Iranian Journal of Chemical Engineering (IJChE)

Abstract The central composite design (CCD) was employed to investigate the adsorption of Pb(II) and Zn(II) metal ions as well as methylene blue (MB) as an aromatic anion by a new EDTA/MnO₂/CS/Fe₃O₄ synthesized nanocomposite. The effect of possible affective factors including the contaminant concentration (20-200 mg/L), pH (2-8), adsorbent content (0.1-0.9 g/L), and contact time (10-110 min) on the adsorption of the metal ions using response surface methodology (RSM) were studied. The highest removal percentages predicted by the model were 100.776 % and 87.069 %, respectively, for the removal of Pb(II) and Zn(II), that the value of more than 100 % in the case of Pb(II) was due to the model’s error. The effect of the simultaneous presence of methyl blue (MB) and the metal ions in the aqueous solution on the adsorption rate of each metal ion was investigated. The study of the adsorption isotherms in the single-component adsorption showed the dominance of Langmuir isotherm over the adsorption process of each pollutant (R² > 0.99). The maximum adsorption capacities according to the Langmuir model were 310.4 and 136 mg/g for lead and zinc ions, respectively, and 421.1 mg/g for methyl blue. The results showed that the studied nanocomposite still had high efficiency after five consecutive adsorption-desorption cycles

Abstract This paper reports the evaluation of adsorbing Cr (VI) ions on sorbent prepared from chitosan (CHT), a versatile derivative of chitin, and dodecyl amine modified locally available kaolinite clay (Bijoypur clay) (MC) that has excellent mechanical properties and great resistance to chemical and biological attack. The effect of the initial metal ion concentration, solution pH, contact time, and adsorbent dosages on the adsorption capacity of the composites was investigated. pH 4 is selected for better adsorption by the adsorbents. The adsorption abilities were studied over Cr (VI) ions using different adsorption isotherm such as Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin-Radushkevich respectively. Langmuir isotherm is found better fitted with maximum adsorption capacity of 73 mg/g by composite SB-1. R2 obtained from Langmuir isotherm is 0.999 which indicates a monolayer adsorption on the adsorbent surface. The adsorption kinetics was also well described by the pseudo-second-order equation with a rate constant of 0.000302 g mg−1 min−1 at 25 ppm Cr(VI) concentration. The adsorption of Cr (VI) ions by the adsorbent were confirmed by FT-IR and X-RD analysis of the composites before and after Cr (VI) ion adsorption. The desorption percentage of the metal ion and the second cycle metal adsorption by regenerated (regenerated after the first adsorption by fresh adsorbent) adsorbent processed with 0.01N sulphuric acid shows a value of 78.23% and 68.12% respectively.

Abstract Novel electrospun nanofibrous CS-PEO nerve conduits containing 0, 2.5 and 5% of green tea methanolic extract were developed and characterized by FE-SEM, FT-IR, TGA/DSC as well as tensile strength analysis. The FE-SEM images revealed that all of the nanofibers had an average diameter of ∼80nm. The swelling degree was decreased by increasing the GT amount from 2.5 to 5% and this might be attributed to the enhanced interactions of the NH2, C(O)NH2 and OH groups of chitosan and PEO polymers with the OH groups of GT leading to a less hydrophilic mat surface, thus reducing the attraction by the aqueous medium. Moreover, the swelling was the highest in acidic medium but it was decreased in the neutral environment and it had the least value within the alkaline medium. The CS-PEO-5%GT exhibited the highest antibacterial activity among three samples examined against both S. aureus and E. coli microorganisms. The CS-PEO-5%GT was proved to be a very suitable candidate to be used as nerve conduit due to its improved tensile and antibacterial activities.