-responsive side-chain ferrocene (Fc)-containing amphiphilic diblock copolymer PNFc-b-PNTEG (Fig. 1). The self-assembly method was firstly adopted to prepare the DOX-loaded micelles of PNFc-b-PNTEG with oxidation-sensitive release property, and the DOX-loaded gelatin composite hydrogels were then successfully fabricated by using blending and soaking methods, respectively. The formed hydrogels were characterized by many techniques including scanning electron microscope, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetry and swelling test. The successful encapsulation of the DOX-containing micelles in the gelatin matrix was demonstrated, and the prepared composite hydrogels exhibited improved thermal stability, faster swelling speed and higher swelling ratios. The oxidation-triggered controlled in vitro release of DOX from the composite hydrogels was confirmed by using FeCl3 at different concentrations as an oxidizing agent. The composite hydrogels could act as excellent solid carriers to guarantee the sustained-release effect of DOX, and it is feasible to keep the DOX molecules with high concentration at the specific site for a long period (20 days or so). Thus, the present composite hydrogels are anticipated to be good candidates as redox-responsive DDSs.read more

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Chutong Shi, Li Zhang, Honglei Yin and Haibin Gu

Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles Supported Atomically Precise Palladium Nanoclusters Catalyzed Aerobic Oxidation of Alcohols in Water

The first mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) supported atomically precise palladium nanoclusters catalyzed alcohol oxidation reactions in water have been achieved. The catalysts was synthesized with simple impregnation method and well characterized by TEM, FT-IR, XPS anddiffuse reflectance optical spectrum and the results proved that the Pd nanoclustersimmobilized into the pores of MSNs.The as-prepared catalyst show excellent activity for the alcohol oxidation reactions with high yield under extremely mild aqueous conditions utilizes 1 atmosphere of molecular oxygen as sole oxidant. The features of clean system, gram-scale oxidation and easy recovery catalyst make this method cost effectively and environmentally benign.read more

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Taiping Gao, Xiaolin Ma, Xin Li, Qiang Xu and Yubao Wang

Influence of Industrial Processing on Physiochemical Characteristics of Soybean Oil and Deodorizer Distillates

The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of industrial processing (neutralization/degumming, bleaching, and deodorization) on physicochemical characteristics of soybean oil and soybean oil deodorizer distillate (SBO-DD) collected from two different industries. The substantial impact of processing was observed on all physicochemical parameters except the iodine value (IV) and saponification value (SV). Gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analytical techniques were used for the quantification of individual fatty acids, sterols, and 3-monochloropropane diol (3-MCPD) ester. Among the fatty acids, palmitic and linoleic acids were present at higher concentrations in all processing stages. Among sterols, β-sitosterol was found to be higher (25.65 µg/g) in crude soybean oil and reduced to 16.44 µg/g after processing till the final deodorization stage. 3-MCPD ester was developed during the neutralization/degumming process and further increased during bleaching and deodorization up to 315 µg/kg, respectively. SBO-DD was found to be a rich source of total and individual sterols as compared to crude or processed soybean oil. High free fatty acid (FFA) level in deodorizer distillate indicated that SBO-DD is a potential source of biodiesel production.read more

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Zahid Hussain Laghari, Sarfaraz Ahmed Mahesar, Hamide Filiz Ayyildiz, Huseyin Kara Mustafa Topkafa, Syed Tufail Hussain Sherazi and Abdul Hameed Kori

Synthesis, Characterization and TheoreticalStudies of N'-(4-methoxybenzylidene)benzenesulfonohydrazide

N'-(4-methoxybenzylidene)benzenesulfonohydrazide was synthesized and elemental analysis was conducted; IR, Raman, 1H, and 13C NMR spectral data were recorded. The potential energy surfaces (PES) of the N'-(4-methoxybenzylidene)benzenesulfonohydrazide molecule were obtained by selected degree of torsional freedom, which varied from 0o to 360º in 4º increments. The conformers were optimized by using a (DFT/B3LYP/6-31G(d,p)) basis set in the gas phase. The eleven conformers in the gas phase of the obtained molecule were determined and the most stable conformer (conformer 1) was re-optimized by three different basis sets of 6-31G(d,p), 6-311G(d,p), and LanL2Dz. HOMO-LUMO analyses were performed. NBO analysis was performed to describe the around of intramolecular charge transfer. The vibrational spectra were measured in solid phase IR and detailed analysis of the vibrational spectra of conformer 1 was done; all the bands of the spectra were interpreted by the use of the potential energy distributions (PED) and the molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) was plotted.read more

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H. Güzin Aslan and Lütfiye Aydin